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« on: August 03, 2019, 07:03:28 PM »
OCEANIC MYTHOLOGY 84. Shand, 1 894, p. i s i . 85. Pakoti, p. 66. 86. For other versions see Gill, 1876, pp. 59^ 71; Smith, 1899, p, 64. These, however, ascribe at least part of the task to Maiii. Set infray pp. 50 ff. 87. Ellis, i, 100; Moerenhout, i. 446. 88. Bastian, 1894, p. 32; Fraser, 1891, p. 266; Turner, 1861, p. 245 ; cf, also Smith, 1903b, p. 98 (Nieue). 89. Turner, 1884, p. 283. 90. Malo, p. 36, note 5. 91. Efate, Macdonald, 1892, p. 731. 92. Mindanao (Manobo), Beyer, p. 89; (Bagobo) Benedict, p. 16; Luzon (Ifugao), Beyer, p. 105. 93. See infray p. 178. 94. See inf ray p. 250. 95. Cook Group, Smith, 1899, pp. 64-71; Gill, 1876, p. 59; Mani- hiki, ib. p. 71 ; Hawaii, Westervelt, 1910, p. 31; Nieue, Smith, 1903b, p, 98; Samoa, Pritchard, p. 114; Turner, 1861, p, 246. 96. White, i. 52. For other versions see ib, i, 25, 49, 138; and cL also, for Hawaii, Fornander, i. 73. 97. White, i. 49; but cf. Smith, 1913, p. 137. 98. One account makes the sun the eye of Maui, and the moon that of his brother; see Polack, i. 16. 99. Ellis, i. 97, 250. 100. Bastian, 1894, p. 32, 101. Gill, 1876, p. 3. 102. Gill, 1876, p. 44; Fraser, 1891, p. 76. 103. This myth, apparently not recorded elsewhere in Polynesia, shows possible resemblances to one from Celebes, according to which the sun, moon, and stars were made from the body of a girl; see Graafland, i. 232. 104. Ellis, i. 98; J. R. Forster, p. 539; G. Forster, li. 151, 103. Fornander, i. 62, 73. 106. Ellis, i. 97; cf., for Nauru, Hambruch, p, 382. 107. Stuebel, p. 59. 108. Von den Steinen, p. 505. 109. Turner, 1884, p. 6. no. New Hebrides, Codrington, p. 370; Macdonald, 1898, p. 760; New Guinea, Seligmann, p. 402; Ker, p. 26; New Britain, Rascher,:, p. 230; Bley, p. 198, 200; Meier, 1909, p. 109, 111. For other versions see White, 1 25, 26, 52, 145. ' 112. White, L 138, 143; Wohlers, p. 7. 113. Borneo, St John, L 213; W, Chalmers (see H* L. Roth, 1896, i- 307) NOTES 3 IS 1 14. Carolines, Walleser, p. 609. 1 15. See in/m, pp. 58 ff. 1 16. White, i. 55. 1 17. White, i. 1 14. Ilk Grey, p. 61. 119. Thrum, p. 37; cf, Malo, p. 310. 120. Fomander, i. 89; cf. also Moerenhout, i. 571. 121. Gill, 1888, p. 80. 122. A somewhat similar tale is found in Nias; see infra^ p, 181. 123. Von Billow, 189s, p. 139. 124. Von Billow, 1898, p. 81. 125. White, L 166, 172. 126. Fomander, i. 90. 127. Fomander, i. 91. Chapter II 1. Gill, 1876, p. 51. 2. White, ii. 64, 1 10, 1 17, 1 19, 126; but cf. p. 121. See also Wester- veit, 1910, p. 17; Gill, 187k p- 64. 3. New Hebrides, Codrington, p. 168; Lamb, p. 215; Suas, 1912, pp. 33 ff.; Banks Islands, Codrington, p, 156; New Britain, Rascher, p. 233; von Pfeil, p, 150; Kleintitschen, p. 331; Meier, 1909, pp. 15, 21; German New Guinea (Bilibili), Dempwolff, p. 69, 4. The relation between these Melanesian tales and the Maui cycle in Polynesia is by no means sure. In certain cases, doubtless, as in some of the New Hebrides versions, the myths may be com- paratively recent importations by Polynesian immigrants, who have settled at various points within traditional times. Elsewhere they possess too strong a Melanesian flavour to be so easily explained. 5. White, ii. 63, 71, 92; Grey, p. 18; cf. Nieue, Smith, 1903b, pp. 92, 106. 6. Cf. the Melanesian tale of the child born to the woman aban- doned in a tree, in Ker, p. 22. 7. White, ii, 79, 81. k White, ii. 72. Possibly a reflection of the Biblical story of Cain and Abel? 9. White, ii, 65, 72, 80; Grey, p. 16. 10. New Guinea (Goodenough Bay), Ker, p. 23; (Tami) Bamler, P* 537; (Nufoor) van Hasselt, p.. 523. 11. Smith, 1903b, p, 94. 12. White, ii. 69, 100; Grey,. p. 38,. 13. Cf. Cook Group, where Vatea-baits' a hook with, a own thigh; Gill, 1876, p- 48. OCEANIC MYTHOLOGY 316 14. White, ii. 88. 15. Westervelt, 191O5 pp. 12 ff. : 16. Cf. White, ii. 121. 17. Marquesas, Christian, p. 188; Lesson, ii. 211; Tuamotu, Young, p. 109; Society Group, Moerenhout, i. 446; Cook Group, Smith, 1899, p. 72; Manihiki, Gill, 1876, p. 72; id. 1915, p. 147; Tonga, Mariner, i. 228; Lawry, p. 248; Fison, p. 144; Fraser, 1897, p. 71. It has not been recorded at all from the Chatham Islands. 18. Stair, 1896, p. 35; Kramer, 1906, p. 514; cf. also von Billow, 1898, p. 81. 19. Lawrie, p. 712; Macdonald, 1892, p. 731; id. 1898, p. 761. 20. Smith, 1892, p. 34. 21. Newell, iSqsa, p. 233. 22. Kleintitschen, p. 336. 23. Westervelt, 1910, p. 42. For other versions see Forbes, l88i, p. 59 (reprinted in Thrum, p. 31). 24. White, ii. 99. 25. White, ii. 68, 76, 85; Best, p. 97; Grey, pp. 35 ff. 26. Marquesas, Lesson, ii. 211: ff.; Manihiki, Gill, 1876, p. 70; Society Group, Baessler, 1905, p. 920; Moerenhout, i. 446; Cook Group, Gill, 1876, p. 61; Chatham Islands, Shand, 1894, P* ^^35 Samoa, Turner, 1861, p. 248. 27. New Hebrides, Codrington, p. 368; Suas, 1912, p. 50; Mac- donald, 1898, p. 767. 28. Nauru, Hambruch, p. 435. 29. Rotti, Jonker, 1905, p. 437. 30. This incident of cooking food by warming it in the sun’s rays is also found in Melanesia: New Guinea (Goodenough Bay), Ker, p. 99; (Kerepunu) Gill, 1911, p. 125; Admiralty Islands, Meier, 1907, p. 653; it occurs likewise in Indonesia: Philippines (Bagobo), Bene-* diet, p. 18. 31. Grey, pp. 22, 45; White, ii 66, 72, 94. 32. Some versions state that Maui hid his mother’s apron, so that she was thus delayed. See Grey, p. 23; White, ii. 72. 33. One version states that all Mafuike’s fingers and toes were thus served, after which Maui sent rain to put out her smouldering fire, forcing her to reveal the secret of the method of fire-making. See White, ii. 74. 34. Chatham Islands, Shand, 1894, p. 123;, Cook Group, Gill, 1874 pp- 51 ff«; Smith, 1899, P* 73; Marquesas, Radiguet, p. 230; Christian, p. 189; Tregear, 1887, p. .385; Manihiki, Gill, 1876, p, 66; Samoa, Stair, 1896, p. 56; Fraser, 1891, p. 82; Turner, 1861, p. 253; Stuebei, p. 65; Tonga, Lawry, p. 248; Nieue, Turner, op. ciL p. 255; Union Group, id. 1884, p. 270. NOTES 317 35. New Guinea (Kai), Keysser, p, 202; New Britain, Rascher, p. 234. . . 36. See pp. 114 ff., 182 ff. 37. R. Taylor, p. 156. 38. Shaxid, 1896, p. 209. 39. Leverd, 1912, p. 3. 40. Seligmann, p. 399. 41. Hueting, p. 278; van Dijken, p. 279; van Baarda, p. 455. 42. New Guinea, Seligmann/ p. 379; Woodlark Islands, Montrou- zler, p. 371; Hagen, p. 288. 43. Torres Straits, Haddon, 1904, p. 17; New Guinea, Seligmann, p. 379, 44. Nauru, Hambruch, p. 442. 45. Hambruch, p. 389; Torres Straits, Haddon, 1904, p. 13, 16, 20. 46. New Guinea, Seligmann, p. 380. 47. Forbes, 1879, p. 59 (reprinted in Thrum, p- 33); Westervelt, 1910, pp. 60, 120. 48. See supray Note 38. 49. But cf. R. Taylor, p. 115, note. Taylor’s material is, however, not always wholly trustworthy. 50. Westervelt, 1910, p. 31; Turner, 1861, p. 245. 51. While not a parallel, this form of the myth suggests one which occurs in the Philippines and New Hebrides, where the sky was so low that it interfered with the pounding of rice or the use of the planting stick. As a result of this inconvenience to the woman, the sky was raised. See infray p. 178. 52. Bastian, 1894, p. 32; Fraser, 1891, p. 266. 53. Society Group, Ellis, i. 100; Cook Group, Pakoti, p. 66 ; Smith, 1899, p. 64. 54. Cook Group, Gill, 1876, p. 59; Manihiki, ib. p. 71. 55. Samoa, Nieue, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Mangaia, and Tahiti. 56. Op^ cit. p. 54. For other versions see White, ii. 70. 57. This version, as well as most others, has been treated euphemis- tically; see Smith, 1913, p. 177. 58. White, ii. 70, 78, 112. 59. White, ii. 87, 90; Best, p. 96. 60. Moerenhout, i. 428. 61. New Hebrides, Suas, 1911, p. -907; Codrington, pp. 158, 266, 283, 286; Macdonald, .1892, p. 732; id. 1898,' p. 764; Lamb, p. 216; New Britain, Kleintitschen, p. 334; Bley/ p. 198; New Guinea,. Romilly, 1889, p. 154. 62. Ste infray p. 182. 63. White, ii. 89. . . ? ? 64. Stair, 18963 p. 57; Stuebel, p. 66. OCEANIC MYTHOLOGY 318 65. Shand, 1898, p. 81. 66. White, ii. 77, 86, iii, 118, 121, 124; Grey, p. $0. 67. The custom of dragging a canoe over a victim to kill him is fairly wide-spread in Polynesia, and is common in Indonesia as an incident in the mythology. See for Halmahera (Tobelo), Hueting, p. 293; (Galela) van Dijken, p. 274; (Loda) van Baarda, p. 454; Celebes (Todjo), Adriani, 1902b, p. 208. 68. White, ii. 76, 83, 115, 117* 69. Cf. Admiralty Islands, Meier, 1907, p. 659* 70. Turner, 1884, pp. 243 ff.; Stuebel, p. 67. 71. Gill, 1912, p. 128. 72. Gill, 1876, p. 77. 73. Baessler, 1905, p. 921. 74. Cf. Westervelt, 1910, pp. 99 ff. This may possibly be regarded as a related incident. 75. New Guinea, Sellgmann, pp. 388, 397; Romilly, 1889, p, 100; (Nufoor) van Hasselt, p. 520; Admiralty Islands, Meier, 1907, p. 654. 76. See infra^ p. 210. 77. Cf. Hawaii, Thrum, p. 256, 78. New Guinea (Wagawaga), Seligmann, p. 381; (Goodenough Bay) Ker, p. 96; (Nufoor) van Hasselt, 493; New Britain, Parkin- son, p. 684; Bley, p. 200; New Ireland, Peekel, p. 73; Admiralty Islands, Meier, 1907, p. 661. 79. Nias, Chatelin, p. 1 17; Philippines (Visayan) Maxfield and Millington, 1906, p. 106. Chapter III X. White, 1. 54 ff.; Grey, pp. 59, 81, 108. 2. White, i. 82. 3. The Tahitian versions give a different reason for the death of Hema; see Leverd, 1911, p. 176; id. 1912, p. 7* The Hawaiian ver- sion is still different; see Fornander, ii. 17. 4. In some versions this adventure relates to Tawhaki*s grand- mother, and not his mother. 5. By some accounts the meeting with the blind woman takes place only after Tawhaki has climbed up to the sky, in -which attempt his brother, Karihi, falls and is killed. In these versions, Tawhaki takes Karihi’s eyes with him and gives them to his blind ancestress, thus restoring her sight; see White, i* 90, 128. For still different methods of restoring the sight, as told in other islands, see for Mani- hiki, Gill, 1876, p. 66; Mangaia, ib. p. 113; Nieue, Smith, 1903b, p. 94; Tahiti, Leverd, 1912, p. xo; Samoa, Sierich, 1902, p. 178* 6. For the Hawaiian version of Rata see Thrum, p. iii. NOTES 319 ' 7. Cf. the cannibal bird which carried off Hema in the Hawaiian version (Fornanderj ii. 16, and note 2), and also the more definite description in the Tahitian form (Leverd, 1910^ p. 181). There is a suggestion here of the giant birds (garudas?)^ sometimes of canni- balistic characterj which occur in Indonesian tales, e. g., Borneo, Sundermann, 1912, p. 183; Halmahera, van Dijken, p. 257. 8. White, L 119; Wohlers, p. 15. Cf. for Tahiti Leverd, 1911, I 7 S- 9. Gill, 1876, p. 234; for a Melanesian parallel from the Admiralty Islands see Meier, 1907, p. 936. 10. Romilly, 1893, P- ^ 43 - 11. Leverd, 1911, p. 173; id. 1912, p. i. 12. For other examples of a sky-deity coming down to marry a mor- tal man see Smith, 1910, p. 86. In the Tahitian versions, the way in which Hema, the father of Tawhaki, secures his wife is also suggestive of the ^‘ swan-maiden’^ theme; see Leverd, 1912, p. 5; id. 1911, p. 175. 13* Macdonald, 1892, p. 731; id. 1898, p. 765; Suas, 1912, p. 54; Codrington, pp. 172, 397. 14. Nufoor, van Hasselt, pp. 534, 543. 15. See injra^ pp. 206 ff. 16. The scatalogic incidents of the Maori myth (White, i. 96) re- appear in closely similar form in Tahiti (Gill, 1876, p. 255). 17. Fomander, i. 191. 18. Gill, 1876, p. 251; Leverd, 1912, p. ii. 19. Leverd, 1912, p. 9. 20. See supra^ p. 46. 21. Leverd, 1912, p. 9. 22. New Hebrides, Suas, 1912, p. 66; Solomon Islands, Fox and Drew, p. 206. 23. Sumatra (Batak), Pleyte, 1905, p. 352. 24. Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji, Mariner, ii. 116; New Britain, von Pfeil, p. 149; Parkinson, p. 688; Meier, 1909, p. 85; see also Celebes, Adriani, 1902b,, p. 210. Cf. also Manihiki, Gill, 1915, p. 151* 25* Kalakaua, p. ,476. 26. Codrington, p. 383, note. 27. Walleser, p. 616. 28. New Hebrides, Macdonald, 1898, p. 767; New Guinea (Bili- bili), Dempwolff, p. 86; (Kai) Keysser, p. 209./ 29. Celebes, Hickson, p. ' 244. . 30. Celebes, Graafland, i. 232. 31. Fomander, ii. 16. 32. Fomander, ii. 15, 17, note 2. ? 33. Celebes, Adriani, 1910, p. ,246; Matthes, p. 434; Philippines (Subanun), Christie, p. 96. ' • . 320 OCEANIC MYTHOLOGY 34. White, i. 71. 35. Smith^ 19045 pp. 102 36. Westervelt (quoted in /PS XX. 172 [i9ii]), 37. Leverd, iqio, p. 176. 38. Hawaii, Thrum, p. iii; Tahiti, Leverd, 1910, p. 178; Raro- tonga, Savage, p. 147; Mangaia, Gill, 1876, p. 82; Aitutaki, ib. p. 143; Samoa, Stuebel, p. 148; Stair, 1895, p. 100; Union Group, Gill, 193^2, p. 52. In Samoa it is Rata himself who restores the tree when others cut it down. 39. New Caledonia, Lambert, p. 329; Banks Islands, Codrington, p. 159; Santa Cruz, OTerral, p. 227; New Guinea (Taupota), Selig- mann, p. 403; (Kuni) Egidi, 1913, p. 999; (Bilibili) Dempwolff, p. 76; (Jabim) Zahn, p. 390; (Tami) Bamler, p. 531. 40. Borneo, Gomes, p. 31 1 ; Philippines (Igorot), Seidenadel, p. 539. 41. New Guinea (Nufoor), van Hasselt, p. 530. 42. Halmahera (Loda), van Baarda, p. 409. 43. Solomon Islands, Codrington, p. 365; Torres Straits, Haddon, 1904, p. 89; New Caledonia, Lambert, p. 345; Admiralty Islands, Meier, 1908, p. 206; New Britain, Meier, 1909, p. 197; New Guinea (Jabim), Zahn, p. 362. CL also Nauru, Hambruch, p. 426; Halmahera (Loda), van Baarda, pp. 427, 469; Sangir Islands, Adriani, 1894, p. 33 ; Soemba, Wielenga, p. 251; Sumatra (Achin), Hurgronje, ii. 127. 44. Torres Islands, Codrington, p. 375; New Britain, Meier, 1909, p, 185; New Ireland, Peekel, p. 69. These correspondences are, how- ever, somewhat doubtful. 45. Malays, Brandes, 1894b, p. 63; Sunda, Kern, 1900, p. 376. 46. Kalakaua, p. 488. 47. Baessler, 1905, p, 922; Leverd, 1912, p. 2. 48. New Hebrides, Codrington, p. 402; New Guinea (Moresby), Romilly, 1889, p. 125; (Tami) Bamler, p. S3S; (Nufoor) van Has- selt, p. 526. 49. Celebes (Toradja), Adriani, 1902a, p. 461. 50. White, i. 82, 86; Grey, p, 81. The incident of the visit to Rehua is also told of Tane; see White, i. 134, 145. 51. Gill, 1876, p. 88. 52. Shand, 1895, p. 39, note. 53. Westervelt, 1910, p. 125. 54. (Sulka) Rascher, p, 230, 55. Meier, 1908, p. 197. 56. Tahiti, Leverd, 1912, p. 8; Hawaii, Kalakaua, p. 478; Celebes (Minahassa), Hickson, p. 311; P. .N. \Wlken, p. 324; Halmahera (Tobelo), Hueting, pp. 76, 161. 57* White, li. 4; Smith, 1913, p. 182. 58. White, i. 131, 136, 145; Wohlers, p, 9. NOTES 321 59. See pp. 23'ff, 60. Gf. the remarkable parallel in Japan, Chamberlain, p. 34. 61. White,: L 147.' ? „ ? 62. Gill, 1876, p. 221. 63. Thrum, p, 43; J. S. Emerson, p. 37; ci New Zealand, Hongi, ,1896, p. 1 18. 64. Cf. Thrum, p. 86. 65. Cf. Halmahera (Loda), van Baarda, p. 433; also perhaps New Guinea (Bilibili), Dempwolff, p. 70; (Jabim) Zahn, p, 389; (Tami) Bamler, p. 530. 66. Cf. Banks Islands, Codrington, p. 277. 67. Cf. New Zealand, Hongi, 1896, p. 1 19, 68. White, ii. 163; see also Hongi, 1896, p. 118. 69. See supra^ p. 42. 70. Banks Islands, Codrington, p. 277; New Hebrides, ib, p. 286; cf. also New Guinea (Kai), Keysser, pp. 204, 237; Celebes (Mina- hassa), P. N. Wilken, p. 330. This incident does not seem to have been recorded elsewhere in Polynesia; but the reverse idea, that the eating of earthly food is fatal to denizens of the underworld, is known from Tonga; see Mariner, ii. 115. 71. One may perhaps compare this with the use of the method of bending and snapping back a tree to kill an enemy in the following places: Banks Islands, Codrington, p. 165; New Hebrides, Suas, 1912, p. 66; Halmahera (Loda), van Baarda, p. 441. 72. Stuebel, p. 151. 73. Efate, Macdonald, 1898, p. 765. 74. Codrington, p. 277. 75. (Kai) Keysser, p. 213. 76. White, ii. 9, 12. 77. Cf. supra, p. 72 and White, ii. 32. 78. Gill, 1876, p. 265. 79. Smith, 19036, p. 102. 80. Romilly, 1893, p. 144. 81. O’Ferral, p. 231. 82. Marshall Islands, Erdland, p. 243. Cf. also Malay Peninsula, Skeat and Blagden, ii. 336; India, K athasar its agar tr. C. H. Tawney, Calcutta, 188O5 i. 227. 83- White, ii. 37. 84. See supra^ p. 73. 85. White, ii. 141;, ci Grey, p. 99. 86. Cf. supray p. 70. 87.. Ci p..68. 88. For other versions of ^ this tale see White, ii, 127; Grey, p.' 9. ; ? 89. White, ii. 167. 322 OCEANIC MYTHOLOGY 90. Cf. supra^ p. 62. 91. This incident of inanimate objects replying in place of a fugi- tive seems not to be recorded elsewhere in Polynesia. It is, however, known in Melanesia: New Guinea (Goodenough Bay), Ker, p. 32; (Cape King William) Stolz, p. 274; (Jabim) Zahn, p. 337; (Nufoor) van tiasselt, p. 526; New Ireland, Peekel, p. 29. It also occurs in Funafuti, David, p, 102, and widely in Indonesia: Halmahera (Ga- lela), van Dijken, p. 264; (Loda) van Baarda, pp. 434, 455; (To- belo) Hueting, p. 120; Sangir Islands, Adriani, 1894, p. 55; Celebes (Toradja), Adriani, 1898, p. 373; Philippines (Bagobo), Benedict, p. 43. 92. Grey, p. 123. 93. Halmahera (Galela), van Dijken, p. 207; Celebes (Toradja), Adriani, 1902a, p. 407; (Minahassa) P. N. Wilken, p. 382; Riedel, 1869c, p. 314; Philippines (Visayan), Maxfield and Millington, 1907, p. 317; Bayliss, p, 47; (Bagobo) Benedict, p. 60; (Tinguian) Cole, 191S, p. 19s ; Marshall Islands, Erdland, p. 247; Borneo (Kenya), Hose and Macdougal, ii. 148; India, Jdtaka^ No. 543, 94. White, ii. 20. 95. White, ii. 21. 96. Gill, 1876, p. 45. 97. Nakuina, p. loi (reprinted in Thrum, p. 133). 98. Celebes (Tontemboan), Juynboll, p, 323. 99. Gilbert Islands, Kramer, p. 434. 100. New Guinea (Kai), Keysser, p. 215. 101. Halmahera (Loda), van Baarda, p. 467; Sangir Islands, Ad- riani, 1894, p. 64; Rotti, Jonker, 1905, 413; Java (Bantam), Pieyte, 1910, p. 13s; Philippines (Igorot), Seidenadel, p. 562. 102. New Britain (Sulka), Rascher, p. 234. 103. Forbes, 1882, p. 36 (reprinted in Thrum, p. 63). 104. New Britain , (Gazelle Peninsula), Kleintitschen, p. 339; Meier, 1909, p. 21 1. 105. Nauru, Hambruch, p. 406. PART II Chapter I 1. Meier, 1907, p, 650. 2. Cf. Indonesia, infra^ pp. 159 ff. 3. Kleintitschen, p. 336. 4. Efate, Macdonald, 1892, p. 731;, Aneityum, Lawrie, pp., 711, 713. 5. Meier, 1907, p. 652. 6. Codrington, pp. 157 ff* NOTES 323 7. For other instances, see infra^ p. 174. 8. Codrington, p. 1 58. 9. Lepers Island, Suas, 1912, p. 45. 10. Gazelle Peninsula, Meier, 1909, p. 15, 11. Meier, 1909, p. 21. 12. Meier, 1907, p. 651. 13,. Meier, loc. cit. 14. Williams and Calvert, p. 197. 15. Haddon,p. 17; cf., for origin from eggs, Indonesia, infra^ p. 169. 16. Meier, loc. cit,
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« on: August 03, 2019, 07:01:29 PM »
A second cannibal-tale “ runs as follows. The members of a certain tribe began to decrease one by one, and hunters and women who went far from camp failed to return, until at last only one family was left. Determining to find out how all their kinsmen had perished, and leaving their old father to take care of the women, the sons set out and after travelling for some distance they met an old man carrying a hollow log, who asked them to aid him to get a bandicoot out of it. They feared trick- ery, however, and refused to put their hands into the trap, thrusting in a stick instead; and their suspicions were justified, for out came a great snake with a head at each end of its body.
300
OCEANIC MYTHOLOGY
