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



The Shrewd Little Boy and the Hebu (W) 



A woman, having to go to make starch out of the ite (Mauritia) tree, left her little 

 children, two girls, behind the house. Wliile she was away Kau-nassa, a Bush Spirit, 

 came along, disguised as their old grandmother, and said, "Come along, my little 

 girls. I will take you ta your mother." But instead of doing that, the Hebu led 

 them away far into the bush, till they reached a creek where the old woman sat down 

 and made a basket. When it was completed, she told the youngsters to get inside; 

 once they were in, she closed the top, and threw it into the water, where the children 

 were soon drowned. Kau-nassa then went to another house, where a little boy and girl 

 had been left in charge during their parents' absence and, similarly disguised as their 

 grandmother, repeated her story. She led the children as before to the creek, where 

 she proposed making another basket, and they started playing around her. "You 

 children," she said, "must not play behind my back. Play in front of me where I 

 can see you." Now the very fact of being told not to go behind her made the boy 

 all the more anxious to do what had been forbidden. So while playing in front with 

 his sister, he made an excuse to slip away behind, and then he saw the lower part of 

 the old woman's back, which was all aglow with the fire that she carried there. He 

 now knew that she was a Hebu, and getting back to his little sister, carried her home. 

 But before going he called out, Kau-nassn! Kau-nassa! So angered and dismayed was 

 the Spirit at being discovered and hearing her name called (Sect. 124) that she burst 

 into wind and flame and flew away. 



100. Of the Immawaii I can not get much raf ormation, there being 

 few rehable old Akawai in my district: on the authority of Warraus, 

 however, these Spirits have two immense teeth protruding from theii- 

 stomachs. Had elephants roamed the country within recent geolog- 

 ical periods, one could perhaj^s have obtained an insight mto the 

 origin of so extraordinary a belief: on the other haiwl it is possible 

 that it may be an idea borrowed from the African (Sect. 113). 



101. So also with the Yurokons. All I can glean is that, in common 

 with the other Forest Spirits, the face, body, and limbs are covered 

 with a luxuriant growth of hair. As to the Caypor, a kind of sylvan 

 deity similar to the Curupira, the belief in this behig seems to be 

 common to all the tribes of the Tupi stock: according to the figiwe 

 they dressed up at Ega (upper Amazon) he is a bulky misshapen 

 monster with red skin and long shaggy red hair hanging halfway 

 down his back (HWB, 279). The Curupari (Jurupari, or Demon) 

 is a mysterious being whose attributes are uncertain, for they vary 

 according to locality: sometimes he is described as a kind of orang- 

 outang, covered with long shaggy hair and living in trees; at others 

 he is said to have cloven feet and a bright-red face ... he some- 

 tunes comes down to the rocas to steal the mandioca (HWB, 36). 

 On the upper Aiary River (Rio Negro) the bad forest demon is a 

 bearded dwarf: he jeers the huntere and drives away the quarry from 

 right under their very noses. At times, he kills .people with his poi- 

 soned arrows (KG, i, 137). 



103. But the Spirits of the Forest need not necessarily be anthro- 

 pomorphic. They may take the likeness of animals (e. g., "tigers," 

 birds), an especially favored feathered form being the goat-sucker 



