Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

Indigenous Stories > Aymara > The Fox and the Rabbit

They say that Rabbit always used to go to eat in a vegetable patch, but he ate so much that the woman who owned the patch   became very angry and pledged to kill him, and to carry out her threat she made a person out of miske.

One day, Rabbit came hopping along the road and encountered the miske figure. He asked permission to pass, but when the figure did not respond, Rabbit approached it and slapped it angrily for not giving way. But Rabbit’s front paw stuck on the miske.  Rabbit began screaming at the figure to release him, but as the figure did not respond, Rabbit hit it with his other paw and then kicked the miske’s body and head with his back feet, completely sticking himself to it. At that precise moment, Fox walked by and Rabbit said, “Hey friend, pull me off here! A gentleman asked me to marry his daughter, and because I said no he stuck me here. He also promised to bring me juntuma coffee with bread and turtillunde, so if you want to have it, come here and take my place.

Fox responded, “Of course, no problem, I will take your place.”

But Fox became completely stuck to the miske and soon he began to scream, “Jinca apánima, juntumande turtillunde,” and there appeared a gentleman carrying a pot full of boiling water.

Upon seeing him, Fox says, “Good, you have arrived.”

But the gentleman threw the boiling water on Fox, who began to scream and scream until he finally became unstuck, and ran off.

Meanwhile, Rabbit had gone off towards the lake, but Fox followed his trail and found him and rebuked him:
“Now I will eat you!” he said.
Rabbit was afraid, and exclaimed, “No, no, wait a moment,” and as it was night time, he added, “go and get the cheese from the lake.”

So Fox dove into the lake, but could not remove the cheese, because it was really the moon reflected on the water.   Meanwhile, Rabbit was able to steal away again, and he waited for Fox with a stone in his hand.

And when he saw Fox approaching, he said, “No my friend, wait! Do not eat me!  Take this stone, and hold it above your head, and I will go and see if my cousin’s birthday party is ready, and if it is we shall both go together, and after you may eat me if you wish. But whatever you do, do not let go of the stone.”
And Rabbit went away and did not return.

Fox thought, “I’m going to drop it and see what happens.” And he did so, and the stone dropped on his head, leaving him rather groggy. Once again, Fox felt tricked, and once again he began to follow the trail of his prey, but for all that, Rabbit had thought of a new lie to tell him.

There was a well nearby, and Rabbit stood beside it with a bottle, making loud noises as though all hell had broken loose. When Fox arrived, he screamed loudly at Rabbit, “I’m going to eat you!” But Rabbit implored him, “Do not me my friend. Listen,” he said, “it sounds like someone is coming to kill us.  We had better hide in the well! You go in first and I will follow.”
And Fox jumped into the well and fell deep down, and Rabbit called to him from above:

“Die, my friend!”  and threw stones down on him until he killed Fox. Rabbit was happy, and he danced for joy to have killed his cruel friend Fox.

Uybirmallco (Mountains that give us life)
Aymara oral tradition
Rucio Flores M.
Julián Amaro M.
Juan Podestá A.