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



calling until the day began to darken. But there came no answer. Yet he went on 

 calling and begging her to show hini all the things that he waa so anxious to learn, 

 and now that night came on, he started crying. He knew full well that if he cried 

 long enough slie would come down, just as a woman does when, after refusing a man 

 once, she finally takes pity when she hears him weeping. ' As he stood wailing under- 

 neath the tree, what should come trooping up but a whole string of birds, all arranged 

 in regular order, according to size, from the smallest to the largest ? The lil I lo Doro- 

 quara [Odontophorus] came first, and pecked his feet with its bill, to make him clever 

 in hunting it, and so on in turn with all the other birds, up to the very largest. Wau- 

 uta, you see, was now beginning to take pity on him, but of course he did not know 

 that. When all the birds had finislied with him, all the Rats came in the order of their 

 size, to be followed by the Acouri, Labba, Deer, Bush-hog, and so on up to the Naba 

 [tapir]. As they passed, each one put out its tongue, licked his feet, and went on, so 

 as to give him luck in hunting its kind. In a similar manner, next came the Tigers, 

 from the smallest to the largest, all going through the same performance and passing 

 on. Last of all, the Snakes put in an appearance, did the same thing, and crept past. 

 Of course, time was required for this performance and it was not until daybreak that 

 it was brought to a completion, when the man finally ceased his weeping. With the 

 daylight he saw a stranger approach. Tliis was Wau-uta, who was carrying a curious 

 looking arrow. "So it was you making all that noise last night and keeping me 

 awake, was it?" "Yes," replied the man, "it was." "Well," said Wau-uta, "look 

 down your arm from your shoulder to your hand." He looked accordingly, and saw 

 it was covered with fungus; he looked at his other arm, which was just the same. 

 It was this same fungus that had always given him bad luck, so he promptly scraped 

 it all off.- Wau-uta's arrow was very curious looking, as said before. It had been 

 broken into three or four pieces, which had been subsequently spliced. Wau-uta 

 now gave it to the man in exchange for her own, and bidding him put it to his bow, 

 told him to shoot at a thin vine rope ^ hanging a long way off: the arrow hit the mark. 

 Replacing the arrow on the bowstring, Wau-uta instructed him to shoot into the air, 

 and in whatever direction he sent his arrow, so soon as it came to earth it stuck into 

 something — first of all a doroquara, and so on in the same rotation of birds that had 

 pecked his feet, right up to the powis; every time a different bird, and yet he himself 

 could see nothing when he started the arrow on its flight. As he went on shooting 

 into the air in all directions, he found that lie had hit a rat, an acouri, etc., until there 

 fell to his arrow a beautiful tapir. Continuing to shoot as directed, he knocked over 

 the tigers and snakes according to their proper order. When all this was finished, 

 Wau-uta told him he might keep this broken arrow, for which she would accept hia 

 in exchange, but on condition that he must never divulge to anyone that it was she 

 who had taught him to be so good a marksman. They then said good-by and parted 

 company. Our friend returned home to his two wives, and soon gained as great a 

 reputation for stocking his babracote as he already bore for his bravery in killing the 

 Tobe-horoanna. All did their level best to discover the secret of his success: they 

 asked him repeatedly, but he refused to tell. So they bided their time, and induced 

 him to attend a big paiwarri feast. The same old story: Druik proved his undoing; 

 he let loose his tongue, and divulged what had happened. Next morning, after 

 regaining consciousness he went to fetch his arrow, the one that Wau-uta had given 

 him, but he found it replaced by his own that he had given in exchange. From that 

 time he lost all his luck. 



1 This was the exact e.xplanation given when I interrupted my informant, to ascertain why the crying 

 took place.— W.E.R. 



2 In the Arawak story of Adaba (Sect. 145) it is the fungus on the arrow itself which prevents it hitting 

 the mark. 



* In the Arawak story just referred to a fishing-lme serves the purpose of the vine ro]>e. 



