Ipurina

(map)

Birds flew all over the world collecting things that decayed and threw them in a great kettle of water that boiled in sun. (The hard parukuba wood they left alone.) The storks waited around the kettle and snatched up things when they appeared on the surface of the boiling water. When the water was getting low, Mayuruberu, the chief of storks and creator of all birds, threw a round stone in the kettle. This upset the kettle, and its hot liquid poured over the world and burned up almost everything, including even water. Mankind survived, but all plants were destroyed except the cassia. The sloth, an ancestor of the Ipurina, climbed the cassia tree to fetch fruits, as there was nothing else to eat. At that time, the sun and moon were hidden. The first kernel that the sloth threw down fell on hard ground, and the sun appeared again, but it was very small. The second kernel he threw fell in water, and the sun grew larger. As the third kernel fell in deeper water, the sun grew more, and so on until the sun reached its present size. Then the sloth asked Mayuruberu for seeds of crops. Mayuruberu appeared with many new plants, and the Ipurina began tilling their fields. Mayuruberu ate anyone who would not work. The kettle still stands in the sun, but it is empty.

Frazer, 1919, 259-260; Kelsen, 1943, 139.