Clever armadillos and shapeshifting jaguars (Folktales of South American Indigenous peoples 1. - Mocoví)

As a sequel to the Following folktales around the world reading challenge, I decided to start reading minority and indigenous folktales. I am currently working my way through the folklore of South American indigenous peoples. You can find previous posts here, and you can follow the challenge on Facebook here.

Folk Literature of the Mocoví Indians

Johannes Wilbert, Karin Simoneau, Maria Susana Cipolletti

UCLA, 1988.

The Mocoví are a South American indigenous people numbering about twenty thousand. They live in the Gran Chaco area (most of them in the Argentinian part). This book contains 222 of their stories in English translation, from multiple collection projects - many of them published for the first time. It also has literally everything a researcher could wish for: footnotes, sources, motif index, type index, glossary, map, etc. The introduction talks about Mocoví culture and history, and mentions that the oral tradition was endangered at the time of collection in the 1970s.

What I especially like about this book series is that they put versions of the same tale next to each other, so one can compare how different storytellers at different times remembered them, showing off the diversity of oral tradition.

Highlights

Among the constellation myths there was one about a man-eating rhea bird. After people defeated it with the help of a shaman, it was raised into the sky (as the Southern Cross). In a longer version of the story, the rhea was defeated by two siblings with the help of their loyal dogs after they fled from the court of an evil king (one of the rare tales where marrying the princess backfired). There was also a legend about the Morning Star, which in reality was a "black widow": she kept marrying and killing one man after another.

There were several fun origin stories in the book. My personal favorite explained how the birds got their colors due to a fox having diarrhea... another told about a party the animals had that ended in a mass brawl, leaving several creatures in their current form (e.g. the parrot's beak got punched in, the snake crawled home drunk, etc.)

The brasita de fuego birds had a love story attached: the male thought he'd lost his wife in a fire, but found her again and fell in love with her new red feathers. The story of the crespín cuckoo was very similar, and thus explained why their song is different in the few months when their ancestor was looking for its beloved. The scariest origin story was that of the locusts, which claimed that in the old days they used to be human-sized and hunted humans. There was also a legend about the giant King of Ants, who helped farmers in exchange for peace with his people.

A large part of the book was taken up by animal tales. I especially liked the character of the clever armadillo. In one tale, it caught animals with a lasso and anchored himself in a hole; when fox tried to copy him, things did not go well. In another, armadillo pinched jaguar's nose with his armor, curling up, and didn't let go until the predator changed its mind.

There was an entertaining story about a cat and a deer who made jaguars believe they ate jaguars - exiling the predators into the wilderness forever. In another one, a howler monkey chased a jaguar away, saving a goat; there was also one where a goat used a dead puma to scare a jaguar away. I especially liked the story of the three little yellow fish who were sisters, and got trapped in a crocodile's pond after a flood. They managed to convince the crocodile they wanted to marry him, avoiding being eaten until the flood returned to free them.

There was an exciting legend about a beautiful girl who was bullied by other women (they stole all her lovers) - in the end, using the power women had during their period, she sank her entire village underground with the help of a giant snake. In another version, a shaman convinced a girl on her period to anger a snake monster - and then lead it to the camp of hostile white conquerors.

At the end of the book there were several legends about shapeshifting jaguars. My favorite was the one where the shaman didn't only defeat the jaguar-man, but also robbed its house - bringing the first musical instruments into the human world. In another story a shaman defeated the jaguar with the help of two dogs born from his spit (which people didn't believe later). There was also a friendlier legend about an orphan boy who was raised by jaguars and taught how to hunt.

Connections

Mocoví mythology also had a sky-reaching tree, with branches that allowed people to fish in sky rivers. Sadly, when people became greedy, an old woman in the shape of a capybara brought the tree down. The motif of fire theft also appeared: Hawk stole fire for people, from none other but the grumpy-looking viscacha. In some versions the thief was a vulture, an animal the Mocoví respect greatly. There was also a flood myth (here, a mangy dog warned the kind hero to prepare in advance).

Among the creation stories there was one where a troublesome spirit (Nowét) tried to copy the creations of the Creator (Kotaá) - making goats instead of sheep, and tapirs instead of cows.

I was surprised to find a few familiar tale types: Father of Winds was a "rescued princesses" tale, where the shaman hero became the lord of the winds upon his return from the underworld. In another a mortal man married the daughter of Naiapék the shapeshifting giant - resulting in a Magic Flight story (at the end of which the young couple split up).

Among the animal tales there was the familiar "bystander intervention" tale where an ovenbird helped a dove save its chicks from a fox.

The resident trickster was the Fox, who mostly played tricks on Jaguar. He featured in many classics such as the false funeral, the ungrateful animal rescued from a trap, crossing a river on the back of crocodiles, and mutual dinner invitations with a bandurria bird. One storyteller noted: "Fox is not nice, but his stories are exciting." As I mentioned above, Armadillo was also a popular trickster - he could even trick fox (usually by making him try to copy the armadillo). Another trickster was a distant cousin on Mouse Deer called Brocket Deer, who also liked to trick Jaguar. In a few stories, Monkey also played tricks - once, he convinced Fox that if he followed the Bull around, eventually the bull's balls would drop like candy.

Who's next?

The Kogi people