Taking their sticks, they cut the reptile in two, and thus made them as we see them today; and having done this, they killed the old man. Continuing on their way, they came to his hut, where were piles of bones of the people whom he had killed; and going farther, they reached a lake, by which grew a tree. In the tree was a beautiful woman who invited the men to climb up to her; but before they did so, they noticed that the lake was filled with the remains of human bodies, for the woman was a cannibal and enticed men to ascend the tree that she might kill and eat them. Resolved to punish her for her mis- deeds, they went up with care and pushed her into the lake, where she was drowned.
CHAPTER III SUMMARY
F rom a consideration of the Australian cosmogonic myths alone, the inference was drawn that the central and north- ern portions of the continent exhibited a type of mythology which was unlike the southern and eastern; and this conclu- sion is, on the whole, strengthened by the evidence derived from the animal and miscellaneous tales. The former class of explanatory myths appears to be much more fully evolved in the southern and eastern portions of the continent than in the central and northern; where, on the other hand, we find a high development of the peculiar type of tales which recount both the origin of the totemic ancestors by coming up out of the ground, and their wanderings and activities as instructors in ceremonial and social usages. In the central area the great bulk of all the mythology so far published is concerned with the doings of these totem ancestors, and there is a relative absence of tales relating to heroes or mythological personages which are not directly associated with limited groups of people, but are the common property of the whole tribe. Totem clans and ceremonies form an integral part of the organization and life of the southern and eastern tribes just as they do in the central area, but they do not so completely dominate the mythology. In the distribution of particular tales or incidents, in like manner, there are certain ones which belong to one or other of the two main areas, but relatively few which are com- mon to both. Thus the distinction between the central and northern areas on the one hand, and the southern and eastern on the other, which has been recognized on linguistic grounds, apparently finds a fair parallel in the mythology.
302
OCEANIC MYTHOLOGY
When we come to compare the Australian myths with those of the other portions of the Pacific area, one or two points seem to stand out clearly. Resemblances to Melanesia, both in general type and in specific details, are most marked in the southern and eastern portions of the continent. Only here, apparently, do we meet with such themes as the swan-maiden or the arrow-chain; and it is here that the animal stories are most abundant, and that we find cosmogonic tales referring to the creation both of the world and of man. The closest affiliation of Australian mythology with that of Melanesia seems to be with the Melanesian rather than with what has been tentatively called the Papuan. There seems, however, to be little trace of the wide-spread Melanesian dualistic ideas as revealed in the tales of the wise and foolish brothers; al- though possible suggestions of this may be found in some of the Queensland myths or in the New South Wales stories of the two B rams. The mythology of the central and northern por- tions of Australia, on the other hand, stands more or less alone; and so far as its peculiar tales of totem ancestors are con- cerned, it seems to be unique. In its lack of cosmogonic tales and in its numerous myths which are restricted to relatively small local groups or classes in the community it shows many resemblances to the Papuan type as this has been defined in Melanesia, although the similarity is not very striking. The task of unravelling the relationships of Australian mythology is made much more difficult by the complete lack of all knowl- edge of Tasmanian beliefs and of those of the western and south- western portions of the Australian continent. If, as seems probable, the Tasmanians represented in their isolation the oldest stratum of the Australian population, it was from them, and from them alone, that a knowledge of really aboriginal mythology could have been obtained. Cultural, linguistic, and physical evidence clearly shows that the present inhabit- ants of the continent are a mixture of this earliest stratum with at least two groups of invaders. The linguistic data
SUMMARY
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have been taken to indicate that the central and northern tribes is the later of these groups and represents a Papuan wave from New Guinea; but on the basis of mythology it would seem that an alternative hypothesis is rather more in accord with the facts, and that the central and northern tribes represented the earlier (and presumably Papuan) group, driven back into the less favourable portion of the continent by a wave of Melanesian peoples spreading from the north-east, thus repeating a process which had already taken place in Melanesia itself. It is very difficult, however, to harmonize this view with the evidence derived from other sources, and we cannot hope for a solution until such time as we possess adequate information in regard to the mythology, culture, and physical characteristics of the Papuan tribes of Melanesia.
CONCLUSION
T he sketch of the mythology of Oceania given in the pre- ceding pages has been arranged in five main sections, each confined to one of the geographic or ethnographic areas into which the whole region is usually divided. At the end of each section we have given the general conclusions reached from a survey of the material; and these may now be briefly summarized, in order that we may gain an outline of the growth of Oceanic mythology as a whole.
The oldest and most primitive stratum of m3rthology in Oceania is either lost to us entirely, as in the case of Tasmania, or else is unknown, since no material from the Negrito peoples of the area is as yet accessible. Of its character, affiliations, and sources, therefore, nothing can be said. Following next upon this, at least in Melanesia and Australia, is what has been called the Papuan type — still very imperfectly known and apparently quite variable in its character. With the rest of the mythology of Oceania it presents comparatively little in common except in Melanesia, where the later Melanesian stratum probably contains a considerable element derived from it. Of the sources of this Papuan type little or nothing can be said. As the Negrito and Tasmanian strata are fol- lowed by the Papuan in Melanesia and Australia, in Indonesia the Negrito is succeeded by the Indonesian layer. Unlike the Papuan, this has wide affiliations which extend, on the one hand, well into south-eastern Asia (i. e. to Assam, Burma, and Indo-China), and on the other, to Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. It is at least a plausible hypothesis that the char- acteristic myths of this type were spread by a wave or series of waves of people who, moving from the Asiatic mainland into
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Indonesia, passed thence, on the one hand, to Micronesia and Hawaii, and on the other, through northern Melanesia to Polynesia. In the course of its passage along the northern shores of New Guinea and through the eastern archipelagos this latter stream became profoundly modified and carried with it to Polynesia, and especially to New Zealand, a consid- erable number of elements which were either directly borrowed from the Papuan population or, more probably, were locally developed there as a result of Papuan contact and mixture. Linguistic and cultural evidences seem to Indicate a long halt of the migratory stream in eastern Melanesia, and it is possible that the Melanesians, in the strict sense of the term, are in origin a blend of the Indonesian migrants with the earlier Papuan type. In some such way as this, at any rate, mytho- logical elements which were widely spread in Melanesia reached western Polynesia and New Zealand at an early date, but did not extend to eastern Polynesia and Hawaii. That a minor current of this great mythological stream may have reached the north-eastern shores of Australia is suggested by the presence there of several of its characteristic features; but historically this movement may have been much later. An- other such minor branch of the main drift may well have passed northward from eastern Melanesia to Micronesia, bringing to that area its unmistakable Melanesian elements.
Long subsequent, probably, to this first great drift of In- donesian peoples eastward into the Pacific came a second period of movement probably including both Indonesians proper and Malays. This time there seems to have been no migra- tion into Micronesia, the whole stream passing eastward along the northern coast of New Guinea and the edge of the eastern archipelagos, directly into Polynesia. This Immigrant wave, although incorporating certain Melanesian features in transit, seems to have become less modified than the earlier one. After some time had elapsed, during which there was a blending of the mythology of the earlier and later types, a
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branch of the now complex Polynesian peoples passed from central Polynesia northward to Hawaii, bringing thither the Melanesian elements which had previously been lacking; and another branch passed south-west from Tahiti and the Cook Group into New Zealand, constituting the traditional immi- gration into that island in the fourteenth century.
