Post by Okwes on Dec 28, 2007 11:02:46 GMT -5
Fire - Apinaye
A man found an arara nest with two young birds in a cave in a high and
vertical cliff. He took his little brother-in-law along, chopped down a
tree, leaned it against the wall of rock, and bade the boy climb up to the
nest and catch the young ones. The boy went up but as soon as he stretched
out his hand toward the young araras, the parent birds rushed at him with
fierce screams, so that he got frightened and did not dare to grasp them.
Then the man got angry, knocked the tree aside, and left.
The boy, unable to descend without the tree, remained sitting by the nest
for five days. He nearly died of thirst and hunger. From time to time he
would softly sing: "He, piednyo padko!" (Oh, brother-in-law, give me some
drink!). He was completely covered by the droppings of the araras and
swallows that flew above him.
Then a jaguar came past the foot of the cliff. He saw the boy's shadow
moving and rushed up to seize it, but only caught the air. He waited till
the boy again moved and again tried to seize his shadow, but in vain. Then
the boy spat down, and now the jaguar raised his head and saw him. "What are
you doing up there?" he asked. The boy told about how his brother-in-law had
left him. "What is in the hole?" asked the jaguar. "Young araras" answered
the boy. "Then throw them down!" ordered the jaguar. The boy threw down one
of them, which the jaguar immediately devoured. "Was there only one young
one?" he then asked. "No," was the answer, "there is a second one." "Then,
throw it down, too," commanded the jaguar again, and when the boy had obeyed
he ate up the second one, too.
Then the jaguar brought the tree there, placed it against the rock, and
asked the boy to step down. He began to climb down the trunk, but when quite
close to the ground he got scared: "Dydma kod-kab id-kre" (You are going to
eat me up), he cried and hurriedly climbed up again. "No," the jaguar
quieted him, "come down, I'll give you water to drink." Three times the boy
almost got down, and three times his fear of the jaguar drove him back. At
last, however, he climbed down all the way.
The jaguar took him on his back and carried him to a creek. The boy drank
till he remained lying there and fell asleep. At last the jaguar pinched his
arm and awakened him. He washed the dirt off him and said that, having no
children, he would take him home as his son.
In the jaguar's house a long jatoba trunk was lying, which was burning at
one end While the Indians of that time ate only flesh dried in the sun, the
jaguar had quantities of roast game. "What is smoking there?" asked the boy.
"That is fire," answered the jaguar "What is fire?" asked the boy. "You will
find out at night when it warms you," the jaguar explained. Then he gave
roast meat to the boy, who ate till he fell asleep. He slept till midnight;
then he woke up, ate again, and then again fell asleep.
Before daybreak the jaguar went hunting. The boy followed him some distance,
then climbed a tree on the road, where he waited for the jaguar to return.
But toward noon he got hungry, returned to the jaguar's house, and begged
his wife for food. "What?" she shouted, turning round toward the boy and,
pointing at her teeth, "Look here!" The boy cried out from fear and ran back
to the tree, where he waited for the jaguar, to whom he told about the
occurrence. The jaguar took him back home and scolded his wife: "I told you
not to frighten my son!" His wife excused herself, saying she had been
merely jesting.
The next morning the jaguar made a bow and arrow for the boy. He took him
outside and told him to shoot at a termite nest. He did, and the arrow
pierced the nest. Then the jaguar ordered him to kill his wife with the
arrow if she threatened him again, but to make sure of his aim. Then he
again went hunting.
At noon the boy got hungry again, went home, and asked the jaguar's wife for
a piece of roast flesh. But instead of answering, she threatened him with
her claws and teeth. Then he aimed at her, and now she in alarm cried, "Hold
on! I'll give you to eat!" But the boy shot the arrow at her side so that it
came out on the other. Then he ran off, while she sank down with a roar. For
awhile he heard her roaring, then nothing was to be heard.
He met the jaguar and told him he had killed his wife. "That does not
matter," answered he. At home he gave the boy a lot of roast meat in
addition and told him to follow along the creek, then he would be sure to
reach his tribe. But he was to be on guard: if a rock or the aroeira tree
called him, he should answer; but he was to keep still if he heard the
gentle call of a rotten tree. In two days he was to return and fetch the
fire.
The boy moved along the brook. After a while he heard the rock shout and
answered. Then he heard the call of the aroeira and again answered. Then a
rotten tree cried out, and the boy, forgetting the jaguar's warning,
answered it too. That is why men are shortlived; if he had answered only the
first two, they would enjoy as long life as the rocks and the aroeira trees.
