Pemon: The Great Flood and Creation of Roraima

Pemon Myth 3: The Great Flood and the Creation of Roraima

This myth continues the story of Makunaima and his brothers after they find a magical tree in the jungle which has all the fruits and crops in the world growing from its branches. It recounts the cause of the great flood, the origin of fish and the creation of Mount Roraima. The text is taken from Maria Manuela de Cora's book "Kuai-Mare: Mitos Aborigenes de Venezuela" (1957, Editorial Oceanida). It was originally collected by the German ethnologist Theodor Koch-Grunberg during his 1911-1912 expedition to the Pemon villages near Roraima.

Not many moons had passed since Makunaima and his brothers had first eaten the fruit from the magic tree Wazacá when Ma'nápe came up with the idea of cutting it down, and just like that he told the others.

But Akuli (agouti), who was very intelligent, told him:
- How can you think such a thing? The Wazacá provides us with its fruits and all of us can eat from it. If you chop it down not only will we all lose out, but it will create a huge flood as well.

Ma'nápe listened to everything, thinking he would ignore it, because he was very stubborn, and then he went to the corner where he kept his enormous axe, hefted it on to his shoulder and walked across the valley and into the jungle towards the tree of life.

Akuli followed behind to see if he could avert the flood. And walking one behind the other they soon arrived at that far place, draped in shadows and heavy with perfume, where the Wazacá tree raised its leafy bulk over the roof of the forest and and high above it.

Ma'nápe approached the tree with determination and tested his axe against its impenetrable bark. The axe bounced off the wood without leaving the tiniest sign it had even grazed it.

So Ma'nápe had another go at the Wazacá but this time he intoned in a powerful voice that reverberated through the whole forest:
- Mazapa-yeg, élupa-yeg, makupa-yeg.

With this spell he invoked the mazapa, mamao and cariaca trees, which have very soft wood, to see if the wood of the Wazacá would soften.

No sooner had he said the magic words when the wood of the Wazacá tree became soft and Ma'nápe's axe bit deep into the trunk and started to cut deeper and deeper.

Akuli, meanwhile, became very afraid and begged Ma'nápe again not to try and cut the tree down; but seeing that Ma'nápe was not listening to him, he began frantically collecting bees wax and fruit husks to try and fill the gashes opening up in the tree trunk and see if he could avert the flood that way.

But Ma'nápe continued even faster in his destruction of the tree of life, with his invocations of soft-wood trees.

He named them all - one by one - and then finally he said:
- Palulu-yeg.

The trunk went really soft and the axe went so far into the Wazacá tree that it opened an enormous gash that left it held together only by a sliver at one end, because with those words Ma'nápe had invoked the wood of the papaya tree, which is extremely soft.

Meanwhile, all the brothers had arrived at the spot where Ma'nápe and Akuli were fighting to achieve their contrary wishes. Just at the moment when it looked like Ma'nápe was going to get his wish, there was a furious shout that was heard above all the sounds of the jungle:
- Waina-yeg!

It was Anzikilán, who had run all the way to save the tree of life.
And with his spell, the Wazacá tree suddenly became very hard again because Anzikilán had invoked the wood of the Waina tree, which grows in the highest mountains and whose trunk is as hard as the rocks that form the Euteurimá Waterfall.

The axe was stopped, it could not advance further, but Ma'nápe, blinded by his obsession and without giving up, shouted out again with all his strength:
- Elupa-yeg, palulu-yeg!

And the tree of life, which had its trunk opened up like a huge, deep cavern, was rapidly torn asunder and crashed to the earth, its wide branches thrown out to the winds; its high crown laden with fruit, shaking, its powerful roots, creaking.

In its fall, the Wazacá tree threw up stones and mud, plants, bushes and lianas, and pushed over the trees Élu'yeg and Yaluwazáluima'yeg, forming the mountains called by those names today.

