Cunir and the War Party

I was born into the Amazon, raised by my parents and my animal brothers. My father taught me how to hunt and fight, as did my mother. My brother jaguars taught me to be swift and fierce. I am Cunir.

I remember when the first Spaniards came to our shores. They were quiet, respectful, but they brought with them a sickness that caused us to flee from our homes. We sought refuge in the mountains, where we were safe from the sickness, but the Spaniards followed us there. They said they wanted our gold, and they killed many of my people before we could fight back.

I saw my father die in battle against one of their warriors. He was a great hunter and warrior, and he killed many Spaniards in return. But one day he was ambushed while hunting by a group of Spanish soldiers who managed to wound him before he could fight them off. A few days later I buried him at the top of a mountain, along with his spear and his shield. From then on I took the name Cunir - "The Hunter" - so that he would always be with me when I fight.

As time went on, more and more Spaniards arrived in my homeland. They killed even more of my people, raped their women and children, destroyed our temples and gardens. But we fought back fiercely - every time we tried to flee north towards the jungles of Mexico and Guatemala, they chased us down in our canoes, killing anyone who tried to escape.

My mother sacrificed herself to save me from being captured by a Spanish soldier who had snuck up behind me as I hunted for deer one day. She leapt at him out of nowhere before he could attack me - she fought him off with tooth and claw until she finally ran him through with her spear. She died with blood gushing from her chest; I watched it all happen helplessly as I hid behind a nearby tree trunk with her spear in hand, too terrorized to even move when she fell to the ground dead at my feet. The Spaniard stood over her corpse for what seemed like hours before eventually giving up and leaving to look for easier prey elsewhere; by then I was frozen in place, staring at my mother's bloodied body lying motionless on the ground in front of me - staring at the spear lying under her body where it had fallen out of her grasp during her final struggle for life. That was when I first picked up a weapon myself - that was when I took up the name Cunir in honor of my father: "The Hunter".