The Sons of the Moon: the version of a widespread amazonian myth

54 The Sons The Sons of The Moon: of the Moon: The amahuaca version of a the amahuaca version widespread amazonian myth of a widespread amazonian myth

r o b e r t l. c a r n e i r o

american museum of natural history, usa

55 Carneiro, R. L.

Abstract In a previous publication, I presented the Kuikuru version of an important myth from the Upper Xingú which I called “To the Village of the Jaguars.” A version of this myth is widely dis- tributed among Amazonian groups, including the Amahuaca, a Panoan-speaking group of eastern and western . The Amahuaca version is presented here as I recorded it among them in 1960 and 1961. After presenting the text of the myth, I discuss specific similarities and differences between the Amahuaca and Kuikuru versions of it. Key words: Amazonian myth, Amahuaca Indians, Kuikuru Indians.

Resumo Em uma publicação anterior, apresentei a versão Kuikuru de um importante mito do Alto Xingú, que eu chamei de “Para a Al- deia das Onças”. Uma versão desse mito encontra-se largamente distribuída entre grupos amazônicos, incluindo os Amahuaca, um grupo falante Pano do leste peruano e do oeste brasileiro. A versão Amahuaca é apresentada aqui assim como foi registrada por mim entre 1960 e 1961. Depois de apresentar o texto do mito, eu discuto similaridades e diferenças específicas entre as versões Amahuaca e Kuikuru do mito. Palavras-chave: Mito Amazônico, índios Amahuaca, índios Kuikuru.

Resumen En una publicación anterior, yo he presentado una versión de un importante mito del Alto Xingú, que yo he llamado “Hasta la Aldea de los Jaguares”. Una versión de este mito se la encuentra largamente distribuida entre los grupos amazónicos, incluyendo los Amahuaca, un grupo hablante de Pano del este peruano y del oeste brasileño. La versión Amahuaca es presentada aquí así como la oí en 1960 y 1961. Después de presentar el texto del mito, yo discuto similitudes y diferencias específicas entre las versiones Amahuaca y Kuikuru del mito. Palavras-clave: Mito Amazónico, índios Amahuaca, índios Kuikuru.

56 Amazônica 1 (1): 54-67, 2009 The Sons of the Moon: the amahuaca version of a widespread amazonian myth

Introduction ily believed. As a result, today we have As a graduate student I used to dis- for our perusal an enormous corpus dain the study of mythology. To me it of origin myths. seemed trivial, and at best peripheral to Of course, there is a lot more to my- the solid substance of anthropology. thology than simply providing answers But over the years, especially as I be- to questions. Myths are stories spun gan to do ethnographic field work and out of the human imagination … nar- to collect myths myself, my attitude ratives showing great and unending toward mythology changed. For one creativity. And indeed even, oftentimes, thing, I became more fully aware of – revealing flashes of literary merit. and began to admire – the touches of imagination so much in evidence in the Moreover, it is not just the content of myths of primitive peoples. myths that attracts our interest. It is also their structure, for myths have an Another aspect of myths that increas- identifiable architecture. They consist ingly impressed me was their role in ac- of segments – building blocks – which counting for the things and events of are assembled together. These building the world, both terrestrial and celestial. blocks – the so-called myth motifs – are Many myths seemed expressly designed joined to form a coherent whole. Still, to explain features that primitive peoples these segments are separable. They can were familiar with, but could not possi- be disassembled and reassembled in dif- bly understand. How, for example, could ferent ways. When we examine several an Amazonian Indian, utterly ignorant versions of what we regard as basically of plate tectonics, know the causes of the same myth we see how the compo- an earthquake? Myths provided answers nent elements can be rearranged in vari- to questions such as this, and to count- ous ways. And the segments themselves less others: Why do we have an alterna- can be altered: they can be elaborated tion of day and night? What produces or truncated. Or they can be left out al- thunder and lightning? Why do eclipses together. At the same time, entirely new occur? And why do the Sun, the Moon elements may be introduced and joined and the stars sit up in the heavens and with older ones to alter or enhance the look down upon us? myth. The basic myth may still be rec- At a rudimentary stage of culture, it ognizable as an entity, but the different was impossible for primitive peoples to combinations of its elements may im- formulate anything like a scientifically part to the new version of it a distinctly accurate explanation of many natu- different character. ral phenomena. Still, human curiosity I mentioned that individual elements has always been strong and insistent. of a myth may be elaborated. What And so human beings devised stories started out as a simple episode in one purporting to account for how these version of the myth may be length- things came to be. Moreover, in that ened, complicated, and embellished credulous age these stories were read- in another version. Here is where we

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see the mythmaker at work. The gifted apart, revealing a former closeness storyteller is not likely to feel a sense now broken. Alternatively, two dis- of obligation to a myth as he originally tant tribes may come to have the same heard it. The urge to embellish it may myth through diffusion. Historical re- be too strong to resist. He sees an op- construction may thus be aided by the portunity to brighten up the myth and study of mythology. he takes it. The Amahuaca myth to be presented Let me offer a concrete example of this here is one which I find of particular process. The myth I call “To the Vil- interest. It is by no means unique to the lage of the Jaguars,” which I collected Amahuaca or the Kuikuru, who share among the Kuikuru in 1975 (Carneiro certain core features of it. Indeed, the 1989) is a case in point. More than myth is found over much of Amazonia. half the pages of the printed version But while the Amahuaca and Kuikuru of this myth consist of footnotes – versions of it have several elements in 170 of them in all. And each footnote common, there are also distinct dif- represents a variant, small or large, of ferences between them. The fact that other versions of this myth that have certain common elements of the two been recorded. Each variant is a case occur far and wide in Amazonia sug- where the re-teller of the myth, in one gests that the myth has a respectable Upper Xingú village or another, found antiquity. At the same time, it indicates himself giving a slight creative twist to that other parts of the myth are eas- the myth as he recounted it. ily detached from its core. Or perhaps Now, if we go back to the very begin- they are simply more susceptible to de- ning of things, there is no question cay. So far as I know, though, the myth that myth had to be invented. What- does not occur outside of greater Am- ever subsequent listeners to the myth azonia. It would appear, then, that the may have thought about it, the person myth did not take shape until well after who first told it had to know it was a Indians had moved into Amazonia. fabrication. He may have reasoned that The particular version of the myth if he made the story vivid, detailed, and given below was told to me by Ama- persuasive enough, people around him huaca informants in 1960 and 1961. would tend to believe it. The Amahuca are a Panoan-speaking Yet another aspect of myths make group inhabiting parts of the Peruvian them useful to the anthropologist. By Montaña. The myth does not have a comparing myths gathered over a large common name, although Alfred Mé- area like Amazonia it may be possible traux, who first recognized it as distinc- to see historical connections among tive, called it a twin myth in the title of societies spread over a large region. his article about them (Métraux 1946). Entire myths, or portions of them, While twins do occur in the myth—the may be retained by societies which Sun and the Moon, for example—this were once neighbors but have moved is a relatively minor element of the

