Page:Iracéma, the honey-lips (1886).djvu/36
"And Iraçéma?"
"If thou shouldst die!" . . .
This word was a sigh of agony. The youth՚s head fell upon his breast, but soon he raised his form.
"The warriors of my race carry death with them, daughter of the Tabajáras! They do not fear it for themselves; they do not spare it to their foes. But never, unless in combat, do they leave open the Camocim[1] of the maiden in the wigwam of their host. Truth hath spoken by the mouth of Iraçéma. The stranger should leave the Tabajára camp."
"He should," said the maiden, like an echo.
Then her voice sighed forth—
"The honey of Iraçéma՚s lips is like the honey-comb which the bee makes in the trunk of the Guabiroba :[2] poisonous is its sweetness. The maiden with the blue eyes and sunny hair[3] keeps for her brave in the Taba of the pale-faces the honey of the lily."
Martim withdrew quickly and returned but slowly. A word trembled on his lips.
"The guest will go, that peace may return to Iraçéma՚s bosom."
"And he bears with him the light of Iraçéma՚s eyes and the flower of her soul."
A strange noise re-echoed through the forest. The youth՚s glance sped in its direction.
"It is Cauby the brave՚s cry of joy," said the maid. "Iraçéma՚s brother announces his safe return to the prairies of the Tabajára."
"Daughter of Araken, conduct thy guest to the wigwam. It is time to depart."
- ↑ Camocim, also called Camotim, the urn or chest which served as coffin to the aborigines. The word c՚am՚otim means "hole to bury the dead," from co, hole, ambyra, dead, and anhotim, to bury.
- ↑ In the original Guabiroba or Andiroba, a tree which gives a pungent, bitter oil.
- ↑ Portuguese, cabellos do sol, hair like the sun ; in Tupy, guaraciába ; so they called the yellow hair of Europeans.