In ancient times, the Kawaib tribe dried their food in the sun. There was no fire. And so the leader of the Kawaib tribe, the smart and dexterous Baira, went into the forest to perform a “trick.” And the Kawaib Indians called a “trick” such a cunning act from which the tribe learned some useful lesson and learned something new.
Baira buried himself in an anthill and pretended to be dead. A blowfly flew in, saw the dead body and hurried to tell the black vulture Urub about the find. Urubu was the master of fire and always carried it with him - right under his wing, they say. After listening to the fly, Urubu descended to earth along with his entire family: his wife and children. Urubu in those days was not just a bird of prey - he was just like a man. They say he even had hands. Having flown to the ground, Urubu made a grill out of poles for roasting meat, put a fire under it and ordered his sons to guard it. The sons began to guard the fire, but suddenly they saw that the dead man had moved. They told urubu. However, Urubu decided that it was his sons’ imagination and ordered them to quickly load their children’s bows with small arrows and kill all the blowflies around the dead body. Meanwhile, the fire under the grate was burning well, and then Baira jumped up at once, grabbed the fire and ran. Urubu and his entire family rushed in pursuit of the thief. Baira hid in a hollow tree. Urubu and his entire family climbed into the hollow following Baira. Baira jumped out from the other side and ran headlong through the dense bamboo grove.
Urubu did not catch up with him. Baira crossed the grove and came out onto the bank of a wide, wide river. The people of the Kawaib tribe - his tribe - were waiting for Bairu on the other side. A lot of people were waiting for Baira, a lot. Baira thought: how to bring to them the fire that he stole from the black urubu?
He called the water snake, put fire on its back and sent it to the other side, to his people. The water snake is very nimble, and it immediately rushed like an arrow. However, in the middle of the river she became caked and died. Baira took a kambito, a long stick with a hooked end - such sticks were in great use among his tribe - and brought the fire to his bank. Then he sent other snakes to the other side, but all of them, having swam to the middle of the river, died: not one could bear the hot load of fire. And each time Baira caught the fire with his kambito and drove it to the shore. Then he caught the crayfish and put fire on its back. The cancer swam to the middle of the river, but could not withstand the hot load of the fire and died baked, completely red. Baira again brought the fire to his shore. Then he caught a crab and put fire on its back. The crab swam to the middle of the river, but became caked and died, turning as red as the crab before. Baira brought the fire to his bank and placed it on the back of the water hen. The water hen is very fast, and she soon swam to the middle of the river, but got stuck and died. Then Baira caught a large toad, Kururu. The toad galloped and - jump-jump - reached the other shore, where the Kawaib tribe was waiting. But she was so tired that she was completely half dead, and there was no way she could jump to the ground. Then the people of the Kawaib tribe took the kambito and drove the toad to the shore. And they took the fire off her back and took it to their maloka - a large house in which the whole tribe lived.
And Baira stood on the other bank and thought how he could quickly cross such a wide river. But Baira was also a sorcerer: he ordered the river to shrink, took a big leap, jumped over it and went to his people.
So the Kawaib tribe received fire and from that day began to fry fish and game on the grill.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru