A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Roth’s The Rain-frog Wife begins with hunters travelling in single file. The man farthest behind hears a small rain frog croaking and calls for it to show itself. Ho-hara approaches as a woman, accepts his invitation to accompany him and lives with him for a long time. The transformation creates a relationship rather than a predatory encounter: neither a hunt nor a battle follows their first meeting.
His household continually mocks her body, drawing attention to her narrow hips, long foot and lack of a waist. The insults replace her former happiness with misery, and she decides to return to her own people. Her husband follows and nearly catches up, but she jumps into a small puddle and vanishes. He reaches into the water and searches around it without finding her. The telling closes with the rain frog’s call at the beginning of the rainy season, connecting the lost wife with an audible seasonal presence.
Origins & earliest records
The inspected witness is Roth’s 1915 Guiana collection, p. 198, under section 130. Roth marks the story W, his abbreviation for Warrau, now generally written Warao. The publication establishes a historical recorded version, but supplies no named narrator or dated first telling for this episode.
Records & interpretation
The complete short story explicitly names Ho-hara and follows the invitation, marriage, ridicule, departure and unsuccessful search. Its smaller rain frog should not be conflated with Ho-aránni’s separate narrative. Roth’s English wording and colonial collecting framework mediate this witness; contemporary corroboration and an independently inspected Warao-language version remain outside the present coverage.
In the literature
“jumped into a little puddle and disappeared”
Section130, The Rain-frog Wife, printed p.198
The mistreated wife leaves; no death is narrated.
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
Complete The Rain-frog Wife, section 130, printed p. 198; directly inspected historical text.
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, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,1915; selected Cornell scan. Catalogue year independently checked; field preface dated Pomeroon,June1913.
- A hunter calls the croaking frog to reveal herself. She appears as a woman and agrees to live with him. His household repeatedly mocks her unusual body. She returns toward her own people and disappears into a small puddle before the pursuing husband can reach her; the conclusion gives her call at the start of the rainy season.
Section130, The Rain-frog Wife, printed p.198; complete episode
Departure follows mistreatment, not a stated death or a rescue. No exact modern frog species inferred; calling challenge is not excerpted.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- ResearchRoth 1915: The Rain-frog Wife, p. 198Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.