Kuat and Iae were twin brothers born in primeval darkness. They discovered that light was owned by Urubutsin the Vulture King who hoarded it all for himself.

Not wanting to spend the rest of their lives in the dark, Kuat sent him a gift: a delicious carcass crawling with maggots. Urubutsin enjoyed this very much and demanded more. But he refused to shed even a tiny shred of light.

The next carcass was a skin that contained nothing but the twins hiding inside. When the vulture swooped down they grabbed hold of him.

In the ensuing fight Urubutsin’s head feathers were torn out, which is why vultures are bald. After this he submitted to giving up half his light. Kuat threw handfuls into the sky and flew up after it to become the Sun God. Iae did likewise and became God of the Moon. Urubutsin stayed addicted to dead snacks but always checked they were totally dead first — maggots excepted.

Kuat is still going strong and recently signed a deal with a rather well-known drinks company to give his name to their Guarana-based soft drink.

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Article last revised on May 18, 2019 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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