186 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [eth. ANN. 30 



The Wrong Rattle, the Bush-hog, and the Baby (W) 



A man with his wife and two sons went one day to a neighboring settlement to 

 join a drink-party. In the house they left their two girls, who were busy making 

 cassiri, and this is what happened to them. Going to fetch some more water from 

 the creek, they heard, as they strolled along, a peculiar sort of cry. It was really 

 Siwara, the Hebu (Bush Spirit), intentionally misleading them by imitating the call 

 of the oto, a bird bigger than the Baridi hawk. So they challenged it in the usual 

 way (Sect. 130), shouting, "Don't cry, but show yourself, or kill something for 

 us." They saw nothing, and they heard nothing further. However, after reach- 

 ing home, and resting awhile, a young man approached the house, and greeting them 

 with "Good-day, Cousins!" he entered.' "Where are your parents?" was the next 

 inquiry of the stranger, who of course was no other than Siwara, he ha\ing put in 

 an appearance in obedience to the challenge to show himself. And the girls, telling 

 him that they were all away at a paiwarri, offered him cassava and drink, ^^^len he 

 had partaken of this, Siwara told them to go and fetch in the powis which he had 

 brought for them: this done, he asked them to bring in his hammock, as he proposed 

 staying over night. They fetched the hammock and slung it at that end of the house 

 farthest removed from their sleeping quarters. "Don't be afraid! I am not going 

 to trouble you." And he spoke true, because the girls slept right through the night 

 without being troubled by him. Next morning early Siwara returned to the bush, 

 but before taking his departure warned them not to tell their parents that he had 

 paid them a \dsit. Not long after, the father and mother came home, and seeing the 

 dried powis, exclaimed, "Hullo! How did you manage to get that?" The girls lied, 

 saying, "We came upon an oto hawk who had caught it, and we took it away from 

 him." By and by, the powis was cooked and eaten, and as the old father was chew- 

 ing the portion he had just picked out of the pot, he came across a piece of arrow in 

 it, a kokerite one.^ Turning to his daughters, he inquired of them: "If an oto killed 

 the bird, how did this kokerite arrow get in?" and they had to admit that the 

 powis had been brought to them Ijy their "uncle." ^ " Then why did you not tell me so 

 at fii'st?" he rejoined. "Why did you not let me know that he had visited you while 

 your mother and I were away? Go straight away now, and call him in!" So they 

 went outside and shouted, Daku! Dahu! and who should immediately answer the 

 summons but Siwara himself. As he entered, the house-master welcomed him, and 

 he sat himself down on the chair-bench that was offered him. "Thanks! Thanks!" 

 he exclaimed; "I was here yesterday, and kept the girls company." Now the old 

 father, who had been to the drinking party, was still fairly bemuddled and hardly 

 knew what he was doing; at the same time, although he had not the slightest idea 

 who Siwara was, he certainly offered his elder daughter to him, pro\'ided he liked 

 her. It so happened that Siwara liked her very much, and he therefore turned to 

 her mother and asked her whether she would care to have him for son-in-law. She 

 said, "Yes, very much." And thus it came to pass that the Hebu obtained his 

 wife, and arranged to take up his abode with her at her father's place. Siwara, how- 

 ever, proved himself a very good husband and son-in-law, and always returned from 

 his hunting expeditions well loaded with game. He also took the trouble to teach 

 his wife's brothers how to shoot bush-hog. Formerly, whenever these two fellows 

 went out and brought back a bird, they would say they had brought back^bush-hog. 

 You see, they did not know what a bush-hog really was. So he took them out one 



1 Ija-sanuka is Warrau for 'cousin,' the word used by the narrator. An Indian wijl greet any other female 

 of hLs tribe in three ways: If older, as 'mother' or 'auntie'; if about the same age, as 'sister' or 'cousin'; 

 and if much younger, as 'child,' 'daughter/ etc. 



2 Kokerite is used only for the blow-pipe, that is, poisoned arrows. 



^ The Warrau word for ' imcie ' as used here is daku: not only does this mean the parents' brother but 

 practically every male of about corresponding age. 



