B22A. Boys and tapir.62.66.68.

Boys eat fruit when they climb a tree, refuse to plant the tapiru, who tries to kill the boys.

NW Amazon. Bora [Moon Titause conceived 7 sons from Thunder; they climbed a tree to eat fruit; Tapir asks him to plant the fruit and his brothers refuse; he hits the trunk, the tree grows, becomes huge; one of the brothers turns into an insect (curhuinse), gnaws through a leaf, descends on it; kills Tapir, rises to heaven to his father, the Sun (is he, not Thunder, the true father?) ; brothers cross the river on the Cayman; the Cayman ate one, only took out his leg; the brothers became Pleiades]: Girard 1958:266-267.

Montagna - Jurua. Usually the old tapir stays under the tree; he makes the tree very tall; boys turn into ants to go down. Shipibo: Gebhaert-Sayer 1987, No. 2 [a single boy uses kalebasu instead of his wife; she becomes a woman, gives birth to three sons; they sit on a tree and eat fruits; Tapir always comes and asks for fruit for themselves; they throw the unripe fruit at his head; he knocks on the trunk, making it fat; brothers descend as ants; follow the tapir's trail; ask his excrement or the grown ones of these trees when the tapir passed; a year, six months, a month, ten days ago; he is here; the eldest turns into an ant, climbs into the tapir's anus, hurts the heart; brothers fresh the carcass; each tries to be a pot to cook meat; only the elder can withstand the heat for a long time; they ask the Duck to transport them across the river; she replies that her boat is small; Cayman asks not to step on his head; the younger brother comes, Cayman grabs him by the leg, drags him under water; the Sloth drains the river, the brothers take the youngest's corpse out of the caiman's womb; his leg is not enough; they shoot at the sky, make a chain of arrows; Termite and Little Squirrel are afraid to climb, Big Squirrel comes back, says the sky is good; the turtle turns the chain into a ladder; the brothers take Cayman's head and brother's corpse, go up to heaven]: 350- 351; Roe 1982, No. 7 [an old man (this is Tapir) makes a boat under a Guava tree; children sitting on a tree throw fruits at him; the old man kicks him with his foot, the tree grows huge; children turn into ants, they go down on leaves, then become human again; follow the old man's trail, asking for directions from the genip trees; find more and more fresh tapir droppings; one became an ant, climbed the tapir in the ass, cut his heart ; the tapir died; one turned into a pot, meat was cooked in it; everyone tasted it, but only the strongest one could withstand the fever; they had to cross the river; the man sent a boat - a caimana; sitting on his back, brothers they thought what to become, they chose birds; one decided to become a panguana bird; on the coast, the Cayman bit off both his legs; Panguana is part of Orion, without legs; all turned into Pleiades, Hyades, Orion's Belt], 8 [ at night, the young man masturbates to the calebass; his mother began to put him one at a time and throw him away; two boys came out of the broken calebas; they ask who killed their mother; the grandmother replies that Lightning; they killed the spirit- Lightning; they ask again if they threaten to kill the grandmother herself; she replies that Tapir killed; they found Tapir from fresh litter; the youngest became an ant, climbed into Tapira's anus, cut off his heart; the elder cut the tapir stomach, let the younger one go; the youngest turned into a pot to cook meat; the eldest puts it on the fire and then in the water; the meat is cooked; the Sloth promised to call a bird that will transport the brothers across the river; the bird asks not to step on her boat's bow; the eldest listened, the youngest stepped on the shore, the boat turned into a caiman, bit off his leg; the Sloth dried the river with a magic spear, the elder cut off the caiman jaw, brother's leg out; when they return to their grandmother, the brothers again ask who killed their mother; she replies that they will receive an answer in heaven; the brothers climbed a chain of arrows, the eldest is in his hands the caiman's jaw - Hyades]: 62-63, 63-66; conibo [by Arturo Burgas Freitas, p.38-44, Buenos Aires; Titause, Mother Moon, became pregnant by lightning; gave birth to seven sons, the youngest is the most powerful; the brothers climbed on tree for fruit; Tapir asked him to shed fruit; without receiving it, he hit the tree, it began to grow; the youngest turned into a curhuinse {leaf cutter ant?} , cut off a leaf, covered it, went down, killed Tapir; the brothers went to look for their Sun Father; they rose to heaven along a chain of arrows; the arrows were the rays of Barí, the sun; B. turned them into Pleiades]: Girard 1958:265-266; (cf. machigenga [Parenya has daughters and sons; took fish out of her anus, they were also her sons; tells her daughter to let some into the river, cooks, gives her husband a Hummingbird, says she caught it; he I saw where she was getting the fish from, refused to eat; she turned him into a hummingbird, let him drink flower juice; her second husband, the Bee; began to lick her sweat, she turned it into a bee; the next, Fly, saw She made what she ate the crap as a fly; the next was the Battleship; P. made masato, sent her sons to pick up her brother Pachákama; he said he would come; walking back, the boys climbed the tree for pakae fruits; Pachákama came, asked for it, they peeled him; he turned them into monkeys; together with his son I 'giane came to Pareni; said that her sons would come to eat fruit; they came running laughing; the boys called them, they turned into little monkeys and black monkeys; they ran again as humans, then finally turned into monkeys; Igiana turned her daughters into tapir, deer and paku; Pareni told Pachákama to sit down, he began to fall into the ground; tried to become bamboo, ants, did not help; The battleship took it to the mouth of the Amazon, secured it with pillars; I. turned the Battleship into battleship; Pareni placed I. in the upper reaches of the Amazon; when the ground shakes, Pachakama's son goes to him; the same does not move; if he moves, the world will end; Pareni has turned into a salt rock, with her youngest daughter; fish swim to suck their mother]: Baer 1984, No. 3:426-429; marubo [cf. camayura; jaguar killed a pregnant woman; father picked up a boy (it is clear from the following that five twins); they have grown up, killing larger animals, bringing their grandmother's head, learning animal names from her; they lured the jaguar into the water, he ran into hidden spears, they cut off his head, heart, liver ; met another jaguar, that brother was the first, killed one boy, who turned into a toad turtle; the brothers killed the jaguar, brought the grandmother's head, she cried; they thought she was related to Jaguars, killed her, went west, took to heaven]: Melatti 1984:153).

