The Jaguar is the first owner of fire in Xavante myth, guarding flame and the art of cooking before humankind possesses them. In the Xavante telling the fire is taken and, as it is about to fall into water, is caught in the air and relayed by birds until it reaches the people. The narrative belongs to the great Central and Northern Jê cycle of the bird-nester and the jaguar's fire that Lévi-Strauss made the point of departure for his analysis of the passage from raw to cooked; the Xavante account further ties the episode to the origin of their ceremonial body-designs and the ritual carrying of the buriti log.