There was another people too, a tribe called Yuaxikunawa. That name means “a person who gives nothing to anyone.” They would feed you well, you’d be welcomed, eat well, but when it came to planting, they gave nothing.
They were stingy people, people who didn’t share. If someone wanted to get a banana shoot, crops, or corn to plant, they wouldn’t give it. If you asked, they’d roast the corn and hand it to you:
“Go plant that.”
If you asked for a banana shoot, they wouldn’t dig it out, they’d break it in half and give you just a piece to plant. The corn was roasted, so it was no good. If you asked for manioc, they’d burn the whole branch:
“Here, for you to plant.”
If you visited their house, you’d be well received and eat well, but for planting, they gave nothing.
So I ask myself: why didn’t people just steal from them at night?
Because every single crop, each corn stalk, banana tree, and manioc root, was guarded by sururucu, the most venomous snake. Every branch had those boldest, most dangerous snakes that would strike right in your eyes. No one could touch them, only the Yuaxikunawa people could harvest them.
If you killed the snakes, they’d be born again.
And besides that, the whole planting area was covered by macaws, those birds that call out:
“Ah ah ah, a person! A person entered!”
At that time, people suffered a lot. But not Iri. Iri made life easier for the people, he taught them how to make fire. Iri made the axe, though he never taught how to make it. Iri made so many that he spread them across the face of the Earth, but not everyone had one. People couldn’t make the kind of axe Iri made, it was an axe that never wore out. When one person died, another inherited it. Not everyone had an axe. Some had one, others didn’t. Those who didn’t would invite those who did to help clear fields, in that very hard life.