The Bushmen are one of the most legendary ancestral peoples in the history of mankind. Whether from a scientific perspective-they have been described as a sort of "genetic Adam" that contains the genetic inheritance of the rest of the human races- or anthropologically-their insistent rejection of progress and their tight attachment to their hunting-society traditions- Collector have aroused great interest and haunting - the stories and studies on this unique tribe generate fascination among those who have the opportunity to know about its existence.

Elias Canetti himself read several times with voracious specimens of Bushman folklore, and considered it the most important book he had ever known. This book contains legends and stories that make up the mythical cosmogony of this society, told in a loud voice by its own members. In a style that reflects the oral tradition to which their stories correspond, the Bushmen narrated their legends concerning their main deity, the Mantis, their relationship with the environment and animals, and some features of coexistence within their societies .

It is the product of an investigation carried out in the second half of the 19th century by the linguist W.H.I. Bleek, who persuaded the South African authorities to release some Bushmen in custody in exchange for domestic work at home. Instead of putting them to work, he took the opportunity to decipher and learn their language and this was how he could compile the fantastic Bushman stories. He died before seeing his effort published, but his sister-in-law Lucy C. Lloyd resumed the work and managed to culminate the work to which Bleek devoted much of his life.