And from its immense trunk, roots and branches was formed the great mountain Roraima, which rises like a giant from the savannah and silently watches as time, suns, moons and people pass by.

The crown of the Wazacá tree, heavy with its fruits, rolled down to the northern side of the mountain, and that is why there are so many plantain trees over there that nobody planted. They are eaten by the evil Mawari spirits, who have their houses on Mount Roraima and other mountains close by.

If the crown of the tree had fallen towards the south, it would be the Arekuna (Pemon) who could enjoy its fruits.

The noise of the Wazacá tree's fall - which reached the furthest corner of the forest and the savannah like a great sigh - had not yet subsided when a huge spout of water shot out of the trunk and began to flood everything, rapidly sweeping past Makunaima and his brothers and battering them with bright drops of water, as sharp as arrows.

The foaming water carried with it thousands of fish and the brothers watched them and tried to catch them but the current was too strong.

The largest fish disappeared immediately from view, leaving only the small ones lagging behind, so that neither Makunaima or the others could catch the ones they most wanted.

And so it was as Akuli had predicted in those far off times: the Earth and men experienced the great flood.

Translated by Russell Maddicks

Pemon Myth 1: The Legend of Makunaima
Pemon Myth 2: The Tree of Life
Auyan-tepui, Angel Falls and Pemon myths
Canaima: Pemon Spirit of Death

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Pemon: The Tree of Life

Pemon Myth 2: The Tree of Life

This creation myth describes a time when the ancestors of the Pemon suffered from great hunger and how the agouti, then a man, discovered a magical tree in the jungle which was laden down with all the fruits and vegetables in the world. The translation is taken from Maria Manuela de Cora's book "Kuai-Mare: Mitos Aborigenes de Venezuela" (1957, Editorial Oceanida). The photograph of three Pemon men with blowpipes is taken from Theodor Koch-Grunberg's 1917 book "Vom Roroima Zum Orinoco".

Many moons ago, the great Caroni valley was called Uek-tá, which means land of the mountains. That was because in the vast plains watered by the rivers Yuruaní, Tiriká and Aichá, arose the mountains Iru-tepui, Aparmán, Apakará, Chimaté and Auyan-tepui, the motionless spirits of the plains that Wei, the Sun, would hide himself behind every night, and from where the breezes came which rustled the Moriche palms that dotted the savannah.

At the edge of the valley was the jungle, closed off by gigantic trees covered with lianas and reverberating with animal sounds. The jungle was far away, but the brown immensity of the plains made it appear closer.

In this land of mountains lived five brothers: Makunaima, who was big and bad, Zigué, which means chigger; Wacalambé, a whirlwind; Anzikilán, a partridge; and Ma'nápe, which means melon seed.

In that far off time there were no conucos (gardens), because people did not know how to grow things and had not learnt to hunt or fish yet. The five brothers were always very hungry and could find no way to sate their hunger.

Close to where they lived, resided a man called Akuli (an agouti). Later on he became a rodent and that is how we know him today.

Back then Akuli was very light and ran all over the place, sometimes passing through the thick vegetation bordering the savannah to enter the jungle.

One day Akuli ventured quite far into the jungle when he saw a huge tree he had never noticed before. It was the marvellous Wazacá tree, which produced several kinds of plantains as well as papaya, cashew, maize and many other fruits and vegetables.

Akuli was filled with awe looking at that tree. It was so big he couldn't see all of its trunk in one look.

He had a taste of all the delicious fruits and vegetables and - in a very happy mood - he marked the place where it grew so he could always find it when he wanted to.

So, every day, as the the valleys of the Aichá and the Kuaná were lit up by the sun, Akuli went off into the jungle, found his marvellous tree and ate the fruit until he could eat no more. The he went home, telling nobody about what he had found.

But one day, Makunaima noticed how well Akuli looked and suspected that something had to be making him so fat.

