Just Like Family (Final Chapter of Tales of Taquiti)
In this chapter, we come to the end of the Tales of Taquiti and learn the true story of Awkê and Nhá Taquiti. Thank you for joining us this far. We hope you enjoyed this Indigenous legend.
If you haven’t read the previous tales yet, please start from the beginning by clicking this link.
The mother and the nanny dispute the children's love (by chatGPT)
The children had spent the entire day filled with anticipation. Upon arriving, Nhá Taquiti had promised them that that very night she would reveal the conclusion of Awkê’s story. So, as soon as they finished dinner, the twins ran upstairs to their room and burrowed into bed, where they pleaded in unison for their nanny to start telling the story right away. With tears welling up in her eyes—which she struggled to hide—Taquiti began the story:
“When the men of the tribe arrived at the place where they had scattered Awkê’s ashes, they found a large house and a white man, who spoke to them in an unknown language. The Indians knew at that very moment that this white man was Awkê, who had been reborn from the ashes.
As the indigenous people approached, he gestured, inviting them to enter. And what extraordinary things there were in that house! Among so many objects they had never seen before, none impressed them as much as the fire stick, capable of producing a deafening roar and killing animals from a distance, without its owner even having to chase them.
At the back of the property, they found black people, enormous animals whose udders gushed milk like water from a stream, and long-legged beasts that pulled the plow in the fields and ran as fast as jaguars. And to think that all of this had sprung forth by magic from the ashes of a campfire!
The news of that powerful white man, who seemed to fear nothing, piqued the curiosity of the entire village. But what intrigued everyone most was that, instead of taking revenge on the relatives who had tried to destroy him, Awkê welcomed them kindly, as if nothing had happened.
Curious to get to know her son better and discover how he lived, Játáti often took the trail that led to the riverbank. Once there, she would bathe in the water while watching the house in the distance, closely observing the comings and goings of its inhabitants.
Over time, Awkê ended up inviting her to live in his home and help his wife care for the baby who was about to be born. Játáti accepted. After all, she would have a home, food, and the company of her grandchildren. And she would be—as her daughter-in-law was careful to point out—treated as if she were part of the family.
“And so ends the story of how the first white man was born.”
Mateus and Clara’s mother, leaning against the doorframe, listened to the story with half-closed eyes, her expression one of obvious displeasure. Nhá Taquiti was going too far, filling the children’s heads with all that nonsense! But the twins seemed so captivated by the story that she wasn’t quite sure how to intervene.
Perhaps the time had come to give her husband an ultimatum to find a younger woman to take care of the children. But he seemed so strangely attached to that old Indian woman, who was old enough to be his mother!
“Hey, Taquiti, do you know the Indian woman Játáti?” Clara asked when the nanny got up to turn off the light.
Taquiti paused in front of the dresser mirror and gazed at her reflection for a long time. Then she shot the children’s mother a quick, defiant glance before replying calmly:
“I’ve known her since I was born.”
“That’s so cool! Could you bring her here one of these days?”
“My darlings, she’s always around. You’ve surely met her already.”
And, without adding anything else, Taquiti hurried out of the room, heading toward the front door.
There were mysteries that were best left unsolved in the presence of those innocent souls.
Voltar