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A Man Becomes a Wooly Monkey.
Quichua Story recorded by Carolyn Orr and John Huddleson
English translation by Tod Swanson

In the beginning times this wooly monkey was human.     In the time when he lived as a man this wooly monkey used to walk in the forest a lot.   When he was out walking like that all the time going out hunting for meat, they say he found a tree.   This tree was a wituj tree. Climbing up he used to take fruit from this tree, they say.      Climbing up and gathering this fruit like that he picked it and grated it and in the same way used to put in a little charcoal.   When he had put it in and grated it like that mixing it all together they say he used to rub it on his whole body and the same way on his face. When it dried like that his body, the entire person turned very black.
            Turned very black like that he came [back] close to the house frightened.   His wife didn’t like to sleep with him [like that]. They say this woman asked her husband saying “How come you turned black like this?” When she said this [her] husband said:   “Because I just felt like it, I took a fruit tree and rubbed myself with it,” he said. “Rubbing myself like that, I turned very black” he said telling [what happened], they say.
            Telling it like that, they say his wife said: “Why should only you live black?’ they say she said. When his wife spoke like that, they say the husband said. “ Lets go tomorrow to the forest.”
            When her husband spoke like that, they say the woman went with her husband. As they were going like that, when they had almost arrived they say that the woman said, “If you and I both turn black how will our children turn out? She said, this woman said, they say. When this woman talked like that, they say her husband said, “They will come out the same [as us],” they say he said.

After that they arrived they say. Arriving like that, gathering and picking , grinding that fruit they say he gave it to his wife. They say this woman bathed her entire body [with it]. Bathing like that, in the same way [her] entire body turned black they say. When both husband and wife turned black like that, they say their relatives became angry and said. “Why did you turn black like that? They said. “You look very ugly,” they say they said getting angry. When they got angry like that they say they cried. They say their relatives said “You are black looking like wooly monkeys” they say they said having become angered. When they got angry like that they say [the husband and wife] said, “ What are we? Are we wooly monkeys [then]? “ They say they said. When they spoke like that they say they became wooly monkeys at that [very] moment. Until now the wooly monkeys live [like that] very black.

“Nin” is the third person singular for of “nina”, to say. Hence it should literally be translated “s/he said”. But in runa discourse “nin” is simply a formal marker of reported speech without much stress on the number of speakers. In English reported speech of for a traditional story is generally marked by the plural “they say”.

Notes: