One day, hunters set up a large camp in the forest. Meat was fried on raspers; the carcasses of killed monkeys with outstretched paws, hams of various animals, and twisted tails of guaribas monkeys were strung on spits. Severed animal heads, skins, bones and entrails were scattered around. The hunters left, leaving only one boy in the camp, who had to turn the pieces of meat on raspers. It was then that a man appeared in the camp. He looked around, frowned at the hunting trophies, counted the hanging hammocks and disappeared. In the evening, the hunters returned to camp, and the boy told them about the stranger’s visit, but no one believed him. Later, when the hunters had already settled down in hammocks for the night, the boy once again reminded his father of this incident, who this time became worried. As soon as it got dark, father and son untied their hammocks and hid in the thickets not far from the camp. Very little time passed when suddenly, drowning out the cries of owls, the growls of jaguars and other animals that hunt at night, human groans and crunching bones were heard.
“This is the evil spirit of the Curupira forest and his henchmen who are dealing with the hunters,” the father said to his son.
At dawn they approached the camp: all that was left of it were empty, bloody hammocks and human bones scattered under them. And among the bones lay the head of one of the hunters.
When the father and son were about to leave, the head suddenly screamed:
- Hey buddy, take me home! Surprised, the man turned around.
- Hey buddy, take me home! – the hunter’s head asked him again.
Then the father sent his son ahead to the village, and he himself, tearing off a vine, tied it around his head and dragged it along the ground. However, he soon got scared and decided to leave his head on the road. But as soon as he moved, the head rolled after him, shouting incessantly:
- Buddy, buddy! Wait a little! Take me with you!
He had to slow down so his head could keep up with him. Meanwhile, the man was wondering how he could get rid of such an ominous fellow traveler. He asked the head to wait while he went into the thickets about his business. But, having gone out onto the road a little further from the place where he had left his head, the man never returned to it. He quickly dug a hole on the road, covered it with green branches, and hid nearby.
And the head waited and waited for the man on the road and finally, unable to bear it, screamed:
- Buddy, are you free yet?
- Not yet! - answered the pile of feces.
The head was surprised:
- What is this? Shit didn't seem to talk before!
The head rolled along the road and after some time fell into a hole. The man came out of the ambush, filled the hole with earth and compacted it well. Then he moved to the village.
When it got dark, screams were heard from the forest, they became louder and louder.
“Looks like the skull got out of the hole,” the man repeated to the villagers.
Meanwhile, the skull grew huge wings and claws, like a giant hawk. Now the skull was flying, and when he saw the first person he met near the village, he pounced and swallowed it. However, on the evening of the next day, endowed with magical powers and armed with a bow and arrow, the young man hid in ambush, right at the place where the forest path led to the village, and began to wait for the monster to appear. As soon as it got dark, it appeared in the air, flapping its wings and emitting eerie screams; then it landed on a tree at the edge of the forest. Now the monster has finally turned into a giant hawk. Then the young man, possessing magical powers, shot at him with a bow so that the arrow split his skull in two, knocking out both eyes, and the huge hawk fell dead.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru