202 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [bth. Ann. 30 



from thoir moorings, and getting into one, made liis way down the stream. The 

 murdered woman's brothers had got home by now, and telling tlieir old mother 

 what they had seen, asked her what had become of the culprit. As soon as they 

 learned that he had gone to bathe, they hastened down to the landing, and finding 

 no corial there, one of them swam across the stream to get one, and both getting in, 

 they gave chase. They pulled hard and soon caught up with their man, but as they 

 drew near, he jumped on shore and climbed a tree, shouting, "Your little sister is 

 there where I left her." They tried to strike him, but he was now changed into a 

 Yakahatata, a sort of powis which thus is always crying out " Sister-little- there " [that is, 

 ija-ko-i sanuka tataha, of which Yakahatata is the nearest approach in bird-language 

 to which he can attain]. 



132. The Stolen Child (W) 



A man went out hunting, leaving at home his wife and little baby girl, a child 

 that was just beginning to walk. Night was falling and the mother was preparing 

 food for her husband's return. While thus occupied the child started crying, and 

 just at that moment the old grandmother came from over the way to fetch it. The 

 mother was only too pleased to be temporarily relieved of her responsibilities, and 

 when the old woman asked her to hand the -child over, she willingly did so, and was 

 thus enabled to get all the cooking done without further interruption. \Mien this 

 was completed, she weht to fetch her baby, and said, "Give me my child." But 

 when the old woman said, "'WTiat child? I know nothing about any child," the 

 poor mother knew that she had been tricked. As a matter of fact, it was really a 

 Tiger who had assumed the exact form of the old woman, and so had deceived the 

 mother. When the husband at last returned, the distracted woman told him what 

 had happened, and they both started out to search, but foimd nothing. Next morn- 

 ing they renewed their search, but were again unsuccessful, and at last gave up their 

 quest. Thus they gradually lost touch with their little daughter, and after a time 

 she was forgotten. A few years passed, and the parents began to lose things about 

 the house. First of all, the beads on their necklaces disappeared one night; on 

 another occasion their cotton garters could not be found; one evening all the ite 

 [Mauritia] starch vanished; one morning the wood-skin [i. e. bark] apron-belt was 

 nowhere to be seen; not long afterward the buck-pots began to disappear one after 

 the other; and so things continued unaccountably to be lost. Though the parents 

 had not the slightest idea that such was the case, it was the Tiger who came every 

 now and then after nightfall to steal all these things for the little girl to use. She 

 was getting of course to be a yoimg maiden now, and Tiger was minding her as his 

 own kith and kin. The young maiden soon became a woman, nourished with all 

 the meat that Tiger provided. [Quandocumque menstrua\it sanguinem lamba\it.] 

 He was still a tiger and, continuing to do what tigers and dogs do* [incepit femmam 

 olfacere]. Moreover, his two brothers, being similarly affected, followed his example. 

 The girl felt very strange at these periods and could not understand the actions toward 

 her of Tiger and his two brothers. So she made up hor mind to escape, and asked Tiger 

 one day how far their place was from the spot where her parents lived. He was 

 somewhat suspicious and wanted to know first of all why she asked the question. 

 So she told him something like this: "You are an old man and will die soon. I am 

 young, ^\^lat will then happen to me? If I knew where they were, I could then 

 go to my parents." Recognizing the force of her argument, he told her that they 

 lived in such and such a direction, that it was not far, and that immediately upon 

 his decease she must htu-ry to them, lest his two brothers should meet her and tear 

 her up. Contented for the present with this information, the woman bided her 

 time to seize a favorable opportunity of escape — an opportunity which was not long 

 in coming. She planned what to do, she was getting tired of always being alone 