58 Amazônica 1 (1): 54-67, 2009 The Sons of the Moon: the amahuaca version of a widespread amazonian myth myth. For reasons that will soon be- to permit even an educated guess as to come apparent, a more fitting designa- where it began. tion for the Amahuaca version is “The Without further ado, I present below Sons of the Moon.” Some years ago I “The Sons of the Moon,” the Ama- published the Kuikuru version of this huaca version of this widespread myth, calling it “To the Village of the myth, one of the most distinctive in all Jaguars (Carneiro 1989), and this name of Amazonia1. could also fittingly be applied to the Amahuaca version of it. While the two The Sons of the Moon myths differ widely in a number of re- spects, at certain points they virtually Far back in the mythological past, a coincide. In fact, these coincidences in woman named Wïntá, who lived in a the Amahuaca and Kuikuru versions village deep in the rain forest, enter- are also found in almost all recorded tained a lover at night. Since he came versions of it throughout Amazonia. to her hammock only after dark, and would not give his name, she had no The core element to which I refer is idea who he was. But she was very cu- a journey undertaken by a woman (or rious, and in order to determine his sometimes several women) which sees identity, one night, while she waited her winding up in the village of the for him to come to her, she smeared jaguars. Her arrival there is followed by her hands with the juice of the huito a series of untoward incidents behind fruit (Genipa americana). Then, when he which is the Mother Jaguar. lay with her in her hammock, she ca- What can we say about the origin of ressed his face, rubbing the huito juice this myth? The ethnologist Roque on his cheeks, marking him indelibly. Laraia (1967:17-19) supposed the myth Suspecting nothing, he made love to to be restricted to Tupían-speaking her and then left. groups, but such is not the case. Mé- The next day Wïntá had a masato traux (1946) noted its presence among (manioc beer) party to which she invit- the Cuna, Carib, , Warao, ed everyone in the village. In this way Amuesha, Boro, , Záparo, Yu- she immediately saw whose face was rucaré, and Jívaro (Shuar)—none of marked with huito juice and at last dis- them Tupían. To this list I can add covered who her mysterious lover was. not only the Amahuaca and the Kui- And to her horror, she found it was kuru, but also other groups of the Up- her own brother, Oxï. “You are like a per Xingú, which include Arawak and dog, not a human being,” she berated Carib speakers, as well as Tupíans. And him. Greatly ashamed at having been a thorough search of the literature exposed, Oxï left the village, telling no would, no doubt, turn up still other one where he was going. Amazonian tribes having this myth. At this point, then, all we can say about its Not long afterward, Wïntá discovered origin is that it is too widely distributed she was pregnant with twins2. One of

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the two fetuses (both of whom were Mother Jaguar was home. She asked male) wanted very much to see his fa- Wïntá where she had come from and ther, and asked his mother to under- what she was looking for, and Wïntá take a journey to find him. At first she replied, “I’ve come with my two fetus- refused, but finally she gave in to the es to find their father, but I must have request and left the village in search of taken the wrong fork in the trail.” her incestuous brother, Oxï. “Don’t go,” the Mother Jaguar plead- As Wïntá was walking along the trail ed, “stay here and keep me company.” through the forest, one of her fetuses Wïntá was afraid that she and her fetus became hungry for a certain kind of sons would be eaten by the jaguars and fruit and asked his mother to get him demurred. However, the Mother Jag- some. She agreed to pick the fruit but uar reassured her. “Don’t be afraid,” would not eat it, so that the fetus re- she said, “my children won’t eat you.” mained hungry. A little later he said So Wïntá decided to stay. to her, “There’s another fruit tree, get After a while, the jaguars returned some for me.” She did so and this time home. There were many of them. In she ate it. She did this twice more, but order to protect Wïntá from them, the the next time she acceded to her fetus’ Mother Jaguar had her climb up to the request and picked some fruit she was rafters and hide there3. From this van- stung by a wasp. Angered by this, she tage point she could see the jaguars, reproached her fetus: “Why are you back from the day’s hunt, laying down always asking for fruit?” and slapped collared peccaries, white-lipped pec- her abdomen, stunning the fetus so he caries, monkeys, curassows, and other could no longer speak. animals they had killed. Shortly thereafter, Wïntá came to a Catching Wïntá’s scent, the jaguars fork in the trail. A macaw tail feather asked their mother what animal was had been stuck in the right-hand trail around the house. “Oh, it’s only Wïn- by Oxï so that his fetus son would tá, who’s come to live with me,” she know which way he had gone and replied. And then she called for Wïntá could direct his mother along the cor- to come down from the rafters. But rect path. The fetus knew what the as Wïntá was descending, the jaguars macaw tail feather meant, but having pounced on her, killed her, and ate her. been slapped senseless by his mother, Among the little that was left of her he was unable to tell her which way to when they had finished were two eggs, go. So, unaware of the meaning of the the size of a curassow’s. Disoriented, feather, Wïntá took the wrong path. the fetuses inside the eggs cried, “Here Walking along the trail, Wïntá passed we are, mother!” The Mother Jaguar a large banana grove, and then a corn told the jaguars to put the eggs inside a field, and finally she came to the village big ball of cotton, and in about a week of the jaguars. The jaguars were out the eggs hatched. Four little curassows hunting at the time, and only the old came out, crying “hwi, hwi,” like baby

