52 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



or squeezed himself through a narrow space. Children pay this same 

 courtesy to each other. "Anybody with sense," said a grandmother, 

 "would know that much, and would show that much respect to others ; 

 only animals could be excused for such actions as passing in front 

 of others." 



Children are taught to give and to share. On one occasion a mother 

 showed a handkerchief that I had given her to her 6-year-old son, and 

 then led him by the hand to the storage space in the ruka, put an egg 

 into each of his hands, pushed him forward toward me, and had him 

 give me the eggs and say, "This is for you." Quoting a non-Arauca- 

 nian teacher on sharing : "I have often been edified at the manner in 

 which children will share with each other. If one helps me with work, 

 or does me a favor, and I repay him, say with a sweet roll, he will 

 break off pieces and hand everyone present a piece the next minute. 

 When a football club was being formed early in the school year, every 

 boy was expected to pay a peso. One boy did not have that amount ; 

 at once others handed him extra centavos they had. Another time 

 children were buying notebooks, and one of the girls had no money. 

 Another girl slipped her a coin immediately." 



From the time a child gives evidence of comprehending an order, 

 it is trained to obey — the mother recognizes this when she has sent a 

 child some place to carry out her bidding, and the child has done so. 

 The mother will say, "Kimhe ni penen" or "Kimhe pichi" (my child 

 already understands). Such a child is addressed as pichi weche qen 

 (little one) or as pichi weche wentru (little young man). "Some chil- 

 dren can carry out an order when three or four years old ; others not 

 until they are five or six." From then on until puberty, the boy is 

 spoken of as futra wentru (growing-up boy) ; the girl as futra domo 

 (growing-up girl). The adolescent boy is addressed as pichi wentru 

 (little man) ; the girl as pichi domo (little woman). 



A child that does not obey promptly may be warned, but an order 

 is not repeated. Orders may come from older brothers and sisters, as 

 well as from parents. Children that were hushed, corrected, or ordered 

 to do a thing obeyed willingly and quite promptly. A 19-year-old girl 

 told her 5-year-old brother to fetch her a basket ; promptly he went 

 for it. A 2-year-old boy was told by his older sister to spit a blade of 

 grass out of his mouth ; he did so at once. A 60-year-old woman, when 

 asked "How can you manage four sons ?" answered with a laugh : 

 "I am like a lion in my house ! My boys all obey me. From little on, 

 when I wanted them to do a thing, I told them once, plainly so they 

 understood; if they did not obey then, I knew they were stubborn 

 and I used a stick on them." 



