Dyai and Epi each made, in the jungle, a long fence with some openings, in which they set nooses to catch the birds and small animals that might attempt to pass through In one of Dyai ’s snares a forest turkey became trapped by one leg. Epi, who visited the traps every hour, discovered it first. Removing it and placing it in his own snare, he ran to tell his brother that he had caught a turkey.
The fowl was so tame that he decided to keep it as a pet. It slept on the ridgepole of the house, and at dawn began to sing: “Dyai ’s snare caught me by the leg; Epi carried me to his!” Epi, enraged at hearing this, went to fetch a long pole, with which he killed the bird on top of the house. His sister carried it to the edge of the Igarape to take out the tripes. As she removed the stomach, she heard within it a humming sound. She did not open it but hid the stomach. At this point Epi arrived and asked: “Sister, where is the forest turkey ’s stomach?” “I threw it away,” answered the girl. “Where did you throw it? I want it!” demanded Epi, but she refused to show him where she had hidden it. Then Epi waited until she returned to the house, then searched along the bank until he found the stomach hidden beneath a tree trunk from which they used to dip water. But when he opened it, out poured a cloud of gnats and mosquitoes which attacked him with such fury that he fell dead upon the spot.
After the turkey had been prepared, Dyai called in vain for his brother. Searching for him, he went down to the landing and found him dead at the water ’s edge, covered by a cloud of insects. Dyai fetched him a kick in the backside, whereupon Epi sprang up at once, crying: “My brother, how you have frightened me!”
A Bae demon was seated on the bank of an igarape, fishing with a hook, which got entangled at the bottom of the creek. Dyai came along with Epi, who saw that the Bae did not know what to do, and took pity on him. In spite of his brother ’s advice to the contrary, Epi decided to release the Bae ’s hook. Transformed into a small otter, Epi swam toward the hook, but this leaped at him, hooking him. The Bae pulled him ashore, killed him, and carried him to his [the demon ’s] own house.
After pondering for a long time what he should do, Dyai decided to rescue his brother in the afternoon. All the demons had gone off to the work party of one of them when Dyai entered the house. Taking poison from the vaa toad, he mixed it with the drink, caicuma, that was in the Bae ’s jars. Epi ’s body was in a pot, transformed into mush.
As soon as the Bae demons returned from work, they began to swill the poisoned beverage. At first they felt nothing, but when they wished to begin their meal they fell dead, one after another. Only one, who had been delayed on the path and arrived late, saw the others dead on the floor and fled. Then Dyai came out of his hiding place, removed the flesh and bones of Epi from the pot, and recomposed his brother. He stamped his foot on the ground, and at once Epi sprang up, saying “My brother, you have frightened me!”
Dyai and Epi found in the jungle a noose set by some Bae. “Do you want to see, brother,” asked Epi, “how I kick at this?” But Dyai advised him to leave the snare as it was. Epi trod on the noose and was caught in it by the buttocks. In vain, Dyai strove to untie the knot, which was tied in a certain way known only to the Bae.
Then he rapidly wove a basket of uaruma and placed it over Epi ’s head, thereby transforming his brother into a deer. By then the Bae was arriving to examine his snare. He killed the deer, sucked its nose, and then untied the knot without the slightest difficulty. Dyai observed everything from his hiding place. The Bae lifted the kill to carry it home, but finding it too heavy, set about making a carrying strap of envira. He found a mata-mata tree, but the envira was no good. He found another tree, but that was even worse. On the third tree the loosened strip grew wider and wider at the top and could not be pulled free in spite of all the Bae ’s efforts. Finally, he was obliged to climb the tree in order to cut the bark free at its upper end. Meanwhile Dyai revived his brother and both fled.
Dyai and Epi went to attend the puberty festival of their niece, the daughter of the squirrel Taine, who had married their sister Aikina. Epi no longer recognized his brother-in-law and, while the brothers were returning from the celebration, he repeatedly asked who had been the host, but Dyai always replied that he did not know either. At the feast it had been arranged that Dyai, not Epi, was to get the girl. However, Epi insisted that he wanted to marry her, and for this purpose wished to return to Taine ’s house, but he could no longer find the way.
Meanwhile, the girl had already arrived at the brothers ’ house. In the yard there stood a large umari tree. She transformed herself into an umari fruit, the only one on the tree, whence her name Girl of Umari. As soon as he saw it, Epi wished to pick the fruit, but Dyai forbade him. Then Epi swept the ground clear beneath the tree in order to find the fruit as soon as it should drop, and bided his time.
Dyai went hunting, killed many birds, and returned, tired and stained with blood. Giving the birds to Epi for cleaning and plucking, he went off to bathe. Meanwhile the umari fruit fell. The girl again assumed human form and waited for Dyai, who soon joined her. He rolled her between the palms of his hands, thus reducing her size until he was able to conceal her inside his bone flute.
Much later, Epi finished his labors and, returning to the house, saw at once that the fruit was neither on the tree nor on the ground. He accused his brother of having eaten or hidden it, but Dyai answered that probably some agouti had carried it off.
