A Yanomamo Tale

This is a story of the Yanomamo, a fierce and warlike tribe of slash-and-burn cultivators who live in Southern Venezuela and Northern Brazil, as they tell it.

Plantains are a staple food of the Yanomamo today. However, it was not so always. In the beginning only Boreawa used to eat plantains. This was because no one knew about them. Only Boreawa knew about them and how to cultivate them, and he did not let the others know. So everyone else ate only earth and animals. One day, Horonama, who lived by eating earth, was caught in a downpour. It rained so much that he got lost in the forest. Then, quite by chance, he stumbled upon the place where Boreawa had hidden his plantains.

At first, Horonama did not know what to do with the plantains, but by and by he figured out that they were good to eat. Then he sought out Boreawa and asked him how to cultivate this wonderful food. Boreawa told him how to do it and since then, the Yanomamo have always eaten plantains.