Bélgica Dagua,  "The Origin of Woolly Monkeys"

 

The woolly monkey was human in earlier times.  He was married.   He had a wife.  She told her husband that she wanted to make a charge.  They talked it over.  And he said "Make chicha."  "I have a lot of brothers.  They are the ones who will help me.   (And he left.)  

 

So his wife spent her time making manioc beer.   But as she filled the tinajas (jugs) she wondered, “Where is my husband?   He had said to his wife, “I am going out, but I will come back quickly,”  "Lots of my brothers will be coming for a work party (to clear the garden)."  So when she had finished making the beer in the tinajas, she got it beautifully ready (for them) to drink, setting out the drinking bowls in stacks so that in the morning, when her brother-in-laws arrived, she could serve them from there.  But when she looked for (her brother-in-laws) they say they did not show up.  They didn't appear and didn't appear.  Then when dawn came she saw that the manioc beer was gone, all the beer she had made.   So now she was a hostess with no beer to serve.

 

So the woman said “Where are all those people who were supposed to be here early in the morning?  So the woman said to herself, "No, he told me that he would gather right here to drink with his brothers and that is the reason I stayed (to prepare) and am still here"  So in the morning (when her husband appeared, she said) "Now go tell your brothers to (come here) to drink."  "Ok so I will go tell my brothers,"   And he left, that wooly monkey when he was a person.  So when he left she looked over the chicha pots (again). Gone!  That night it had all been drunk up and there was none left.  So since the chicha was all drunk up like that she wondered who drank it.  There were no people.  And when there was none left  the woman who had made the chicha wondered "Who could have drunk this?"  "I made chicha for my husband. I didn't make chicha for other people!  So the woman got angry.  

 

(However, she made chicha again) "Tonight I am going to wait up! that woman said to herself. "Now just in case I am going to (wait up) to see who drinks this."  She mixed the chicha pot well…   She mixed each one of the tinajas and looked them over.  Then she put it in her mouth and tasted it like this.  "Yes this is strong enough to get my brother-in laws drunk!"  she thought.  So she got everything ready then waited and waited.   As she waited and waited she fell asleep.  

 

Then at twelve midnight she (woke up, and when she) looked,  she saw that a woolly monkey had come, a capuchin monkey, a sipuru monkey and all of those that are from this forest.  All of them.  They were all completely naked.  It was they whom he called his brothers.  

 

And then when they had all come together they drank in the night.  (They were just) sitting there in the dark night.  They were drinking now.  Over there now.  That one drinks. “Drink brother!” Now,  “You too brother!” He takes one and, tas! he drinks.  He would take a bowl and set it out like this in every direction drinking bowls and drinking bowls were set out for them.  They were in the dark night now, in the dark sitting there drinking.   "Don't laugh brother!  You might tip off that sleeper!"  They said.  If that sleeper, his wife catches on...  "If she becomes aware we are going to get told off!"  Then as they were all gathered together  they say that the squirrel monkey said, "You all aren't giving me drinks!"  Tsukrút! tsukrút!” he laughed.  Be quiet!  You are going to tip her off!

 

(Meanwhile) his wife had hidden  and stood watching from a corner!  "So this is what you do with the chicha I work hard to make!"  Then she grated wituk (black paint).  Now you have made me angry.  You tell other people to come together  and drink without helping me (to make a garden).  Now I am going to go talk to my husband and embarrass him right here (in front of his brothers).   “Have a drink brother!” they say he said as he offered the drinks.  Then she grabbed him and rubbed his face thoroughly with wituk, “ba!”  And when she rubbed his face it turned black. Then he said, "Ay! You have figured out who I a!.  Now I won't live with you anymore.  I am leaving now. Brothers!  This is as far as my life with you goes.  Now I am going!  I am a monkey now.  (And crying a wooly monkey cry) "Chuweke!" he jumped into a tree and tiapin, tiapin, tiapin he climbed up.  "Now my food trees will be all over this forest and you won't be asked for chicha any more!  "Ha!" He said and away mad.

 

And that is how the woolly monkey came into being transformed from a human.  And that is why.. You know how some  people go drink chicha at night?  Till this day they tease them (like this) "What a beginning times woolly monkey going out to drink chicha at night!"  Because the woolly monkey used to drink his wife's chicha at night.  Right in the middle of the night!  When is wife was in a deep sleep.  That is how he drank!  He gathered all of his brothers together to drink.  And they were all of those wild animals who walk with their hands.  Those were the ones he invited to drink.