Iraçéma: the Honey-lips, a Legend of Brazil/Chapter 30
CHAPTER XXX.
Iraçéma thought that her bosom would burst. She sought the banks of the river where grows the Coqueiro-palm, and clasped the trunk of the tree till a tiny cry inundated her whole being with joy.
The young mother, proud of so much happiness, took the tender one in her arms, and with him cast herself into the limpid waters of the river. Then she gave him the delicate breast, and her eyes devoured him with sorrow and love.
"Thou art Moacyr,[1] the fruit of my anguish."
The Jandáia perched at the top of the palm tree repeated "Moacyr;" and from that time the friendly bird united in its song the names of both mother and son.
The innocent slept; Iraçéma sighed.
"The Jaty makes honey in the sweet-smelling trunk of the Sassafrax;[2] during the month of flowers it flies from branch to branch collecting the juice to fill the comb, but it does not taste its sweetness՚s reward, because the Irára[3] devours in one night the whole swarm. Thy mother, also, child of my sorrow, will never taste the joy of seeing the smile on thy lips."
The young mother fastened over her shoulders a broad swathe[4] of soft cotton, which she had made to carry her child always fastened upon her hip. She then followed over the sands the trail of her spouse, who had been gone three suns. She walked gently, not to awake the little one, that slept like a bird under the maternal wing.
When she arrived at the great hill of sand, she saw that the trail of Martim and Poty continued along the beach, and guessed that they were gone to the war. Her heart sighed, but her eyes sought the face of her babe.
She turned her face back towards the Mocoribe.
"Thou art the Hill of Gladness, but for Iraçéma thou bringest nothing but sorrow."
Returning, the mother placed the still - sleeping child in his father՚s hammock, widowed and solitary, in the cabin centre. She lay down upon the mat where she had slept since the time her husband՚s arms had ceased opening to receive her.
The morning light entered the cabin. Iraçéma saw the shade of a warrior come in with it.
Cauby was standing in the doorway.
The wife of Martim sprang up with one bound to protect her child. Her brother raised his sad eyes from the hammock to her face, and spoke with a still sadder voice.
"It was not vengeance which drew the warrior Cauby to the plains of the Tabajáras; he has already forgiven. It was a longing to see Iraçéma, who took away with her all his gladness."
"Then welcome be the warrior Cauby to the cabin of his brother," said the wife, embracing him.
"The fruit of thy bosom sleeps in this hammock, and the eyes of Cauby long to behold it."
Iraçéma opened the fringe of feathers and showed the babe՚s fair face. Cauby contemplated it for some time, and then laughing said—
"He has sucked the soul of my sister,"[5] and he kissed in the mother՚s eyes the image of the child, fearing lest his touch might hurt it.
The trembling voice of the girl cried—
"Does Araken still live upon the earth?"
"Hardly; since my sister left him his head bent upon his bosom, and it rose up no more."
"Tell him that Iraçéma is already dead, that he may be consoled."
Cauby՚s sister prepared food for the warrior, and slung in the porch the hammock of hospitality, that he might repose after the fatigues of the journey. When the traveller was refreshed, he arose with these words―
"Say, where is Iraçéma՚s husband and Cauby՚s brother, that the braves may exchange the embrace of friendship?".
The sighing lips of the unhappy wife moved like the petals of the cactus-flower stirred by a breeze, and remained speechless. But tears rolled from her eyes in big drops.
Cauby՚s face clouded.
"Iraçéma՚s brother thought that sadness remained in the plains she had abandoned, because she took with her all the smiles of those who loved her!"
Iraçéma dried her eyes.
"The husband of Iraçéma has left with the warrior Poty for the shores of the Acaraú. Before three suns shall have illuminated the earth he will return, and with him gladness to the soul of the wife."
"The warrior Cauby awaits him, to know what he has done with the smile which lived on Iraçéma՚s lips."
The voice of the Tabajára grew hoarse, and his restless step walked at random up and down the cabin.
- ↑ Moacyr or "son of suffering," from moacy, pain, and ira, a desinence meaning "that comes from."
- ↑ Sassafrax, a well-known tree, growing both in North and South America, much used in medicine.
- ↑ Irára, a kind of bush-dog, which attacks beehives and devours the honey.
- ↑ Faxa, vulgarly called Typoia; swathing or swaddling clothes.
- ↑ Chupou tua alma. A child in Tupy is called Pitanga, from piter, to suck, and anga, soul—suck-soul. Cauby meant that it resembled the mother, and had absorbed a portion of her spirit.
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 |