Coincident with, or perhaps preceding, the departure of the second main wave of peoples from Indonesia, Hindu ele- ments penetrated to Sumatra and Java. It is as yet difficult to say whether this invasion of Indian culture and peoples was a cause of the emigration of the later Polynesian ancestors, but it seems probable that some of these latter were slightly in- fluenced by Indian contact; and we must also bear in mind the possibility that these Hindu and South Indian elements may have been transmitted later by trade and other factors. Although the influence of Indian beliefs was slight in Melanesia, and perhaps negligible in Polynesia, it was strong in Indonesia, especially in the west; and while it is still uncertain how far the spread of these Asiatic elements was due to early Malay movements northward into the Philippines, these Malay migrations seem to have been factors. Last of all comes the Muhammadan influence, which has made itself felt every- where in Indonesia except among the wilder interior tribes, and whose effects farther eastward appear to be limited to the extreme western parts of New Guinea.
Such, in its broad outlines, seems to be the history of the development of Oceanic mjrthology. It is by no means im- possible that some of the similarities in incident which have been cited as evidence of relationships may, after all, be found to be of independent origin. Yet where there is so much smoke, there must be some fire; and the drift of myth elements here suggested finds so much to corroborate it in other fields of Oceanic culture that we may accept the facts as complying with the fundamental rule that similarities, to be really significant, must be shown to conform to historically possible movements
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or contacts. We do not, of course, intend for a moment to imply that such drifts and transmission of m}rth elements can explain all the mythology of the Oceanic area; for a large pro- portion, perhaps the majority, of myths have originated and developed within the several sections of the region in which they now occur, or are the outgrowth of imported elements which have been so profoundly modified that the original sources are wholly obscured. Into the question of the several curious resemblances between Oceanic and American mythology it is impossible to enter here. In large measure they contra- vene the rule just emphasized, since there is as yet no unim- peachable evidence for migrations between Oceania and America or vice versa, or even for definite contact; and such data as there are involve us in little more than a series of para- doxes. Until such contact or migration has been clearly es- tablished, Oceanic mythology must be regarded as essentially of Oceanic growth, although considerable elements of Asiatic origin have entered into the complex. Its history rests on that of the series of ethnic waves which, proceeding from south- eastern Asia and its adjacent archipelagos, swept in intricate currents to the utmost verge of Oceania, bringing to each group and islet in the whole vast area its own peculiar heritage of tradition and belief.
NOTES
PART I
Chapter I
References given in the Notes refer to the full titles in the Bibliography. Where an author has written more than one volume or article, the date following the author’s name in the note indicates to which of the several works of this author reference is made.
I* P. 3 -
2. White, i. 1 8.
3. Andersen, p. 127 (modified from Shortland, p. 12).
4- Cf. supra, p. 6.
5. R. Taylor, p. 109.
6. For other versions see R. Taylor, p. iii; Cowan, p. 104.
7. Smith, 1913, p, 136.
S. Smith, 1913, p. 1 17.
9. White, i. 18, 27.
10. Smith, 1913, p. 1 17.
11. Shand, 1894, p. 121; id. 1895, P- 33 -
12. Cf. Shand, 1895, p. 35.
13. Von den Steinen, pp. 506-^37.
14. Fornander, i. 63.
15. Yet it may be noted that in Maori mythology Tangaroa is a deity in regard to whose origin there is much confusion, for he is described both as the son and the brother-in-law of Rangi (see Smith, 1913, p. 118) and as the son of Te-more-tu (^‘Ultimate Space (see White, i. 24). This might indicate a belief in the priority of Tangaroa over Rangi.
16. Smith, 1913, pp. no ff.
17. For further discussion of this feature see infra, p* 13.
18. Moerenhout, i. 419-23 (retranslated in Fornander, i. 221-23).
19. Ellis, i. 250.
20. Hongi, pp. 113 ff.
21. Gill, 187^ pp- I ff.
22. This is inferred from the brief abstracts of myths given by von den Steinen, whose abundant materials have not yet been published*.
23. Bastian, 1881, pp. 69-121...
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24. Bastiaiij i88ij p* 70.
25. Perhaps a trace of this sequence of life-forms may be seen in the Maori order of creation; see Smith, 1913, p. 136.
26. Foraander, i. 61 ff.
27/ The more or less detailed creation-myth given by Fomander is not to be taken seriously, for it bears too many clear evidences of missionary teaching to have any value in this connexion.
28. Stuebel, p. S9; cf. von Biilow, 1899, pp. 60 if.
29. Cf. Marquesas, supra^ p. 10, and see also Christian, p. 187.
30. Turner, 1884, p. 4.
31. Stuebel, p. 60. For other similar versions see Kramer, 1906, p. 515 ; Turner, 1884, p. 6.
32. Mariner, passim; Reiter, pp. 236 if.
33. Stuebel, pp, 59 if- For other versions see Turner, 1861, pp. 244- 4S; id. 1884, pp. 7 ff.
34. Cf. the Heaven Father and Earth Mother theme in New Zea- land.
35. Turner, 1884, p. 7.
36. Reiter, pp. 444 ff.
37. Bovis, p. 45. _
38. Cf. the Maori ‘To,” and see Smith, 1913, pp. no ff.
39. Radiguet, pp. 228 ff.
40. Fraser, 1891, p. 264; also Kramer, 1906, p. 514.
41. Ellis, i. 251.
42. Fison, pp. 139 ff.
43. For discussion of this episode of the fishing up of the land see infra^ p. 44.
44. Henry, pp. 51 ff«
45. Ellis, i. 100; cf. Society Group, Tyerman and Bennett, ii. 175.
46. Polack, i. 17. This author has, however, been regarded as un- reliable, so that this statement must be accepted with caution.
47. For this type in Samoa see Turner, 1884, p. 7; Society Group, Ellis, i. 96, 249; Marquesas, Radiguet, p..228; Cook Group, Wil- liams, p. 81; Hawaii, Fomander, i. 62, 21 1.
48. Von den Steinen, p. 507.
49. White, L 149, 155.
50. Another very brief version merely states that Tiki was the first man, and Ma-riko-riko {‘‘Glimmer”) the first woman, the latter being created by Arohi-rohi (“Mirage”) from the warmth of the Sun and Echo; see White, i. 151.
51. White,!. 155.
52. Fomander, i. 62.
53. Ellis, L 96.
54. Shortland, p. 20.
NOTES
313
55. White, "L isS.
56. For other variants see White, 1. 133, 159, 162; Smith, 1913,
P- 138- _ ^ ^ ^ ^
57. Ellis, i. 98. Tii is said to be regarded as one with Taaroa, ib. p. 99; for still another version see ib. p. 97.
58. Radiguet, p. 229.
59. White, i. 21.
60. Gill, 1876, p. 16.
61. Garcia, pp. 5 ff.
62. Bastian, 1881, p. 73.
63. Cf. the Maori version supra^ Note 50, where the first woman is formed from the warmth of the Sun and Echo.
64. Malo, p. 23.
65. Still another version gives the divine ancestors as Wakea (Atea, Vatea) and Papa (Malo, p. 23).
66. Ellis, i. 98; J. R. Forster, p, 551.
67. White, i. 154.
68. White, i. 152.
69. Turner, 1861, p. 244; for other versions see id. 1884, p. 7; Fraser, 1891, p. 274; Kramer, 1906, p, 514; Stuebel, p. 59; Smith, 1898, p.^iss; Stair, 1896, p. 35.
70. Fison, p. 161.
71. Cook, ii. 239.
72. The episode of the origin of man from worms occurs also in New Guinea; see Haddon, 1904, p. 17.
73. Shand, 1894, P- ^^8.
74. Stuebel, pp. 75, 145, 151, 155; Abercromby, 1891, p. 460.
75. For the New Hebrides see Codrington, p. 406; for New Guinea (Kuni), see Egidi, 1913, p. 1002; (Jabim) Zahn, p. 373; (Kai) Keysser, p. 189; (Tami) Bamler, p. 540; New Britain, Meier, 1909, pp. 25, 205; Admiralty Islands, id. 1907, p. 651.
76. Smith, 1902, p. 203.
77. White, i. 144. Cf. for Borneo, Nieuwenhuis, ii. 113. An origin from a tree occurs very commonly in Indonesia, see infra^ p. 168, and is also reported from New Guinea (Elema), Holmes, p. 126, and from Australia,' see infra^ p. 274,
78. Smith, 1913, p. 1 17.
79. The number of these is given as seventy; see Smith, 1913,
p. '118,'' . .
? 80. Smith, 1913, p. 1 17.
81. Grey, pp. i ff.
82. White, i. 46 ff.
83. For other Maori versions, see White, i.' 25, 26, 52, 138, 141, 161 ; also Best, p. 115; Wohlers, p. 7; Shoitiand, p. 20; Smith, 1913, p. 121.
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always vainly looking for his spears on the upper branches of the tallest trees.
The snake-like head of the tortoise has doubtless suggested the following tale, which is told in South Australia.'* Originally the turtle possessed venomous fangs, and the snake had none; but since the latter lived on the shore, he was more liable to be attacked and killed than the turtle, who could take refuge under water or on an island. Accordingly the snake offered the turtle his head, if the latter would give him his fangs, and to this the turtle agreed; whence the snake now has fangs and can protect himself, while the turtle has a snake’s head and takes refuge under water. Another tale ® accounts for the red legs of the curlew. According to this, one day the hawk, who was the mother of Ouyan, the curlew, said to him, “Go out and get an emu for us. You are a man and a hunter, and must go and get food for us, and not stay in camp like a woman.” Accordingly Ouyan took his spears and went off; but being unable to find an emu, and fearing the jeers of the women, he cut some flesh from his own legs and carried it home, telling his mother that he had gone far and seen little game, but that he had brought something, and that there would be enough for all. So the women cooked the flesh and ate it, but afterward were quite ill. The next day Ouyan went off again, and being un- successful as before, he brought back another piece of his flesh; but this time the women were suspicious, and thinking that the meat was unlike that of the emu, they determined to see what Ouyan did on the following day. Thus they found how he secured the meat, and when he returned as usual and then went to lie down saying that he was tired, they rushed up, and pulling off the covering which he had drawn over himself, disclosed his legs all raw and bleeding. They upbraided him for his laziness and evil tricks, and beat him, after which his mother said, “You shall have no more flesh on your legs here- after, and they shall be red and skinny forever.” So Ouyan crawled away and became a curlew, and these birds cry
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all night, “Bou-you-gwai-gwai! Bou-you-gwai-gwai!” which means, “O, my poor red legs! O, my poor red legs!”