After a while the boy again heard a cry and answered. It was Megalo-kamdu're
(soul of the dead). He came up and asked the boy, "Whom are you calling?" "I
am calling my father," answered he. "Am not I your father?" "No, my father
looks quite differently, he has long hair." Then after a while
Megalo-kamdu're went away and returned after a while with long hair,
pretending he was the boy's father. But the boy refused to recognize him
because his father had big ear-plugs. Again Megalo-kamdu're went away and
soon after returned with what had been missing, but the boy still insisted
he did not look like his father. "Are you not by chance Megalo-kamdu're?" he
asked. Then the man seized him and wrestled with him till he was quite worn
out, whereupon he put the boy into his big carrying-basket and went home
with his burden.
On the way Megalo-kamdu're noticed on a tree a flock of coatis. He set down
his basket, shook the coatis down, killed them, and packed them all on top
of the boy in the basket. Then he took this on his back again by means of a
tump-line. Then the boy, who had somewhat recovered in the meantime, called
to him to make a trail through the woods first so he could carry the load
better. Megalo-kamdu're accepted the suggestion, set down his basket, and
cleared the road. In the meantime the boy slipped out, laid a heavy stone on
the bottom, packed the coatis on top, and hurried away.
Megalo-kamdu're, having finished his job, came back to his basket and picked
it up, but found it still very heavy. But at last he got home with his
burden. He set the basket down and said to his numerous children, "There I
have brought a nice little bird!" Then one child took out a coati, raised it
and asked, "Is it this?" "No," answered Megalo-kamdu're. The child took out
another, "This?" "No." Then he took out all of them, one by one, and got to
the stone. "Now there is only a stone here!" "Then I must have lost it on
the way," said Megalo-kamdu're and went back to look for it. But he found
nothing, for the boy had long made his escape.
Back in his village, he told about his adventures with the jaguar and
Megalo-kamdu're. "Now let us all fetch the fire so we need not eat raw food
any more!" he concluded. Then various animals came to offer their help:
first the jaho', but they sent him away because he was too weak; he was to
run in the rear and extinguish what blaze fell off. The jacu' was also
spurned; but the tapir was considered strong enough to carry the tree. When
the Indians, led by the boy, got to the jaguar's house, he gave them the
fire.
"I have adopted your son," he said to the boy's father. Then the tapir
carried the burning log to the village. The jacu', running after him with
the jaho', swallowed a live coal that had dropped and thus got his red
throat.
Taken from The Apinaye [North Brazil] by Curt Nimuendaju; in Catholic
University of America Anthropological Series #8, Washington, D.C., 1939,
pages 154-167
A man found an arara nest with two young birds in a cave in a high and
vertical cliff. He took his little brother-in-law along, chopped down a
tree, leaned it against the wall of rock, and bade the boy climb up to the
nest and catch the young ones. The boy went up but as soon as he stretched
out his hand toward the young araras, the parent birds rushed at him with
fierce screams, so that he got frightened and did not dare to grasp them.
Then the man got angry, knocked the tree aside, and left.
The boy, unable to descend without the tree, remained sitting by the nest
for five days. He nearly died of thirst and hunger. From time to time he
would softly sing: "He, piednyo padko!" (Oh, brother-in-law, give me some
drink!). He was completely covered by the droppings of the araras and
swallows that flew above him.
Then a jaguar came past the foot of the cliff. He saw the boy's shadow
moving and rushed up to seize it, but only caught the air. He waited till
the boy again moved and again tried to seize his shadow, but in vain. Then
the boy spat down, and now the jaguar raised his head and saw him. "What are
you doing up there?" he asked. The boy told about how his brother-in-law had
left him. "What is in the hole?" asked the jaguar. "Young araras" answered
the boy. "Then throw them down!" ordered the jaguar. The boy threw down one
of them, which the jaguar immediately devoured. "Was there only one young
one?" he then asked. "No," was the answer, "there is a second one." "Then,
throw it down, too," commanded the jaguar again, and when the boy had obeyed
he ate up the second one, too.
Then the jaguar brought the tree there, placed it against the rock, and
asked the boy to step down. He began to climb down the trunk, but when quite
close to the ground he got scared: "Dydma kod-kab id-kre" (You are going to
eat me up), he cried and hurriedly climbed up again. "No," the jaguar
quieted him, "come down, I'll give you water to drink." Three times the boy
almost got down, and three times his fear of the jaguar drove him back. At
last, however, he climbed down all the way.
The jaguar took him on his back and carried him to a creek. The boy drank
till he remained lying there and fell asleep. At last the jaguar pinched his
arm and awakened him. He washed the dirt off him and said that, having no
children, he would take him home as his son.
In the jaguar's house a long jatoba trunk was lying, which was burning at
one end While the Indians of that time ate only flesh dried in the sun, the
jaguar had quantities of roast game. "What is smoking there?" asked the boy.
