Zigué

Brother in the Pemón-five-brother set, etymologically "chigger" (the parasitic flea/mite) per de Cora 1957. In Mário de Andrade's 1928 modernist adaptation called "Jiguê in the prime of manhood" — middle-brother positioning between Maanape (the elder geezer) and Makunaima (juvenile shape-shifter). Distinguished among the brothers as the one whose marriage is canonically attested; Makunaima's shape-shifting transformation into adult form to sleep with Zigué's wife is the opening canonical example of Makunaima's shape-shifting capacity in the cycle and the structural pivot moment establishing the trickster-faculty. Joined Makunaima and Ma'nápe in following Akuli the agouti to the Wazacá tree; survived the Great Flood released by the felling.

Parentage

• paternal: Wei
• maternal: Aromadapuén

Domains

• culture heroism and crafts

Powers

• parasitic burrowing association
• flood survival

Relations

• sibling: MakunaimaMakunaima slept with Zigué's wife via shape-shifting — the relationship has a structural cuckolding asymmetry in the canon.de Cora 1957; Andrade 1928 (primary)
• sibling: Ma'nápede Cora 1957 (primary)
• sibling: Wacalambéde Cora 1957 (primary)
• sibling: Anzikilánde Cora 1957 (primary)
• spouse: the wife of Zigué (figure in the Pemon-Macuxi Wazacá-tree narrative) · PemonWife (entry pending; unnamed in the Pemón canon proper).Andrade 1928 preserving Koch-Grünberg (primary)

Sources

• existence: Koch-Grünberg, Vom Roraima zum Orinoco vol. II (1924), recorded from Mayuluaipu (primary); María Manuela de Cora, Kuai-Mare: Mitos Aborigenes de Venezuela (1957) (primary); Cesáreo de Armellada, Tauron Panton (1989) (primary); Mário de Andrade, Macunaíma (1928), preserving the Koch-Grünberg episode of Makunaima's shape-shifting cuckolding of Zigué (secondary)