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Overview
In Rodrigues’s Rio Branco tale, the bird Mauary decides to kill Sleep and waits on a branch for it to arrive. He sees a shape approaching and thinks that it may be his enemy. Before the shape reaches him, he nods off; suddenly he cries out and flies away. He reproaches himself for failing to notice when he fell asleep and resolves to wait again.
On the second attempt, an approaching darkness seems to announce Sleep once more. Mauary now specifies that he will spear it with his beak. The result repeats: he dozes, opens his eyes in fright and flies off crying. The ending says that this happens every night from remote antiquity. Neither an actual blow nor the death of Sleep is narrated, and the shape has no elaborated human anatomy.
The collector identifies Mauary with a long-billed wading bird, offering the historical names Ardea Maguari and Ciconia Maguari. His accompanying natural-history explanation concerns a resting bird’s head dropping and its startled flight; the tale itself makes this recurrent behaviour a failed contest against Sleep. These editorial identifications and explanations belong to the 1890 witness, rather than establishing an observed supernatural encounter.
Origins & earliest records
Rodrigues1890, animal tale IV, O Mauary e o somno, labelled Rio Branco,pp.153–154. No individual teller or separate collection date is named.
Records & interpretation
Complete153–154 visually read, including interlinear glosses, complete separate Portuguese translation and natural-history footnote. The repeated confrontation ends without Sleep being struck.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Poranduba amazonense, ou Kochiyma-uara porandub
Complete animal tale IV, O Mauary e o somno (Rio Branco),153–154, including natural-history identification and the complete Portuguese rendering.
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.
- Primary textUFPE: Barbosa Rodrigues1890 original scanResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.