So he waited until night time, when Akuli returned from one of his forays and slyly said to him:
- Why don't we turn in, brother-in-law? We should do it now as the wind is bringing the breeze from the Moriche palms.
Akuli thought it was a good idea and fell straight into a deep sleep. Makunaima carefully opened his mouth so as not to wake him and saw that he had a bit of fruit stuck between his teeth; a small piece of Wazacá plantain - a long, delicious and magnificent plantain.
Akuli was so fast asleep he didn't notice anything.

At the end of the night as Wei rose again over the mountains, Makunaima called Kali (Guianan squirrel), who was also a man at that time, and told him to follow Akuli and not to let him out of his sight until he discovered where Akuli was getting the fruit.

So Kali went with Akuli into the heart of the forest, pretending not to spy on him, and every now and then he asked him:
- What tree is this? What's this other one called?

But Akuli didn't answer him, and even when they passed in front of the tree with all the fruits - which many parrots and macaws were feasting on - he did not stop as usual, and so Kali never learnt where it was.

Makunaima was furious when he learned of Kali's failure and decided to send his brother Ma'nápe the next day, believing that he was smarter and would discover Akuli's secret.

Ma'nápe agreed to acompany the other two and together they entered the jungle. They went quite far, passing many bushes and trees, but Akuli did not stop at any of them.

At last they stopped in front of the Zaú tree, whose fruit has a very nasty taste, and to play a trick on Ma'nápe, Akuli said to him:
- You can stay here and collect the fruit from this tree. We are going to continue on to see if we can find another one.

Without replying, Ma'nápe stayed where Akuli told him to.
Meanwhile Akuli and his companion carried on walking and eventually arrived at the place where the Wazacá tree stood.

Akuli stopped there and and said:
- This is the tree that has all the different fruits. Look how many there are on the floor. Why don't you eat them?

But Kali said:
- It looks to me like the ones up there are better. I'm going to go up and get some.
- There are also lots of wasps up there and they will sting you, said Akuli, better not to climb up.

But Kali was very stubborn and he climbed as best he could up the enormous trunk until he reached the first branches, bent under the weight of the fruit, which cast shadows on the ground like giant condors with hundreds of heads.

Just as Kali reached out for a large plantain, one of the best fruits, he felt a terrible buzzing around him as a cloud of wasps swarmed all over him and stung him on the eyelids.
Kali fell to the ground dazed and in pain. He said to Kali:
- Oh, friend, that stuff about the bees was right, and for not listening to you look what's happened to me!

And that is why Kali has had swollen eye-lids ever since.


When Makunaima saw Kali with his eyes all swollen he thought something odd must have happened.

He was also angry with Ma'nápe for stupidly staying where they had told him and for not discovering anything. So he said:
- Tomorrow, after sunrise, you will go with them; but when they get ahead of you hide yourself on side of the trail and find out where they are hiding the plantains. Then you can eat them anytime you want as well.

Ma'nápe did as his brother had told him and protected by the branches of a macanillo tree, waited for the other two to return. But Akuli suspected something was up that day and hid the fruits further away, in a more isolated spot than usual.

So when they approached the place where Ma'nápe was lying in wait for them, they were not carrying any fruit in their baskets or their hands, and there was no sign they had eaten anything - not even in their mouths.

Several times Ma'nápe tried the same ruse, but he was always outsmarted by Akuli and Kali, and many suns passed without him finding anything.
Then Makunaima said to him:
- Don't hang back on the path. You have to follow them wherever they go. That's the only way you can catch them out.

Ma'nápe agreed and next time they entered the jungle when they got to the spot where they used to leave him, he said to Akuli:
- This time I shall come with you further.

Akuli tried all his tricks to shake off Ma'nápe, but seeing that he couldn't do it he led him to the tree and showed him all the fruits.

There it was. The world tree.

Thicker and taller than any other tree, it was like a great mountain in the middle of the jungle. The knots in its bark were like rocky gorges embedded in the trunk. So lush was its vegetation that the sunlight stopped when Wei passed over the top of its high canopy.

