Experienced people say that once upon a time, in ancient times, two twin boys were born from a jaguar: Itubore and Bakororo. It was like this, they say.
One day, while it was still dark, an Indian went to look for a gameleira tree in order to get the white juice of this tree and add it to the juice of the ruru fruit, which the Indians usually use to paint their bodies. Suddenly a jaguar attacked him. They began to fight and fought from the very sunrise until the sun rose very high in the sky, having already covered a good half of its daily journey.
And then the Indian, losing strength and feeling that the enemy was overpowering him, said:
- Jaguar, jaguar, let me go, I can’t fight anymore; set me free. The jaguar answered the Indian:
“Okay, I’ll set you free, but then just give me your daughter as my wife.”
The Indian promised, and the jaguar said to him:
“Send your daughter into the forest, and let everything go straight, everything straight, until the last cave.” On the way, she will first come across the lair of a girar - almost all of its skin is black, only its muzzle is brown and its chest is white; then you will come across the home of a wild cat - a maracaja, it has black stripes across its body; Next lives a small wolf, he has a long and thin tail; even further away is a large wolf with black paws; then - an ocelot, its skin is covered in black spots; then - a cougar, all his fur is brown, and there, finally, will be my home.
The Indian again promised to send his daughter, caught his breath a little and wandered back to his village. As soon as he arrived home, he said:
- The Jaguar defeated me.
And then he called his daughter and told her:
- Dear daughter, dear daughter, the jaguar defeated me and set me free. And in payment for this favor he asked me to give you to him as his wife. So go into the forest and become a jaguar's wife. You have to go straight, straight, all the way to the last cave. You will come across a girar whose skin is almost all black, only its muzzle is brown and its chest is white - this is not the same, move on. Then you will meet a wild maracaja cat with black stripes across its body - this is also not the same. Then - a small wolf with a long and thin tail; it's still not the same. Then - a big wolf with black paws - and it’s still not the same one. Then - a cougar with brown fur - and this is not the same one, move on. And finally, you will meet a jaguar whose skin is yellow-red with black spots. Go and remember what I told you.
The daughter obeyed and followed the path that her father showed her, and walked all day without stopping. At dusk the beast came out to meet her and asked:
-Where are you going?
- I'm looking for a jaguar.
“Then enter my lair, for I am the jaguar; do you see the black spots on my paws and on my back?
It was dark, and the Indian woman could not be sure whether the beast was telling the truth. She followed him into his cave and spent the night there. The next morning the girar (for it was he) said to his guest:
“I’ll go hunting to get food for you, and I’ll be back soon.” Wait for me.
It was already light, and when he left the cave, the Indian woman looked at him.
“You are a girar,” she thought after him, “because almost all of your skin is black, a brown muzzle and a white chest. I won't stay with you. I'll leave."
And she set off again. When it got dark, a wild maracaja cat came towards her and said:
-Who are you looking for?
- I'm looking for a jaguar to become his wife.
– Great, then enter my cave: do you see my fangs and my mouth? Only jaguar have these.
There was thick darkness, so the Indian woman could not distinguish either the mouth or fangs of the beast. And she followed him into his home and spent the night there. In the morning the wild cat said:
“Don’t go, I’ll go hunting and come back.” The Indian woman looked at him as he left and thought after him: “You are a maracaca because you have a striped skin.”
And she set off again in search of the jaguar. When night came, a small wolf met her and asked:
-Where are you going?
- I'm looking for a jaguar.
“I am the jaguar: don’t you see that I am like a jaguar in everything?”
And she went to his lair and spent the night there. When dawn broke, the little wolf said:
“Wait for me, I’ll get food and come back.” The Indian woman looked at him as he was leaving, and after him thought: “You are a small wolf, because you have a long and thin tail, I will not stay with you.”
And she went further in search of the jaguar. She walked all day, and already after midnight a large wolf met her and asked:
-Where are you going?
- I'm looking for a jaguar.
- And I am a jaguar: look at my claws and my fur: am I not like a jaguar?
The Indian woman spent that night in the den of a large wolf. At dawn the big wolf said:
“Stay, I’ll hunt and come back.”
But she looked at him when he was leaving, and immediately thought after him: “No, you are a wolf, because you have black paws. That's why I won't stay with you."
And she set off on a journey to find the jaguar. She walked all day, and when it began to get dark, an ocelot met her and asked:
- Hey, where are you going?
