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

Overview

An immense serpent eats people, birds and other animals, bringing humans and birds together against it. The promised reward is its skin, but the human warriors hesitate to enter its pool. A cormorant chief dives and drives a tethered arrow through the serpent’s neck, where it coils around a tree root. The assembled attackers haul it out; its lashing tail scatters them, but they eventually kill and skin it. Brett’s verse locates the struggle on the Cako and reports that marks on rocks show its length, without providing a measured animal.

The warriors then question how the cormorant could carry his promised prize. At his signal the birds seize its edges and lift it away together, initiating hostility with the human allies. In a secluded place each bird takes the portion it carried. The coloured hide changes their plumage, explaining the bright appearance of parrots and macaws. The cormorant receives the sombre head and accepts its colours. The tale’s reward dispute and unequal distribution matter as much as the defeat of the predator.

Submerged coil around a rootDefeated by bird and human allianceBright skin transforms plumageRock marking assigned to the encounter
01

Origins & earliest records

William Henry Brett’s Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana (catalogued1880), Part V. The author’s English verse is a literary adaptation rather than an unedited oral transcript.

02

Records & interpretation

The Great Serpent’s Skin, pp.173–175; all three sections and ending read.

In the literature

“Now the skin was most brilliant, red, yellow, and green,”
William Henry Brett, collector and English literary adapter · Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana
The Great Serpent’s Skin, printed p.174 · William Henry Brett (English literary adaptation; source-language transcript not retained here)

Humans and birds unite to kill an immense water serpent that consumes creatures of all kinds. They promise its skin to whoever first forces it from the pool. The cormorant chief dives and drives a line-attached arrow through its neck near a submerged root. Warriors haul it out; its thrashing scatters both groups before it is killed and skinned. The human chief disputes the bird’s reward, asking how it will carry the hide, but the birds lift it together. Human resentment becomes later hostility to birds. In a secluded place the birds divide the brilliant skin, acquiring varied plumage colours; the cormorant receives the sombre head. The struggle is located on the Cako with marks on rock said to indicate its length.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana

    William Henry Brett, collector and literary adapter · 1880

    The Great Serpent’s Skin, pp.173–175; all three sections and ending read.

  2. 02

    Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana — The Great Serpent’s Skin

    William Henry Brett, collector and English literary adapter · 1880

    London: William Wells Gardner, catalogue1880. Actual original title image read: year is a bracketed handwritten1880, not a printed imprint date. Preface explicitly describes Brett’s metrical adaptation. Cornell scan text with selected complete episode and notes read; no whole-book claim. Printed excerpt folio visually checked. Selected complete printed The Great Serpent’s Skin, pp.173–175.

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.

Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana

London: William Wells Gardner, catalogue1880. Actual original title image read: year is a bracketed handwritten1880, not a printed imprint date. Preface explicitly describes Brett’s metrical adaptation. Cornell scan text with selected complete episode and notes read; no whole-book claim. Printed excerpt folio visually checked. Selected complete printed The Great Serpent’s Skin, pp.173–175.

  1. Humans and birds unite to kill an immense water serpent that consumes creatures of all kinds. They promise its skin to whoever first forces it from the pool. The cormorant chief dives and drives a line-attached arrow through its neck near a submerged root. Warriors haul it out; its thrashing scatters both groups before it is killed and skinned. The human chief disputes the bird’s reward, asking how it will carry the hide, but the birds lift it together. Human resentment becomes later hostility to birds. In a secluded place the birds divide the brilliant skin, acquiring varied plumage colours; the cormorant receives the sombre head. The struggle is located on the Cako with marks on rock said to indicate its length.

    The Great Serpent’s Skin, complete printed pp.173–175; prefacev–vi

All three printed sections and ending read. The rock length assertion is attributed to the tale, not personally measured or archaeologically verified. Colours in this English literary adaptation are not the source of every regional serpent tradition. No copied procedure or species identification.

References

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

  1. Primary textBrett1880: The Great Serpent’s Skin, pp.173–175; all three sections and ending read.Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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

FT·2545 · RESEARCH EDITION 01Back to top ↑