Tupi

(map)

Two twin sons of a great wizard, one good and the other evil, were always arguing. One day the angered good brother stamped so hard that the earth opened and water gushed out, shooting as high as the clouds. The water covered the whole world. The good brother and his wife climbed a pindona tree, and the evil brother and his wife climbed a geniper tree until the waters receded. (In another account, they survived in canoes.) From these couples descended the Tupinambas and Tominus, two tribes which do not get along well.

Frazer, 1919, 254; Vitaliano, 1973, 175.

The name Tamandaré appears to signify Timandonar, "He remembers," and Aricoute "Agitated day."

A flood came which drowned all life except a man named Tamandaré (or Temenduaré), his wife, and his children. They descended at Cape Frio when the flood abated.

Another tradition tells of two brothers, Tamandaré and Aricoute, who quarreled. Tamandaré struck the earth, whence water issued, rising to the treetops, but both escaped by climbing the highest trees. This was supposed to have occurred five or six generations before 1555.

Albert Tootal, trans., The Captivity of Hans Stade of Hesse, annotated by Richard F. Burton (London: The Hakluyt Society, 1874), 148-149.

A medicine man named Sommay had two sons, Tamendonare and Ariconte. Tamendonare tilled the ground and was a good husband and father. Ariconte was interested only in war. One day he returned from battle with the arm of a slain foe and accused his brother of cowardice. Tamendonare sarcastically asked why he didn't bring the whole carcass. Ariconte threw the arm at his brother's door, and at that moment, their village was transported to the sky, leaving the two brothers on earth. Tamendonare stamped on the ground so hard that a fountain of water sprang forth into the sky; the water continued until the whole world was covered. The brothers fled to the highest mountains and climbed trees. Tamendonare climbed a pindona tree, helping one of his wives up with him, and Ariconte climbed a geniper tree with his wife. All other people drowned. Ariconte's wife dropped fruit and heard from the splash when the water was still too high for them to climb down. Two different peoples, who are perpetually feuding, are descended from these two couples. The Tupinambo exalt themselves over the Tominu by claiming descent from Tamendonare. [Frazer, pp. 254-255]

Frazer, 1919, 254-255.

The great god Tupi warned a medicine man named Tamanduare of a coming great flood that would cover the earth, and he told Tamanduare to seek refuge on a lofty peak with a palm tree at its top. Tamanduare and his family went there immediately, and when they arrived, it began to rain. It continued to rain until the whole earth was flooded. The water covered even the summit of the mountain, and Tamanduare and his family climbed into the palm tree and live there, eating its fruit, until the water subsided. Then they descended and repopulated the devastated world.

Frazer, 1919, 255-256.