Since prehistoric times, the Warao Indians have lived in the remote swamps of the Orinoco Delta of Venezuela and Guyana. Protected from outsiders by their inaccessible habitat, the "Boat People" have preserved their tribal culture to this day. Their extraordinary oral literature -- unwritten narratives passed on from generation to generation -- is full of surrealistic adventures, fantastic spirit beings, scheming animals, and sly, humorous stories of human weaknesses and passions. The narratives are also vivid documentation of Warao daily life, which revolves around the dugout canoes in which they travel, sleep, cook, eat, play and finally are buried. Two hundred and nine of these tales ar brought together here by anthropologist Johannes Wilbert, who recorded a number of them. Others were collected by different authors at various times since 1906.