- In search of a jaguar.
- Jaguar is me. Don't you see what kind of fangs I have and what kind of fur I have? Just like a jaguar.
And the young woman stayed overnight in the ocelot’s cave. In the morning he told her:
“Stay, I’ll get food and come back.” The Indian woman looked at him carefully as he left and said to herself: “No, you are an ocelot, because your skin is gray with black spots.”
And she immediately moved on. In the evening, when it was completely dark, a cougar came out to meet her and asked:
-Where are you going?
- I'm going to look for the jaguar.
- I am the jaguar; look at my claws, at my skin: they are just like those of a jaguar.
And he led the Indian woman to his lair, where she spent the night.
When dawn broke, the cougar said:
“Don’t go, I’ll go get food and come back.” The young woman looked at him carefully as he went hunting, and after him thought to herself: “No, you are a cougar, you have brown fur. I won't stay with you." And again she wandered on in search of the jaguar. She walked all day and already at sunset she met a jaguar, who asked her:
-Where are you going?
“I’m going to look for a jaguar to become his wife.”
- It's me! Come with me.
And he took her to his cave, where she spent the night. At dawn the jaguar said:
“Don’t go, I’m going hunting to get food for myself and for you.” I'll be back soon.
The Indian woman looked after him as he left the cave and thought: “You really are a jaguar, because my father told me that your skin is yellow with black spots. I'll stay with you." And she became the jaguar's wife. After some time, when the due date was already approaching, the jaguar said:
- I'm going hunting. If something makes you laugh, don’t laugh, otherwise you will be in great danger.
The young wife was left alone and soon heard a strange voice: nasty and funny, so funny that it was impossible not to laugh. She held back for a long time, but in the end she couldn’t stand it and smiled weakly. And immediately she began to have wild pains, and she fell dead. This voice belonged to the large caterpillar Marugoddo, an evil witch who deliberately made everyone laugh in order to destroy them.
When the jaguar returned and saw that the woman was dead, he tore open her stomach and took out two twins, whom he named Itubore and Bokororo and placed them in a large empty pumpkin. Then he plugged the pumpkin tightly and left.
A few days later he came to look at the children and saw that the children were developing well. Bakoror had skin with transverse stripes - one stripe was red, the other dark brown, and his legs were black up to his calves, and his arms were black up to his elbows. Two triangular black spots came from the head: one along the chest, the other along the back; the chin and lips were also black, and a fiery red stripe ran down in a semicircle from the forehead to the nose. Itubore had the same skin as his brother, only the transverse stripes were narrower and more frequent. The jaguar plugged the pumpkin again.
A few more days passed, and he came to look at his sons for the second time. Now he decided that they were already big, that he could release them and let them eat. So he did: he released the children, took them to his cave and fed them. The children ate and asked:
- Father, father, where is mother?
“Your mother died because she laughed when she heard Marugoddo’s voice.”
Having learned about this, both brothers decided to kill Marugoddo. They lit a huge fire and threw the caterpillar witch into it to burn. And they ran home. Suddenly there was a loud crash. It was the bones of Marugoddo that cracked and burst in the fire. Bakororo wanted to know what was happening and said:
- Father, father, I want to see what it is.
- My son, my son, don’t look.
But the son was so overcome with curiosity that he did not listen to his father’s advice and, sticking his head out of the cave, began to look. And at that moment an explosion and a crash was heard again, and sharp fragments of Marugoddo’s bones hit Bakororo right in the face with such force that he was immediately blinded. The father shouted to him:
- To the water, to the water! Throw yourself into the water! Bakororo threw himself into the water and came out with a beautiful face and new black eyes.
Itubore envied his brother’s beautiful eyes and said:
“Father, father, I also want to see how Marugoddo’s bones burn.”
And his father said to him:
- My son, my son, don’t look.
But the son did not listen and stuck his head out of the cave, so that he, too, was hit in the face by fragments of Marugoddo’s bones, which were bursting in the fire.
And he, too, became blind, and his father also shouted to him:
- To the water, to the water! Throw yourself into the water!
Itubore threw himself into the water and came out with a beautiful face and new black eyes, like his brother’s.
When Marugoddo burned to the ground, the jaguar and his sons lived happily and peacefully. But they soon noticed that many animals were eating people and decided to stop this.
The jaguar said to the children:
- The harpy eats people. If you manage to subdue this bird of prey, the earth will be in your power and a great people will submit to you.
Then the elder brother Bakororo said to the younger brother Itubora:
“My brother, my brother, go to your father and ask him to make us a rope that we can tie around our heads.”
Itobore asked his father. Such a rope is still worn on the head like a turban by the Bororo Indians to this day.
And again Bakororo said to Itubora:
“My brother, my brother, tell your father to make us a heavy club made of wood and a small spear made of bamboo, with a sharp bone tip.”
Itubore said to his father:
“Father, father, we need a club and a spear.” And the jaguar made a club and a spear. Such weapons are still used by the Bororo Indians to this day.
Then Bakororo tied a rope around his brother’s head, wrapping it several times, and tried to stab him with a spear, saying:
- When it hurts, scream.
Itubora immediately felt pain and screamed. Then the brothers asked their father to make them a much longer and thicker rope.
The father did, and Bakororo again tied his brother's head and tried to stab him with a spear. This time the turban was so large that Itubora was not hurt. Then they went together to the tree where the fierce harpy lived. The ground under the tree was all strewn with human bones.
Bakororo said to his brother:
“I’ll hide here, and you shake the tree until the harpy falls on your head and grabs you by the hair.” Then you hug the trunk and scream.
Itubore began to shake the tree, and the harpy fell on him, grabbed the rope that was tied around his head, and was about to rise into the air and take him with him, when Itubore hugged the tree trunk and screamed. And then Bakororo quickly jumped out of his hiding place and hit the harpy on the head with his club with such force that the bird fell dead to the ground. And while she was dying, Bakororo said to her:
“You won’t eat people anymore.” Your food will be a coati, a monkey, a capivara water pig, an anteater, a deer, and a wild chicken. This is what you will eat.
And so it happened. From this day forward, no harpy eats humans. Then they went to fight the gigantic stork jaburu.
The brothers decided to kill him, because in those days he devoured people. But he ran so fast and took such big steps that it was completely impossible to catch him. Then the brothers decided to dig deep holes in the path of the jabur and intertwine them with vines, but the giant bird jumped over the largest holes and the most tangled vines. Then the brothers decided to make a fence of thorny vines to block the bird’s path. Jaburu came across this mountain of thorns, began to tear, became entangled, injured himself, and then the brothers came up and finished him off with their club. And when the gigantic bird was already at its last breath, the brothers said to it:
“You will no longer devour people, and from this day on you will eat only fish.”
In those days, periquito parrots also ate human flesh. So Bakororo said to his younger brother:
“My brother, my brother, tell our father to make us arrows with a blunt tip.” With such arrows it will be convenient for us to hunt parrots, because we can stun them and take them alive, and if we kill them, their bright multi-colored feathers will not become stained with blood and will later serve us for decoration. Ask your father, Itubore, you are his beloved son, he will not refuse you.
Itubore asked, and the jaguar made arrows for his sons. Such arrows are still used to hunt parrots by the Bororo Indians and other tribes.
The brothers took arrows and went hunting. A flock of parrots was just flying past. They killed many parrots from this flock and when they fell dead to the ground, they said to them:
“You parrots, from this day forward, will no longer eat people or animals.” From now on, your food will be only the fruits of the earth and what blooms.
And from that day on, parrots stopped eating human flesh, and only ate coconuts, edible tubers on the roots of plants, fruits and vegetables, and flowers.
Then the brothers went to war against the toothy fish, which devoured any person as soon as he entered the water. To defeat them, the brothers came up with a trick.
They wrapped themselves in a mat of plant fibers and threw themselves into the water. The fish immediately surrounded them on all sides and grabbed the mat with their sharp teeth. But their teeth became entangled in the fibers of the mat, and they remained there, as if they had been glued. When the mats were so covered with fish that no more could fit, the brothers swam to the shore, got out of the water and killed the fish. Then they wrapped themselves in mats again and went into the water and repeated their trick until they had killed all the fish. When the last fish died, they said to them:
- From today you will no longer eat people, but will begin to eat only other fish.
Then the brothers went to war against the snakes that were devouring people, and killed them all.
And over each snake they repeated what they had said earlier over the killed birds and fish:
- From today you will no longer eat people. “And everyone was told what she should eat.”
After they killed the most terrible snake, they composed a battle song, which is still sung in Indian villages.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru