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Overview

The wandering Kororomanna finds an old man trying to empty a pond to catch its fish. Without a calabash, Huta-kurakura uses his enormous scrotum as a vessel. Kororomanna twice prods him with an arrow; the spirit mistakes the touches for biting flies. The third provocation makes him turn, seize the traveller and throw him into a piece of wood so deeply that only an eye remains visible. The failed bargain is specific: crystals, rattles and paiwarri drink do not satisfy the spirit. Tobacco alone ends the imprisonment and changes the encounter from punishment into cooperation.

Kororomanna offers several valuables to obtain release, but Huta-kurakura refuses them until tobacco is proposed. The two then become companions, empty the pond and collect far more fish than the man can carry. The spirit compresses the catch into a small parcel. To find the way home, Kororomanna questions a succession of animals carrying food obtained from his mother: a rat with a potato, an agouti with cassava, a labba with yam, a deer and ant with cassava leaves, and a tapir with pineapple. Once he returns home, his wife and mother open it and fish pour out until the house is full and its occupants must move outside. Their initial laughter at the apparently tiny gift gives way to the overwhelming catch. Roth elsewhere explains Red-back as a name also applied to Hebu spirits whose rear is a glowing hearth, rather than a name unique to this character.

Old-man appearance at a fishing pondViolent imprisonment followed by tobacco-mediated friendshipA small parcel opens into a house-filling catch
01

Origins & earliest records

Roth published this Warao encounter in 1915, sections 27–28, pp. 129–130, within Kororomanna’s linked adventures. The adjacent section 28A records a differently named hero and butterfly guidance in a Carib version. Those are attributed variants, not evidence that the Warao narrative began in 1915 or that every episode has identical characters.

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Records & interpretation

The complete pond, imprisonment, bargaining and expanding-parcel episode was read through the household's displacement. The animal guides belong to Kororomanna's homeward journey, not a new power attributed to Huta-kurakura. Section 99 separately explains Red-back as a broader Hebu label; Roth's speculative origin for other traits is excluded.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-Lore of the Guiana Indians

    Walter E. Roth · 1915

    Directly inspected sections 27–28, pp. 129–130, and the Red-back explanation in section 99, p. 173. The narrator’s personal name is not supplied.

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.

  1. Huta-kurakura ignores two arrows while emptying a pond, then embeds Kororomanna in wood after the third. Tobacco offered after other rejected goods wins friendship. They collect fish, and the spirit compresses the catch into a small portable parcel. At home it expands to fill the house, making the family move outside.

    Sections27–28, printed pp.129–130; complete Red-back encounter and fish gift ending

  2. Roth explains Huta-kurakura’s Red-back designation through the described glowing hearth in place of buttocks and cross-references the earlier named encounter.

    Section99, printed p.173; explicit Red-back cross-reference to§27

A punitive encounter becomes an actual generous gift; final return and expansion retained. Hero’s separate animal-guided route is not attributed to the spirit. Collector’s category explanation and individual character are related but not every Hebu’s identical personality.

References

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

  1. ResearchRoth 1915: Warao Kororomanna adventures and Hebu descriptionsResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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