344 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [etii. ANN. 30 



trap, and so he went, as before, to fetch the Vulture. And when the Vulture came 

 quite close, Makanauro seized him, and held him fast; this made all the other com- 

 mon Crows frightened and they fiew away. The bird himself thought that his captor 

 must be a piai, because no one else could have secured him so simply. Now, I have 

 made a mistake talkuig about "himself," "his," and "him," because it was a hen- 

 bird, as Makanauro speedily found out. Indeed, she was a very fine woman, and 

 he married her there and then. And thus they lived comfortably together for many 

 years, all the Carrion-crows having returned to live in the vicinity as friends and 

 companions. One day, the wife sent him for some water, and gave him a quake to 

 bring it in. He took it down to the riverside, but couldn't "catch" any, of course, 

 because as fast as he poured it in, it flowed out through the meshwork. He tried 

 several times, until at last some muneri ants, noticing his extraordinary movements, 

 asked him what he was trying to do, and when they learnt how anxious he was to 

 oblige his wife, they offered to patch up all the interstices of the basket with ' ' ant-bed. ' ' 

 ^Mien they had finished the job, the quake retained the water, and Makanauro brought 

 it home full up to the brim. On seeing this, his wife said to herself, "Yes, indeed. 

 My husband must be a real semi-chichi to be able to bring water in a quake for me." 

 And yet she had her doubts about the matter, so she thought she would try him a second 

 time. She accordingly sent him to cut a field for her, but on returning each morning 

 he found that all the timber and bushes that he had cut down the day before were 

 growing again and thriving in their original positions. As a matter of fact, the Carrion- 

 crows had fiown to the field each night,' at the bidding of the Vulture, and set 

 up again the trees and bushes that had been felled. But poor Makanauro did not 

 know this. All he could do was to ask the kushi ants to eat up the wood, branches 

 and leaves, as fast as he could cut them down; these, knowing the facta of the case, 

 made up their minds to help him, and did so. The Carrion-crows could not fight 

 against the kushi ants, and so Makanauro managed to complete the clearing of 

 his field. And though his wife was inclined at heart still more to believe that her 

 husband was a medicine-man, considering the circumstances under which, as she 

 believed, he had cut his field, she was yet in doubt about it, and determined to try 

 him a third time. She therefore sent him to make a chair-bench for her mother-in- 

 law; he had to carve the head at each extremity into the exact likeness of the old 

 woman. This task she thought was practically impossible;' and Makanauro thought 

 so, too, because as yet he had never set eyes on his mother-in-law. However, he 

 tried to find out, but every time he even looked in the direction of the old woman, 

 she immediately covered her face with her hand, or turned it aside, or downward. 

 How to make her turn her face upward so as to get a good look at it, was what 

 puzzled him. At last he hit upon an idea. Without her knowing it, he climbed 

 into the roof, and throwing down a centipede so as to fall "flop" into her lap, 

 made her extend her arms and look up for a second, just as he wanted. Then 

 starting to work, he cut up the log, trimmed it into the necessary shape, and 

 finally carved excellent likenesses on the two heads. When completed, his wife 

 took the bench to her mother-in-law, who laughed when she saw her two por- 

 traits; certain it is, that both women wondered greatly how Makanauro had managed 

 to obtain a sufficiently good view to enable him to make so exact a Ukeness. 

 The wife now became quite proud of her husband, and fond of him, too, because he 

 always carried out her wishes. If she asked him to bring her some fish, he would 

 fetch her some wrapped up in a small parcel: and when as usual she would pout her 

 lips and hint that it was not a lai-ge quantity, he would tell her to open it, and then 

 the fish would come tumbling out, one after the other, in immense quantities, filling 

 the whole house [cf. Sect. 2S]. And he would laugh, because being a piai, he 

 could do extraordinary things. A fine boy had long blessed their union, and the 



' Before contact with European influences, it was strictly taboo for any Indian either to enter liis mother- 

 in-law's apartment, to remain in the same room, lo talk with her, or even to look at her. 



