ABSTRACT
In writing of the Mundurucu Indians, Yolanda and Robert Murphy wisely noted that there seemed to be almost two cultures and two worlds: one of men and the other of women. The sexes were united by the division of labor and by ties of kinship, but it was the disjunctive, oppositional character of their relationship that drew the Murphys' attention and that of their readers as well. In terms of gender relationships, the major structural difference between the Mehinaku and the Mundurucu is that the Mehinaku live in extended family households, while the Mundurucu men live separately from their wives and family in the men's house. Like the Mundurucu, however, Mehinaku men and women have a profoundly ambivalent relationship. The legend is a striking one because of its sharp focus on the most intense moral dilemma of Mehinaku gender relationships.