60 Amazônica 1 (1): 54-67, 2009 The Sons of the Moon: the amahuaca version of a widespread amazonian myth curassows do4. Though born as birds, meat they had obtained in the hunt. the little curassows soon turned into After arranging the pot in this way, boys and grew rapidly. Unaware of they put it on the fire to cook. what had happened to their mother, Around three o’clock in the afternoon they remained with the Mother Jaguar the jaguars returned home crying, and were raised by her. “huu, huu, huu.” The boys wondered what to do next. One boy said, “Let’s One day, when the boys were the size turn ourselves into birds,” and they all of 4- or 5-year-olds, some deerflies be- did so, flying to the top of a nearby tree gan to bother the Mother Jaguar, and to see what would happen. The jaguars she asked the boys to kill them. To do wondered where their mother was and so, each boy made a tiny little bow and called out, “Mama! Mama!” Off along arrow. The Mother Jaguar asked them the trail, the Mother Jaguar’s staked- to shoot a deerfly that had landed on down skin answered, “Huu.”7 her hip. The first boy shot, but hit the Mother Jaguar instead. It hurt, and she The jaguars thought their mother must cried out, “Ah! Ah! Ah!” Then the sec- be out collecting firewood with the ond boy shot and his arrow hit her in boys so they said, “Let’s eat.” They the back, killing her5. began taking the meat out of the pot, each jaguar grabbing a piece, until the Having killed the Mother Jaguar, the last jaguar reached down to the bottom boys asked themselves, “What shall we of the pot and pulled out the last re- do with her?” They decided to cut a piece maining portion—their mother’s head. of skin from her loins, carry it to where “Ay, damn it!” he shouted. “The boys the Mother Jaguar had been gathering must have killed our mother! Let’s find firewood, and stake it to the ground to them and kill them!” dry. The boys then called on the piece of skin, “Mama!” as if they were her sons, They picked up a blowgun8 to shoot in order to fool her. The piece of skin the boys, who were now birds perched answered, “Huu,” tore up the stakes, and on a tree. But the boys took flight and turned into an evil spirit (yushí)6. flew to the top of a tall shihuahuaco tree (Dipteryx sp.). Walking along the The boys then decided to cook the ground, the jaguars were able to follow Mother Jaguar and trick her sons into the little birds but could not kill them. eating her flesh. After all, they rea- Flying from tree to tree, the birds fi- soned, since the jaguars had eaten the nally lost the jaguars. When at last they boys’ mother, it was only fair that they felt safe, they came down to the ground should be made to eat their own moth- and turned back into boys. er. So they cut the Mother Jaguar’s body into pieces and put them in a pot, with As they walked along the trail, they the head at the very bottom. On top came upon a man making a dugout of her flesh they put pieces of peccary canoe9. The man was really a tapir—ta- meat to fool the jaguars into thinking pirs in those days having human form. it was just an ordinary pot filled with The tapir owned a grove of guava trees

Amazônica 1 (1): 54-67, 2009 61 Carneiro, R. L.

