The Fire-Bringer

The Fire-Bringer is the human hero of the Apinayé origin-of-fire myth, unnamed in the sources but pivotal in Jê tradition. Sent up a cliff to rob a macaw's nest and then abandoned there by his brother-in-law, the boy is rescued by the Jaguar, who carries him home, adopts him and feeds him the roasted meat that people had never tasted. Enduring the menace of the Jaguar's wife, he learns the use of fire and the bow, and at last leads his kinsmen to carry off a burning log from the Jaguar's hearth. Through his act humankind ceases to eat food raw or merely warmed in the sun, and the domestic fire becomes common property.

Domains

• fire theft

Powers

• carries fire from the Jaguar to humankind

Relations

• ally: Jaguar (Rop)Foster-son of the Jaguar, who rescues, adopts and teaches him.Curt Nimuendajú, The Apinayé (1939), origin-of-fire myth. (primary)
• enemy: The Jaguar's WifeMenaced by the Jaguar's wife, in flight from whom he carries off the fire.Curt Nimuendajú, The Apinayé (1939), origin-of-fire myth. (primary)

Sources

• An Apinayé boy, stranded robbing a macaw nest and fostered by the Jaguar, brought the first fire back to humankind.: Curt Nimuendajú, The Apinayé (1939), origin-of-fire myth. (primary); Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked: Mythologiques I (1969), the bird-nester (M9). (secondary)