In the halflight that pentetrated past its branches, wasps, parrots, macaws and many other birds fought over the delicious fruits, which gave off a fragrant aroma and never ran out.

Ma'nápe was struck dumb as he tried to take it all in and then he turned to the others and said angrily:
- How could you come here every day and fill your bellies without telling anybody?
- Don't be angry, said Akuli apologetically. We only wanted to play a trick on you.

But Ma'nápe wasn't listening. He was too busy nibbling away at the fruits that were on the floor and the ones he could reach from the lowest branches.

When he was full he made basket of palm fibres so he could take some to his brother.
- Mind the wasps, Akuli warned, seeing him climb up the tree.

But Ma'nápe said that they would not sting him, and so it was. The wasps let him pick the fruit without attacking him.

When the basket was full, Ma'nápe marched happily back to the valley and told Makunaima everything that had happened and all about the strange tree that produced every kind of fruit.

And Makunaima was happy and the brothers ate and ate until they were full.

Translated by Russell Maddicks

Pemon Myth 1: The Legend of Makunaima
Pemon Myth 3: The Great Flood and the Creation of Roraima
Auyan-tepui, Angel Falls and Pemon myths
Canaima: Pemon Spirit of Death

Click here to return to Venezuelan Indian main page

Pemon: The Legend of Makunaima

Pemon Myth 1: The Legend of Makunaima

This creation myth describes how the first Pemon, the Sun, found a wife after meeting a water-creature known as Tuenkaron. The text is taken from "Tauron Panton" a book of myths collected by Father Cesareo de Armellada and published in 1989. The photographs are taken from the 1917 edition of German ethnologist Theodor Koch-Grunberg's book "Vom Roroima Zum Orinoco", which - unbelievably - has never been translated into English.

A long time ago Wei, the Sun, was an Indian who spent his time clearing and burning the mountain to make a conuco (jungle garden) to plant ocumo (Xanthosoma sagittifolium, a tuber eaten like cassava).

The Sun ate only ocumo. His face shone brightly.

One day, after work, he went to drink water and bathe himself in a stream. As he got closer he noticed a ripple across a pool of water as if somebody had submerged themselves. And he thought to himself, what could that be?


The next day he returned to the pool, but more quietly this time, and saw a small woman with very long hair that reached down to her feet. She was bathing herself and playing and beating the water with her hair.

When she noticed the Sun was coming she went down into the depths of the pool. But the Sun managed to grab hold of her hair.

"Not me, not me" shouted the creature, who was called Tuenkaron.
And she added: "I will send you a woman to be your companion and wife."

So the Sun released Tuenkaron's hair and let her go.

The next day, the Sun was cleaning his conuco and gathering trees to set fire to them when he saw a white woman that Tuenkaron had sent to him.

"Have you cleared the conuco yet?" asked the woman.

"Not yet. I've only just cleared this this bit you can see and made a few piles," the Sun answered.

"Pull out those ocumos that I roasted from the embers, so we can eat," the Sun said to the woman.

The woman took them from the embers and and said: "Here they are." And they ate them.

Then the Sun said to the woman: "Set fire to the wood I gathered". And she set fire to the piles with a split stick and dry shells.

When she had started a fire she said "it's done".

"Go and fetch water now", said the sun, so the woman went to the stream with her camaza (gourd) and bent down to collect water.

But while she was filling the camaza the ends of her fingers began to go soft and then her arms and then her whole body.

And she ended up in a heap, like a pile of clay.

Because the woman was made of white mud.

As the woman did not return, the Sun went to look for her. When he got to the stream, he found the water in the pool was the colour of mud; it was the woman who had muddied the water as she had dissolved.

The Sun was upset and said: "This is what Tuenkaron sends me, a woman who can't even collect water".

After that he went upstream to to drink water that wasn't muddied. And as it was already getting dark, the Sun went to sleep in his house.

