Iraçéma: the Honey-lips, a Legend of Brazil/Chapter 22

by José de Alencar

CHAPTER XXII.

 

Poty saluted his friend and spoke as follows:—

"Ere the father of Jacaúna and Poty, the valiant warrior Jatobá, ruled over all the Pytiguára warriors, the Great Tomahawk of the Nation was in the right hand of Batuireté,^[1] the Head Chief, Sire of Jatobá. It was he who came along the sea-beach to the river of the Jaguars, and expelled the Tabajáras into the interior, and dictated to each tribe the limits of its lands. Then he entered the inner regions as far as the Serra which takes his name.

"When his stars were many,^[2] so many that his Camocim no longer contained all the nuts that mark the number of his years, his body began to incline earthwards, his arm stiffened like the branch of the unbending Ubiratan, and his eyes grew dark. He then called the warrior Jatobá and said, 'Let my son take the Tomahawk of the Pytiguára Nation. Tupan wills not that Batuireté should carry it any more to war, since he has taken from him the strength of his body, the use of his arm, and the light of his eyes. But Tupan has been good to him, since he gave him a son like the warrior Jatobá."

"Jatobá took the Tomahawk of the Pytiguáras. Batuireté assumed the staff of his old age and set out. He crossed the vast uninhabited regions to the luxuriant prairies, where run the waters that come from the quarter of the night. As the old warrior dragged his limbs along their banks, and the light of his eyes would not let him behold nor the fruits, nor the trees, nor the birds of the air, he said in his sadness, 'Ah! my bygone days!'"

"The people who heard him wept over the ruins of the Great Chief; and since then, whoever passes by that spot repeats his words, 'Ah! meus tempos passados;' for which reason the river and the prairie are called Quixeramobim.^[3]

"Batuireté came from the 'Path of the Herons'^[4] as far as that Serra which thou seest in the distance, and there he first lived. On the topmost peak the old warrior made his nest, as high as flies the hawk, to pass the remnant of his days speaking with Tupan. His son already sleeps under the earth, whilst he, even during the last moon, was thinking at his cabin door, to await the night which brings the Great Sleep. All the Pytiguára warriors, when the voice of war awakes them, visit and beg the old man that he will teach them to conquer; for no other warrior ever knew to fight as he did. Thus the tribes call him no more by his name, but know him as the Great Wise Man of War—Maranguab.^[5]

"The chief Poty wants to visit the Serra to see his mighty Grandsire; but before day falls he will be back in the cabin of his brother. Has he any other wish?"

"The white warrior will accompany his brother. He wants to embrace the Great Chief of the Pytiguáras, Grandfather of Poty, and to tell the old man that he lives again in his grandson."

Martim called Iraçéma, and they both set out, guided by the Pytiguára, to the Serra of Maranguab, which loomed above the horizon. They followed the course of the river to the place where it is joined by the stream of Pirapora.^[6]

The cabin of the old warrior was close to one of those beautiful cascades where the fish leap in the midst of the bubbling foam. The waters here are fresh and sweet, like the sea-breeze in the hour of heat, murmuring amongst the palm-leaves.

Batuireté was sitting upon one of the cascade rocks; the burning sun-rays fell full upon his head, which was bald and wrinkled as the Genipapo.^[7] Thus sleeps the Jaburú^[8] at the edge of the tank.

"Poty has arrived at the cabin of the great Maranguab, father of Jatobá, and has brought his white brother to see the greatest Warrior of the Nations."

The old man only opened his heavy eyelids, and passed a long but feeble look from the grandson to the stranger. Then his chest heaved and his lips murmured—

"Tupan wills that these eyes should see, before being quenched, the White Hawk side by side with the Narseja."^[9]

The Abaeté dropped his head on his chest, and spoke no more, nor moved again.

Poty and Martim, supposing that he slept, respectfully withdrew, not to disturb the repose of one who had done such deeds during his long life. Iraçéma, who had bathed in the nearest Cachoeira, came to meet them, bringing combs of the purest honey in a leaf of the Taioba.^[10]

The friends wandered about the flourishing environs till the shade of the mountain darkened the valley. They then returned to the spot where they had left the Maranguab.

The old man was still there in the same attitude, with his head bent on his chest and his crossed knees supporting his forehead. The ants were running up his body, and the Tuins^[11] were fluttering around him and settling upon his bald head.

Poty placed his hand on the old man՚s head, and felt that he was dead. He had died of old age.

The Pytiguára Chief then intoned the Song of Death; presently he went into the cabin to fetch the Camoçim, which was filled to overflowing with nuts of Cajú. Martim counted five times five handfuls.

Meanwhile, Iraçéma gathered in the forest the Andiroba,^[12] with which to anoint the body of the old man in the Camoçim, where the dutiful hand of his grandson placed him. The Funeral Vase remained suspended to the cabin roof.

They then planted the Ortiga, or large stinging nettle, before the doorway, to defend against animals the abandoned Oca.^[13] Poty bade a sorrowful farewell to these scenes, and returned with his companions to the borders of the sea.

 

1. Batuireté, "celebrated snipe." The soubriquet of this great Chief signifies that he was a "brave swimmer." It is also the name of a very fertile Serra, and the region which he occupied.
2. Suas estrellas erão muitas. The savages counted their years by the heliacal rising of the Pleiades, and also by keeping a cashew-nut of each spring.
3. Quixeramobim, translated into Portuguese, means, "Ah! meus outros tempos;" in English, "Ah! my other times."
4. Caminho dos garças, or flight of the herons, in Tupy is Acarapé, a village in the parish of Batuireté, nine leagues from the capital of Ceará.
5. Maranguab means "to war" and "wise man." Maranguape, five leagues՚ distant from the capital, is noted for its beauty and fertility.
6. Pirapora, a river of Maranguape, noted for the freshness of its waters and the excellence of its baths. They are in the environs of the Cachoeiras (rapids, cataracts, or waterfalls), and are called the "Baths of Pirapora." The word means "fish-leap."
7. Genipapo, a well-known Brazilian tree, whose fruit produces a dark dye with which the Indians used to tattoo themselves.
8. Jaburú, a large crane.
9. O gavião branco, the white hawk, whilst Narseja is the snipe. Batuireté thus calling the stranger, and speaking of his grandson as a snipe by comparison, prophesied the destruction of his race by the whites. It was the last word he spoke.
10. Taioba, a bush with large leaves, from ca, tree, and oba, dress, clothing.
11. Tuins in Brazil is a kind of little parrot.
12. Andiroba, a large tree, native of Brazil, which is of an aromatic nature, and gives a bitter oil.
13. Oca, house, cabin, wigwam.