South American Jungle Tales

South American Jungle Tales

HOW THE RAYS DEFENDED THE FORD

In South America there is a river called the Yabebirì; and it flows

through the city of Misiones. In this river there are many rays, a kind

of mud fish like the salt-water skate; and the river, indeed, gets its

name from "Yabebirì" means the "river of ray fish." The ray is a

wide, flat fish with a long, slender tail. The tail is very bony; and

when it strikes you it cuts, and leaves poison in the wound.

There are so many rays in the river that it is dangerous even to put

your foot into the water. I once knew a man who had his heel pricked by

a ray. He had to walk more than two miles home, groaning with pain all

the way and fainting several times from the poison. The pain from a ray

bite is one of the sharpest pains one can feel.

But there are also other kinds of fish in the Yabebirì; and most of them

are good to eat. That is why some evil men once began to fish for them

with dynamite. They put the dynamite under water and set it off. The

shock of the explosion stunned and killed all the fish nearby; and not

only the big fish, but also the little ones, which cannot be eaten. It

is very cruel and wasteful to hunt fish with dynamite.

However, there was a man who lived on the bank of the river; and he was

sorry for the poor fish, especially the little ones; and he told the bad

men that they must stop bombing the fish. At first they were angry and

said they would do what they liked. But the man was known everywhere to

be an upright, honest man, and finally they obeyed him and set off no

more bombs in the river.