When he awoke the next day, the Sun went back to his conuco to continue clearing it.

While he was working, at midday, just as he was going to eat, Tuenkaron sent another woman who was black, like somebody from that race.

"Have you cleared the conuco yet", the woman asked the Sun.

"Yes and no", he answered, "I've only cleared this little bit you can see."

Then he said: "Go and fetch some water so we can eat together."

The woman went to the stream, fetched water and they ate the ocumo together. After eating the Sun went back to work and said to the woman: "While I carry on making piles, you set fire to the piles I've already made."

The woman took a split stick to start a fire. She knelt down with some embers and blew on them to start a flame but the fire heated up her face and from there she started melting: her arms and then her whole body, until she ended up in a heap like a pile of wild wax.

Because she was made from wax.

The Sun turned round several times to see if she was starting a fire but as he never saw smoke rise from any of the piles he went to see what the woman was doing. And he said to himself: "But I told her to set fire to the piles".

What a surprise he had when he got closer and found the woman melted and turned into a pile of wax.

So the Sun went to the stream and said: "How bad and tricky is Tuenkaron . Well, now I'm going dry up this stream, I'm going to dry up all the water".

But Tuenkaron, without letting herself be seen said: "No don't do that, wait and I'll send you a woman."

But that night the Sun's heart was not calm. That night he went to bed angry.

The next day, the Sun woke up and, as usual, went to work in his conuco. And there leaning over her work was another woman with red skin (like sandstone) and a cooking pot in her hand.

The woman, coming forward, asked him: "Have you cleared the conuco yet?"

But the Sun didn't answer, as if he hadn't heard. He was on his guard after the last deceptions.

"Why don't you answer me?" the woman asked him.

"Because you're all fakes, you all dissolve or melt," the Sun said.

"If it's like that, I'm going back to Tuenkaron," said the woman.

"Well", said the Sun, "let me test you," and he sent her to start a fire, and she did, without melting. And he sent her to fetch water, and she fetched it without dissolving.

Then he sent her to cook ocumo in the pot and the Sun watched as she put it on some rocks and how she made the fire. The Sun watched carefully all her skills and customs.

When it started to get dark the woman said to the Sun: "I came to go back".

"Well, make me dinner and you can go back," answered the Sun.

And when she had done it the woman said: "I'm going, I'm going to come back tomorrow early".

"Yes, come back tomorrow", said the Sun.

The next day, the Sun went to work earlier than usual. The woman also came early.
Again the Sun put the woman to the test: he sent her to fetch water, he sent her to make fire, he sent her to cook food. And seeing that she did not go soft, or melt, or crack he started to like her and he fell for her.

In the afternoon they went to bathe together stream and the Sun saw very well that the woman was of a reddish hue; like the bits of fiery stone that are usually found in the riverbeds. She was not white and she was not black.

The Sun said to the woman: "Let's go to my house". But the woman said; "I didn't tell Tuenkaron."

"So what," answered the Sun.

"There is no way I can do that," said the woman.

"Well, come very early to prepare my food," said the Sun.

"Okay, and I shall also tell Tuenkaron, so I can stay with you," she said.

And sure enough, the next day the woman came very early, she cooked the food, she roasted the ocumo, dug up cassava roots, grated them and made cassava bread. That day she stayed the night and slept with the Sun and since then they have always lived together.

And they had several children, and these were the Makunaima.

Some Indians say the name of the mother was Aromadapuén. And the names of the children were: Meriwarek, the first-born; then Chiwadapuén, a daughter; Arawadapuén, the second daughter; and Arukadarí, the youngest, who is very often called Chiké.

Translated by Russell Maddicks


Pemon Myth 2: The Tree of Life
Pemon Myth 3: The Great Flood and the Creation of Roraima
Auyan-tepui, Angel Falls and Pemon myths
Canaima: Pemon Spirit of Death


Click here to return to Venezuelan Indian main page