WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 289 



come and say that he saw a bird larger than a condor. But I know the 

 birds around here are no larger than a condor. And so I say nothing. 

 Soon he stops boasting to me. Should a child come to me, however, 

 and lie about something important, I will whip such a child with a 

 rope." 



A jealous child is told, "What you are, you are," or "What you 

 have is yours, and you must be satisfied with it ; what others have is 

 theirs and theirs has nothing to do with you." 



QUARRELING, TALE BEARING, DISOBEDIENCE 



Children were instructed not to quarrel. In fact, parents did not 

 allow them to ; if they persisted in doing so, they were punished, 

 usually whipped. "When my father instructed us in other things, he 

 also told us not to quarrel." 



Quarrels between children in a neighborhood sometimes caused 

 quarrels between their respective parents ; just as often no one paid 

 any attention to them. "It is merely children's conduct," parents will 

 say and let it go at that. A quarrel resulted when a child, sibling or 

 neighbor, took something that belonged to another child and did not 

 return it. Sensible parents, it was said, insisted that the thing be re- 

 turned, and the quarrel thus ended. 



Tale bearers were listened to, "since it might be something im- 

 portant that the child was telling." If it was important, the one told 

 on was corrected, sometimes punished; if not, the tale-bearing one 

 was sent away, or the listener walked away from him. 



Obedience was demanded by parents of all children ; formerly 

 even of adult offspring. A disobedient child was admonished and 

 then punished. "That was formerly ; it is not that way today. For- 

 merly, men obeyed when they were 30 ; today some do not obey when 

 they are only 19," said an 80-year-old woman. She added in a serious 

 mood, "I have seen men 30 years old whipped by their fathers, in 

 former years, because they had disobeyed." 



Punishments were usually suited to the gravity of the disobedience. 

 An 85-year-old man, when 10 years old, was whipped with a rope by 

 his father for not bringing home the oxen his father needed; he had 

 played instead. "That was one time that I got a whipping with a rope," 

 he mused, A woman older than 100 years was whipped with a stick 

 when she was about 7 years old because she continued to play and 

 would not answer her mother's call. An eyewitness related that a 

 woman about to give birth sent her 14-year-old son (the only one 

 home) to fetch his aunt. The boy did not return, neither did the 



