BOTH] THE SPIRITS OF THE BUSH 225 



way, aad on a given signal rcturued to tlie trysting place. But there was no Turtle 

 to be seen. Of course not! hadn't he crawled into a hole in a log for safety? And there 

 he still is, and there Tiger is continually on the watch for him to emerge. 



161. Tiger and Vnt-eater (C)' 



One day Tiger met the Tamanoa (Great Ant-eater) in tlie forest, and chaffed him 

 about his funny mouth and his clumsy toes. "Nevermind," said Tamanoa; "even 

 if my mouth is small and my feet are clumsy, I can eat at all events meat quite as well 

 as you, and I am certainly as strong as you." "Oh, no, indeed you are not!" replied 

 Tiger. Thus they went on arguing. At last, Tamanoa said he would like to have 

 a peep into his ri\ars mouth, and when Tiger opened his jaws wide and showed him 

 his fangs, told hini he did not think much of them. Tliis annoyed Tiger, who then 

 wanted. to look inside Tamanoa's mouth, and having done so, exclaimed: "What! 

 Do you mean U' tell me that you can eat meat? 1 don't believe you have ever tasted 

 it in your life." "You lie!" replied Tamanoa, "becau.se it was only this very morning 

 that I finished the deer carcass that you had left behind. [Si stercus meum ob.serves], 

 you can see that I ate even more of the meat than you did." It was agreed, there- 

 fore [ut ambo defecarent instanter], Tamanoa stipulating that while thus engaged 

 both should keep their eyes tightly clo.«ed. Thb also was agreed to, but while occu- 

 pied in carrying out the conditions of the wager, Tamanoa surreptitiously opened his 

 eyes and silently exchanged [stercus suum] for that of his adversary. "Open (nes!" 

 shouted .Vnt-eater, whereU])on both turned around to see what had hap])ened. [Felis 

 Tigris animadvertavit stercus suum], and was much puzzled, but, when he went to 

 examine Tamanoas', he had to admit at once that his opponent had indeed eaten 

 meat, and a goodly quantity of it, that very morning. Tiger was still puzzled over 

 [stercore suo], and said tliat a similar thing had never happened before — ver\' likely 

 he must be sick. "Sick indeed you are, and weak too," retorted Tamanoa; "for 

 though my feet are so clumsy from walking always on their oulsides, I am more than 

 a match for you." Tiger was much angered at this last remark, and the result was 

 that they commenced lighting. Tiger made a spring forward at the same time that 

 Tamanoa ducked his head; the latter, seizing Tiger by the ribs, once his hold was 

 secure, easily crushed him — and Tiger "soon dead."^ 



162. How Birds Got their Present Plumage ' 



Once upon a time there was a Water Serpent, a huge creature with a most brilliant 

 skin of red, yellow, green, black, and white in extraordinary patterns. He became 

 such a terror to all other living creatures that the men and birds, who were friends 

 in those days, combined forces to destroy him, and the creature's skin was promised 

 to the first one who made him come out of the pool. But all were afraid to tackle 

 him except Cormorant,* who, darting down into the water, drove an arrow through 

 his neck — an arrow fastened by a string to a tree on the bank, by means of which he 

 was finally drawn to laud, where he was skinned. Cormorant claimed the skin, and 

 the warriors, never thinking he would be able to carry it away, told him he could 

 have it. He nodded to the other birds, who, each seizing part of the edge, managed 

 to lift it off the ground and bear it to a secluded spot, where Cormorant told them 

 they could divide it among themselves, each to take the part that he had just helped 



• 1 Von den .Steinen (3S3) gives a similar Bakairi .story. 



» So dreaded is tlie strength of the ant-eater's limbs, that not even an Indian \viU venture into close 

 quarters with the animal. 

 ' See BrB, 173; compare Brett's story in Sect. Ii2. 



* im Thurn (382) oarils at Brett making the attacker a cormorant, which, he says, is not a Guiajiese 

 bird, and in his version replaces it by a duckler {Plotus anhinga). Schomburgk, however, speaks of 

 cormorants {Scharbe), Halieus brasilianus III., on the Essequibo (ScR, i, 293). 

 15961° — 30 ETH — 1.5 15 



