The general Hiaki term for “roadrunner” is taruk, though you may have heard this bird called by another name: Heneral Napowisa Hisakame. Heneral means “general”, as in a military leader, napowisa means “grey-speckled”, and hisakame means “one who has a crest”, so the whole phrase put together means “general who has a speckled grey crest”. Heneral Napowisa Hisakame got this title for its deeds back in the days of the Surem, when animals and people still communicated. An enormous serpent once came through Hiak Vatwe, terrorizing everyone and eating whomever it pleased as it went along. Nobody knew what to do, and so they turned to taruk, who then led the fight against the serpent and earned the title of Heneral.
Unsurprisingly, Uu Heneral Napowisa Hisakame likes to dine on snakes, and it often gets into fights with rattlesnakes. Uu Heneral will toss dirt and sticks onto a rattlesnake, while the rattlesnake will coil itself up and keep its head down to stop Uu Heneral from poking its eyes out. Fighting back doesn’t usually work out for the rattlesnake, as Uu Heneral is much faster and can dodge the snake’s strikes, so the rattlesnake has no choice but to tolerate Uu Heneral until it decides to kill and eat it.
