Heitsi-Eibib Defeats the Ga-Gorib
Heitsi-Eibib, the ancestral hero and trickster of the Khoikhoi people, confronted the fearsome monster Ga-Gorib who sat at the edge of a deep hole, challenging passersby to throw a stone at his forehead. The stone would bounce back and kill the thrower. Unlike his predecessors, Heitsi-Eibib refused the challenge and instead distracted Ga-Gorib long enough to strike him behind the ear. Ga-Gorib lost his balance and fell into his own pit, dying in the hole he had prepared for others. Heitsi-Eibib is a death-rebirth figure whose funeral cairns are scattered across southern Africa, where travelers