In the sertans of San Vicente, which stretches near the Araguaia River, there is a mountain called Morsego, which means “Bat.” In that mountain there is a huge cave with a low entrance and a narrow opening near the arch, similar to a window. There, in time immemorial, lived Kupe-Dieb - creatures with the body of a man and the wings of a bat.
One day, an Indian of the Apinaje tribe shot a deer near Mount Morsego and decided to spend the night here because it was already late. But while he was sleeping, the Coupe-Diebs flew in like a dark cloud and crushed his skull with their axes. Seeing that the hunter was not returning, his relatives followed his steps and found a dead body. Near him, the footprints of many feet were imprinted on the ground, but they all huddled together around the murdered man and did not stretch out from anywhere and did not lead anywhere. It was as if the killers never came and never went.
After this incident, the people of the Apinajo tribe avoided approaching those places, especially at night, and were completely afraid to rest here. But one day two hunters found themselves near Mount Morsego, when it was already completely dark. There was a boy with them. They decided to take a break and spend the night here, at the foot of the mountain. Around midnight they heard singing coming from somewhere in the rocky depths. The boy was very frightened, ran away and hid in dense greenery, far from his place of overnight stay. Soon the Coupe-Dieb flew in, rustling with black wings, and killed both hunters. But the boy saw everything from his hiding place. He ran home to the village and told about what had happened.
Then the warriors of the Apinaje tribe from all four villages gathered together and moved against Kupe-Dieb, deciding to kill them all. Approaching the Morsego rock, they blocked the entrance to the cave, piling a whole mountain of dry branches in front of it. And while some were preparing a fire, others decided to go around the rock to find the window of the cave. However, this turned out to be more difficult than they thought. And they were still wandering around, not finding what they were looking for, when their comrades had already lit a fire at the entrance to the cave. Sensing the fire, the Coupe-Diebs perked up, and in a huddled swarm, rustling with their wings, flew out through the upper window, and flew to the south so quickly that the arrows of the Apinage Indians did not have time to shoot down or even injure any of the chiropteran people. The Kupe-Diebs flew south, and they say: they still live somewhere there, on that side.
When the fire dried up and the smoke cleared, the Apinage warriors entered the cave, where on the ground they found many axes, forgotten by Coupe-Dieb during their escape. In the very depths of the cave, behind a large stone, they saw a boy of about six years old with the wings of a bat. He seemed in a daze from the thick smoke that filled the cave, and apparently tried to hide. At first the warriors wanted to kill the boy, but one Indian took pity on him and decided to take him with him.
When the Apinaje, returning from their campaign, stopped to rest and made beds of palm leaves on the ground, they also made a bedding for little Coupe-Dieb. But he never wanted to go to bed, and kept crying and looking at the sky. Since he could not be made to lie down, his new owner thought that there must be a special reason for this. And he remembered that in Coupe-Dieb’s dwelling there were no beds on the ground, there were no pillars to hang nets or hammocks, but there were only beams under the very vault. Then he cut the stick and made a crossbar between two neighboring small trees, placing the stick on crooked branches. As soon as the chiropteran boy saw this, he immediately climbed up the tree and hung on the crossbar, hooking his knees, head down. He buried his head in his shoulders, crossed his winged arms, covered his face with them and fell into a peaceful sleep.
This boy did not live long among the Apinage Indians. He soon died. One day he was found on the ground: he was singing. "Hooray! Kluna closire! Klud pesetire! – the boy sang, and then opened his wings-arms and wrapped them around his neck. When the Indians asked him why he was doing this, he replied that this was how his tribe danced. The Apinaje Indians still sing the song that the boy Kupe-Dieb sang.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru