Cabayui Adode
What the tapir did:
It’s said the tapir took off with an Ayoré man. The Ayoré waited for the tapir by the dújna tree where he expected to get honey and he just waited there for him. And then the tapir came and carried him off.
And his wife came but when she reached the dújna tree where her husband expected to find honey, he wasn’t there, because the tapir had already taken her husband off and he wasn’t at the dújna tree where he expected to find honey.
And so it was that when the tapir left, he took the Ayoré man off with him. And, after a while the Ayorei got hungry because by this time they were far away. And he got hungrier and finally he said: “Oooooh!” He was thinking about food and that is why he groaned.
And the tapir asked: “What did you say?”
He said: “I didn’t say anything.”
But the tapir knew and then, he pooped. And it’s said the ‘honey that comes from small yellow bee’s’ came out. And the Ayorei ate until he was full. Honey originated with the tapirs who provided it for the first men.
And the tapir took off again, and the Ayorei got hungry after a while. And the same thing happened, he said: “Oooooh!” when he remembered food. And then it was that the tapir pooped and the ‘honey of small black bees’ came out. And he sucked the honey till he was full.
And it’s claimed that the origin of honey was the tapir.
But he left again and the same things happened: the Ayorei got hungry way off there. And the Ayorei groaned and said: “¡Oooooh!” because he remembered food.
They say the tapir said: “Your words, what were they?”
And the Ayorei said: “I didn’t make a sound.” He hid his words from the tapir, that’s why. And then it was that the tapir took off and went much further. The tapir pooped, and it’s said another type of honey came out. This ‘honey came from black bees’ that makes it’s nest on the ground. And the Ayorei sucked honey till he was full.
And he left again, and the Ayoré man’s thoughts were on his wife and he groaned and said, “¡Oooooh!” That’s because he was so hungry.
The tapir said: “What were your words?”
But he said: “I didn’t make a sound.”
And then the tapir pooped and he threw out honey from the ‘large yellow bee’, the one that looks like a tame bee but doesn’t bite. And he sucked the honey till he was full of it.
And suddenly things changed, and the Ayorei was far away; he left the animal way off over there.
Oidábiadé – Campo Loro, Paraguay – 1988.
Transcribed and translated to English by: Maxine Morarie.
