Maquiritari (Makiritare, Yekuana)

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In the beginning, the stars were people and lived on earth. Their village was Shiricheña, at the foot of Kushamakari; it was full of powerful and learned people. But one day, when they were out hunting, they listened to Jaguar and killed and ate a woman. That is why they were punished.

Kuamachi went on the path to Shiricheña. He thought, "There are many of them, and they are powerful. How will I kill them?" He had a basket of dewaka fruit. "I'll invite them to pick fruit."

He went into Shiricheña. Wlaha, its chief, asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I have come from the house of my grandfather, Mahanama. Our trees are full of fruit, and there are just two of us. I have come to ask for help to harvest it. Then we will divide it."

Wlaha went to talk it over with the elders. They said, "We don't trust Mahanama. We killed his daughter. Let's not go." Wlaha went back and told Kuamachi they were not going.

"Too bad," he said, eating a dewaka. "They are good, and there are lots of them. Try one. Here's more for your people to try."

Wlaha called the people. "Mmmmm, that's good," said one. "Delicious," said another. They discussed it again. Kuamachi waited.

Wlaha went back to Kuamachi. "I'm leaving now," Kuamachi said, but he was just saying it; he did not go."

"Wait," said Wlaha, "We'll go with you."

Kuamachi led the Star People to the trees, getting Mahanama on the way. The Stars climbed up into the trees and began eating.

Mahanama said, "I'm going to start weaving baskets for the harvest." The Star People just laughed at that; they were just eating the fruit, not gathering it.

Kuamachi climbed up a tree, picked a fruit, and dropped it. When it broke, water came out. It flooded the forest. Kuamachi thought, "Canoe," and there was a canoe. Mahanama jumped in it with his baskets.

Now Mahanama started throwing baskets into the water. One turned into an anaconda, another into a crocodile, another into a piranha. The water filled with deadly animals.

The men above, watching, became frightened. "Why are throwing away the baskets?" Wlaha said, "we are collecting to fill them." Now Mahanama and Kuamachi laughed.

Kuamachi set a termite nest on fire, and the forest filled with smoke. The boy jumped into the canoe, and they paddled off to get bows and arrows which he had hidden in a cave. When they returned, they could see nothing for the smoke. They just heard the people in the trees coughing and choking.

When the smoke cleared, they saw the people crying and begging for mercy. Kuamachi shot an arrow. A man dropped into the water. Animals devoured him. Wlaha hid among the branches. Kuamachi shot and shot, and people fell. The animals came up looking for food. The mawadi swallowed people in one gulp. Everything was red with blood.

Kuamachi ran out of arrows as the sun was setting. There were seven men left in the trees. They were Wlaha, who had turned himself into seven. They were holding seven arrows, which they had gathered from the ones Kuamachi shot.

Wlaha called his men. Many were dead, but those who were still alive climbed out of the water. First came a man carrying his leg, which the creatures had cut off but not eaten. He was called Ihette, One Leg. Many others climbed up after him and gathered in the trees again.

The seven Wlaha aimed their arrows at the sky. "We're going to leave this hell-hole," he said. "We'll shoot the arrows and make a ladder to the heavens. Who wants to go first and tie the rungs together?"

Wlaha looked at a man in front of him, but that man shook with fear. "Not me," he said, "I'll fall." Wlaha turned him into a bird. The bird called "Watte! Watte! I'll fall! I'll fall!"

"You're a coward," Wlaha said. "You can stay here with the animals. Your grandchildren will call just like you."

Another man named Ahishama volunteered to go. Wlaha turned him into a bird with beautiful bright orange feathers, the troupial (Icterus icterus). Another man said he could go. Wlaha turned him into a frog. They called him Kütto.

Wlaha shot an arrow. Troupial flew up carrying the end of a sahudiwa vine (Schnella bicomata). Frog leapt, carrying a little peraman gourd (Symphonia globulifera). Ahishama caught the arrow and tied it down, and Frog glued it with peraman.

The seven Wlaha shot their arrows, which became rungs in a ladder to Heaven. Ahishama and Kütto were the first ones up. Immediately they began shining. Ahishama became Mars. Wlaha went up next, calling for the others to follow. He became seven men staying close to each other, the Pleiades. Wlaha's son went up and turned into three stars. Mönettä, the scorpion turned into the Big Dipper. Ihette went up, carrying his leg (Orion's belt). Amaduwakadi, the Morning Star, went up. Many others went up.

Kuamachi watched them and wanted to go, too. He started up. Ioroko was ahead of him, carrying a basket full of poison. Kuamachi though, "He's a demon; he doesn't belong in Heaven." Aloud, he said, "I'm going light, and you're loaded down. Let me go ahead of you." Ioroko let him pass, and Kuamachi hurried to the top. Then he called Wadakame, the crab, to cut the vine. Crab could not do it, so Kahshe, the piranha, was called, who cut it right away. The ladder fell. Ioroko fell and sank in the water.

Kuamachi had brought Akuaniye, the Peace Plant, with him, and he offered it to Wlaha. "Okay," said Wlaha, "the fighting is over."

Kuamachi found a house on the horizon and does not wander far from it. He is the Evening Star.

The old ones say the Stars thought they had arrived in Heaven, but because they had killed and had eaten human flesh, they were not allowed in. They stay on this side of the door, in the land of night.

de Civrieux, Marc, Watunna, An Orinoco Creation Cycle, transl. David M. Guss (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1980), 109-116.