nearby, and the boys, who were hungry the crotch of a lower limb. The oth- by this time, asked if they could have ers called to him to come down, but he some fruit. The tapir told them to go couldn’t. With a long stick they poked ahead and take some, so the four boys the leaf free of the tree, and it floated climbed one of the guava trees and be- down to earth. Once all four were on the gan eating some of the fruit. The tapir ground, the ants turned themselves back called up to them that he wanted some into boys. Since four years had elapsed too, and asked the boys to toss down a since they had been stranded in the tree, couple of ripe fruit. Instead, the boys the boys were now much bigger. took a green guava and threw it at the However, they had not forgotten how tapir, hitting him in the back. Again the they’d come to be stuck up in the tree tapir asked for a ripe guava fruit and all this time, and so they said, “Let’s kill added, “Don’t hit me with it.” But the the tapir!” But where was he? A long boys threw down another green one time had passed since they had last anyway, and once more hit the tapir seen him. To find out, one of the boys on the back. Angered by this, the tapir climbed another tree and reported kicked the guava tree, and it became a he could see the tapir in the distance, giant silk-cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra). walking along the trail. “Let’s follow The silk-cotton tree was so tall that him,” they said. the boys could not climb down, and As they walked, the boys came across were forced to remain in its branches a large huito tree which had grown for four years. With no food available up from seeds excreted by the tapir. to them, the boys were forced to eat “How long ago did the tapir go by?” leaves to survive. After a long time they asked the huito tree. “Four years,” they asked themselves, “How are we was the reply. Continuing to walk, they going to get down?” “Let’s turn our- found another huito tree, slightly small- selves into chaopara ants,” one of them er, which had also grown from seeds suggested, and they did so. “Who will excreted by the tapir. When they asked climb down first?” they asked. “I will,” this tree how long it had been since one of them replied, and biting the the tapir passed, it answered, “Three midrib of a leaf and holding on tight, years.” The boys kept on walking and he jumped out of the tree and floated asked the next huito tree, which was down to earth. smaller yet, how long ago the tapir had Once he had reached the ground, he passed, and it answered, “Two years.” heard the others call to him, “How is it Next they came across a chest-high down there?” “Good! Come on down!” huito tree, which told them the tapir he replied. So each of the other ants in has been there the year before. A knee- turn bit the midrib of a leaf and came high huito told them nine months, and fluttering down. Two of them made it then an ankle-high huito said eight to the ground, but the third was left months. The next tree, which was four in the tree when his leaf got stuck in inches high, said the tapir had been by

62 Amazônica 1 (1): 54-67, 2009 The Sons of the Moon: the amahuaca version of a widespread amazonian myth seven months earlier. Then they found was put into the pot along with some some dry tapir dung with huito seeds manioc, and the pot was placed on the just sprouting from it and were told the fire to boil. tapir had gone by six months before. At this point, the pot spoke up, saying, “We’re getting closer,” the boys said, “When I cry out, throw me into the and kept walking. stream,” and the boys agreed to do so. Now they found some dry manure As the water came to a boil, the pot, which the tapir had deposited five being very hot, cried out as it said it months earlier, and then some fresh would, whereupon the boys took the manure four months old. Continuing meat out and threw the pot into the to walk, they found successively fresh- water. As soon as the pot hit the water, er manure, three, two, and one month a lot of people came out of it, looking old. Then came manure one week old, very red because they had been so hot. and then manure only half an hour old. These were all people the tapir had Finally, lying fast asleep and snoring by killed in the past. the side of the trail, they came upon The meat was not yet done, though, so the tapir himself10. the boys made another pot and placed “How are we going to kill him?” the the meat inside it to cook some more. boys asked themselves. One of them Again the pot cried out when it was too had an idea. “I’ll turn myself in an i [a hot, and again the boys took out the tiny stinging ant called ‘chupa culo’ in meat and threw the pot into the water. jungle Spanish], and climb inside the ta- And once more people came out of it. pir through his anus. Then, when I get This time the meat was done. One of to his heart, I’ll sting it and he will die. the boys cut some leaves and served As he’s dying, he will give a kick, and out a portion of tapir meat and manioc that will be your signal to get me out.” on each one. The boys did not finish And it happened just the way the boy the meat11. When they had eaten all had said. When the dying tapir gave a they wanted, they put the rest of the kick, the other boys took a machete, meat aside and left. cut open its belly, and pulled out The boys started walking along the their brother. trail again until at last they came to The boys then decided to eat the dead a very large lake. Near the shore of tapir. “How shall we cook him?” they the lake they saw a huge caiman and asked, and finally decided to boil him. called out to it. “What do you want?” “I’ll make a pot,” one of the boys vol- the caiman asked. “We want to get unteered. “I’ll make a fire,” the second across the lake. Bring over your ca- one said. The third one cut the tapir noe.” The caiman told them he had into small pieces, while the fourth one no canoe, but would be willing to went to get manioc to eat with the ferry them across on his back. The meat. Once the tapir was butchered, it boys agreed, and when they had all

