The sick onça (jaguar) fell from a tree and was seriously ill in bed for many days, unable to hunt and suffering from hunger. She devised a plan to ask Iara the messenger to tell the animals that she was dying and demanded they come visit her. Animals like the deer, capybara, and wild pig came to visit. However, the clever jabuti looked at the ground and only saw incoming tracks, not any outgoing tracks. Realizing something was wrong, he decided to pray for the onça instead of visiting, and was the only one who escaped.