Southern Amazon. Turtle boys throw the tapira peel instead of the fruit; the tapir shakes the tree but does not knock it down; some fallen boys die. Kamayura: Münzel 1973 [Turtle boys throw Tapira from the tree not the fruits of the genipa, but the peel; he shakes them off the tree, tramples them, leaves; some are alive, follow Tapir's trail for a year, find more and more fresh excrement; ends up in the sky; they kill Tapir, cut to pieces; they decide to stay in the sky; these are the Pleiades, rising after a constellation that eats Tapir's grilled meat]: 187-190; Villas Boas, Villas Boas 1973 [as in Münzel; some boys turn into turtles after falling from a tree; they don't end up in the sky, but go up there after Tapir is killed]: 171-173; kayabi [Turtles eat there are fruits on the tree; Tapir asks him to shed the fruit too, but they throw only the peel; Tapir hits the trunk, the turtles fall, he tramples on them; two did not fall; followed in his footsteps, finding more and more fresh excrement; When Tapir saw him sleeping, one climbed into his anus, the other down his throat, killed Tapir; they came to Jaguar to ask for fire; he does not believe that fire should be smoked for wasps, took away their meat; they secretly come to eat meat into Jaguar's house; once he spotted one of the Turtles, threw it away]: Pereira 1995, No. 10:63-64.

(Wed. Eastern Brazil. Crash [the old woman called her grandchildren to eat fruit; told them to climb a tree; the boys throw her unripe fruits, the old woman scolds them; the boys turn into parrots; the old woman asks them in vain return; decides to become an anteater because she has almost no teeth left]: Wilbert 1978, No. 106:266).