Okonoroté

Overview

Brett places Okonoroté’s story in the narrative told by the Warao speaker McLeod. The hunter pursues a brilliantly feathered bird over many days, finally shoots it and discovers that bird and arrow have disappeared into a deep opening. Looking down, he sees forests, plains and unfamiliar four-footed animals beneath the sky-land where his people have hunted only birds.

He asks his people to make a ladder so that one explorer can test the new land. Brett describes months of gathering cotton and lengthening the ladder, with a parenthetical suggestion that bush-rope might also have helped. After descending, Okonoroté hunts a deer, cooks it by friction-made fire and carries meat back up. Its taste persuades the others to migrate. The difficulty of his return climb is stressed; this is a journey requiring collective work and endurance, not effortless flight.

One woman becomes wedged in the opening. Her husband cannot free her, and another speaker warns that pulling her loose might sweep the rescuers from the ladder. It eventually gives way while she remains blocking the view through the sky. In im Thurn’s shorter1883 version, some people consequently remain above and others below, and the woman is described variously as pregnant or very large. Those details are variant framing, not grounds for assigning one fixed anatomy to the unnamed woman. Brett’s Christian-sounding language about the Maker belongs to his literary presentation.

Origins & earliest records

Brett’s Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana (1880 catalogue date), with the surrounding Warau narrative frame naming McLeod. English verse and missionary commentary mediate the account; no exact interview date is supplied here.

Records & interpretation

Complete selected Brett narrative and its McLeod frame53–55 read, alongside the complete im Thurn1883 folk-lore chapter371–388. Im Thurn acknowledges extensive dependence on Brett; differences between the two presentations do not establish independent oral performances.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana

   William Henry Brett, collector and literary adapter · 1880

   Complete Legend of Okonoroté55–60; McLeod narrator frame53–55. Closing narrator frame86 also read: six-day journey and return near Barima.

2. 02

   Among the Indians of Guiana

   Everard F. im Thurn · 1883

   Folk-lore chapter371–388; comparison passages377–379.

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 textBrett: Warao narrative in English verseResearch access: 2026-10-05
2. Primary textIm Thurn1883: attributed comparative presentationResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.