130 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [eth. ann. 30 



Koroiomanna to carry home. So the Spirit in some peculiar way bound ihem all 

 up into quite a small bundle, small enough for Kororomanna to carry in Ms hand. 



28. Kororomanna now soon managed to find the right path home, because each 

 and everj' animal that he met gave him news of his mother. One after the other, he 

 met a rat with a potato, an acouri with cassava root, a labba with a yam, a deer with a 

 cassava leaf, a kushi-aiit with a similar leaf on its head, and a bush-cow ( tapir) eating a 

 pineapple. And as he asked each in turn whence it had come, the animal said, "I 

 have been to your mother, and have begged potato, cassava, yam, and other things 

 from her." WTien at length he reached home, and his wife and mother asked what 

 he had brought, he told them a lot of fish, and they laughed light heartily at what 

 they thought was his little joke. So he bade them open the parcel, and as they 

 opened it, sure enough out came fish after fish, small and large, fish of all kinds, so 

 many in fact that the house speedily became filled, and the occupants had to shift 

 outside. [Cf. Sect. SOS.] 



28A. [Nol£. — In a Carib version of the story the hero's name is given as Kere-Kere'- 

 miyu-au. and he finds his way back home to his mother's place through the help 

 of a butterfly. When I happened to mention to the niurator that thLs was the first 

 time I had ever heard a "Nancy " storjf about this insect, he told me that the butterfly 

 was always a good friend of the Caribs. " Does it not," he added, "come and drink 

 of the washings from the cassiri jar, and remain stuck in the mess?" (i. e., "Does it 

 not come and join in our feasts, and get so drunk that it can not fly away'?"). — W. E. R.] 



29. Makunaima, or Makonaiina, the alleged God (ScR, ii, 225, 515) 

 or Supreme Being (IT, 365) of the Akawais, the Maker of Heaven 

 and Earth (ScR, ii, 319) of the Makusis, was one of the twin cltildren 

 of the Sun — in this particuhir all the traditions concerning him are 

 in agreement. He and his brother Pia may be regartled as both 

 Akawai and Makusi heroes. The name itself, Makunaima, signifies 

 "one that works in the dark" (HiC, 244); the Being working in 

 opposition to liim, accorcUng to Makusi behefs, is Epel (ScR, loc. cit.). 

 I am fortunately able to give three versions of the tradition of these 

 Heroes — from Warrau, Carib, and Makusi sources, respectively. 



The Sun, the Frog, and the Firesticks (W) 



Nahakoboiii (lit., the one who eats plenty) was an old man who, never ha\'ing had 

 a daughter, was beginning to feel anxious about his declining years, for, unlike the 

 other old people around, he of course had no son-in-law to care for him. He therefore 

 carved a daughter for himself out of a plum tree, and being a medicine-man, so skil- 

 fully did he cut and carve the timber that hj the time the task was completed there 

 was indeed a woman lovely to gaze upon. Her name was Ilsi-diu (lit., seed-tree) and 

 her physical charms were almost, but, as we shall presently see, not quite, perfect. 

 So attractive was she that all the animals, bird and beast, came from far to court 

 her, but the old man liked none of them, and when they asked him for her as 

 wife he gave them a curt refusal. The old man had a very poor opinion of the abilities 

 of these prospective sons-in-law. But when Yar, the Sun himself, stopped on his 

 journey, and paid the old man a \-isit, it was quite clear what his purpose was, and 

 proof was not long in coming that his advances would meet with encouragement. 



30. Nahakoboni thotight he would try Yar's mettle, and see what stuff he was made 

 of. He told Yar to feed him, and made him fetch along all the barbecued meat 

 that he had brought with him on his journey, and had left at the edge of the bush. 

 He ate very heartily, as might have been expected from the name given him, leav- 

 ing only a quarter of the meat for his visitor. He next told Yar to give him drink; 

 the latter emptied a big jugful down his throat. His next order to Yar was to bring 



