Simo (honey-bee son-in-law)

Overview

Roth's Warao telling introduces Simo as a young man who enters a woman's hammock during her family's hunting trip. She resists being held; he promises to ask her father for marriage. His identification as Simo-ahawara, a person of the bee people, distinguishes him in the narrative from the Hebu she first fears. The later marriage includes her consent. Simo soon hunts for the party, producing a small bundle that the father and both brothers together cannot lift. Opened at camp, it contains abundant birds and animals, enough to require prolonged preparation and smoking.

Simo carries far more than the other men on the return journey and settles with his wife's family. They have a son. Her sisters repeatedly approach him despite his rejection; their splashing becomes especially dangerous because he has warned that water would burn and destroy him. He washes in honey. When water finally strikes him as he holds the child, he cries out and flies into a tree, becoming honey; his son becomes Wau-uta, a tree frog in this particular ending. This is a different narrative placement of Wau-uta from the older woman in the Haburi cycle, not a reason to splice their biographies into one chronology.

Origins & earliest records

Roth published The Honey-bee Son-in-law under the Warao attribution W in1915, section131, printed pp.199-201. The episode does not identify its individual narrator or date its first oral telling. Simo-ahawara is explained as bee people; the spelling is retained as a historical transcription rather than a modern linguistic standard.

Records & interpretation

Complete episode read through the water, honey and child-transformation ending. Roth's accompanying generalizations about marriage and household conduct are not treated as universal current Warao rules. Extraordinary strength belongs to this bee person, not an assertion about ordinary bees.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   An inquiry into the animism and folk-lore of the Guiana Indians

   Walter E. Roth · 1915

   Complete The Honey-bee Son-in-law, section131, printed pp.199-201; directly inspected historical text.

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. ResearchRoth1915: complete Honey-bee Son-in-law, pp.199-201Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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