B114. Old anteaters.. 58.66.67.68.70.72.

A woman or man (usually old people) becomes anteaters (the origin of anteaters).

Varrau, Kashinahua, Takana, Iranshe, Nambikwara, Sherente, Kraho, Ramkokamekra, Ayoreo.

Guiana. Warrau [on the way to the Mauritian flexuosa grove, a man saw a creature with an anteater's tail; the man he met invited him to his forest, he has a magnificent house, he laughs at Indian huts; people are offended, they came to burn down the house in the forest, but the owner bewitched, they killed each other, he pulled out their eyes; told the man that he would learn how to conjure if he became a sorcerer himself; took clothes, turned into a real anteater, went to the forest; people have been afraid of big anteaters ever since]: Barral in Wilbert 1970, No. 164:351-354.

Montagna - Jurua. Kashinahua: Capistrano de Abreu 1914 in Barroso 1930 [a poor widow with many children grew her hair, went into the woods, put a tail stick between her legs, became an anteater; a real anteater married her brought her children to the forest, turned them into anteaters in the same way]: 111; D'Ans, 1975 [a person finishes work first, is thirsty, runs to the river, but all water bodies are dry; turns into an anteater]: 155-156.

Bolivia - Guaporé. Takana: Hissink, Hahn, 1961, No. 62 [man has no luck hunting; his wife's father, mother and brothers decide to destroy him; lured him to the Mahuí tree, under the roots of which the snake Ha Bacua (Ha - macaw parrot, Bacua is a snake); they said that there was a nest of parrots in the tree; the hunter climbed the vine, father-in-law cut it off by climbing a neighboring tree; hit the root, calling a snake; the hunter called the owner of the forest Chibut; he killed the snake, fired an arrow, a vine appeared, along which the hunter descended; gave fat from the snake's neck, ordered her mother-in-law to be fed, she first turned into a parrot, then a snake, and began to live under the roots that tree; the same with his wife's brothers; father-in-law went to the forest to look for a wife; C. put the rolled palm leaves in his mouth and ass, turned him into an anteater; ordered him to go alone, without a wife, to conceive and give birth to children ( it is believed that anteaters do not have females); people will kill him with a stick; C. taught the hunter and through him his son and daughter-in-law the rules of hunting, fishing, wearing clothes, pottery, spinning, weaving, etc. .; further options]: 165-178; Ottaviano 1980 [a person successively marries five women, fattens, devours, hangs their heads on a tree; the sixth, despite the ban, goes towards a tree, finds the remains of the victims, runs away, climbs a tree; the husband cannot reach it, eats meat from his calves, turns into an anteater: he predicts that in three days his wife will return to him; the woman comes to parents, dies on the third day]: 39-43.

Southern Amazon. Iranshe: Pereira 1974 [a young man took care of one man's wife; he invited him to collect Caryocar brasiliensis; the young man climbed a tree, the man threw away the pole and left; when the pecks began to crack, the young man licked their juice; the monkey brought him a drink, but could not let him down; the urubu vulture lowered (the young man was thin by then); the young man promised the offender's meat as a reward; at home Urubu fed the young man, let the tapir's heart eat; gave his two daughters, but the young man first went to take revenge on his opponent; Urubu gave two cigars: good and poisonous; the rival asked for a cigar himself, lit a cigarette, ran, The young man threw straw from the roof after him (became his tail) and the calebas became the face of an anteater; the young man killed this anteater, brought Urubu; Urubuu, the owner of tobacco]: 14-16; 1985, No. 42 [the husband is jealous of his wife for her brother; asks him to get honey; throws away the pole on which the young man climbed the tree; monkeys bring water to the young man, it spills through it; he descends on a vulture; the vulture's daughters heal his ass, he He can drink again; tobacco taken from the vulture gives his sister's husband, who turns into an anteater; he kills an anteater, the vulture eats meat]: 230-231; Moura 1960 [man sleeps with another's wife; husband asks get fruit; takes a ladder; a man goes down on a vulture; as in Pereira 1985, No. 42]: 53; nambiquara [two men climb a tree to get eagle feathers; the eagle flies away; the first one gets off, makes the tree trunk thick (it is not clear why); the second asks Squirrel (Sciurus pyrrhonotus) first, then Sagüi (Hapalideo), then Urubu to lower it; they are too weak; Greater Urubu (Sarcoramphus papa) puts a man on his back; when he lowers him to the ground, brings water, sweet potatoes, meat; gives three cigars, one of them for his enemy; after smoking it, he turns into a great anteater; a man throws after him a stone axe became an anteater's foot; pacova-do-mato leaves became a tail; a stick to let people know that an anteater can be killed with a stick; calebasa became a muzzle; people from another village killed it anteater, man refused to eat his meat]: Pereira 1983, No. 61:91-93 (=197:19-20).

