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Overview
In William Henry Brett's verse account, Wailya approaches Wawaiya on her journeys to a cassava field. He explains that he has adopted a tapir's body to come near her, and promises to resume human form and marry her where earth meets sky. To overcome her fear of her husband Serikoai, he charms her axe. Its ominous voice accompanies her preparations, and she cuts through her husband's leg as he descends an avocado tree. Wawaiya then escapes with Wailya. A kindly spirit and Serikoai's mother save the wounded man; a tiny bird made from an eyelash carries the message that brings her help.
Following their trail, Serikoai notices avocado seedlings grown from fruit discarded during the lovers' flight. He eventually finds them walking together, shoots Wailya before he can change shape and severs the tapir's head. Wawaiya refuses to return, and Wailya's shadow continues after her even though his body has been killed. All three reach the earth's edge and enter the sky. Brett's footnotes identify Wawaiya with the Pleiades, the tapir's head with the Hyades and its red eye with Aldebaran; Serikoai becomes Orion, with Rigel marking his surviving leg. Roth later adapts the poem into prose and compares it with a different Warao star story.
Origins & earliest records
Brett's nineteenth-century Legends and Myths supplies the inspected metrical witness, pages 191–200. Roth reprints an adaptation in his 1915 inquiry, section 211, pages 265–266. Roth proposes a Carib source from names within the story, but does not establish a named narrator or a secure community attribution. These publication witnesses do not date the oral tale's beginnings.
Records & interpretation
The inspected Brett passage preserves both the pursuit and the astronomical footnotes; Roth's adaptation is a dependent witness rather than separate field testimony. Roth's suggestion that African or European contact affected the tapir's star identification is a conjecture. The profile follows the narrated transformation without treating his proposed cultural derivation as settled.
In the literature
“With changed form I seek thy side”
The Legend of Serikoai, partI, printed p.191
The tapir’s own promise, not an observed transformation.
“He shot the Wailya through the heart”
The Legend of Serikoai, partV, printed p.198
Serikoai kills the tapir before it changes; later pursuit is by a shadow/spirit.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana
The Legend of Serikoai, pp. 191–200; directly read verse account and astronomical notes.
- 02
An inquiry into the animism and folk-lore of the Guiana Indians
Section 211, pp. 265–266; explicit prose adaptation of Brett, with conjectural attribution and contact interpretation.
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.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana
London: William Wells Gardner; catalogued1880 selected Cornell scan. Printed title-page date not independently legible here. English metrical arrangement explicitly described in the preface.
- Wailya speaks as a tapir and promises a changed human form in another country. He courts the newly married Wawaiya and charms her axe; she maims Serikoai and leaves with the tapir. The episode does not show Wailya actually assuming that promised human form.
- A kind spirit helps Serikoai summon his mother, who heals him. Tracking the lovers, Serikoai shoots Wailya through the heart before the tapir can change form, beheads him and prepares the flesh. A later pursuing shadow/spirit follows Wawaiya and Serikoai to the sky. The conclusion assigns the woman to the Pleiades, Wailya’s head to the Hyades and its eye to Aldebaran, with the maimed husband as Orion.
The Legend of Serikoai, partsIII–V, printed pp.195–200; arrow death onp.198
Brett’s authored verse, not an independent literal oral transcript. No spoken charm copied. Animal death and subsequent spirit pursuit are kept distinct; no bodily resurrection or natural astronomical proof asserted.
An inquiry into the animism and folk-lore of the Guiana Indians
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,1915; selected Cornell scan. Catalogue year independently checked; field preface dated Pomeroon,June1913.
- Roth explicitly adapts Brett’s metrical story. His prose retelling gives the tapir’s promise and the mother’s healing without Brett’s separately described kind-spirit helper. His Carib-origin and contact explanations are linguistic/comparative conjectures, not verified narrator biographies or proof of an independent version.
Section211, printed pp.265–266; full prose adaptation and preceding source discussion
Dependent adaptation, not a second independent collected witness; no conjectural provenance promoted to fact.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- ResearchBrett: The Legend of SerikoaiResearch access: 2026-10-05
- ResearchRoth 1915: adapted Serikoai legend, section 211Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.