Kuat

Kuat America
The sun god in Kamaiuran mythology. In the beginning, according to this Amazon tribe of the Xingu River, all was dark. It was always night. People dwelt around the termite hills. In the confusion life was squalid. The brothers Kuat and lae, the sun and the moon, did not know what to do. They could not make light. Since the birds already possessed day in their village, the sun decided to steal it from Urubutsin, ‘vulture king’. He sent the flies with an effigy, full of maggots, but Urubutsin could not make any sense out of the hum of the flies. When one of his subjects eventually interpreted the message, the chief bird realized that the delicious maggots were a gift and that the flies bore an invitation to the birds to visit the sun and eat many more.

So it was that the birds shaved themselves bald and started out. Meanwhile Kuat and Iae had hidden themselves in another effigy. As soon as Urubutsin landed on it in order to eat, the sun...

[The entire page is 229 words long]

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