Still another example® of this type of tale runs as follows. The crane was an expert fisherman, and one day when he had caught a large number of fish, the crow (who was white) came along and asked the crane to give him some; but the latter answered, “Wait a while, until they are cooked.” The crow, however, being hungry, kept begging to be allowed to take the fish, only to hear the crane always reply, “Wait.” So at last, when his back was turned, the crow started to steal the fish, but the crane saw him, and seizing one of them, he threw it at the crow and hit him across the eyes. Blinded by the blow, the crow fell into the burnt grass, roiling about in pain; and when he got up, his eyes were white, but his body became as black as crows have been ever since. Resolving to get even with the crane, the crow bided bis time, and when the latter was asleep one day with his mouth open, he put a fish-bone across the base of the crane’s tongue and hurried away. On awaking, the crane felt as though he were choking and tried to get the bone out of his mouth; but in so doing he made a queer, scraping noise, which was all he could do, for the bone stuck fast; and so ever since the only sound that a crane can make is “gah-rah-gah, gah-rah-gah,” while the crow has re- mained black.
Examples of these animal stories might be multiplied almost indefinitely, but enough have been given to illustrate the type. It is to be noted, however, that characteristic as is this form of myth for Australia as a whole, it seems to be especially abundant in the south and east. In the central and northern districts (at least so far as published material is concerned) the prevalent assumption seems to be that just as the world and people have always existed, so the animals have had all their present characteristics from the very beginning. Here again, therefore, we find a distinction between the two main groups of Australia, outside of which this sort of myth is not
ANIMAL AND MISCELLANEOUS TALES 293
so highly developed. As has already been shown, Melanesia shows quite a few stories of this kind, but from Polynesia and Indonesia relatively few have been recorded.
Among the tribes of the southern and eastern portions of the Australian continent a number of tales have been reported which deal with beings (sometimes described as brothers) whom the minds of the people associate more or less closely with the creator deity. One of the most characteristic of these legends introduces an incident of some importance for compara- tive study. As told in South Australia ^ the story runs as fol- lows. Wyungare, a man whose miraculous origin from ordure has already been recounted,® was a great hunter and a hand- some man; and one day, while he was drinking water by draw- ing it up from a lake through a long reed, the two wives of Nepelle saw and admired him, and desired him for a husband. Accordingly, when he was asleep in his hut, they made a noise like emus running past, and Wyungare, waking, rushed out with his spear, thinking to secure the game; whereupon they greeted him with shouts of laughter and begged him to take them as his wives, which he obligingly did. When Nepelle dis- covered his loss, he was very angry and went to Wyungare’s hut to try to kill the culprits; but since the hut was empty, he placed some fire inside, telling it to wait until Wyungare and the two women were asleep and then to get up and burn them. His orders were carried out exactly, and in the night Wyun- gare and his new wives were awakened by the flames and just had time to escape from the blazing hut. The fire, however, pursued them, and they ran until they reached a deep swamp, in the mud of which they took refuge; here the flames could not reach them. Dreading further attempts of Nepelle to be re- venged, Wyungare looked about him for means of escape, and determining to ascend to the sky, he took his spear and hurled it straight upward with a line attached. The spear stuck firmly, and by means of the cord he ascended and pulled the women up after him, where they may now be seen as stars.
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Farther to the north, in northern New South Wales, almost the same tale is told,® but with this difference, that the ascent to the heavens was accomplished by throwing a spear into the sky; then casting a second, which stuck in the butt of the first; and so forming a chain of spears which finally extended down to earth and up which the fugitives climbed to safety. A similar method of reaching the sky is also recorded among the Narrinyeri from whom the first tale was obtained, but is given simply as a means by which a person succeeded in climbing to the heavens. It will be remembered that in Mela- nesia the arrow-chain as a method of ascent to the sky was wide-spread,“ and the occurrence of the same incident here (substituting spears for arrows, since the latter are unknown in Australia) is certainly significant.
Of equal importance are two tales which would seem to be incomplete and mutilated versions of the swan-maiden epi- sode, which is also widely current both in Melanesia and in Indonesia. The Victorian ( ?) recension narrates that one day a man who was out hunting surprised a number of winged girls who were bathing; and owing to the fact that he was very handsome, they fell in love with him and became his wives. Nothing is here said of their being sky-maidens or of the usual incident of stealing the wings; but in a version recorded in New South Wales some of these elements appear. According to this form of the tale,*® there was once a man who was so badly treated by his fellows that in anger he determined to leave them and seek a home in a far country. He travelled for a long way, having many adventures on the road, and at last came to a camp, where there were only seven girls who received him kindly and gave him food, telling him that they had come from a distant land to which they hoped to return. Next day Wurruna, for this was the man’s name, left, but after going a short distance, he hid to see if he could not steal one of the girls for a wife. They set out with their digging sticks to get flying ants’ nests, and while they were eating the grubs, they
PLATE XXIV
Native drawing of Wurruna, spearing the emus just before he met the seven sky-maidens. After Parker^ JustraBan Ligmdary Tales y
ANIMAL AND MISCELLANEOUS TALES 295
laid aside their tools, whereupon Wurruna, sneaking up took two of them. By and by the girls started for home, but two of them, being unable to find their digging sticks, were left behind by the others; and as they were busy searching for their lost implements, Wurruna jumped out and seized them. Though they struggled for a time, they finally agreed to marry him; and for a while they lived happily enough. Then one day Wurruna ordered them to get some pine-bark to make the fire burn better, but they demurred, saying, “No, we must not cut pine-bark. If we do, you will never see us again.” Wurruna, angry at their refusal, replied, “Go, don’t stay to talk. Do as I bid you, and if you try to run away, I can easily catch you.” So they went, each to a different tree, and struck their hatchets into the trunk; but as they did so, the trees began to grow, and since the women clung to their weapons, they were carried up with the trees. Higher and still higher they went as the trees grew upward, and Wurruna, seeing them, ran thither and called to them to come down; but they paid no heed and at last were carried up to the sky. When the tops of the trees reached the heavens, their five sisters looked out from the sky-country and called to them, telling them not to be afraid, but to come and join them. Accordingly Wurruna’s two wives, climbing from the trees up into the sky, joined their sisters who had gone back to their own country, and ever since they have remained there with them as the seven stars which we call the Pleiades. It will be observed that in this tale, as in the previous one of the ascent to the sky by the spear-chain, the more northerly version is closer to the Melanesian prototype, so that it would seem as though we might assume a progressive modification of the themes with increasing distance from their approximate source. In this connexion it is especially regrettable that no adequate material is available from Queensland.
By no means so significant as the two groups of myths just considered, but yet of some value for comparative purposes,
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are the tales in which a person is swallowed by a monster. A version told in New South Wales runs as follows. Byamee, the creator-deity, one day went off to get honey, and his two wives started out to gather figs and yams. While they were enjoying themselves swimming in a deep water-hole, they were seized and swallowed by two water monsters, who then dived deep, and traversing an underground passage, took all the water with them, after which they proceeded down the stream, carrying the waters as they went. On his return Byamee found his wives missing, and setting out in pursuit, he followed down the river-bed, which was now dry, until, by cutting across bends of the stream, he got ahead of the mon- sters. As they came on, he threw his spears at them and finally killed them, the water gushing forth and refilling the bed of. the stream; after which he cut open their bodies and took out the forms of his wives, which he laid upon some red ants’ nests. These quickly cleaned the slime off the bodies, and when they stung them, they made the muscles twitch, so that the two women were soon restored to life. Byamee then cautioned them not to bathe again in such deep water-holes, and pointing out the cavities in the ground made by the struggles of the mon- sters, and now filled with water, said that ever afterward these should be lakes on which many wild fowl would gather; and to this day Narran Lake marks the spot.
Interesting in that its similarities lie far afield is an incident in a tale recorded from Victoria.^® Among some of these tribes there are quite a series of stories recounting the deeds and ad- ventures of two brothers, the Brambrambult, or two Brams. On one occasion Gartuk, the mopoke, having been badly used by them, resolved to get even, and finding his opportunity when a great wind-storm arose, he made a great kangaroo- skin bag, caught the wind in It, and tied it up.“ In the course of time he thus similarly captured and imprisoned three wind- storms, and taking the three receptacles containing them, he set off for the camp of the Brams. Having found it, he unloosed
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the bags and released all three storms at once; but when the two brothers realized their danger, each seized hold of a tree to prevent being blown away, while their mother, the frog, took refuge under ground. One of the trees was strong enough to withstand the tremendous force of the wind, and the elder brother was saved by clinging to it; whereas the other tree broke, and the younger was carried off by the hurricane. When the storm was over, the elder brother sought everywhere for the younger, but all his efforts being in vain, he called upon his mother to aid him. She accordingly pressed milk from her breasts, and this, by flowing in the direction in which the younger brother had been carried, guided the elder Bram in his search, which was at last successful.
Apparently characteristic of the south-east, but showing no resemblances elsewhere, is a legend which might better perhaps have been placed with the animal stories. As told in Victoria, the tale runs as follows. The native bear, when he was still a child, was left an orphan; but the people to whom he was en- trusted did not take any care of him and often, when they went hunting, left him in camp with no water to drink. One day, after they had thus abandoned him, they forgot to hang their water-vessels out of his reach, so for once he had plenty. To be revenged for his previous ill treatment, however, he took all the water- vessels and hung them in a tree; and he also gathered the waters of the streams, and putting them into other vessels, he carried them to a tree, into the top of which he then climbed and which he made to grow until it was very tall. By and by the people returned tired and thirsty from their day’s hunting; but when they looked for their water-vessels, they could not find them, and when they went to the stream, it was dry. At last they spied the little bear and all the water-vessels high up in the tree and called out to him, asking if he had any water, to which he replied, “Oh, yes; but I shall not give you any, be- cause you have so often left me thirsty.” Two of the people then started to climb the tree to take the water by force, but
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when they had ascended a little way, the bear let some of the water fall upon them, thus loosening their hold so that they fell and were killed. Several other men made the attempt, but with the same result; and finally two of the sons of Pund- jel came to the people’s assistance. Unlike their predecessors, they climbed spirally round and round the tree, so that when the bear threw the water down, they were on the other side of the tree from where he had seen them a moment before. In this way they succeeded in reaching the top, and the bear, seeing that he could not help being caught, began to cry. Paying no attention to him, however, they beat him until all his bones were broken and then threw him down; but instead of dying, he was turned into a real bear and climbed another tree. The two sons of Pundjel then descended, and when they had felled the tree in which the vessels had been stored, all the water there secreted flowed out into the streams, and ever since they have contained water for people to use. After this the two sons of Pundjel told the people that they must never again break the bones of the bear when they killed him nor might they skin him before roasting. To this day the bear still continues to live in trees and will cry whenever a man climbs the one in which he is sitting; and he always keeps near water, so that if the rule in regard to breaking his bones should be infringed, he can again carry off the water of the streams.
