Myth of Naro as Told by Dedeheiwä

This film presents a version of a myth, different from the Myth of Naro as Told by Kaobawa, in narrative detail and also in the individual raconteur's style. The myth concerns the jealousy of Naro the Ugly toward his brother Yanomamo, who is fragrant and beautiful and has two wives. Desiring the women, Naro kills his brother by blowing magical charms, and is eventually killed himself by a third brother and a variety of ancestors. This is the origin of harmful magic. 

In telling the myth Dedeheiwä is, as always, a true performer, embellishing his words with gestures and evident delight at the drama and evocativeness of his tale. In another film, Kaobawa, also a village headman, tells the same myth in a gentle, more reflective style.

This film is part of the Yanomamö series, a collaborative project undertaken by filmmaker Timothy Asch and anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon between 1968 and 1971 to film the Yanomamö Indians of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil.