Theft Of The Fire

One day, the jaguar went hunting and asked the parakeet and the owl to keep an eye on the fire, because it could go out. The jaguar said that if they took good care of the fire, she would give them some of the game she caught.

True to her word, the parakeet and the owl stayed by the fire, but when the jaguar returned, she ate everything by herself.

The next day, the jaguar went hunting again. She made the same request to the parakeet and the owl. In the late afternoon, the jaguar returned from her hunt, and the parakeet immediately asked if she would give him a piece of meat to roast. She said yes, but in the end, she ended up eating all the meat. This repeated for several days until one day the owl and the parakeet decided to steal the fire from the jaguar.

The owl came up with the idea of hiding the fire in the hollow of a tree and that's what the parakeet did before the jaguar returned from the hunt.

When the jaguar saw that she was without fire, she became desperate. She tried to make fire again, but she couldn't. Then she realized that from that moment on, she would have to eat raw meat...

The parakeet took very good care of the fire, which was hidden in a tall tree. He had a large beak, but the fire burned most of it, which is why the parakeet's beak is small today.

It was the parakeet who gave fire to humans, who until had only eaten raw meat!

Title

Theft Of The Fire

Themes

human vs nature | interspecies cooperation

Emotions

trickery | desperation

Lesson

Deception can lead to loss.

Animals

Jaguar, Owl, Parakeet

Characters

Jaguar: Main character, hunts and guards the fire; Parakeet: Co-conspirator, steals the fire; Owl: Co-conspirator, plans the theft.

Special Objects

Fire

Back-grounds

forest

Source

Website: Povos Indígenas no Brasil Mirim - Mitologia Indígena - as told by the Katukina. Collected for TALES by Carlos Lagoeiro; an actor, theatre maker and co-founder of the theater company Teatro Munganga, established in 1987 together with Cláudia Maoli.