Iraçéma: the Honey-lips, a Legend of Brazil/Chapter 23
CHAPTER XXIII.
Four moons had lighted the heavens since Iraçéma had left the plains of Ipú, and three since she had dwelt in the Wigwam of her husband by the shore of the sea.
Gladness dwelt within her soul. The daughter of the forest was happy as the swallow that abandons its paternal nest and goes forth to build a new home in the land where the flower-season begins. Iracema likewise found there, on the sea-shore, a nest of love —the heart՚s new country!
She wandered over the beautiful plains like the humming-bird hovering amongst the flowers of the acacia. The light of early morning found her already clinging to the shoulder of her husband, ever smiling, like the Enrediça,[1] which twines round the tree-trunk, and which covers it with a new garland every morning.
Martim went out to hunt with Poty. He then separated himself from her in order to have the pleasure of returning to her.
In the middle of a green pasture hard by was a beautiful lake, to which the wild girl used to direct her light step. It was the hour of the morning bath. She would cast herself into the water, and swim with the white herons and the scarlet Jaçanans. The Pytiguára warriors who chanced to come that way called this the "Lake of Beauty," because it was bathed in by Iraçéma, the most beautiful of the race of Tupan.
And from that time till now, mothers come from afar to dip their daughters in the waters of the Porangába,[2] which they suppose have the virtue of making the virgins beautiful and beloved by the braves.
After the bath Iraçéma wandered to the skirts of the Serra of Maranguab, where rises the river of the Marrecas.[3] There in the cool shade grew the most savoury fruits of the country; she would collect a plentiful supply, and rock herself in the branches of the Maracujá-tree, waiting for Martim to return from hunting.
Her fancy did not always, however, lead her to the Jerarahú,[4] but often to the opposite side, close to the lake of the Sapiranga,[5] whose waters are said to inflame the eyes. Near it was a wood, thick and leafy, with clumps of Muritys, which formed in the middle of the plateau a large island of beautiful palms. Iraçéma loved the Murityapúa,[6] where the wind blew softly. Here she stripped the pulp from the red Coco to make refreshing drinks, mixed with the bee-honey, which the warriors liked to drink in the great heat of the day.
One morning Poty guided Martim to the chase. They marched towards a Serra which towers on the opposite side to Maranguab, its twin sister. The highest peak bends like the hooked beak of the macaw, and hence the warriors named it Aratanha.[7] They mounted by the side of Guaiuba,[8] whence the waters descend into the valley, and they went to the stream where the Pacas are to be found.
The sun shone on the Macaw՚s Beak only when the hunters descended from Pacatuba[9] to the plateau. From afar they saw Iraçéma, who came to wait for them on the margin of her lake, the Porangába. She came towards them with the proud step of the heron stalking by the water՚s edge. Outside her Carioba she wore a belt of Maniva, the flowers of which are an emblem of fruitfulness. A festoon of the same flowers twined round her throat and fell over her marble bosom.
She seized the hand of her husband and carried it to her lips.
"Thy blood lives in the bosom of Iraçéma. She will be the mother of thy son."
"Son saidst thou?" exclaimed the Christian with joy.
Kneeling down, he threw his arm around her and kissed her, mutely thanking God for this great happiness.
When he arose Poty spoke—
"The happiness of the young brave is a wife and a friend; the first gives gladness, the second gives strength. The warrior without a spouse is like a tree lacking leaves and flowers; never shall he behold its fruit. The brave without a friend is like the solitary tree waving in the midst of the prairie with each blast of wind; its fruit never ripens. The happiness of the strong man is the offspring which is born to him, and which is his pride. Every warrior of his blood is one branch more to raise up his name to the sky, like the top branch of the cedar. Beloved by Tupan is the warrior who has a wife, a friend, and many sons. He has nothing more to desire save a glorious death."
Martim pressed his bosom to that of Poty.
"The heart of both husband and friend speaks by the mouth of Poty. The white warrior is blest, O Chief of the Pytiguáras, Lords of the Sea-shores; and happiness was born to him in the Land of the Palm-trees, where the Baunilha perfumes the air; it was begotten by the blood of thy race, who bear on their faces the colour of the sun՚s ray. The white warrior no longer desires any other country save the land of his son and of his heart."
At the break of dawn Poty set out to gather the seeds of the Crajurú,[10] which yields a most beautiful red dye, and the bark of the Angico, whence is extracted a lustrous black. On the way his unerring arrow brought down a wild duck sailing in the air, and he took from its wings the longest feathers. He then ascended Mocoribe and sounded the Inubia. The sea-breeze carried far the hoarse sound. The Shell of the Fishermen of the Trahiry and the Horn of the Hunters of the Soipé gave answer.
Martim bathed in the river waters, and walked on the beach to dry himself in the wind and sun. By his side ran Iraçéma, collecting the yellow ambergris[11] cast up by the sea. Every night the wife perfumed her body and the white hammock, that the love of the warrior might remain captivated.
Poty returned.
- ↑ Enrediça, a creeper which entwines and entangles round a tree-trunk.
- ↑ Porangaba means beauty; it is a lake in a delightful spot, distant one league from the City. Now it is called Arronches ; on its banks is a decayed village of the same name.
- ↑ Marrecas, wild ducks.
- ↑ Jerarahú, "river of the wild ducks." This place is even now notable for its delicious fruits, especially the beautiful oranges known as the oranges of Jerarahú.
- ↑ Sapiranga, which means "red eyes," and they also call by this name a certain ophthalmia in the North. It is a lake close to Alagadiço Novo, about two leagues from the Capital.
- ↑ Murityapúa, where there is now a small town. The word is from murity, palm, and apúam, an island or clump.
- ↑ Aratanha, from arara, a macaw, and tanha, teeth. A fertile and cultivated Serra, which is a continuation of Maranguape.
- ↑ Guaiuba, which means "whence come the waters of the valley," is a river rising in the Serra of Aratanha, and crossing the village of the same name, six leagues from the capital.
- ↑ Pacatuba, "bed of the Pacas." There is now a new but important village in a beautiful valley of the Serra of Aratanha.
- ↑ Crajurú, a tree whose seeds give a scarlet dye.
- ↑ Ambar. The sea-beach of Ceará was at that time full of ambergris, cast up by the sea. The savages call it Pirarepoti, "the secretion of a fish."
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.
| Original: |
This work was published before January 1, 1930, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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| Translation: |
This work was published before January 1, 1930, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
