Deep in the Amazonian rainforest, Xucuru heard the loud territorial call of a howler monkey. When in range, he dipped a dart in curare, a potent poison that paralyzes muscles and kills by asphyxiation. The monkey failed to see the man, whose inimitable skills with a blowgun were sure to bring him down. Xucuru expanded his powerful chest, filled his lungs, took careful aim, and … it happened again.
“Watch out!” the bird shrieked. Instantly, the monkey disappeared. The huntsman saw no sign of the feathered nemesis that had alarmed his prey many times — just at the moment when he was certain to make a kill.
Hoping to elude the bird, Xucuru came to a clearing where peccaries were grazing. Skewered and roasted over a fire, one of the pig-like creatures would provide several meals for his family. He readied his weapon, took a deep breath, aimed, and … it happened again.
“Watch out!” The peccaries fled. Disconsolate, Xucuru trudged homeward, dreading to face his hungry family. As he and his wife, Terena, lay in their hut that night, he told her about the bird.
“What must I do?” he asked. “He seems to know my every move. Always, just at the instant when I am about to shoot, he screams, ‘Watch out!’ and my target escapes.” All of the villagers sought Terena’s wise counsel in difficult times, and Xucuru knew he could depend on her for a solution.
“That bird is like envious people who never miss opportunities to foil others’ success,” she said. “But sooner or later, envy consumes the envier. Intent on alarming your prey and satisfying his envy, he will become careless, and then you must aim true and kill him.”
At dawn, as the equatorial sunrays pierced through the trees, Xucuru left the hut. Following familiar trails, he pondered his wife’s words. He had known men so enslaved by envy that they could no longer differentiate between good and evil, and their fate was inevitable: Envy consumed them.
Not far away, he heard the murmuring of a stream. Peeping through foliage, he saw a capybara, the world’s largest rodent, swimming in the cool water. Certain the watch-out bird was nearby, he aimed at the capybara, but his quick eyes were not on the rodent; they were scanning the treetops.
Then he saw him, a large bird with demonic flaming eyes, looking first at him and then at the capybara. When the bird glanced again at the rodent, Xucuru shifted his aim from the stream to the treetops and sent the deadly dart on its way.
“Watch out!” the falling bird shrieked one last time. As his victim quivered in asphyxiation’s death throes, Xucuru said, “Tonight you will feed a hungry family, and when we have thrown your bones into the fire, I will tell my children about you. I will counsel them never to be envious, and when they encounter envious people, I will tell them what you so often told my prey: “Watch out!”
Jimmy Reed is an Oxford, Mississippi resident, Ole Miss and Delta State University alumnus, Vietnam Era Army Veteran, former Mississippi Delta cotton farmer and ginner, author, and retired college teacher.
This story is a selection from Jimmy Reed’s latest book, entitled The Jaybird Tales.
Copies, including personalized autographs, can be reserved by notifying the author via email (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)).