"That is fire," answered the jaguar "What is fire?" asked the boy. "You will
find out at night when it warms you," the jaguar explained. Then he gave
roast meat to the boy, who ate till he fell asleep. He slept till midnight;
then he woke up, ate again, and then again fell asleep.
Before daybreak the jaguar went hunting. The boy followed him some distance,
then climbed a tree on the road, where he waited for the jaguar to return.
But toward noon he got hungry, returned to the jaguar's house, and begged
his wife for food. "What?" she shouted, turning round toward the boy and,
pointing at her teeth, "Look here!" The boy cried out from fear and ran back
to the tree, where he waited for the jaguar, to whom he told about the
occurrence. The jaguar took him back home and scolded his wife: "I told you
not to frighten my son!" His wife excused herself, saying she had been
merely jesting.
The next morning the jaguar made a bow and arrow for the boy. He took him
outside and told him to shoot at a termite nest. He did, and the arrow
pierced the nest. Then the jaguar ordered him to kill his wife with the
arrow if she threatened him again, but to make sure of his aim. Then he
again went hunting.
At noon the boy got hungry again, went home, and asked the jaguar's wife for
a piece of roast flesh. But instead of answering, she threatened him with
her claws and teeth. Then he aimed at her, and now she in alarm cried, "Hold
on! I'll give you to eat!" But the boy shot the arrow at her side so that it
came out on the other. Then he ran off, while she sank down with a roar. For
awhile he heard her roaring, then nothing was to be heard.
He met the jaguar and told him he had killed his wife. "That does not
matter," answered he. At home he gave the boy a lot of roast meat in
addition and told him to follow along the creek, then he would be sure to
reach his tribe. But he was to be on guard: if a rock or the aroeira tree
called him, he should answer; but he was to keep still if he heard the
gentle call of a rotten tree. In two days he was to return and fetch the
fire.
The boy moved along the brook. After a while he heard the rock shout and
answered. Then he heard the call of the aroeira and again answered. Then a
rotten tree cried out, and the boy, forgetting the jaguar's warning,
answered it too. That is why men are shortlived; if he had answered only the
first two, they would enjoy as long life as the rocks and the aroeira trees.
After a while the boy again heard a cry and answered. It was Megalo-kamdu're
(soul of the dead). He came up and asked the boy, "Whom are you calling?" "I
am calling my father," answered he. "Am not I your father?" "No, my father
looks quite differently, he has long hair." Then after a while
Megalo-kamdu're went away and returned after a while with long hair,
pretending he was the boy's father. But the boy refused to recognize him
because his father had big ear-plugs. Again Megalo-kamdu're went away and
soon after returned with what had been missing, but the boy still insisted
he did not look like his father. "Are you not by chance Megalo-kamdu're?" he
asked. Then the man seized him and wrestled with him till he was quite worn
out, whereupon he put the boy into his big carrying-basket and went home
with his burden.
On the way Megalo-kamdu're noticed on a tree a flock of coatis. He set down
his basket, shook the coatis down, killed them, and packed them all on top
of the boy in the basket. Then he took this on his back again by means of a
tump-line. Then the boy, who had somewhat recovered in the meantime, called
to him to make a trail through the woods first so he could carry the load
better. Megalo-kamdu're accepted the suggestion, set down his basket, and
cleared the road. In the meantime the boy slipped out, laid a heavy stone on
the bottom, packed the coatis on top, and hurried away.
Megalo-kamdu're, having finished his job, came back to his basket and picked
it up, but found it still very heavy. But at last he got home with his
burden. He set the basket down and said to his numerous children, "There I
have brought a nice little bird!" Then one child took out a coati, raised it
and asked, "Is it this?" "No," answered Megalo-kamdu're. The child took out
another, "This?" "No." Then he took out all of them, one by one, and got to
the stone. "Now there is only a stone here!" "Then I must have lost it on
the way," said Megalo-kamdu're and went back to look for it. But he found
nothing, for the boy had long made his escape.
Back in his village, he told about his adventures with the jaguar and
Megalo-kamdu're. "Now let us all fetch the fire so we need not eat raw food
any more!" he concluded. Then various animals came to offer their help:
first the jaho', but they sent him away because he was too weak; he was to
run in the rear and extinguish what blaze fell off. The jacu' was also
spurned; but the tapir was considered strong enough to carry the tree. When
the Indians, led by the boy, got to the jaguar's house, he gave them the
fire.
"I have adopted your son," he said to the boy's father. Then the tapir
carried the burning log to the village. The jacu', running after him with
the jaho', swallowed a live coal that had dropped and thus got his red
throat.
Taken from The Apinaye [North Brazil] by Curt Nimuendaju; in Catholic
University of America Anthropological Series #8, Washington, D.C., 1939,
pages 154-167