Eastern Brazil. Sherente [during the buriti palm ripening season, the husband and wife left the village and made themselves a hut; when their daughter came to them, they saw bundles of buriti fibers lying around the walls, pieces were lying everywhere termite munites; on her next visit, she found two anteaters; her husband killed them, brought meat and two fancy dresses to the village; at night, the blood of the dead old people turned into many anteaters surrounding them village; it became clear that old people became anteaters wearing fancy dresses; these costumes are now worn during padí rituals]: Nimuendaju 1942:67-68 in Wilbert, Simoneau 1984a, No. 68:217-218; collapse [Schultz 1950:160; the old woman led her grandchildren to eat peka fruits; told them to climb the tree and shake it, and she waited with the basket below; the children stayed on the tree, ate the fruit, the old woman ate the fallen; then the children began to throw her unripe fruits, the old woman began to scold them; they turned into long-tailed parrots and flew away; the old woman decided to become an anteater because she was toothless; went into the forest]: Wilbert 1978, No. 106:266; Ramkokamekra [Kokodyótómre's daughter and daughter's husband ate Hakti's giant harpy eagle; Kokodyótómre and his wife raise grandchildren Akréi and Kenkunã; they are building a hut by the river, they live there, become strong; they take shelter by the approaching tree on which X.'s nest; they show themselves to him and then hide in the hut, exhausting H., kill them with a club; the Nightjar lives in the cave, cutting people off with his head's beak; he killed A.; Kenkunã left his brother's head at a fork in a tree; looking for departed people, asks birds; Nandu say they passed a year ago, series - that two or three days ago; Kenkun ã finds people; Kokodyótómre and his wife roamed the savannah; by the mountain, the husband went to the right, told his wife to go to the left; when they separated, both turned into anteaters; Kokodyótómre was killed by hunters; wife waited, cried and left alone]: Wilbert 1978, No. 175:461-463.

Chaco. Ayoreo: Wilbert, Simoneau 1989b, No. 282 [women in labor are not allowed to go to the water; the husband (his name is "monkey") is hunting, the woman gave birth and sent a four-year-old daughter to fetch water, she is weak; the woman is walking herself, the water swallows her and the baby; the husband throws his pitchfolk (witch stick) into the lake, it dries up, he finds his wife's corpse; putting her skirt to her hips and gluing the wand to his nose, turns it into an anteater; her mother became a big anteater, her baby a small underground animal (a mole?)] , 283 [the woman gave birth to a boy, went to get water, the water swallowed her and the baby; her other son dried the lake, threw a cross of sticks over it, found the mother's bones, made a new head to replace the missing one, carried her mother home, she became a big anteater], 284 [a woman and a newborn girl went to get fruit, approached the lake, the water swallowed them up; her son dried the lake, throwing a stick, replaced the missing one the mother's head is wooden, the mother became an anteater; she was tired of carrying her daughter, buried her, she became an underground rodent], 285 [the woman gave birth, went to the river, the water swallowed her up with the baby; her son made her out cross the sticks, threw them into the river, it dried up; the mother turned into an anteater], 286 [the Anteater's wife gave birth, went to the river contrary to the ban, disappeared; husband and son made cross-shaped sticks, threw them into the river, that dried up; they did not find a head, they made a wooden one; the wife turned into an anteater, the husband said he would follow her soon], 287 [The anteater was the wife of a howler monkey, gave birth to a son, her seven-year-old daughter was not able to bring her enough water, she went by herself, the river swallowed her; the husband made a cross sign over the water, the river dried up, he made his wife a tail out of her skirt, the wife became an anteater]: 342-343, 343-345, 345-346, 347 , 348-349, 350.