For four days Dyai went nightly to bring the girl to his hammock, playing with her in silence. Always just before daybreak he hid her once more in his bone flute. On the fifth night she laughed with him and the little snailshell bells on her armbands tinkled. “My brother,” immediately asked Epi, “with whom are you laughing?” “No one,” answered Dyai. “The broom laughed because I tickled it!” Then Epi got up, fetched a broom, tied a snailshell bell on it, lay down with the broom in his hammock, and began to tickle it. “Brother,” he complained, “the broom does not laugh!” “So?” answered Dyai. “Mine does!” When on the following night Epi again heard the girl ’s laughter, he began to ask who was with Dyai, and the latter replied that he was playing with the rocking-board. Epi at once got up to bring a rocking-board to his hammock and began to tickle it. However, it did not laugh.
The Girl of the Umari Fruit was now Dyai ’s wife, but he continued to hide her in the bone flute every day before dawn, so that Epi would not see her. However, the latter was convinced that his brother had a wife and he searched for her everywhere. One day when Dyai had gone hunting, Epi took his bow and arrows and shot a large quantity of small fish in the igapo. He brought them home, where he poured them into a large potsherd, which he placed over the fire. When the sherd grew hot, the still living fish began to jump about. Epi then pulled his penis free of his waist cord and danced around the fire, singing as he danced. With this, his penis began to flop up and down.
The Girl of the Umari Fruit saw this from her hiding place and could not resist laughing. At once Epi stopped and looked all around, listening carefully, but as he discovered nothing he continued his dance. Once more the girl had to laugh, and this time Epi discovered her inside the flute. He pulled her out, fornicated with her, and afterward attempted to place her in the flute again, but he could not do so, for she was already big with child.
Then Epi went to collect some paxiubinha fruits and rubbed the white paste on his glans. Thus he went to meet his brother and, when he saw him approaching, he cried: “Look, brother I I still have all this tallow from the very beginning on my glans!” [That is, he had not yet enjoyed coitus.] So saying, he pulled back the foreskin and the white paste fell out. However, Dyai realized what had happened and paid no attention to Epi or to the Girl of the Umari Fruit, who, being pregnant, was seated in the house. Irritated, he threw the game that he had taken to one side, roasted a toucan for himself, and ate it alone.
The next morning the boy Tekukira [“Tail Feather,” a name of the Kau clan] was born. Dyai ordered Epi to bring genipapo fruits in order to paint his son black. Epi climbed up the genipapo tree, but the more he climbed the higher the tree grew. He had already climbed so high that he could see the Rio Solimoes [about five leagues away] from his perch. “Brother,” shouted Epi, “I think I see the Omagua coming downstream!” “Hold your tongue!” Dyai ordered angrily, “What did you have to say that for?” “No,” answered Epi, “these people are good for us to fight.” That is why the Omagua were the deadly enemies of the Tukuna.
Epi finally picked a genipapo fruit on the topmost branch of the tree and began to climb down, but in order to punish him Dyai caused an enormous fungus [orelha de pau] to grow horizontally round the circumference of the trunk. Epi, transformed into a tucandira ant, finally managed to overcome the obstacle. Dyai ordered him to grate the genipapo. After grating the fruit, Epi asked: “Is this enough?” “Not yet,” replied his brother, “keep on grating!” “Is it enough now?” Epi asked after a while, but Dyai ordered him to continue. Epi grated his hands, his arms, and finally all of himself, so that he became mixed in with the genipapo. Dyai took this to the Girl of the Umari Fruit so that she might paint the child black, advising her not to lose any of the residue. This remained for three days in a leaf bowl of agahy spatulate.
Dyai went hunting, but when he returned he gave nothing to the Girl of Umari, so she suffered from hunger. She thought: “Oh, if Epi were only here I should not be hungry!” Dyai read her thoughts and asked: “Do you want my brother again?” “Yes,” she replied, “because while he was here I lacked nothing.” Then Dyai ordered her to throw the remaining genipapo into the waters of the Igarape where she and the child were wont to bathe. Afterward he went to hunt and brought her many monkeys and birds so that she might eat her fill, since he was no longer angry with her. Afterward he constructed a fence of anaja palm stalks round the residue.
From the substance was generated a large number of small fish, but Epi was not among them. Dyai began to angle for them with a hook, using a stone as bait at first. As soon as he pulled these fish out of the water they were transformed into jaguars. Then he tried with bait of urucuri hulls, and the fish he caught then were transformed into squirrels. He tried fishing with tucumya hulls, and the fish thus hooked were changed into pigs. Finally, using sweet manioc as bait, he caught a fish which was transformed into an Indian.
He continued to fish with this bait until he had caught a large number of people. Suddenly, he sighted Epi approaching in the shape of a fish with a golden spot on its head. Dyai threw the bait to him several times, but Epi did not bite. Then Dyai called the Girl of Umari and handed her the hook; hardly had she thrown the line, when Epi darted at the bait, allowing himself to be hooked and pulled ashore, where he immediately resumed his human form and began to tell this tale.
He had come from the land of gold in the east and, as soon as they should part again, would return there where there was this brilliant thing; and he said that Dyai should go to the west. However, Dyai first of all ordered him to fish for men also. But Epi killed all his fish as soon as he had caught them, giving them no chance to become transformed into people, until the Girl of Umari showed him how to proceed.