378 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [etii. asn. 30 



the venison, but when he struck liis knife in, all Uie blood gushed forth. This snbered 

 him, and he left the house to become a wanderer. He may be here today, and gone 

 tomorrow. Yes, indeed, tliere are so many Konehus [i. e. rogues and vagabonds] 

 wandering about the world now, that it is very difficult to recognize which one is 

 our old friend. 



363. The Woman and the Serpent Oroli 



Long ago there was a girl who had many offers of marriage from among her own 

 people, but who always refused them. One day a stranger came, dressed in fine style. 

 Directly she saw him she exclaimed, "That is the man for me. I want him for my 

 liusband. " He married her, built a house in one day, and prepared all the furniture — 

 as the stools, paiwarri trough, the mortar — all at the same time. By this token 

 (everything being made so quickly) the girl knew that something was wrong, but she 

 could not say definitely what. As a matter of fact it was really the terrible snake Oroli 

 (Sect. 2<J5), who had come disguised as a man, decorated with boar's teeth and beau- 

 tiful feathers. And when at the wedding feast the bridegroom did not want to eat 

 with the others, and could be prevailed on to do so only on the condition that he should 

 be provided with an uncooked duck, which he swallowed all by himself, the girl was 

 still more certain that his actions were a token of some impending evil. After the 

 feast was over she accompanied her husband to their new home, where she remained 

 in liis hammock for three days, but he did not even once play the part of a husband. 

 He was really starving liimself pre])aratory to making a meal of her. At the end of this 

 time he told her to turn round, so that her head rested at his feet. When she had 

 obeyed him, he started swallowing her foot first. "Mother! Mother!" she cried, 

 "something is swallowing me. " " No! No! " screamed the man, " I am only acting 

 as a good husband." Her mother rushed into the house, but found only a great fat 

 serpent in the hammock. Her daughter was nowhere to be seen, and the mother 

 knew what had happened. She then ran to the priest who had married them, and 

 begged him to kill the snake, but the good Father said, "No. I cannot do so, 

 because he is a Catholic." So the girl was punished for having preferred the stranger 

 to an Indian. 



364, The Piai and the Earthquake People (C) 



A party of Caribs were out shooting birds in the forest when an earthquake (tutuhi) 

 took place: this made a great noise and the ground opened. Many people were inside 

 the earth, and one of the Caribs, Aiyobanni by name, jumped in to join them. His 

 mother, not being able to find him anywhere, commenced weeping. The head-man 

 of the Earthquake People heard her crying, and told Aiyobanni how she was mourning 

 his absence. "You must stay a little longer with us, " he added, "but by and by we 

 will carry you back to her, after we have taught yoti all about piai. " They taught 

 him the practice of the profession, and all the time Aiyobanni was down beneath 

 the ground with the Eartiiquake People, the girls made him amatory overtures, but 

 he wanted none; he was so anxious to get back to his poor old mother. Many years 

 passed. There was another earthquake, the earth opened, and Aiyobanni approached 

 his mother. "Don't cry, mother, " were his first words to her. He slept that night 

 under her roof, but complained next morning of the great number of dog fleas about. 

 On proposing to wet the ground, his mother said, "All right," and every minute 

 expected to see him go to the boat-landing to fetch the water. Instead of this he 

 knocked at all the house-posts, and water flowed from the base of each until it covered 

 all the ground and rose above their ankles. Uis mother was indeed frightened now 

 and thought he was going to sink the earth altogether. After doing this and several 

 other wonderful things, his fame as a piai spread far and wide. At last the Missionary 