Amazônica 1 (1): 54-67, 2009 63 Carneiro, R. L.

climbed on his back, the caiman set which to drain the lake so they could off across the lake. find the caiman and kill it. The sloth obliged, and the boys filled an enor- As the caiman swam through the wa- mous jar with lake water. But it was not ter, he broke wind loudly. “Does it big enough to empty the entire lake. smell?” asked one of the boys. “No,” They then asked a parrot for a spear12, said another. They asked the caiman if which they threw into the middle of he was breaking wind, but the caiman the lake, and this time succeeded in denied it. Again, though, the caiman emptying the lake. broke wind. “Does it smell?” the boy asked once more, and the answer was Once the lake bed was dry, the boys again, “No.” Then another boy said, walked along the bottom to look for “The caiman will break wind twice the caiman. Plenty of other caimans more. When he does so for the fourth were there too, but they went to the time, it will smell, and this will be the spot where they had seen the huge cai- signal that he is about to eat us.” man submerge after it had swallowed their brother. There, under a great pile When the caiman reached the middle of water-logged tree trunks, they found of the lake, he broked wind for the the caiman and killed it with clubs and third time. “What should we do when axes. They called to the brother who the caiman breaks wind again?” the had been eaten by the caiman, and boys asked, and decided to save them- he answered, “I’m not dead, I’m still selves by turning into birds. Each in alive. I’m inside the caiman’s stomach.” turn then named the bird he was go- First they reproached him for being so ing to become, the last one saying, “I’ll foolish as to turn himself in a weak- become a tinamou.” flying tinamou, but then they cut open When the caiman broke wind for the the caiman and took him out. He was fourth time, it was a tremendous one. still a tinamou, but immediately turned “Does it smell?” the boys asked. “Yes!”, himself human again. was the answer, and immediately the One of the brothers decided to remain four of them turned themselves into by the edge of the lake as a takoa bird. birds and flew away. Three of the boys The other three, however, set off on a were able to reach the opposite shore, trail, stopping along the way to make bow but the fourth—the one who had be- staves, bowstrings, and arrows. Once come a tinamou, a weak-flying bird— their bows and arrows were ready, one could not make it and fell into the lake. of the boys said, “Let’s shoot arrows into The caiman swam to the spot where the sky.” The first boy shot his arrow, but the bird had gone down, swallowed it it failed to reach the sky. The second boy in one gulp, and then submerged. did not reach the sky either. The third On the shore, the three surviving boys boy said, “I’ll shoot harder and I’ll hit the worried about the fate of their brother. sky,” and he did, his arrow sticking into They asked a sloth for a huge pot with the underside of the sky, lodging there.

