Merereua Yurupari (Manaós account)

Overview

In the Manaós-attributed tale, the forest Yurupari removes his skin, leaves it on a piece of wood and dives into the water to bathe. A hunter arrives and puts the skin on. Returning from the water, the former wearer asks not to be eaten and warns the hunter that he does not understand what he has acquired: he has become the Merereua Yurupari.

The former wearer says that the man-eating power is within the skin and will carry the hunter wherever it wants. Deer encountered on the path must be fed to it, or it will consume its wearer. He also tells the hunter to give two tortoises, if found, to his two daughters, one each; the passage supplies no marriage or further daughter episode.

The close states that the hunter subsequently served as food for the skin. It does not narrate a successful removal, a return to ordinary life or another transfer. Rodrigues glosses the title with terms for persistent sores or skin disease; those are the collector’s lexical glosses, not a medical explanation for the supernatural skin’s behaviour.

Origins & earliest records

Rodrigues1890, Merereua Yurupari, labelled Manaós,pp.139–140. The source offers interlinear glosses and a separate Portuguese rendering without naming an individual narrator.

Records & interpretation

Complete139–140 inspected visually, including title, lexical note, interlinear glosses and complete Portuguese rendering. The final sentence states consumption of the wearer, beyond the preceding warning.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Poranduba amazonense, ou Kochiyma-uara porandub

   João Barbosa Rodrigues · 1890

   Complete Merereua Yurupari, Manaós,139–140, including lexical note and final consumption sentence.

Family, evolution & connections

Former Yurupari skin-wearer and his daughters — Rodrigues VII

Manaós-attributed witness, complete interlinear and Portuguese rendering pp. 139–140.

The former wearer’s direct daughter statement, with the two recipients distinguished by the one-each gift instruction. Names, mother and birth order are unstated. The father is the speaker returning from his bath, not the hunter who has put on the skin. Transfer of a predatory identity is not transfer of biological parentage; no spouse relation to either daughter is supplied.

References

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

1. 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.