Cannibal-stories seem to be less common than in Melanesia. One tale, which appears to be current both in the central area and in Victoria,^® runs as follows. Two old men, who were brothers, were travelling with a young man who was their nephew; but since the old men were cannibals and planned to kill and eat the young man, one of them secreted himself in a cave, while the other sat down near by. Meanwhile the young man went off to hunt and drove much game down from the hill, all of which ran into the cave where one of the old men was hidden. The other cannibal then called to his nephew to go in and kill the game, which he did, partly by blows and partly
ANIMAL AND MISCELLANEOUS TALES 299
by suffocating them with thick smoke from a fire built at the mouth of the cave. After this the old man asked the younger to enter again and drag out the game; and while he was so en- gaged, the cannibal who had concealed himself rushed from his hiding-place and endeavoured to kill the boy. The latter dodged, however, and crept out, telling his other uncle that there was a man in the cave who had tried to murder him. The old deceiver stoutly denied this, and going in, he whispered to his accomplice that he must hide himself elsewhere for a time until their nephew had grown up, lest the latter should kill them both. Hearing them talking, the boy asked who was there; but the old man declared that there was no one else in the cave and said that he was only speaking to an old wallaby, which he dragged out as he came. The boy, however, did not believe it; so the one who had been hidden in the cave came out secretly and concealed himself in another cavern. After a while the same drama was enacted as before; but this time the boy was determined to destroy both cannibals. Accordingly, when the old man who was secreted in the cave struck at him, he again induced the other to enter, and then, piling up a great quantity of grass before the opening and setting fire to it, he smothered them both to death. After they were dead, they ascended to the sky, where they may still be seen as stars.
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A different mode of origin is found in another series of tales which is also wide-spread; and in some instances this second type is combined with the first. Thus, a tribe in the vicinity of Melbourne say that once two women were cutting a tree to get ants’ nests when they were attacked by snakes. The women fought them for some time, but at last one of them broke her fighting stick, whereupon fire came out of the end of it, and the crow, seizing this, flew away with it. Pursued by two men, it let the fire fall, thus starting a con- flagration. These two men were set by Pundjel in the sky as stars, and he told all the people to be careful not to lose fire, now that they had it; but after a time they let it go out, and mankind was again fireless, while snakes became abundant everywhere. At length Pallyang sent his sister Karakarook down from the sky to guard the women, and she went about everywhere with a great stick, killing snakes; but in dispatch- ing one, her stick broke and fire came from it. The crow once more seized this and flew away with it, but the two men who had followed him before descended from the sky, and going to the high mountain where the crow had hidden the fire, brought it back again safely to mankind. Karakarook, the sister, had told the women to examine carefully her broken stick from which the fire had come and never to lose the secret; but since this was not enough, one of those who had rescued the fire from the crow took the men to a mountain where grew the proper sort of wood to make fire-sticks, and showed them how to manufacture and use them, so that ever afterward they should have fire whenever they needed it.
A somewhat different element appears in another small group of tales. The Arunta in central Australia say ^ that in mythical times a euro carried fire in its body. A man pursued the animal in the hopes of getting possession of the precious object, but for a long time he was unable to catch up with the euro, and although he tried to make fire with fire-sticks, he did not succeed. After many days, however, he finally caught
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the animal and killed It, and on examining the body, found fire concealed within. This he took and used to cook his food; and when the fire went out, he tried again to make It with his fire-sticks, and now was successful. A variant of this type is found in Queensland,^^ where fire was originally thought to have been contained in the body of a snake. As in the case of some of the tales of the origin of water and the sea, the other animals decided that the only way to get what they wanted was to make the possessor laugh; and when a bird succeeded in doing this by its comical gyrations, the fire issued from the snake’s mouth, thus becoming the common property of all. The belief that fire was primarily contained In the body of its owner is one widely distributed both in Melanesia"*® and in Polynesia."*®
That fire was originally obtained from the sky is also an idea found in Australia. Thus, one of the tribes from Victoria declares that a man threw a spear upward to the sky, into which it stuck; but since he had tied a string to the spear, he was able to climb up to the sun and to bring fire down to men. In Queensland®* the details differ. In the beginning there was no fire on earth, and so "the wren volunteered to fly up to the sky to get some; but though he succeeded in his quest, he hid the fire under his tail-feathers in order that others might not get the benefit of his discovery. When he returned and was asked how he had fared, he replied that he had failed in his attempt; but as he suggested the advisability of attempting to get fire from different sorts of wood, other people tried, only to make their hands sore and to abandon the task In dis- gust. Turning around suddenly, however, one of them burst out' laughing, for he saw the fire as a red spot on the tail of the deceitful wren. The latter then admitted that he had been successful, and showed the people how to make fire properly; but ever since he has had a red spot on his tail-feathers.
Still another form of legend of the origin of fire, in which the method of making is discovered by accident or is invented.
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is shown in a myth from New South Wales.®® Once there was no fire in the world, and all people had to eat their food raw or dried in the sun; but one day, when the crane, Bootoolgah, was rubbing two pieces of wood together, he saw a faint spark and a slight smoke, whereupon he called out to Goonur, the kangaroo-rat, “See, smoke comes when I rub these pieces of wood! Would it not be fine, if we could make fire for ourselves and cook our food without waiting for the sun to dry it?” “Yes,” said his wife, “it would indeed be good. Split your stick and put dried grass in the cleft, so that even one spark may kindle it.” He did so, and behold! after much rubbing, there came a tiny flame. Though they had now discovered the art of making fire, they resolved to keep it secret; and ac- cordingly, the next time that fish were caught, the two took theirs aside and cooked them. When they brought them back to camp, the other people saw that they looked and tasted differently, and asked what they had done to them; at which the two declared that they had only dried them in the sun as always. The others, however, did not believe this; so they spied and at last discovered the secret. It was then resolved to steal the fire, and this was accomplished, as already stated in previous tales, by making the stingy owners laugh and then seizing the precious receptacle containing fire while they were still overcome with merriment. A variant occurs in Queens- land.®® In the beginning fire and its uses were accidentally discovered by lightning setting fire to the dry grass and thus partly roasting a kangaroo which had been killed. A woman was sent to get a fire-brand, of which she was put in charge to see that the fire should never go out; but one day it was ex- tinguished through her carelessness, and to punish her for her negligence she was sent out to find fire again and bring it back. Her search was fruitless, however, and in her anger at failure she took two sticks and rubbed them together until fire was produced, the secret of its making thus being found.®*
One of the very few myth fragments from Tasmania relates
PLATE XXIII
Native drawing of a sort of ghoulish spirit called Auuenau, They are thought to be very thin and hairy. From their wrists, elbows, knees, etc., hang human bones taken from the dead, whom they seek to devour. The tail-like appendage is supposed to be the summer lightning, which is a sign of their presence. Geimbio tribe. Northern Territory, Australia. After Spencer, Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia^ Fig. So,
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to the origin of fire. According to this/® two men once ap- peared standing on the top of a hill, whence they threw fire like a star, which fell among the people and frightened them so that they ran away. Apparently this started a conflagra- tion, and on their return the people were able to get the fire which they had previously lacked.®®
One account of the origin of death has already been cited, ®^ but another version from New South Wales®* may be given for comparison. Baloo, the moon, one night seeing some men fording a stream, called out to them to stop and carry his dogs (which were really snakes) across for him. They, how- ever, were afraid of these creatures, for sometimes they bit and killed men when he brought them to earth; and for this reason they refused to do what they had been asked, saying, “We are too frightened. Your dogs might bite us.” Then Baloo replied, “If you do what I ask you, when you die you shall come to life again; not die, and stay always where you are put, when you are dead. See this piece of bark? I throw it into the water, it comes to the top again and floats. That is what would happen to you, if you would do what I ask you. First down when you die, and then up again. If you will not take my dogs over, you will die like this.” Thereupon he threw a stone into the water, and as it sank to the bottom, he said, “If you will not do as I tell you, you will be like that stone.” But the men answered, “We cannot do it. We are too fright- ened of your dogs,” So Baloo came down with his dogs and himself carried them over to show how harmless they were; and then he picked up a stone and threw it into the stream, saying, “Now as you would not do what I ask you to, you have forever lost the chance of rising again after you die — now you will only be black-fellows while you live, and bones when you are dead.”
From a consideration of the cosmogonic myths of Australia here outlined it would appear that a number of conclusions are justified. It has already been pointed out that a broad
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distinction may be drawn on linguistic grounds between the northern and central tribes on the one hand and those of the remainder of Australia on the other. Unfortunately, we have no myth material from western Australia, so that nothing can be said of its relations to the remainder of the continent. It is fairly clear, however, that the linguistic divergencies be- tween the northern and central portions as contrasted with the southern and eastern districts are paralleled by differences in mythology. In the former region we find scarcely a trace of any myths of the source of the world or of a creator deity. The origin of mankind is either a coming up out of the ground or a spontaneous beginning as embryonic or amorphous beings, who are made human by one or another group of totem ances- tors. The sun and moon are regarded as persons who, like other early mythical beings, emerged from the ground and later ascended to the sky, and knowledge of fire is said to have been taught to the ancestors in the underworld.®® In the southern and eastern portions of the continent we find, on the other hand, more or less definite tales of a creator-being and of a creation, together with myths of the origin of man- kind. Here the sun is often regarded as an actual fire kindled by an egg cast into space; here the sea (or water) is said to have been in the beginning either concealed or swallowed; and here a variety of origins are given for fire, its ownership by, and theft from, animals or birds being perhaps the most characteristic. Comparison with adjacent areas leads to rather contradictory results. In some particulars the northern and central type shows relationship to the largely hypothetical Papuan stratum in Melanesia, although some of its most characteristic elements, such as the origin of man from em- bryonic beings, have thus far not been reported from the Melanesian area.®® On the other hand, the southern and east- ern type reveals points of similarity with the Melanesian stratum in Melanesia, although from the geographical stand- point, and known historical relations this would hardly be
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expected. On the basis of the cosmogonic myths alone these suggested resemblances are uncertain at the best; and we may, therefore, turn to the remainder of the mythology and see whether the same cleavage and the same affiliations occur there also.
CHAPTER II
ANIMAL AND MISCELLANEOUS TALES
T he tales which explain the origin of the individual habits, markings, or cries of animals and other living creatures are quite as typical, on the whole, for Australia as are the Maui myths for Polynesia, the wise and foolish brothers for Melanesia, or the trickster stories for Indonesia. A large pro- portion of the myth material thus far published from Australia belongs to this class, which, although often interesting in itself, offers less in the way of significant comparative material than other types. While some of these tales have a fairly wide distribution, they are usually rather local in character.
