290 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 33 



aunt arrive, and the woman delivered her baby that night alone. When 

 her husband came home he explained to the boy in no uncertain terms 

 what his duties had been. When the boy would not give his father 

 the reason for not getting his aunt, the father tied a lasso about the 

 boy's neck, threw the end of it over a rafter, and raised and lowered 

 the boy for about a half hour. He finally let the boy down and 

 removed the lasso. The boy fainted. "But his father shook him, and 

 he came to. No, no, the boy did not die ; Araucanians do not die so 

 easily. The father made the boy kneel down and beg his pardon and 

 promise never to do anything like that again." 



An 8- or 9-year-old child that persisted in disobeying after having 

 been admonished and whipped was thought to have bad blood. Its 

 mother performed the katakonn on it to remove the bad blood, that 

 is, she pierced a vein at the child's wrist — "maybe with a piece of 

 glass that is as sharp as a needle" — and let flow a small amount of 

 blood. 



During an interview an 80-year-old grandmother ordered her 

 8-year-old granddaughter, who was sitting by idly, listening in, to get 

 her knitting. "That girl has been knitting on that pullover for more 

 than a year," the grandmother noted. Her lo-year-old grandson she 

 ordered to chase back turkeys that were wandering away, and after 

 that to take the sheep to pasture. She complained about the lack of 

 obedience of her 19-year-old grandson. She was displeased with the 

 manner in which he was taking a sheep to the village to be sold — he 

 was transporting it on horseback. "Do not put the sheep in back of 

 you ; put it in front of you, so it will have some shade," she called to 

 him. "Why must you leave at this time of day [2 p.m.] ? It is too 

 hot to be leaving now." But the young man rode off. Later when 

 she could see him again as he was riding down the mountainside, she 

 remarked: "Why is he wearing his poncho? It is neither cold nor 

 raining! I scold this boy much. He is only 19 and often hesitates to 

 obey. When I scold him he says he is leaving home; but he always 

 comes back and is very amiable when he does come back." 



LYING, STEALING, INTOXICATION 



Formerly, children rarely lied; they were admonished not to, and 

 punishment was sometimes dealt out to liars. "A child that lied and 

 did not correct its lies was called early by the father on the following 

 day and was told, 'Yesterday you lied to me. I do not want you to 

 do that again. I want you to remember that you are not to do that 

 again.' That is what my father told his children, and that is how I 



