Ngaliis aing stori “Story of the lizard above”

Abstract

The following Rama text is a traditional tale, told by Miss Nora Rigby, the first collaborator with the current Rama language research project.  It has a very common theme in the indigenous literature of the Atlantic Coast.  The character in this story is the ngaliis, which is sometimes called “caiman”, that is, a large crocodile-like reptile. We translate “lizard” here because it is the most common name in Atlantic Coast Spanish.