How the Jaguar Lost His Fire

Author: Traditional Mapuche

Time Period: 1001 CE–1500 CE

Country or Culture: South America

Genre: Myth

PLOT SUMMARY

One day while hunting birds with his older brother, a boy named Botoque discovers a large macaw nest perched atop a cliff edge. Botoque climbs a pole and discovers two macaw eggs in the nest. However, when he tosses the eggs to his brother on the ground, they turn to stones and break his brother’s hands. Enraged, the older brother removes the pole and leaves Botoque stranded atop the cliff.

Botoque is stranded on the cliff for two days without food or water until he is discovered by a jaguar, who is armed with a bow and arrow and carries a large basket of newly killed prey. The jaguar replaces the pole, and Botoque reluctantly climbs down.

The jaguar invites Botoque to his home for a meal of cooked meat. The boy is shocked by the sight and warmth of the open flame and by the wonderful taste of the jaguar’s cooked boar meat, as neither fire nor cooked meals are known to the people of his native village. The jaguar teaches Botoque his methods for hunting and killing prey with a bow and arrow and shows him how to prepare the meat by creating a fire. However, Botoque soon draws the ire of the jaguar’s wife, who is jealous of the attention he is receiving and lashes out at the boy at every opportunity.

Homesick for his village and no longer capable of enduring the harsh treatment by the jaguar’s wife, Botoque eventually leaves his jaguar mentor to return home. Prior to Botoque’s departure, the jaguar gives the boy a basket of cooked meat and tells him not to let his tribe know about fire. Upon his return home, however, Botoque’s tribe is so intrigued by the basket of cooked meat that the boy breaks his promise and tells his fellow villagers about fire.

When Botoque returns to the jaguar’s home with two tribesmen, they steal the logs from the hearth. Enraged at Botoque’s betrayal, the jaguar becomes a wild animal who abandons his bow and arrow to hunt with his claws and teeth and eat meat raw. Botoque, in turn, is forever lauded as a hero for granting his tribe supremacy over the animal kingdom and for bestowing on them the knowledge of fire.

SIGNIFICANCE

The myth of how the jaguar lost his fire has parallels to many other indigenous myths found throughout world history. The most notable similarity is the tale’s notion that humans have—through some trial or tribulation—achieved superiority over the animal kingdom and the ability to harness the planet’s natural resources.

The myth is particularly interesting because the South American tribes among which the myth originated did not kill large carnivores, such as the jaguar, for food. Nevertheless, the tribes’ admiration of the animal’s aggressive qualities made jaguars an important cultural influence, particularly because the animals possessed many qualities that the tribes sought in their men, such as courage and strength.

This myth has also been identified by scholars as offering a crucial insight into father-son relationships. This is demonstrated by the jaguar’s fatherlike role to Botoque, the social and cultural progress the boy is able to make upon his departure from the cliff, and his acceptance of and respect for the jaguar’s teachings.

Scholars have also noted the duality of the jaguar character. The animal is mythologized as a forbearer of knowledge regarding the natural world yet simultaneously viewed with caution and respect, given the constant danger it presents to humans as a potential predator. Prominent mythological scholars such as Claude Lévi-Strauss have investigated the character of the jaguar’s wife to examine what reflection she may have, if any, on the cultural role and societal significance of women in indigenous South American culture. While several South American populations offer variations on the myth that depict the jaguar’s wife as a human woman, in the best-known rendition of the tale, which originated among the Kayapo tribe, the jaguar’s wife is, in fact, actually a jaguar. This fact renders any in-depth interpretation of the jaguar’s wife as a reflection on women in Kayapo culture unlikely.

The story of the jaguar and his fire is also somewhat contradictory in that while it trumpets the necessity of respect and reverence one must have for fatherlike figures, it offers little explanation for its repeated illustration of disrespect among family members. This notion is prominently illustrated by both Botoque’s callous abandonment by his brother and the jaguar’s wife blatant, although never explicit, disdain for her houseguest.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Leeming, David. The Oxford Companion to World Mythology. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.

Parker, Janet, and Julie Stanton, eds. Mythology: Myths, Legends and Fantasies. Cape Town: Struik: 2006. Print.

Penner, Hans. Teaching Lévi-Strauss. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.

Rosenberg, Donna. Folklore, Myths, and Legends: A World Perspective. Chicago: NTC, 1997. Print.

Urton, Gary. Animal Myths and Metaphors in South America. Salt Lake City: U of Utah P, 1985. Print.