The practically wingless emu has naturally given rise to a number of such aetiological tales; and in New South Wales this distinctive characteristic of the bird is explained as fol- lows.^ Dinewan, the emu, being the largest of the birds, was acknowledged as king by all the rest; and accordingly the Goomblegubbons, or bustards, were envious of him, the mother bustard being especially jealous of the mother emu because she could run so swiftly and fly so high. She resolved, therefore, to put an end to the mother Dinewan’s supremacy by injur- ing her wings; and so one day, when she saw her enemy ap- proaching, she sat down and folded her wings to look as though she had none. When Dinewan approached, she said, “Why don’t you do as I do, and be without wings? All birds fly and have wings. The Dinewan as king of the birds should do with- out them. When the others see how clever I am, they will make the Goomblegubbons king.” Dinewan took this to heart, and finally resolving not to lose the supremacy, she went and cut
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off her wings, after which she came proudly to where the Goomblegubbon was sitting and called out, “See, I have taken your advice and now I have no wings.” Then the Goomble- gubbon laughed, and jumping up, she danced about, flapping her wings and crying, “Aha! I have fooled you, old stumpy wings, for I have my wings still”; and so saying, she flew away. The Dinewan was very angry at having thus been taken in, and after pondering as to how she could get her revenge, at last thought of a plan. She hid all her young ones but two and then walked off to the Goomblegubbon, accompanied only by the pair. When she arrived, she said to the Goomble- gubbon, “Why don’t you imitate me and have only two chil- dren? If you have many, they are hard to feed and can’t grow up to be big birds like mine. The food that would make big birds of two would starve a dozen.” The Goomblegubbon thought this over and determined to follow the advice, and so, killing all but two, she went with these survivors to see the Dinewan. Thereupon the latter asked her where all her chil- dren were, and the Goomblegubbon replied, “Oh, I have killed all but two. These will now have plenty to eat, and will grow to be as big as your children.” Instead of congratulating her on her wisdom, as she had expected, the Dinewan said, “You are a cruel mother! Why, I have twelve children and find food for all of them.” “But you have only two, you told me!” said the Goomblegubbon. “Oh, no, I have twelve; see,” and she called her hidden children, who came out and marched proudly about. “Now, you can see that I told you the truth. Think of your murdered little ones, while I tell you your fate. By trickery, you robbed the Dinewans of their wings, and now forever, as long as the Dinewan has no wings, so long shall the Goomblegubbon lay only two eggs. We are quits at last! You have your wings, and I have my children.”
In Victoria,^ the following tale is told of the kangaroo and the wombat. The two once lived together as great friends; but though the latter had a good hut, the former possessed
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none and slept in the open. One day a great rain fell, and the wombat made himself comfortable in his house, while the poor kangaroo had to remain outside in the wet; when at last the latter could bear it no longer, he went to the wombat’s hut, and asked permission to sit in one corner. The wombat, however, refused, saying, “I want that place for my head,” and moved over so as to lay it there; and when the kangaroo answered, “Well, this other place will do,” the wombat re- plied, “No, I want to put my feet there.” Thus he refused to let the kangaroo take refuge anywhere within the house; and so the latter, angry at such treatment, took a great stone and struck the wombat on the forehead, making it quite flat. When he had done this, he said, “You shall have a flat forehead and live in a dark hole in the ground”; and to this day the wombat has a flat forehead and lives in the ground. The wombat, however, was not without his revenge, for he threw his spear at the kangaroo and hit him in the back, the missile sinking into his spine. “Now,” said the wombat, “that will always stick there, and you shall have a tail; and you will always use it when you run, and you shall never have a house.”
Many of the tales of this type serve to explain the geo- graphical distribution of certain animals or birds. Thus, one of the Queensland tribes ^ says that once the fish-hawk had poisoned a water-hole with roots and went off to sleep until the fish should be stupefied and rise to the surface; but mean- while a pheasant came by, and seeing some of the fish, speared them. The hawk, discovering this on his return, awaited his opportunity and hid the pheasant’s spears in a tree, but the owner climbed the tree and got his weapons, with which he took more of the fish-hawk’s catch. Accordingly the latter hid the spears again, this time in the top of a very tall tree; but though the pheasant at last spied them, he was too lazy to climb so high, and going up-stream, he caused a flood to rise which swept the fish-hawk and his fish out to sea. So to this day the fish-hawk is found only along the shore, while the pheasant is
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Myths of the third type are, on the other hand, characteris- tic of the south-easterly portion of the continent. Although in many cases there are no detailed stories of the creation of mankind, the statement being merely that the first men were created, more definite myths do occur. Thus, the tribes in the vicinity of Melbourne say that in the beginning Pundjel made two males from clay. “With his big knife he cut three large sheets of bark. On one of these he placed a quan- tity of clay, and worked it into a proper consistence with his knife. When the clay was soft, he carried a portion to one of the other pieces of bark, and he commenced to form the clay into a man, beginning at the feet; then he made the legs, then he formed the trunk and the arms and the head. He made a man on each of the two pieces of bark. He was well pleased with his work, and looked at the men a long time, and he danced round about them. He next took stringybark from a tree, . . . made hair of it, and placed it on their heads — on one straight hair and on the other curled hair. Pund-jel again looked at his work, much pleased . . . and once more he danced round about them. . . . After again smoothing with his hands their bodies, from the feet upwards to their heads, he lay upon each of them, and blew his breath into their mouths, into their noses, and into their navels; and breathing very hard, they stirred. He danced round about them a third time. He then made them speak, and caused them to get up, and they rose up, and appeared as full grown young men.” Some of the Queens- land tribes declare that the moon created the first man and woman, the former being made from stone and rubbed all
over with white and black ashes, while the latter was shaped
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from a box-tree and rendered soft and supple by rubbing with yams and mud. In South Australia/® on the other hand, there is apparently a belief in the creation of men from excrement which was moulded and then tickled, this causing the image to laugh and become alive.
Another tale from Victoria records the origin of woman as follows.^® One day Pallyan, the brother (or son?) of Pundjel, the maker of man, was playing in a deep water-hole and in so doing he thumped and thrashed the water with his hands until it became thick and muddy. At length he saw something, and parting the mass with a branch, he discovered hands and then two heads, and at last extricated two female forms, which were the first women and were given as wives to the two men whom Pundjel had already made. An origin of mankind from the sky is given by one of the tribes of the Northern Territory,^^ who state that Atnatu, a self-created deity in the heavens, being angry at some of his children, threw them down to earth through a hole in the sky, and that these became the ances- tors of the tribe. The dispersion of mankind was explained as follows by these same tribes. After men had multiplied, they became wicked; and thereupon Pundjel, coming down in anger from the skies, whither he and Pallyan had been carried by a whirlwind shortly after they had made the first human beings, with a great knife cut the people into small bits which moved and crawled about like worms. Then a great wind arose and scattered the pieces like flakes of snow far and wide over the world; and wherever they fell, they developed again into men and women.^® Although presenting some ob- vious features of missionary influence, the tale probably con- tains a nucleus of aboriginal thought.
Myths of the origin of the sun fall into two contrasted groups. According to the tribes of the South-East, the sun was made by throwing an emu’s egg into the sky; and as told by the Euahlayi, the story runs as follows.^® In the beginning there was no sun, only the moon and the stars;
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but one day Dinewan, the emu, and Bralgah, the native com- panion, quarrelled and fought. In rage the latter ran to the nest of Dinewan, took one of the large eggs, and threw it with all her strength into the sky, where it broke upon a pile of firewood which was there and which immediately burst into : flame. This greatly astonished the beings in this world, who i had been used to semi-darkness, and consequently almost blinded them; but the deity in the sky, seeing how fine a thing this fire was in the world, determined to have it lit every day and has done so ever since. Each night he and his assist- ants gather wood and pile it up and then send the morning star to inform people that the fire will soon be lit. Since, how- ever, the sky-deity found this notification insufficient, as those who slept did not see the star, he ordered a bird, the Gour- gourgahgah, to laugh every dawn as soon as the morning star paled and thus wake up the world; and the bird has done so ever since. Similar tales are told in every portion of this region.*®
Another series of myths from the eastern and north-eastern parts of the continent describe the sun as a woman. Among the Arunta and related tribes of central Australia,*^ she, like many of the original totem ancestors, arose out of the ground, and later, carrying a fire-brand, ascended to the sky, though every night she descends into the earth, again to emerge in the morning. In some instances there are said to be several suns, who go up into the sky in turn.** Among the Narrinyeri of South Australia** the sun is also considered to be a woman, who nightly visits the land of the dead, although nothing is said of her origin. “As she approaches, the men assemble and divide into two bodies, leaving a row for her to pass be- tween them. They invite her to stay with them, which she can do only for a short time, as she must be ready for her journey the nest day. For favours granted to some one among them, she receives a present of a red kangaroo skin, and there- fore in the morning, when she rises, appears in her red dress.”
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In Queensland the sun (a woman) was made by the moon, and although given but two legs in the common manner of mankind, was provided with many arms, which may be seen extending like rays when she rises and sets. Some of the Vic- toria tribes say that in the beginning the sun did not set, but since people grew weary of the continual day, at length the creator deity ordered the sun to set, and thus day and night originated.®
In regard to the moon two classes of tales are also found. According to the Arunta of central Australia,® in the mytho- logical period a man of the Opossum totem carried the moon about with him in a shield, keeping it hidden in a cleft in the rocks all day long. One night, however, another man of the Grass-Seed totem chanced to see a light shining on the ground, this being the moon lying in the man’s shield; whereupon the Grass-Seed man at once picked up the shield with the moon in it and ran away. The Opossum man, discovering his loss, gave chase, but being unable to catch the thief, he called out to the moon to rise into the sky and give every one light during the night; and the moon accordingly went up into the sky, where it has remained ever since.*^
Elsewhere the moon is regarded as a man who rose into the sky. In Queensland it is said ® that once two Sparrow-Hawk brothers were out hunting for honey, and that one of them in trying to extract a comb from a hollow tree in which he had made a hole, caught his arm and could not get it out. His brother went to get aid, but all whom he asked to help refused, except the moon. The latter, however, went willingly, climbed the tree, and putting his head well down into the hollow, sneezed violently, the resultant sudden pressure of the air enabling the captive to withdraw his arm. The Sparrow- Hawk determined to be revenged on those who had denied him aid; and so, first burying the moon in the ground to get him out of harm’s way, he set fire to the grass, intending to burn up the whole camp. Since, however, some persons were
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not destroyed, he started another blaze, this time putting the moon into the top of a tall tree; but again some of his victims escaped, and accordingly, having this time placed the moon high in the sky, he kindled a third conflagration and finally succeeded in destroying all his enemies.
