A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
A woman staying at a forest shelter hears a frog calling from a water-filled hollow tree and asks it to bring her food instead. Adaba changes into a man and returns with game. His human form retains thin, striped legs; he wears a lapcloth and rests in the family's hammock. He diagnoses the brothers' unsuccessful hunting by finding fungus on their arrows, cleans them and tests their aim against a taut fishing line. His own unusual technique sends an arrow upward so it falls into an animal's back.
The grateful brothers accept Adaba as their sister's husband. Much later she invites him to bathe in a pond, although he explains that he bathes only in water held inside hollow trees. After three splashes and her attempt to seize him, he becomes a frog and returns to his tree. The brothers beat their sister, but this violence restores neither Adaba nor their hunting luck. The complete ending preserves his permanent withdrawal rather than adding a rescue or reconciliation.
Origins & earliest records
Roth prints The Story of Adaba as section 145 on p. 215 of his 1915 Guiana collection, with the Arawak designation. He cross-references the Warao Wau-uta narrative for a shared association between frogs and hunting success. The comparison does not establish when either story originated or make their characters identical.
Records & interpretation
The complete published account was read through its final loss of hunting luck. It supplies the striped human legs, hollow-tree home, arrow-cleaning lesson and three-splash transformation. The designation Adaba is presented as a tree-frog name within this particular telling; Roth does not identify a scientific frog species or name its narrator.
In the literature
“he turned himself into a frog again”
Section145, printed p.215
Adaba resumes frog form when his wife grabs him at the pond.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
An inquiry into the animism and folk-lore of the Guiana Indians
Section 145, The Story of Adaba, complete printed p. 215; comparison with section 144 is the collector's cross-reference.
- 02
An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-lore of the Guiana Indians — The Story of Adaba, Arawak-labelled section145
Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office,1915; selected Cornell scan. Preface dated Pomeroon,June1913 explains A=Arawak, C=Carib, W=Warrau source labels. Named episodes read in full; individual contributors not named in these headings.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
An inquiry into the animism and folk-lore of the Guiana Indians
Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office,1915; selected Cornell scan. Preface dated Pomeroon,June1913 explains A=Arawak, C=Carib, W=Warrau source labels. Named episodes read in full; individual contributors not named in these headings.
- A tree-frog living in a water-filled hollow responds to a hunter’s sister by changing into a man and bringing meat. His legs retain stripes. He cleans fungus from the brothers’ arrows, teaches them extraordinary skyward shots and becomes their brother-in-law and their sister’s husband.
- Adaba rejects pond bathing and explains that he uses water inside hollow trees. When his wife splashes him and then seizes him, he becomes a frog again and hops into the tree. The brothers beat their sister after learning what happened, but cannot restore their previous hunting success; Adaba remains withdrawn.
Unlike Wau-uta’s§144 account, the fungus here is on arrows, not the hunter’s arms. Historical explanatory device is not a tested hunting technique. The tale’s violence against the woman is reported, not endorsed. Neither her death nor Adaba’s death is stated.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- ResearchRoth 1915: complete Arawak Story of AdabaResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.