Siqueré Adode
Rainy Season
I will tell about the rainy season:
The men would gather in the rainy season and, when they did, one of the men would bless the people. He would say, The blessing is the telling of this story:
They say the jaguar is of the Dosapei clan. The gopher is of the Dosapei clan. The smaller gopher is of the Dosapei clan. The *rabbit-like animal called ‘jochi’ is of the Dosapei clan.
It’s said, ‘the rainy season’ arrived for them, and they heard the sound of something approaching. They started to run and the jaguar spoke and said: “I’m going to stand up to whatever it is that is coming toward us.”
The gopher said: “I’ll stay with my dear brother the jaguar and whatever that thing does will happen to us both.”
The little gopher stayed with his brother the jaguar for whatever would happen. And the rabbit-like animal said: “I will perish with my big brother the jaguar if it comes to that.”
Their sister was a gopher. And she ran ahead of them. And ‘the rainy season’ caught up with them. The first thing to appear in front of them was squash and the jaguar took it and said: “What kind of food it this?”
They went on running from ‘the rainy season’ and the little gopher grabbed squash and took it and said: “I’m going to eat this.”
The big gopher grabbed watermelon and took it and said: “This is mine, I’ll eat it.”
The rabbit-like animal grabbed corn and took it and said: “I’ll eat this.”
The jaguar grabbed beans and took them and said: “I’ll take them and eatthem.”
It was just the Dosapéode clan members that took the things that ‘the rainy season’ produced, and that is why the rainy season crops are the ‘edopasade’ [clan possessions] of the Dosapei Clan.
It’s said they made a fire in the cooking pit, and the things that were brought by the sound of the rainy season were transferred into the hole, squashes and all the rest. And that is how they were cooked.
Oidabiade – Campo Loro, Paraguay – 1988.
Transcribed and translated to English by: Maxine Morarie.
