128 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [kth. ANN. 30 



man is Snake and he will be back before the dawn. If he were to find you here, he 

 would certainly kill you." But her \asitor was not to be frightened, and he stayed 

 where he was. True enough, before dawn, Snake came wending his way home, and 

 as he crawled into the tree, he was heard to exclaim, "Hallo! I can smell some one." 

 Kororomanna was indeed frightened now, and was at his wits' end to know what to 

 do. Just then dawn broke, and they heard a hummingbird. "That is my uncle," 

 said our hero. They then heard the doroquarra: "That also is an uncle of mine, " he 

 added.' He purposely told Snake all this to make him believe that, if he killed and 

 swallowed his visitor, all the other hummingbirds and doroquarras would come and 

 avenge his death. But Snake said, "I am not afraid of either of your uncles, but 

 will gobble them up." Just then, a chicken-hawk (Urubitinga) flew along, which 

 made Snake ask whether that also was an uncle of his. "To be sure " was the reply, 

 "and when I am dead, he also will come and search for me." It was now Snake's 

 turn to be frightened, because Chicken-hawk used always to get the better of him; 

 so he let Kororomanna go in peace, who ran out of that hollow tree pretty quick. 



34. It was full daylight now, but this made little odds, because he had still lost 

 his way, and knew not how to find the road home. After wandering on and on, 

 he at last came across a track, recognizable by the footprints in it: following this up, 

 he came upon a hollow tree that had fallen across the path, and inside the tmnk he 

 saw a baby. This being a Hebu's child, he slaughtered it, but he had no sooner 

 done so than he heard approaching footsteps, which caused him promptly to climb a 

 neighboring tree and await developments. These were not long in coming, for the 

 mother soon put in her appearance; as soon as she recognized her dead infant, she 

 was much angered, and, looking around, carefully examined the fresh tracks, and 

 said, "This is the man who has killed my child. " Her next move was to dig up a 

 bit of the soil marked by one of the fresh footprints, wrap it up in a leaf tied with 

 bush-rope, and hang it on a branch while she went for firewood. Directly her back 

 was turned, Kororomanna slid down from his hiding place, undid the bundle, and 

 threw away the contents, substituting a footprint of the Spirit woman. Then, tying 

 up the parcel as before, he hung it where it had been left, and hid himself once more. 

 When the woman returned with the firewood, she made a big fire, and threw the 

 bundle into the flames, saying as she did so: "Curse the person whose footprint I 

 now burn. May the owner fall into this fire also!" She thought that if she burnt 

 the "foot-mark" so would the person's shadow be drawn to the fire. But no one 

 came, and she felt that her own shadow was being impelled. "Oh! It seems that I 

 am hurting myself; the fire is drawing me near, " she exclaimed. Twice was she thus 

 dragged toward it against her will, and yet she succeeded in resisting. But on the 

 third occasion she could not draw back; she fell in, and was burnt to ashes; she 

 "roasted herself dead." ^ 



25. Kororomanna was again free to travel, but which direction to follow was the 

 puzzle; he had still lost his way home. All he could do was to walk more or less 

 aimlessly on, passing creek after creek and back into the bush again, until he emerged 

 on a beautiful, clean roadway. But no sooner had he put his foot on it, than it 

 stuck there, just like a fish caught in a spring-trap. And this is exactly what the 

 trap really was, save that it had been set by the Hebus. He pulled and he tugged 

 and he twisted, but try as he might, he could not get away. He fouled himself over 

 completely, and then lay quite still, pretending to be dead. The flies gathered on 

 him and these were followed by the worms, but he continued to lie quite still. By 

 and by two of the Spirits came along, and one of them said, "Hallo! I have luck today. 

 My spring-trap has caught a fish at last," but when he got closer, he added, "Oh! I 



1 This bird is tlie Odonlophorus Guiamnsis. "The notes of this bird, from which it takes its name, are 

 usualiy the first heard in the morning, and frequently before dawii" (BW, 18,3). 



2 Present-day cursing, the h6-a of the Warraus and Arawaks, is done on somewhat different lines, 

 usually by medicine-men or by very old people only. 



