WEBVTT 00:00:07.770 --> 00:00:11.369 Deep in the Amazon rainforest in the river Nea’ocoyá, 00:00:11.369 --> 00:00:13.734 lived, according to Siekopai legend, 00:00:13.734 --> 00:00:17.464 a school of particularly big and tasty fish. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:19.184 --> 00:00:23.885 When the rains came and the water rose, the fish appeared, 00:00:23.885 --> 00:00:27.335 swimming away as the waters fell again. 00:00:27.335 --> 00:00:31.723 The villagers along the river reveled in this occasional bounty— 00:00:31.723 --> 00:00:33.553 and wanted more. 00:00:33.553 --> 00:00:36.923 They followed them upriver deep into the jungle 00:00:36.923 --> 00:00:41.426 to a lagoon that thundered with the sound of flapping fish. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:42.866 --> 00:00:46.129 The whole village set up camp by the lagoon, 00:00:46.129 --> 00:00:51.489 bringing barbasco, a poison they would put in the water to stun the fish. 00:00:51.489 --> 00:00:54.489 Meanwhile, their young shaman took a walk. 00:00:54.489 --> 00:00:58.329 He sensed he might not be completely alone. 00:00:58.329 --> 00:01:03.214 Then, he came to a monse tree humming so loudly 00:01:03.214 --> 00:01:06.744 he could hear it even above the thunder of the fish. 00:01:06.744 --> 00:01:12.876 With that, he was sure: spirits lived here. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:12.876 --> 00:01:16.876 Back at camp, he warned his people these fish had an owner. 00:01:16.876 --> 00:01:18.416 He would find the owner. 00:01:18.416 --> 00:01:22.898 Until he returned, no one should fish. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:22.898 --> 00:01:25.198 He went to the humming tree. 00:01:25.198 --> 00:01:30.651 Inside was a hollow as big as a house, full of busy weavers. 00:01:30.651 --> 00:01:32.961 Their chief invited him in, 00:01:32.961 --> 00:01:37.166 explaining that the juicy little siripia fruits were ripening, 00:01:37.166 --> 00:01:40.996 and they were weaving baskets to collect them. 00:01:40.996 --> 00:01:43.496 Though they looked and acted like people, 00:01:43.496 --> 00:01:47.793 the shaman knew they were juri, or air goblins, 00:01:47.793 --> 00:01:51.233 who could fly and control the winds. 00:01:51.233 --> 00:01:54.143 They taught him how to weave. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:54.143 --> 00:01:55.963 Before the shaman left, 00:01:55.963 --> 00:02:00.355 the goblin chief whispered some cryptic instructions in his ear. 00:02:00.355 --> 00:02:05.479 Finally, he told him to tie a pineapple shoot outside a hollow log 00:02:05.479 --> 00:02:07.579 and sleep inside that night. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:16.730 --> 00:02:24.204 Back at camp, the villagers were fishing with barbasco poison, cooking, and eating. 00:02:24.204 --> 00:02:28.907 Only the shaman’s little sister refrained. 00:02:28.907 --> 00:02:33.596 Then, everyone else fell into a deep sleep. 00:02:33.596 --> 00:02:37.284 The shaman and his sister yelled and shook them, 00:02:37.284 --> 00:02:38.564 but they wouldn’t wake. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:40.514 --> 00:02:43.504 It was getting dark, so the shaman and his sister 00:02:43.504 --> 00:02:48.245 tied the pineapple sprout outside the hollow log and crawled inside. 00:02:48.245 --> 00:02:52.690 A strong wind rose— the mark of the air goblins. 00:02:52.690 --> 00:02:55.780 It broke branches and brought down trees. 00:02:55.780 --> 00:02:59.190 Caymans, boas and jaguars roared. 00:02:59.190 --> 00:03:01.690 The water began to rise. 00:03:01.690 --> 00:03:06.275 The fish flopped off the drying racks and swam away. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:06.275 --> 00:03:08.865 The pineapple sprout turned into a dog. 00:03:08.865 --> 00:03:14.390 All night it barked, keeping the jungle creatures away from the fallen tree. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:14.390 --> 00:03:17.760 When dawn broke, the flood receded. 00:03:17.760 --> 00:03:21.300 The fish were gone, and most of the people were, too: 00:03:21.300 --> 00:03:23.819 the jungle animals had devoured them. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:28.829 Only the shaman’s relatives survived. 00:03:28.829 --> 00:03:31.269 When his family turned toward him, 00:03:31.269 --> 00:03:36.616 the shaman realized what the goblins meant when they said the fruits were ripening: 00:03:36.616 --> 00:03:40.707 they weren’t really collecting siripia fruits at all, 00:03:40.707 --> 00:03:42.987 but human eyes. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:42.987 --> 00:03:45.397 The shaman’s older sister called him over, 00:03:45.397 --> 00:03:49.615 trying to touch his face with her long, sharp nails. 00:03:49.615 --> 00:03:54.475 He backed away and, remembering the goblin chief’s instructions, 00:03:54.475 --> 00:03:57.325 threw palm seeds at her face. 00:03:57.325 --> 00:03:59.385 The seeds became eyes. 00:03:59.385 --> 00:04:05.009 But then she transformed into a white-lipped peccary and ran away— 00:04:05.009 --> 00:04:08.839 still alive, but no longer human. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:08.839 --> 00:04:13.224 The shaman and his little sister’s whole community was gone. 00:04:13.224 --> 00:04:15.174 They went to live with another village, 00:04:15.174 --> 00:04:20.034 where he taught everyone to weave baskets, as the air goblins had taught him. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:20.034 --> 00:04:24.034 But he couldn’t forget the last of the goblin chief’s words, 00:04:24.034 --> 00:04:26.634 which told him how to get revenge. 00:04:26.634 --> 00:04:32.398 He returned to the air goblins’ home carrying chili peppers wrapped in leaves. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:32.398 --> 00:04:34.968 As the goblins watched through their peepholes, 00:04:34.968 --> 00:04:38.608 the shaman made a fire and put the chili peppers on it. 00:04:38.608 --> 00:04:41.648 The fire began to smoke the tree out. 00:04:41.648 --> 00:04:45.198 The goblins who had eaten people’s eyes died. 00:04:45.198 --> 00:04:48.638 Those who hadn’t were light enough to fly away. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:48.638 --> 00:04:53.413 So the goblins, like the humans, paid a steep price. 00:04:53.413 --> 00:04:57.203 But they also lived to tell the tale, like the shaman. 00:04:57.203 --> 00:05:01.413 In Siekopai legend, where the spirit and human worlds meet, 00:05:01.413 --> 00:05:03.703 there are no clear victors, 00:05:03.703 --> 00:05:07.631 and even death is an opportunity for renewal.