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The other boys continued to shoot, each None of them, of course became the hitting the butt end of the previous ar- Moon, for the Moon was already in row, until they had formed a chain of ar- the sky. Indeed, it turned out that the rows reaching all the way from the sky to Moon was none other than their father, the ground13. Oxï, whom they had originally set out They then called waiwashi, the squirrel, to find. And the markings visible on the and asked him to climb up the arrow Moon’s surface were the indelible ca- chain until he reached the sky and to resses left on his face by his sister, Wïn- throw down a ladder from there. The tá, during their laste fateful embrace. squirrel climbed as high as he could, but could not make it to the very top. Comparing the Amahuaca and So then the boys turned to kurukapa, a Kuikuru versions of the myth smaller species of squirrel, and asked Having presented the Amahuaca ver- him to see if he could reach the sky. sion of this myth, it may be appro- “When you get to the top,” they said, priate to compare it in certain details “throw down some yellow earth and to the Kuikuru version, given fully in some red earth. This will be a signal Carneiro (1989). To begin with, in the that you’ve arrived, so we can expect Amahuaca version, the woman sets out the ladder to come down next.” with no intention of proceeding to the village of the jaguars. Her only goal is When the little squirrel got to the sky, to find her brother, the father of her he threw down some yellow earth and fetuses. Only by taking the wrong fork some red earth. Shortly thereafter, the in the trail does she inadvertently find ladder, which was shiny, came down to herself in the jaguar’s village. earth too. Up the ladder the three boys climbed until they reached the sky. But In the Kuikuru version, arrival at this vil- then some dangerous animals began to lage is quite a different matter. Accord- climb up after them, including fer-de- ing to this version, a hunter finds himself lances, bushmasters, and other poison- surrounded by a band of jaguars who ous snakes, as well as yushí, that is, evil threaten to eat him. To get out of his pre- spirits. By the time the first of these dicament, he promises the jaguar chief to animals neared the top, though, so send him his two beautiful daughters as many of them were on the ladder that wives. However, once home, finding that the strain proved too great and it broke, he cannot bring himself to send his own and all the bad animals came tumbling daughters, he carves six women out of down to earth and were killed. wood, brings them to life, and as surro- gates for his real daughters, sends them Up in the sky, the boys asked each oth- to the jaguar chief. er, “What are you going to become?” One of them said, “I’ll become the star After a series of misadventures in Wishitoki, and you?” “I’ll become the star which four of the six girls are killed, Wishitowi.” The third brother decided to the two surviving ones make it to the become the constellation Kapïkuwi.”14 jaguars’ village. (Again, one of them

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taking the wrong fork in the trail.) In become the Sun and the Moon, while both the Amahuaca and Kuikuru ver- the Amahuaca boys – as stars or con- sions, the Mother Jaguar – who appears stellations – end up in the sky, along as a malevolent figure in just about every with their father, the Moon. recorded version of the myth – receives One feature of both versions – which al- the girls but betrays one of them so that lows the myth to be elaborated at consid- she dies. However, she gives birth post- erable length – is the fact that they contain humously to twins, who eventually, learn- numerous incidents or episodes that are ing the truth, kill the Mother Jaguar. either inessential to the main plot, or dis- Another important difference in the two tinctly subordinate to it. These incidents versions is that in the Amahuaca one the occur at either or both ends of the narra- woman arrives in the jaguar’s village already tive – that is, before or after the happenings pregnant. In the Kuikuru version, though, in the jaguar village. In the Kuikuru case, it she has been sent there by her father to is a series of misadventures that befall the become the bride of the jaguar chief and six wooden women on their way to the soon becomes pregnant by him. village of the jaguars that is elaborated. In the Amahuaca version, the adventures In both versions, twins are born post- involve the four sons of the Moon after humously to the woman. In the Kuiku- they’ve escaped from the jaguars. ru version they are raised by their aunt – their mother’s sister – but in neither Enough having been said about the simi- case do the boys know the full story larities and differences between the two of what has transpired. Specifically, in versions of the myth, I will make just one neither case are the twins aware that more observation. The great storyteller the Mother Jaguar was responsible for Rudyard Kipling coined the term “Just their mother’s death. In both versions, so Story” for a myth or folk tale that ac- though, the boys kill the Mother Jaguar, counted for some characteristic or pecu- cut up her body, and trick the jaguars liarity of an animal or object. “How the into eating the pieces, discovering their Leopard Got His Spots” is a well known mistake only when they find their mo- example. Two “Just so Stories” regarding ther’s head at the bottom of the pot. the Moon occur in the two versions of this myth we have just cited. The Ama- Outraged at what has occurred, the huaca version accounts for the marks jaguars are intent on avenging them- visible on the Moon’s surface, while the selves on the boys. Among the Kui- Upper Xingú version accounts for the kuru, the boys are, however, protected Moon’s size in the following way: by the fact that their father is the jaguar chief. But in the Amahuaca version, As they look down on the earth from the twins (who somehow have become their place in the sky, the Sun and the four) flee and make good their escape. Moon are clearly of different sizes. Yet After a series of adventures, both sets in the Upper Xingú myth, which tells of of boys – Kuikuru and Amahuaca – their origin, the Sun and the Moon are wind up in the sky. The Kuikuru twins twins, born of the same mother, at the

