The narratives presented in this chapter all exemplify different practices of body modification, such as fragrance, body paint, cuts and tattoos. Some are set within the time of the Early Race and others are presented within the material present, but they are all educative and instructive in the way that they describe a range of normative actions necessary for survival and subsistence, peace, harmony and affluence.

The first section below concerns the Rain, and how dressing the body of the water as well as the human body prevents the terrible consequences of the angry Rain. The next section concerns the use of Ssho /oa, and different ways of dressing the body in order to make the game act according to the needs of the hunter. The narratives also offer examples of the embedded animal properties in clothing and of contexts of transformation that are essential to the argument in chapter 8. For the time being, however, it is more pertinent to point out how elements of dress seem to have been of direct relevance to how people co-habited in the world with other beings.

The main stories under discussion in each section are presented in summary with selected citations, followed by a more analytical synthesis and discussion.

‘ Acting nicely’ towards the Rain

‘ What the Rain Does to People and Their Things When He is Angry’

If the Rain gets angry, it attacks the huts and the people with hail and cold wind. It is the new water that is angry if people throw stones into it. The man who caused the Rain's anger is carried off first and dropped into the pond. In the pond he becomes a frog.