204 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LOKE OF GUIANA INDIANS [eth. ann. 30 



found her when out hunting one day in the bush, at the same time taking care to omit 

 all mention of the fact that she was really a Tiger. While at his old home, the couple 

 went out hunting again and again, invariably reluming with an extraordinarily large 

 bag. This, unfortunately, proved to be their undoing. All his friends and family 

 became suspicious of his luck, and made up their minds to discover to what nation 

 his beautiful wife belonged. He was often asked, but always refused lo divulge the 

 secret. His mother, however, became so worried and upset that he at last did make 

 a clean breast of it to her, strictly warning her not to tell anyone else, as his wife might 

 leave him altogether. And now trouble soon came. One day the husband's people 

 made plenty of cassiri, to get the old woman drunk, but when asked about her daughter- 

 in-law she wouldn't tell: they gave her more drink and still she held her tongue: at 

 last they gave her so much drink, that out came the secret and all the friends now knew 

 that the beautiful creature whom they had so envied was after all only a Tiger. The 

 woman, however, who had heard her mother-in-law exposing her origin, felt so ashamed 

 that she fled into the bush growling, and that was the last that was ever seen or heard 

 of her. Her husband, of course, upbraided his mother roundly for betraying him, 

 but she said she really could not help herself; they had made her so drunk. And 

 the poor husband would often go into the bush and call his wife, but there never, 

 never came a reply. 



134. The Woman in Love with a Sloth (A) 



A woman had a sloth [Vholopus didactylus] for a sweetheart. Every time that she 

 went into the field or into the bush she used to carry food and drink for him. She 

 would call llau! Hnu! and the Sloth would clamber do\vn the tree: and they caressed 

 each other just like lovers. Other people began to talk, and wondered what she did 

 with the food and drink that she was continually taking out of the house. Among 

 these was a young man who watched her next day, and saw her call her Sloth lover 

 and caress him. But instead of reciprocating her caresses, the Sloth scratched her, 

 and pulled down her hair, conduct which made her remark, "Are you jealous of me, 

 or vexed?" As a matter of fact, the Sloth was very much vexed as well as jealous, 

 because he could see the young man watching all their movements from behind a tree. 

 The woman did not know this, and turned her steps homeward. As soon as she was 

 gone, the man came from where he was hiding, and killed the Sloth. And when the 

 woman returned next day, and saw the animal lying dead, she fell into a great grief 

 and wept bitter tears, saying, "What has killed you, my sweetheart? " But the young 

 man, who had been following her, came up close behind, and consoled her. "Don't 

 be so foolish," he remarked. "A fast fellow is preferable to a slow Sloth. Take 7m 

 for a sweetheart." And she did.' 



135. Why Honey is so Scarce Now (A) 



In the olden times bees' ne.sts and honey were very plentiful in the bush, and there 

 was one man in particular who earned quite a reputation for discovering their where- 

 abouts. He would find a nest where no one else could. One day, while chop]iing 

 into a hollow tree where he had located some honey, he suddenly heard a voice from 

 the inside calling, "Take care! You are cutting me." On opening the tree very 

 carefully, he discovered a beautiful woman, who told him she was Maba [lit. 'honey'], 

 the Honey-Mother, that is, the Spirit of the Honey. As she was quite nude, he collected 

 sonie cotton, which she made into a cloth, and he asked her to be his wife. She con- 



1 1 happen to know a woman who has a child with a flexed, deformed hand, wilh regard to which 

 scandal gives the explanation on somewhat the above lines. Tlie mother, however, accounts for the 

 deformity in a certainly more rational way by the statement that, during her pregnancy, she was heightened 

 one day oi| suddenly coming across a sloth lying in the foot-path. — W. E. R. 



