Curupira
A hunter loses his way in the forest and falls asleep beneath a tree. A curupira wakes him with a terrifying demand. The hunter must find a trick to escape.
Avertissement : This tale contains threats, the eating of an animal’s heart, a skeleton and violent deaths.
Brejeiro — Le Malicieux
A man was hunting in the forest ; led astray by a curupira, a forest spiritone of these beings, he lost his way, and at night went to sleep at the foot of a tree.
The curupira came up to him and beat on the tree’s broad buttress rootbeat on the sapopema of the tree ; the man awoke.
"What are you doing here, brother?" asked the curupira.
"I was lost, and I remained here," answered the man.
"Then," said the curupira, "give me a piece of your heart to eat!"
Fortunately the man had killed a monkey : he gave a piece of its heart to the curupirawith his knife he opened its body, and cutting out a piece of the heart he gave it to the curupiraExplanation: The graphic preparation of the dead monkey is softened for children. The offered heart and the curupira’s mistaken belief remain., who ate it, supposing it to be the man's heart.
"It is very sweet!" said the curupira ; "give me the whole!" And the man gave him the rest of the monkey's heart. Then he said :
"Now you must give me a piece of your heart."
The curupira thought that if the man could give him a piece of his heartcut out his heartExplanation: The repeated reference to the trick keeps the offered heart without repeating graphic injury mechanics., he could do the same without being hurt. He tried to do so and fell deadhe also could do the same. So he asked the hunter to give him his knife, cut open his own body, and fell deadExplanation: The mechanics of the fatal injury are softened for children. The trick, the attempt and the death remain.. The man, free from his enemy, fled.
After a year, the hunter remembered that the curupiras have green teeth ; so he went to get the teeth of the one he had killed, to make a string of beads. He found the skeleton at the foot of the tree ; he took the skull in his hand and struck one of the teeth with his hatchet. To his amazement and fear,taking the skull in his hand, he struck one of the teeth with his hatchet : when, to his amazement and fear, the curupira stood alive and smiling before him.
"Thank you, brother, for having awakened me!" said the apparition. "I had lain down for a momenthad laid down a moment to sleep." Then he gave the man an enchanted arrow, saying that with this he could kill any game ; but he warned him not to tell anyonehe charged him not to tell any one from whom he had received it.
Until thenHeretofore this man had been a bad hunter ; but now he killed much game every day. His wife, noticing this, asked him often how he had become so expert. The husband eventuallyat length told his wife all, and immediately fell dead.1
Footnotes
1. As in the Tucano-yua story, the man dies after revealing his secret to his wife; this situation also appears in tales from the East.Observe, in this as in the Tucano-yua story, it is feminine curiosity which costs the man his life ; a common feature in eastern tales.Explanation: The historical comment generalizes a fault to women. The modern version states the narrative event without repeating that generalization.