Curupira

The footprints lead deeper into the trees, heels pointing the way forward, and the hunter follows them for the better part of an hour before he understands that he has been walking out of the forest the whole time, not into it. The tracks were made to be read wrong. Somewhere close, in front of him or behind him, a small figure with hair the color of live coals is already watching, and it is in no hurry at all.

This is the Curupira, one of the oldest beings in Brazilian folklore and one of the most particular about its work. The name comes from the Tupi language, read by some as curu and pira, roughly a child’s body, and by others from a root meaning covered in blisters. Either way it points at something small and not quite right, a thing shaped like a boy but built for the deep woods. The Tupi-Guarani peoples who first told of him lived inside the rainforest’s economy of give and take, and the Curupira is that economy made flesh, the part of it that bites back.

His body is the size of a child’s and just as quick, and the first thing anyone notices, if they ever get close enough to notice, is the hair. It burns red, sometimes described as literal flame, a bright wrong note against all that green. The skin is bare, occasionally said to be green itself, the teeth sometimes green as well. But the feet are the heart of him. They are turned fully backward, heels forward and toes to the rear, so that every print he leaves runs opposite to the way he walks. A tracker who follows them faithfully follows them away from the Curupira and, more often, away from any path home.

He is among the earliest indigenous figures the colonizers wrote down. On the thirtieth of May, 1560, the Jesuit José de Anchieta sent a letter from São Vicente describing certain demons the Brazilians called corupira, which set on the natives in the bush, wounding them with whips, tormenting them, sometimes killing them. The stories did not agree then and do not agree now on exactly what he is or where he came from. Some make him a small old man, some a fierce boy. Some seat him on the back of a peccary as he rides through the undergrowth, which is one of the things that blurs him into his close cousin the Caipora. The disagreement is the point. He belongs to no single tribe’s telling and never has.

What he guards is everything that breathes and grows. He rules the animals of the forest like a herdsman rules cattle, and he is hardest on hunters who take pregnant females or kill the young. A man who drops one deer to feed his family may pass unbothered, may even find game walking into his snares. A man who kills for the pleasure of killing, or strips more than he needs, has made an enemy who knows the woods better than anyone alive.

The whistle is how the punishment usually begins. It comes high and sharp from the left, then from the right, then from a place that cannot hold a body at all, until the sound seems to circle the listener’s own skull. Panic follows the whistle the way smoke follows fire. The hunter stops thinking and starts running, and running in the forest with the Curupira behind you means running in circles, sometimes for hours, sometimes until the mind gives out entirely. He can move faster than a man can see. Some tellings give him outright enchantment, the power to change shapes or change a person into an animal, to scatter wits, to plant a madness that never fully lifts.

Against all this the forest leaves one narrow door. The Curupira cannot leave a knot unsolved. A traveler who twists a length of liana vine into a tangle, a rough ball or a cross of cipó, and drops it in his path will buy time, because the creature will stop and crouch and worry at the puzzle, and while he works the knot the human can slip away. He can also be bought. He is fond of tobacco and of cachaça, and a hunter who leaves him these gifts may find himself protected rather than hunted, his aim steadied, his prey delivered, on the understanding that the arrangement stays secret. That is the whole of his weakness. A bad knot and a bribe.

He does not forgive, exactly. He keeps accounts.

For five centuries he has done the same job, and the job has outlived the worldview that made him. The forest he protects is smaller now, the hunters carry different weapons, and the bargain he offers has curdled into something closer to a warning. Leave the young animals. Take only what you need. Tie your knot and carry your tobacco, and listen, when you are far enough in that the canopy closes over the light, for a whistle that comes from everywhere and nowhere and means you have already been seen.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Curupira?

The Curupira is a forest guardian from Brazilian and Tupi-Guarani folklore, depicted as a small humanoid with flaming red hair and backward-turned feet. He protects the animals and plants of the rainforest, especially in the Amazon, rewarding respectful hunters and punishing those who kill needlessly. He is one of the oldest figures in Brazilian folklore, with roots in pre-colonial indigenous tradition.

Why does the Curupira have backward feet?

The Curupira’s feet are turned backward, with the heels facing forward and the toes facing behind, so that his footprints point in the opposite direction to the way he is actually traveling. This lets him lay false trails that lead trackers and hunters away from him and away from their path home. The reversed feet are his most famous feature and his main tool for disorienting intruders in the forest.

How do you escape the Curupira?

The traditional way to escape the Curupira is to twist a length of liana vine into a tangled knot, ball, or cross and leave it in his path, because he cannot resist stopping to unravel it, which gives the traveler time to flee. He can also be appeased with offerings of tobacco and cachaça, which he loves; hunters who leave him these gifts may be protected and given good hunting instead of punished. Beyond the knot and the bribe, he has almost no weaknesses.

What does the Curupira protect?

The Curupira protects the forest and all of its wild animals, acting as their guardian and overseer. He is especially protective of pregnant animals and the young, and he targets hunters who take more than they need or kill for sport. Hunters who take only enough to survive are generally left in peace.

Where does the Curupira legend come from?

The Curupira comes from the Tupi-Guarani peoples of Brazil and is among the earliest recorded indigenous myths in the country. The oldest written mention is in a 1560 letter by the Jesuit José de Anchieta, who described demons called corupira that attacked and whipped people in the bush. The legend remains strongest in northern Brazil, particularly in the Amazonas and Pará regions.

Related Entries

Caipora, Mapinguari, Saci, Iara, Yacuruna, Pombero, Jurupari, Tupã, Leshy, Pan, Faun