Near the maloca (communal house), there was a cultivated field. At the edge of the field stood a samaúma tree. It was the home of the harpy eagle, and there were chicks in the nest. Unfortunately, the adult harpy eagles couldn’t find enough food to feed their young every day. So they started capturing people. Whoever went out hunting, to the field, or fishing, never came back. The harpy eagle was wiping out the people of that maloca. When it couldn’t find someone there, it would go to another village to take someone.
The people could no longer leave their homes. Their houses were all tied shut, with doors locked. They were on the brink of starvation. At the foot of the samaúma tree, there were many human bones from people taken from all over. These remains were used to feed the eagle’s young.
It was a night of a beautiful full moon. Nearby, there was a lake, and a frog began to sing. The people said to each other: “How can we catch that frog to eat? Otherwise, we’ll die of hunger.” Then they thought: “Let’s send an old woman to get the frog. If the harpy eagle takes her, it won’t be a big loss, she’s already old.”
They gave her a mat made of taniçara straw. Poor old woman, they sent her off to catch the frog.
But when she arrived where the frog had been singing, it was no longer a frog, it was many people dancing mariri (a traditional dance). They welcomed her and gave her food. She told them what was happening in her village and received a weapon to kill the eagle.
They taught her how to use it and asked that once the eagle was dead, she return the weapon and leave it at the mouth of the path.