The Sorcerer’s Secret

The following is a read aloud story for May 2004. This is one in a series of stories especially for Awana Clubs, homeschoolers, Sunday school classes, DVBS, mission conferences, or just reading them for fun. Print them out. Collect them. E-mail them to others. Use them. God bless! This month I tell the story of two Culina boys and their adventures in the great Tropical Rain Forest of the Amazon River of Brasil. Religious fakes. They are found everywhere. The boys were fascinated by the shamen and their ability to vomit up “curses” and declare sick people made well. But the day came when they caught the “witchdoctor” in what they thought was a terrible trick.

The old story teller, Douemi (Dough-way-MEE)
Missionary/ culture observer among the Culina Madirra for many years
Serving with New Tribes Mission, Sanford, FL

Wide-eyed and filled with wonder Sano (Sa-NO) cautiously peeked around the corner of the dirty grey mosquito net and watched the people coming and going from the hammock of the very ill woman, Sobida (So-bee-DAH). She coughed and gagged and spit and sputtered and moaned and groaned. Under her hammock was the smoldering coals of a little charcoal fire that had burned all night to keep her warm and comfortable. The whole area smelled of smoke and sweat from her high fever.
Azo (Ah-ZOE) squirmed his way quietly to Sano’s side. “Sano, what is happening? Will Sobida live? Will she die?”
“Quiet, Azo! The people will hear you and make us leave! Look! Here comes the zoppinerre (zo-pee-neh-HEH) and he will work miracles! He can make her well! Let’s watch him do it!”
The shaman slowly made his way to Sobida’s side and then suddenly put his head down on her bare belly and he sucked and sucked and sucked. Then with the most excruciating raucous noise he vomited up small yellow stones! “Look!”, he said boldly to the on-lookers, “It is the Dori (Doe-REE) curse! Some enemy has sent these dori stones across the forest and into her body. I have brought them out of her. She’ll get well now!” And he began to chant and sing and seemingly rejoice in his wonderful ability to make the sick well. Everyone agreed with him and marvelled at the miracle this “doctor” had performed right there before their eyes.
The boys, too, were really impressed. “Sano, did you see? He got the dori curse out of Sobida! When I grow up I want to be a zoppinerre like he is! I want to help people who are sick!” Azo declared this rather loudly causing all the people around Sobida to look his direction with disgust at the noise he was making.
A week passed and Sobida died from the tuberculosis that had afflicted her. The people debated once again whether she had died of a dori curse or whether it had been simply “one of the white man’s diseases”? The shaman seemed a sham, but no one would confront him or ask him why she had died.
Azo and Sano raced down to the river as the a canoe load of people from a distant village came to visit. They noticed that there was a very sick man who also came and that everyone was talking about his dori and how the zoppinerre could suck it out! The boys got immersed in a bundle of ingo (Ing-GAW) fruit that had come with the canoe. Ingo is like great long string beans that grow on fairly big trees and hang down. When ripe you can pull off the long pod and then twist out the most delicious snowy white “cotton candy” fruit that slides off a glistening black seed. The boys were busily working out the white juicy sweet meat that seems to melt in the mouth.
They were sitting near the sorcerer’s shanty and noticed he had come up the pole ladder and he was busily digging into the palm leaf roof to hide a little package of something wrapped in a green leaf. He did not notice his little audience and Sano and Azo were quiet as a salamander on the shelter ridgepole. The shaman left and disappeared into the house where the visiters had gone.
“What is it?” Sano whispered to Azo, “What did he put in the roof? C’mon let’s go take a look! Be careful that he doesn’t see you!” And since everyone were with the visiters hearing their story, no one saw the two boys climb into the sorcerer’s shelter and pull out the green package. Quickly they opened it and found…yes, they found hard yellow dori stones! These were made out of hard pitch broken from the side of a scarred tree.
“He’s a fake! Maiza taui! (My-ZAH tah-WEE!) He’s a liar!” Azo was really angry at this discovery of the socerer’s secret stock of doris.
“Azo, let’s put hot pepper on them! C’mon, we can squeeze some of the hottest pepper juice on them! That’ll fix him…the big fake!” And off they went to get some very hot, burny pepper to squeeze on them.
No sooner had they done this and put the doris back in their green leaf envelope and hidden them where the sorcerer had put them…and here he came! The boys tumbled out the back of the shelter and hid behind a nearby stand of banana plants…peeking out to see what would happen next. The shaman was in a big hurry and went right to his secret hiding place and pulled out the dori package and opening it just popped them all in his mouth at once!! And then he started down his pole ladder and suddenly realized his mouth was on fire! He snorted so loud that it surely would have made everyone look his direction…and it did. Then he wheezed. He sneezed. He spit the little yellow pitch pieces all over the dirty, muddy yard. But still he had a mouth full of fire. He hiccupped so rapidly and loudly that he hardly had time to rush to the river and plunge his head under the water and take great gulping drinks of cooling water! The people ran out of their shelters and stood around the yellow, muddy dori stones. The sorcerer’s secret was out! They now knew that he never sucked them out of people, he had them in his mouth all the time!
Have you learned to study the Scriptures so that you can tell what is a fake and what is not? In Acts 17:11 we read about the Bereans. They just didn’t accept anything they heard without checking it out first. The Bible says, “they searched and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so”. Don’t be fooled by the fakes! Make sure what you believe is the Truth. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father but by me!” Make sure whatever you believe is Christ-centered. That goes for teachers in public schools who tell you God did not create the world. The Bible says God DID create the world, and that’s the TRUTH.