They say that one day Nua began to make a huge boat. He warned the animals: the jaguar, the deer, the tapir, the rodent capivar and all the others, as well as people too:
“Soon there will be so much water that we will all drown!”
- Yes, this cannot be! - people said. Meanwhile, Nua continued to make his boat; and when she was ready, he ordered the animals to enter her. There he also collected many fruit trees: bananas, caju and others. Even today you can see that boat. It turned into a huge rock that stands near Roraima, and an old banana grows next to it.
When everything was ready, Nua said to the people:
- Of course, you can stay, but then you will all turn into dolphins, fish, sea turtles.
The peoples of Mahongong, Makushi, Taulipanga, Wapishana, Sapara, Uayumara, Maku and some others believed Nua, believed, hid in a safe place and remained people. But all the rest turned into river and sea animals, because the water began to remain in Roraima and soon flooded the entire earth. Some of those whom Nua warned said:
“We won’t bother making a boat, but rather we’ll climb the trees and, no matter how much water comes, we’ll be saved.”
They became ants and even butterflies. The Akutipuru people climbed the inaj palm tree, which is why to this day the monkeys they evolved into prefer the fruits of this particular palm tree. And other people who climbed the trees became different monkeys: macaques, uakari, coatas, miriti. That's why these animals are so similar to people.
There were also those who turned into birds. The anteater, who was a man then, said:
– I wonder who I will turn into? Agouti rodent, paca pig, tapir - they are all eaten. And I don't want to be eaten.
That's how he became an anteater - people don't eat the meat of these animals. Others turned into jaguar, fox and other animals, the meat of which is also not suitable for food. Here are the cunning ones! And how stupid were those who turned into deer, paca, agouti, tapir! Those who became birds flew to the sky: the Mutum bird, the Urubu vulture, the heron and others. They say that there was a hole in the sky back then - an entrance for birds.
And then the whole earth disappeared under water and night fell. The sun did not appear in the sky for a very long time.
A lot of time passed, and Nua said to the macaws, agoutis, deer, monkeys - all the animals:
– When it starts to get light, you must sing!
Akutipuru grabbed the nut and threw it down. A splash was heard: the water was still high. The monkey threw a nut for many, many days in a row.
Finally one day it fell into the water with a dull thud, and the akutipuru realized that the water was receding, but continued to throw the nut until one day it hit the ground. The end of the flood has come.
And then all the animals began to sing. First the howler macaque, then the roosters and those birds that usually sing at dawn took over. And the day began. The sun has risen. Nua called Uruba (he was a white dove then) and told him to check if the earth was dry. The urubu rose into the air, but then he saw many dead animals and fish. The voracious bird attacked the carrion, and it began to smell bad, and having become dirty in the swamp mud, it turned black. So the dove turned into an uruba.
Seeing that the messenger did not return for a long time, Nua sent a little dove after him. The dove flew away, but did not follow the bad example, but returned and told Nua what happened. Then Nua said to the urub:
“You are very dirty and your spirit is heavy.” Get out of my sight. Now be who you want.
Since then, urubu has appeared. Meanwhile the little dove said:
- The earth has dried up.
Then Nua sent a hawk, a heron and a tapicura to the earth - birds that have since lived in the swamps and feed on carrion and fish. And as they flew away, they never returned to the boat. Nua sent a deer after them and warned:
– Be careful: there are a lot of ants on the ground now. Wait for them to disappear. But the deer replied:
- It’s okay, everything will be fine.
And off he went. In those days, the legs of a deer were thick, fleshy right up to the hooves. But the ants gnawed them, and now the deer’s legs are thin, completely without meat. Nua also ordered him to return as soon as possible. That's why the deer still runs. To all the other animals Nua said:
– Wait here until the ground dries and the ants hide.
But some, like the deer, did not want to wait, for example the tapir, and now he has thin legs: the ants ate them.
Then Nua turned to the animals we now hunt:
– If you meet people, do not run away from them. Stop and talk to them in a nice way, without fear. But the macaque noticed:
- Don't believe him! You should always run away from a person! They followed the advice of the macaques, which is why people still hunt and kill them today. And if they had listened to Nua, maybe they would have made friends with people.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru