VERT— VERT ; OR PARROT GOSSIP 265 



mainly true of an important event in the early 

 history of the race or nation. This parrot is not 

 the impossible bird of the fictitious Tota Kahami 

 order we all know, who not only mimics our 

 speech but knows the meaning of the words he 

 utters. He was nothing but a mimic, exceptionally 

 clever, and the moral of the story is the f amihar one 

 that great events may proceed from the most trivial 

 causes, once the passions of men are inflamed. 



The tradition was related centuries ago to the 

 Jesuit Fathers in Paraguay, and I give it as they 

 tell it, briefly. 



In the beginning a great canoe came over the 

 waters from the east and was stranded on the shores 

 of Brazil. Out of the canoe came the brothers 

 Tupi and Guarani and their sons and daughters 

 with their husbands and wives and their children 

 and children's children. 



Tupi was the leader, and being the eldest was 

 called the father, and Tupi said to his brother : 

 Behold, this great land with all its rivers and forests, 

 abounding in fish and birds and beasts and fruit, is 

 ours, for there are no other men dwelHng in it ; but 

 we are few in number, let us therefore continue to 

 live together with our children in one village. 



