A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Rodrigues’s Rio Negro tale begins after a turtle has killed a hawk, leaving a wife and young son. While hunting lizards, the son repeatedly finds feathers in the forest. His mother identifies them as his dead father’s, but does not yet name the killer. Later the growing hawk encounters young turtles, who invite him to bathe. When he tries to seize them with his claws, they reveal that their grandmother killed his father for that kind of behaviour. The boy then understands whom he wishes to avenge himself upon.

Before attacking, he tests his claws on the young shoot of a mirity palm. The first attempt fails, so he waits and tries again; when he finally pulls it out, he judges himself strong enough. He watches for the grandmother turtle to leave cover. She has spread paricá on a mat, and rain and wind prompt her to send her granddaughters to gather it. They cannot carry the heavy load and call for help. When she emerges, the hawk seizes her and carries her to a branch of a piquiá tree.

The captured turtle tells him to summon his relatives to witness her death. All the birds arrive and help kill her. Their resulting appearances depend upon their part in the attack: some become mottled, others red; those pecking the shell acquire black beaks, and those attacking the liver become green. The ending connects this killing with the birds’ patterned colours. Although the closing wording speaks collectively of an end to killer turtles, the action directly stages the grandmother’s capture and death; it does not narrate the separate killing of each granddaughter.

The title uses Uiráuaçu, glossed as gavião, for the hawk and Yurará for the turtle. Rodrigues explains the latter as a broad name for aquatic turtles rather than identifying one exact species. The family relations belong to speaking animal characters in this particular story. The colour explanation is a narrative transformation, not an account of biological evolution or a shared ancestry claim for actual birds.

Discovers father’s killer through young turtlesTests claws twice before revengeCarries grandmother turtle to a treeGathered birds acquire different colours
01

Origins & earliest records

Barbosa Rodrigues1890, XI, Yurará Uiráuaçu irumo,167–171, labelled Rio Negro. No individual teller or specific interview date is supplied beside this tale.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete interlinear167–170, Portuguese170–171 and footnotes read in original scans;172blank. The mother’s first answer, the young turtles’ later disclosure, two strength tests and the different colour outcomes are distinct stages.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Poranduba amazonense, ou Kochiyma-uara porandub

    João Barbosa Rodrigues · 1890

    Complete XI, Yurará Uiráuaçu irumo,167–171, with interlinear, full Portuguese rendering and footnotes; Rio Negro attribution.

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.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary textUFPE: Barbosa Rodrigues1890 original scanResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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