kajutukalu

Wauja

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌka.ʂu.tuˈka.lu/

Noun

kajutukalu

1. Sapo-rana llanero (Leptodactylus latrans)

   [Itsautaku:] Ojonainhapai kajutukalu wi han!

   [Mukura:] WEK-e-pe!

   [Itsautaku:] Ojonainhapai yiu han. Itsapai katihan. KajutuKALuwi. Mohonjapai ojonain ipitsi miu. Mohonjapai ojonain owananainyein yiu. Mohonjapai ojonain ipitsi miu.

   [Mukura:] Okuapitsa.

   [Itsautaku:] Katanainhapai weruyapai ipitsi whun. Katanainha mo ... HONjapai, ojonain hyan moHONjapai ojonain — iyukulatoyein yiu. MoHONjapai. Katanai weru— [rubs face] —yapai kalaiyiu whun, mapa isitya ou whun, mapa isitya ou whun. Mapa isitya... Itsakala putakapai kala sekunya, kala weru-YA-pai. Itsapakala akainya pumapai ipitsi, isitya. Ehen. We-RU-ya-pai. Awojotakutiu.

   [Storyteller:] Right around these parts is [the very same] frog!

   [Listener:] Really BIG!

   [Storyteller:] Right around here. [It] is like this [indicates size]. [A big old ugly] frog. [The adjectives are implied by his emphatic use of a tone for the grotesque or repulsive.]

   [It] is red [all over] here [speaker gestures to indicate his biceps]. [It] is red here [from] its former [red macaw-feather] armbands. [It] is red here, as well [indicates his legs].

   [Listener:] Its [former] leg bindings.

   [Storyteller:] There [it] is yellow [indicates his face]. There [it] is all ... RED, here it is RED — its former body paint ... Red. Here [it] is really yel— [rubs his palms down over his face, showing how the honey poured down over the face of the man who drowned] —low from [the] beebread. From [the] beebread. [The] beebread.

   [Aside to anthropologist:] [It] is [the] very same [stuff] you tasted long ago, that [golden] yellow [stuff]. "Tastes like piqui mash," you remarked about it, [about the] beebread. [Sucks in breath.] Yes. Really yellow. [It] completely covered [that frog].

Usage notes

• Beebread (mapa isitya, lit., honey excreta), described in the quote as being weruyapai (yellow), is a mixture of honey, pollen, and secretions from the brood nurse bees, who feed it to the honey bee larvae. The beebread undergoes lactic fermentation in the honeycomb, resulting in a delicious bittersweet yellow-brownish paste.
• In this brief excerpt from the traditional story, "The Man who Drowned in Honey" (Paistyawalu), a cruel husband is drowned in honey and transformed by his wife into a frog. This species of frog (Leptodactylus latrans), is described by the Wauja as particularly large and ugly. It can be heard croaking in the season when the piqui fruit falls from the trees. The storyteller points out that this species of frog still bears traces of the events of ancient times: it has reddish markings on its arms and legs, where, in its human incarnation, it once wore red macaw-feather armbands and red body paint. This frog also has faint streaks of golden yellow extending backward from its head, a testament to the fate of the man who drowned in honey.

References

• E. Ireland field notes, confirmed with Piitsa, Muri, and other elders (all experienced hunters) in 1982 using José Cândido de Melo Carvalho's Atlas da Fauna Brasileira, Edições Melhoramentos, São Paulo, 1981. Further confirmed by Kamo's middle son in 2015 using color photo of Leptodactylus latrans.
• "Ojonainhapai" (transcript p. 31-32) uttered by Itsautaku, storyteller and elder, recounting the traditional Wauja tale of the "Man Who Drowned in Honey" (Paistyawalu), in the presence of his adolescent son Mayuri, adult daughter Mukura, and others. Recorded in Piyulaga village by E. Ireland, December 1989.