Uaçá (Rio Negro fisherman)

Overview

The fisherman Uaçá catches his hook in the ribs of the mother of turtles. When he braces with his feet, both stick to her back. She carries him down the great river and later back toward its headwaters, where he speaks to his son. Rodrigues’s explanatory note says fish have eaten his flesh during the journey, leaving only bones and tendons by the time he reaches his children.

The son tries to pull him out with a cord attached to a leg bone, but cannot free the remains from the turtle’s back. He then becomes an ancestral hawk—the source’s avô do gavião—and tries again without success. Uaçá removes a bone and tendon from himself and gives them to his children, saying that these will provide the means for future revenge and that he will remain their model. The narrative gives no successful bodily rescue.

The interlinear ending identifies transformations into curauá and paracuúba, while the final explanatory note states the broader purpose: plants supplying the bows and arrows with which the fish that ate him can be killed. This Rio Negro variant differs from the adjacent Rio Purus giant story. Uaçá is a fisherman caught through his tackle and rescued unsuccessfully by a shapeshifting son; Yacurutu is a child-eating giant trapped through organized resistance. The two protagonists are not treated as interchangeable names.

Origins & earliest records

Rodrigues1890, Uaçá o pescador primitivo,270–271, explicitly a Rio Negro variant. Complete interlinear glosses, Portuguese rendering and both271 explanatory notes inspected; no individual teller or date given.

Records & interpretation

Complete Rodrigues263–271 and associated footnotes visually read;272blank. The two plant-origin accounts267–269 and270–271 are explicitly regionally separated. Their kinship titles and references to material transformations are not converted into zoological or medical claims.

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

   Rodrigues1890, Uaçá o pescador primitivo,270–271, explicitly a Rio Negro variant. Complete interlinear glosses, Portuguese rendering and both271 explanatory notes inspected; no individual teller or date given.

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 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.