66 Amazônica 1 (1): 54-67, 2009 The Sons of the Moon: the amahuaca version of a widespread amazonian myth same time, and, initially of the same size. 7 This was said despite the informant’s ha- How, then, did they become so different in ving just finished telling me that the Moth- size? The answer is simple. Their mother er Jaguar’s skin had torn up the stakes and having died at the time of their birth, the turned into an evil spirit. Sun and the Moon were raised by their 8 This may be a Conibo/Shipibo element aunt. Now it so happened that their aunt in the myth, since – as indicated earlier – had one large breast and one small one. the Amahuaca do not have the blowgun and the Conibo/Shipibo do. And the Sun nursed at her large breast, 9 while the Moon nursed at her small one. By Another Conibo/Shipibo element, since traditionally the Amahuaca lacked any kind this one deft touch, then, the myth is able to of watercraft. account for a celestial phenomenon which 10 took astronomers centuries to resolve! Obviously, this way of indicating successive intervals of time since the tapir had passed gives the narrator a chance to draw out this notas episode as long as he wishes. And here he 1 This myth is known to the neighboring seems to have gone to excessive lengths! Shipibo and Conibo as well, and in one ver- 11 The informant said something here about sion of it, told to me by an Amahuaca who punishment that I did not understand. had lived for a time with the Conibo, the 12 occurrence of a blowgun – a weapon not In one version of the myth – again, no known to the Amahuca but present among doubt, a Conibo/Shipibo one – the spear is the Conibo – suggests that what the infor- a pucuna, that is, a blowgun. The spear, how- ever, is likewise not an Amahuaca weapon, mant told me may have been (in part at belonging more to tribes of the northern part least) the Conibo version of the myth. of the Peruvian Montaña or the Ecuadorian 2 In one version of the myth, Wïntá discov- Oriente, as, for example, the Jívaro (Shuar). ers she is pregnant before giving the party. 13 Here we have the familiar and widely dis- 3 According to one version, Wïntá climbed tributed arrow chain myth motif, occurring up a tree to hide. in the mythology of both North and South 4 Somehow, in a manner not explained by the America and, no doubt, in other parts of informant, the original two eggs had become the world as well. four. So from here on, the twin myth – so 14 Kapïkuwi, in another context, was said by common in Amazonia – ceases to be such. informants to be a constellation represent- 5 In the version of the myth I recorded, ing a one-legged man who, in mythological there is no indication—as there is in some times, had lost his leg to a caiman, kapï. other versions—that the boys had discov- ered the Mother Jaguar was responsible for References their mother’s death, and were avenging Carneiro, R. L. 1989. To the village of the themselves on her for it. This would make Jaguars: The Master Myth of the Upper their actions in killing her more understand- Xingú. Antropológica 72: 3-49. able, and suggests that something may have Laraia, R. de B. 1967. O sol e a lua na mitologia been left out of the version I recorded. Xinguana. Revista do Museu Paulista 12(n.s.):7-36. 6 The sequence of events described in this Métraux, Alfred. 1946. Twin heroes in paragraph was not clear to me, and may South American Mythology. Journal of not be in the correct order. American Folklore 59:114-123.

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