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Overview
Maihisikiri is the Warao name, in Roth's collection, for a particular forest spirit he associates with the Arawak Mansinskiri. It approaches women while resembling a husband or lover, so the danger rests in familiarity rather than an obviously monstrous face. Roth records a distinguishing flaw: the spirit's left foot lacks its big toe. In February 1910 a man told Roth that his wife had encountered what she thought was her husband while collecting firewood. On returning home she found the real husband in his hammock, saying he had not left the house that day. Roth reports that she died within the week. This dated testimony is distinct from the transformation tale that follows it, and is not evidence for a medical cause of the death.
In that Warao tale, a husband leaves to hunt and a Maihisikiri visits his wife in the husband's form. It repeats the visits three times. On the last occasion she knows the real husband has traveled far away and challenges the visitor; it admits its identity and tells her to leave with it. Her husband later finds the house empty but hears laughter nearby. He discovers his wife lying in the forest and laughing, unable himself to see the spirit playing with her. When he tries to bring her home, her arm and then her whole body prove soft and without bones. A second attempt fails for the same reason. She explains that the Maihisikiri is too powerful for her and that she has become a forest spirit. She pities the husband because, unlike her, he must die before joining that condition.
Origins & earliest records
Roth printed the Arawak and Warao names together in section 97, pages 172–173, and the full Warao transformation story in section 97A. His February 1910 encounter supplies a dated collection event, while the volume appeared in 1915. It does not establish a first attestation across all local traditions.
Records & interpretation
The source separates an informant's reported encounter and death from a narrated transformation episode. Its missing-toe sign belongs to Roth's general description; it does not appear as the wife's discovery in the complete tale. The spellings Mansinskiri and Maihisikiri are linked by this collector, without claiming a universally identical contemporary classification.
In the literature
“always minus the big toe”
Section97, printed p.172
Roth’s reported distinguishing feature of the spirit wooer’s left foot; separate transformation story not collapsed into fatal testimony.
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
Chapter VIII, sections 97 and 97A, pp. 172–173; dated February 1910 testimony and complete Warao transformation narrative.
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.
- Roth gives Mansinskiri as an Arawak name and Maihisikiri as a Warao name for a husband-imitating spirit. The left foot lacks the big toe in his description. His separately dated February1910 testimony concerns an unnamed man reporting his wife’s encounter and death within the week.
- A woman mistakes repeated visits for those of her travelling husband. When the spirit admits its identity, she leaves with it. Her actual husband finds her laughing and wholly boneless; he cannot see her companion. She identifies herself as a bush spirit and says her husband must die before he can become one.
Date belongs to Roth’s received testimony; personal names are not printed here, and spirit causation is reported belief. Transformation ending is retained apart fromsection97’s fatal testimony; no unreported killing or cure appended.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- ResearchRoth 1915: Mansinskiri/Maihisikiri, sections 97 and 97AResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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