Lake bulls (Melivilu’s Maquehua accounts)

Overview

Melivilu of Maquehua tells of a bull emerging from a lake. Two men capture it with rush ropes, because leather ropes will break, and take it home. Its meat remains red despite renewed heating. When one man wonders whether it is cooked, the meat answers that it is not. Frightened, they throw it back into the lake.

A second encounter likewise begins with a bull caught in a rush rope. After killing it, the men pile the meat on a hide; when they return, the heap has become water. The printed conclusion says that water animals cannot be caught, or, if caught, their meat cannot be eaten. The two stories give different forms to this failure—speech during cooking and disappearance into water. Their heading Perimontu classifies an uncanny occurrence; it is not supplied as the bulls’ individual name, nor does the page identify every lake animal as one species.

Origins & earliest records

The complete paired narratives appear under Perimontu, credited to Melivilu of Maquehua, in Guevara 1908 p.333. No collection date or named lake is given. The same chapter’s editorial method describes translation into Spanish with repetitions reduced.

Records & interpretation

Complete selected public narratives and their named attributions were visually inspected in the original scanned pages. Guevara’s colonial hierarchies and speculative cultural history are not adopted as facts.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Psicolojía del pueblo araucano

   Tomás Guevara · 1908

   Perimontu, Melivilu of Maquehua, p.333; complete paired narratives.

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 textGuevara 1908: Perimontu, Melivilu of Maquehua, p.333; complete paired narratives.Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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