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



stacked all round the base of the trunk, so as to jjrevent iinyoue following her. Well, 

 she got up the tree, which had six bunches of fruit hanging from it, and nicked the 

 stalks of every bunch, so that with the least knock or cut they would break off and tall: 

 this done, she coiled herself up in the young palm-shoot, and fell asleep. She slept 

 until about midnight, when she heanl the roaring of a Tiger who, scenting her from a 

 distance, rushed up to the very palm on which she was resting. Jumping on the 

 trunk above the "pimplers," he crawled up it, and thence onto one of the fruit 

 bunches. No sooner had he done so than the young woman above made a cut at the 

 "nick," with the result that down went both Tiger and fruit.' The Tiger had another 

 chance and jumped on another bunch, but with the same result. He made a third 

 attempt, and on this occasion fell down on the pimplers, upon which he was impaled, 

 what with the weight of the bunch of fruit on top of him. Everything was soon quiet, 

 and early next morning when the young woman looked to see what had hap])ened, 

 she saw the Tiger stretched out below. Now she suspected that Tiger might be only 

 shamming, and so she was afraid to come down at first, but when she saw his tongue 

 hanging out, she knew that everything was all right and that he was really dead. 

 She therefore came down and resumed her journey. After a time she heard the sounds 

 of a tree being cut, and then made to fall; thinking that it was her people felling 

 trees, she hurried on in the direction indicated. But what was her surprise to see 

 another Tiger playing an old trick of his, to make the traveler believe that timber 

 was being cut in the near distance. This trick consisted of his hanging from the 

 branch with his front paws and whipping the trunk with his tail, so as to imitate the 

 sound of the ax chopping. To pretend that the cut trunk was then fallen, he would 

 next pull a big bunch of twigs and leaves and throw them with full force on the ground 

 below. Now, fortunately for the young woman, she came upon this Tiger from behind, 

 just as he was hanging from the branch, and without more ado said to herself: "Well, 

 dead or alive, this is my only chance. I must cut off his tail." Suiting the action 

 to the word, she crept forward very cautiously, and with one swish of the knife cut 

 off the creature's tail. Tiger was so ashamed at his own appearance now, that he 

 went off howling with rage and pain, afraid of anyone seeing him, and thus left the 

 woman free to resume her journey. She again heard the sound of timber being 

 cut, but on this occasion made sure before getting too close that the sound proceeded 

 from people and not from Tigers. To her great joy it was her own people. They were 

 all glad to see her, but asked how she had managed to get through that long stretch 

 of bush in safety. She proceeded to tell them that she had killed one Tiger outright, 

 that she had cut off the tail from another, that — but her brothers stopped her before 

 she could get any further: "No woman can do that," they interrupted. So she took 

 both of them back on the road and showed them the severed tail, and farther back, 

 the Tiger's carcass. They would not approach too close to the latter, fearing that it 

 might still be alive, but at any rate they now believed what their sister had told them. 



137. The Man with a Vulture Wife (W)^ 



There were once three brothers. The middle one was a very good hunter, and 

 this story is all about him and his bird wife. Wliile out in the bush one day he came 

 across a large house wherein people were "sporting". These people were very fair, 

 much like white persons, a thing not to be wondered at, because they were really 

 Vultures [Sarcorhamphus papa] who had taken off their feathers just for the occasion, 

 to hang about the place and decorate it. They were dancing and singing the makuari 

 tune [Sect. 75] on all sorts of musical instruments, from the harri-harri flute to the 



1 This part of the story will be understood by remembering that in tbi.s Mauntia palm the bunches of 

 fruit form around the top of the trunk a more or less circular obstacle to anything passing to the foliage 

 above. 



2 This story bears somewhat close comparison with those given in Sects. 1^2 and SOS. 



