It's maybe a variation of the Ipupiara legend. Many times seen as the Mother of Water, in fact the Iara, Uiara or Ipupiara is another entity and also a popular legend from the Amazon. She has a strong power of seduction on men, as the boto has his own powers on women. Many times, the Iara is called as the female-boto. Commonly described as a very beautiful woman with a heavenly voice that appears bathing in the waters of rivers or resting on the rocks around the bays. For the caboclos (as their counterparts caiçaras from the beach, the caboclos are the ones who are born in the countryside - something as as the hillbillies in the USA - also a mixed race between the Indian and the White) who travel on their canoes in the Amazon, the Iara is a serious danger because she bewitches the navigator and pull the boats and canoes towards the rocks. Bewitched, men can only notice the danger when it's too late and when nothing can be done.

The ones who see her, will never forget the apparition. There's an old saying telling that when a hunter is in the middle of the forest and listens to an irresistible woman singing, he must pray and try to get out of the place immediately. But just a few seem to follow this advice of the older and more clever inhabitants. There's no man that can resist to the Iara's singing. When bewitched, they desperately search for her in the forest near the banks where the siren from fresh waters can be seen in all her splendor. When the men see her, the desire makes them insane, and make them follow her to any place she goes. There are some men who tell that have been taken to the deep within the Iara's arms. They describe the realm of the deep waters as being unspoiled and of an infinite beauty. From there, nothing can be brought back to the surface. The ones who survive and dare to bring any kind of memento are punished with a kind of sickness that can only be cured with the works of a good female faith healer.

The Amazon Indians are used to telling Jaguarari's legend. Jaguarari was an Indian as strong as an onça (Brazilian Jaguar) and very courageous. He enjoyed canoeing a lot. No one was a better fisherman than him. His people had fresh fish everyday. He was also a master at hunting! No animal could escape! One day he went out of the tribe for hunting...alone in the forest. He found a very beautiful river which surface was so  crystal clear that it looked like the sky! He could not resist because all Indians from Brazil love the waters and have a passion for diving. After bathing, he rested on a bank and started to admire the beauty of the sky. On the other hand, remembering his task, he got his arch and his arrows and started the hunt. After getting some small prey, as he was hunger, he had his meal, then he rested profoundly and slept peacefully in the middle of the forest.

When he woke up he noticed the day was about to finish and as the dark was coming, he stood up to get back to the tribe. When he started to walk in the forest he listened to a charming song that made him amazed. He searched the place from where that heavenly sound was coming and as he got back to the place he had previously dived in, he found the Iara! He was bewitched and when he noticed, he was already in the water again.  He remembered the old sayings and advices on finding the Iara and immediately grabbed some tree branches that were immersed in the waters near the bank of that river, holding on hardly. The Iara had seen him before and liked him so much that she wanted to take him away to the depths. Since she didn't like the daylight, she waited for the evening to appear and attract the young man with her magic song. Jaguarari was very strong and holding on the braches and climbing plants all around, he could resist and then finally could get away from that place, getting back to the tribe as fast as he could.

When he got in his oca (tend) his mother noticed he was very upset, but he told her he was just tired. In the next morning he was still worried and a little sad. Many believed he was being taken by the Jurupari, the evil spirit. He continued to hunt and fish, but he didn't bring home anymore the same amount he used to. He never liked being in the forest at night and now, after seeing the Iara, he went to the forest every night. His mother insisted everyday, asking her son about this strange behavior that once he got so nervous that he finally told her... he had seen the Iara and that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. As his mother listened to his story, she started to cry and told him to flee otherwise he would die. He followed her advice but as it happens to all people when they are in love, he was sick and he needed to see the Iara again. So he got into his canoe and went to the same place in the river he had met the Iara for the last time. When he finally found her again, some other Indians who were nearby watched the scene and asked out loud: - Look! Wasn't he alone? - So now he is not alone anymore! From where they were they could see Jaguarari on the canoe with a girl. That was the Iara! And this was the last time Jaguarari was seen around there. 

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