The Onca, the Dog and the Goat

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

“The Onca, the Dog and the Goat” from Traditionary Stories Extant among the Tapoia Indians Inhabiting the Valley of the Middle Amazon in Northern Brazil by Edward Sprague Rand, 1882.

An Onca (Jaguar) was once on very friendly terms with a Dog and a Goat Every Sunday he invited them both to his house to play cards. He did not, however, like the Goat as well as the Dog; in fact he was a little afraid of the Dog but he had it in his mind to some day make a meal of the Goat. Now the Dog was very cunning, but the Goat was a very stupid animal. One day, when they were playing, the Onca said every time he threw a card down on the table, "Why should I go to the woods to seek what I have in the house?"

The Dog, understanding him, threw down a card exclaiming, "If one does not know how to run he must walk immediately," winking at the Goat to intimate he was in danger. The Goat, taking the hint, threw down his card, exclaiming: "What a fool I was to come here."

Now the Dog did not wish the Onca to kill the Goat, so he said in the midst of the game: "Excuse me, my friend Onca, I must go out a minute.” winking again at the Goat.

Said the Goat: "I will go with you."

As soon as they were in the next room the Dog said: "O, my friend Goat, the Onca intends to kill you; but he cannot seize you when his hands are full of cards. Now the next time I say, 'if one does not know how to run he must walk immediately,' do you make some excuse to go out again, and as soon as you are outside go as fast as you can to the grass on the bank of the river.”

They returned to the room and resumed the game, and when the Dog next called as agreed, the Goat said: "Excuse me, my friend, again a moment, for I have a very bad stomach ache."

"Do not keep us waiting long," said the Onca, whose hands were full of cards.

"O, no," said the Goat, "I will come right back." But as soon as he got outside, he went as fast as he could to the bank of the river. After waiting a while for the Goat's return, the Onca and the Dog went out to find him. The Onca went to the Goat's house, but the Dog knowing where the Goat was, went to the river.

Finding the Goat there, he said to him: "The Onca will soon be here; get into this hole and I will cover you with these great tufts of grass; make yourself as small as you can and keep very still, like a great piece of earth. The Goat did as directed, and soon the Dog saw the Onca coming to the river, for, not finding the Goat, he intended to make a dinner off the Dog. But the Dog suspecting him as soon as he came near, jumped into the water and swam to the other side.

The Onca coming to the brink, called out: "O, Dog, you and the Goat are very cunning; I intended to eat the Goat first, and you afterwards."

"O, yes," replied the Dog, "we are much more cunning than you are; you are no good; why! if you had any strength, you would throw that great lump of earth at me and kill me." The Onca, enraged, seized what he thought was really a lump of earth, and threw it across at the Dog.

But as it was going through the air, the Goat cried: "Baa, baa," and the Onca saw how he had been fooled. And so the Goat who could not swim crossed the river. The Dog and the goat then went into the bushes, where the Dog hid the Goat, covering him up with grass and dried leaves. Then he returned to the bank of the river and began jeering and laughing at the Onca.

Now, the Onca did not like the water, but at last, greatly enraged, he exclaimed: "O, Dog, I will catch you and eat you for my dinner," and plunging into the river he began to swim across.

Then the Dog ran into the woods, but he soon heard the Onca following him. Now they were upon an island, and the Dog, running across, saw a man fishing for Piraracu in a canoe on the river. So he went into the tall grass and began to howl. The man, hearing, said, "What can a Dog be doing here? I will go and see."

So he turned his canoe to the land, and just as the Onca came out of the woods, the Dog jumped into the canoe. "Ah, my friend," said the man, "if I only had my gun I would kill you."

So the Goat and the Dog escaped, and the Onca lost his dinner, and they never played cards any more.

Rand, Edward Sprague. Traditionary Stories Extant among the Tapoia Indians Inhabiting the Valley of the Middle Amazon in Northern Brazil. Geo. S. Davis, 1882.

Edward Sprague Rand

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