[Note: The king vultures live somewhere in heaven. They are human in form, disguising themselves as birds only when they descend to earth.]
A girl one night placed in the house yard a water-filled earthen vessel for her brother to bathe in the next day, but the following morning she found the container empty except for some small manioc flat cakes. The next night she again placed the vessel with water in the same place, and the following morning discovered a piece of smoked meat in place of the water.
So the following night she placed the vessel at the edge of the igarape and waited to see what would happen. At dawn a king vulture alighted in the house yard, glanced about, and said loudly enough for the girl to hear: “Today I have no bath water!” But going down to the igarape [a narrow, natural channel between two islands or between an island and the riverbank; a canoe passage through inundated jungle] he found the earthen vessel there. He removed his feather dress, lay down backward a moment, and, now in human form, bathed himself. While he was pouring water over himself, the girl, who had approached behind him, removed the feather dress, hiding it in the house. Finished with his bath, the king vulture looked about everywhere for his costume, finally fleeing without it to hide in the jungle.
His daughter, waiting in heaven for his return, finally went down after him. Soon the costume in the house began to speak, telling the girl that the king vulture’s daughter had arrived. Upon hearing this, the girl arranged with her brother that he should steal the daughter’s cloak also. The daughter descended the aerial path of her father, circled above the yard of the house, and finally landed. Seeking and finding her father’s trail, she followed it to the igarape, where, feeling the urge to bathe, she removed her feathers. But while she was pouring water over herself, the girl’s brother stole her cloak. Searching for it, she thought, “This must have happened to my father, also!” Then she again followed her father’s trail and found him hidden in the jungle. “So, here you are,” she said, “and where is your feather dress?” “They stole it,” replied the king vulture. “And where is yours?” “They stole mine, too.” “Then we must remain seated in the jungle for five days until our new feathers grow!” declared the king vulture.
Slowly the feathers began to grow. Meanwhile, the brother and sister tried to put on the stolen feathers in order to fly. The vulture and his daughter managed to fly again and, circling above the two mortals, decided to carry them to the upper world with them. The stolen garments cried out: “We are here, father!”
Hearing this, the siblings thought to hide the feathers outside the house and ran with them into the plantation. The king vulture, in human form, ran after them and asked them what they were doing. They did not recognize him, replying that they were attempting to put on the feather costumes. Then the king vulture showed them how to do so, first pressing their limbs together so that they could get into the costume, and later releasing them. Then the siblings managed to put on the costumes, but, once dressed, they could not take them off again. Thereupon the king vulture and his daughter put on their costumes of new feathers also, and took the two with them to heaven, where the king vulture married the girl and his daughter married the boy. [See also Chae in the Underworld.]