Quite a different tale, embodying several incidents valuable for comparative purposes, is found in New South Wales.®® According to this, the moon was an old man, very corpulent and very lazy, who lived with two young men who were his relatives. They aided him and did most of the hunting, but since he treated them very badly, taking for himself all the choice portions of meat and giving them only what was left, after a while they decided that they could no longer stand this and determined to leave. In camp they were accustomed to sit or lie behind him, and as he could not easily turn over, he used from time to time to call to them to see if they were there. When their plans were ready they started off secretly in- structing some rubbish, which they left behind them, to answer for them if the old man should call.®® After they had travelled some distance, they were fortunate enough to kill an emu, and taking the bird with them to a large flat rock, they pre- pared to cook and eat it; but when the food was about ready, they remembered that emu flesh was still tabu to them as young men and that they could not have it until they received some at the hands of an older man. They therefore determined to use a stratagem and accordingly called out to the old man, who thus for the first time realized their absence. He has- tened toward them, but before he arrived, they caused the rock on which they were to grow tall, so that he could not reach them. When he had come, they showed him the emu, and he at once demanded that they throw some of the meat to him, whereupon they tossed down a piece of the fat, which he, not liking, hurled back at them; and thus the tabu was broken, for they had received emu flesh at his hands. Since he was desirous of ascending to them, they told him to get a sapling
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and lean it against the rock so that he might climb; but while he had gone to fetch it, they caused the rock to grow still higher, so that his pole was not sufficiently long to reach the top. Accordingly he went again, and this time bringing a stick which was long enough, he started to climb up carrying his two dogs with him. His hands, however, were greasy from handling the emu fat, and when he was near the top, the two boys twisted and shook the stick so that Gina, the old man, lost his hold and fell to the ground, his two dogs being killed, and his back so injured that he had to walk much bent over. For this reason the new moon has a bent back when it appears each month.®^
In central Australia the Arunta say that in the beginning a man of the Opossum clan died and was buried, but shortly afterward came to life again as a boy. The people saw him rising and ran away in fear, but he followed them, saying, “Do not be frightened! Do not run away, or you will die altogether. I shall die, but shall rise again in the sky.” He later grew up to be a man and then died once more, reappearing as the moon, and has ever since continued to die periodically and come to life again; but the people who ran away died altogether.
The northern tribes seem to have only a few myths relating to the moon. The Warramunga,®® however, tell that the moon came up out of the ground as a man and was one day walking about when he saw the tracks of a woman. Following these and finally catching sight of her, he called out, whereupon she replied; and when he then shouted, “Don’t talk so far away! I want to have you come near,” she came to him, and they sat talking. Meanwhile two hawks had discovered the art of making fire, but unfortunately they lost control of it, and thus started a conflagration. The woman, seeing the flames ap- proaching, said, “Look out, the fire is close up now”; but the moon-man answered, “No hurry, it is quite a long way off yet.” They were, however, suddenly surrounded by it, and the woman was badly burned, whereupon the man cut open one
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of his veins, drew some blood, and sprinkled it over the woman, who was thus restored to life. Then both of them went up into the sky.®*
Several accounts are given of the ori^n of the sea or of lakes and waters; and in parts of the south-east of the conti- nent a tale is found which recalls a type widely spread in Melanesia.®® Thus, in western Victoria it is said ®® that origi- nally water was kept concealed under a stone. Some birds, however, spied upon the jealous owner, thus discovering where the precious substance was hid; and in the man’s absence one day they removed the stone which covered the opening, so that the water immediately flowed out and became a great lake.®^ The east-coast tribes have quite a different story. According to this,®® once upon a time there was no water, for a great frog had swallowed it all. At this the people were much distressed, and holding a council to determine what to do, they agreed that if only the frog could be made to laugh, he would disgorge the water.®® Accordingly several animals danced before him in ludicrous postures, but in vain, for the frog remained as solemn as before. Finally the eel tried, and at his wriggling and writhing the frog first smiled and then laughed; and as he opened his mouth, the waters burst forth and caused a great flood by which many were drowned.*® The few survivors, comprising two or three men and one woman, took refuge on a small island; and by and by a pelican, coming along in his canoe, carried the men to the mainland, one by one, leaving the woman until the last, because he wanted her for a wife. She, however, was frightened, and wrapping a log in her skin rug to look as though she were sleeping, she swam away to the shore. When the pelican returned, he called to her, but got no reply; so he came and kicked the skin rug, and finding that it had only a log within it and that he had been tricked, he was very angry. Now at that time all pelicans were black, and accordingly he began to paint himself with pipe-clay before going to fight those whom he had saved;
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but just as he was half painted, another pelican came by, and not knowing what such a queer looking thing was, struck him with his beak and killed him. Since that day all pelicans have been part black and part white.
Several other myths of a deluge or great flood have been recorded. Thus, according to one account," a party of men were once fishing in a lake, when one man baited his hook with a piece of flesh and soon felt a tremendous bite. Hauling in his line, he found that he had caught a young bunyip, a
Fig, 3. Native Drawing of a “Bunyip”
This drawing was made by a Murray River aboriginal in 1848. The hunyif is a mythical animal, living in deep pools or streams, and attacking men, whom it eats. It was greatly feared by the natives. After Brough Smyth, The Ahotigines of Ftdona, L 437, Fig. 245,
water monster of which the people were much afraid; but though his companions begged him to let it go, because the water monsters would be angry if it were killed, he refused to listen to them and started to carry the young bunyip away. The mother, however, flew into a great rage and caused the waters of the lake to rise and follow the man who had dared to rob her of her young. The deluge mounted higher and higher, until all the country was covered, and the people, fleeing in terror, took refuge upon a high hill; but as the flood increased, gradually surmounting it and touching the people’s feet, they were all turned into black swans and have remained so ever since.
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Myths of the origin of fire are generally known and of several different types. Most widely spread, apparently, are tales which declare fire to have been originally owned by certain birds or animals from whom the secret was then stolen. The version of one of the Victorian (?) tribes runs as follows.*® The bandicoot was once the sole owner of fire, and cherishing his fire-brand, which he carried with him wherever he went, he obstinately refused to share the flame with any one else. Accordingly the other animals held a council and determined to get fire either by force or by stratagem, deputing the hawk and the pigeon to carry out their purpose. The latter, waiting for a favourable moment when he thought to find it un- guarded, made a dash for it; but the bandicoot saw him in time, and seizing the brand, he hurled it toward the river to quench it. The sharp eyes of the hawk saw it falling, and swooping down, with his wing he knocked it into the long dry grass, which was thus set alight so that the flames spread far and wide, and all people were able to procure fire. A New South Wales version is somewhat different.*® According to this, fire was originally owned by two women (Kangaroo-Rat and Bronze-Winged Pigeon) who kept it concealed in a nut- shell. For a long time the other animals could not discover how these women were able to cook their food; but at last they set spies to watch them and so learned the secret, whereupon, resolving to secure fire by a ruse, they arranged a dance and invited the two women to be present. One after another the different animals danced in ludicrous positions in an attempt to make the women laugh; and at length one performer suc- ceeded so that the women, convulsed with merriment, rolled upon the ground. This was just what the conspirators had been waiting for, and rushing up, they seized the bag in which was the nut that contained the fire. Opening this and scat- tering the flame about, they set the grass alight, and in this way fire was caught in the trees, whence ever since it can be procured from their wood by means of friction.**
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Olofat, however, ate his own fish; but Luk said, “See, we have nothing, whereas Olofat is able to eat his own fish, and is still not finished with them.” Thereupon he became very angry and sent word to Thunder to destroy Olofat; but since Thunder lived in a house at a distance, Luk said, “Take Thunder some food.” So one of the gods took some of the viands in order to carry them, but Olofat, snatching them from him, himself carried them to Thunder; and on arriving at the house, he called out, “0 Thunder, I bring food.” Now Thunder had found a white hen, and coming out, he thundered; but though Luk cried, “Kill him,” and though Thunder blazed, Olofat merely placed his hand before his eyes. Nevertheless, Thunder followed him and thundered again and again behind him; but from under his mantle Olofat took some coco-nut milk which he had brought with him, and sprinkling it upon Thunder, he quenched the lightning. After this he seized Thunder and bore him back to his own home; and when Olofat had returned to the feast house, Luk said, “Why has the man not been killed?” Notwithstanding this, Olofat again took his place by the door, while Luk now ordered another of the gods to take food to Anulap. Thereupon Olofat stood up and walked along
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behind the one who carried the food and he took the viands away from him, saying, “ I myself will take the food tolAnulap.” So he went to the god and said, “Here are viands for you”; and then he turned about and came back to the great assem- bly house, whereupon Luk said to Anulap, “Why have you not killed the man?” Then Anulap took his great hook, which was fastened to a strong rope, and throwing it at Olo- fat,® he caught him around the neck; but Olofat quickly seized a mussel-shell and cut the rope, after which he hastened to the house of Anulap, where he sat down upon the threshold- When Anulap saw him, he seized his club to strike Olofat; but as he stretched it out, the latter changed himself into a wooden mortar. Thereupon Anulap called, “Where is Olofat?” and his wife, answering, “He must have run away,” they lay down and slept. After all this Luk said, “We can do nothing with Olofat; I believe he cannot die. Go, O Laitian, and tell the people to come in the morning to make a porch for the house.” When the people had come and asked how they should con- struct the porch, Luk said, “Go to the forest and bring great tree-trunks”; and when this was done, and the tree-trunks were laid by the house, Luk commanded, “Now, go and fetch Olofat.” Olofat came and said, “I shall go, too”; but Luk replied, “You must aid us to build the porch. You must make three holes in the ground, two shallow and one deep; and in these the tree-trunks must be set.” Accordingly Olofat dug three holes, but in each of them he made an excavation at one side; after which Luk asked, “Olofat, are you ready yet?” Thereupon Olofat, taking a nut and a stone, secreted them in his girdle; and Luk said, “Now set the tree-trunks in the holes.” In obedience to this, three men seized the upper end, while Olofat grasped the lower part; and they pushed Olofat so that he fell into the hole, only to creep quickly into the space which he had made on the side. Not knowing this, however, they then raised the tree-trunk high, and dropping it into the hole, they made it firm with earth and stone.
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All now believed that Olofat had been caught under the great post and had been crushed to death. He, however, sat in his hole on the side, and being hungry five nights later, he cracked the nut with the stone which he had brought with him and ate it; whereupon ants came, and taking the frag- ments which had fallen to the ground, they carried the food along the trunk to the surface, going in long rows. The man who sat in the house above, seeing this, said to his wife, “Olofat is dead, for the ants are bringing up parts of his body”; but when Olofat heard the speech of the man, he turned him- self into an ant and crept with the others up the post.'* Having climbed high, he allowed himself to drop upon the body of the man, who pushed the ant off, so that it fell to the ground, where it was immediately changed into Olofat. As soon as the people saw him, they sprang up in fear, and Olofat said, “What are you talking about?” When Luk beheld him, he said, “We have tried in every possible way to kill you, but it seems that you cannot die. Bring me Samenkoaner.” After Samen- koaner had come and sat down, Luk asked him, “How is it that Olofat cannot die? Can you kill him?” To this Samen- koaner replied, “No, not even if I thought about it for a whole night long, could I find a means; for he is older than 1.” Thereupon Luk said, “But I do not wish that he should destroy all men upon the earth”; and so the Rat, Luk’s sister, advised that they should burn Olofat. Accordingly they made a great fire, to which they brought Olofat; but he had with him a roll of coco-nut fibre, and when Luk ordered them to throw him into the flames, he crept through the roll and came out safely upon the other side of the fire. Then Luk said, “Rat, we have tried everything to kill him, but in vain”; and the Rat answered, “He cannot die; so make him the lord of all who are evil and deceitful.”
CHAPTER III
SUMMARY
T he Micronesian myth material, as here outlined, clearly reveals its relationships to Indonesia on the one hand, and to Polynesia on the other. In the lack of detailed legends of creation Micronesia seems to agree with what has been de- nominated as the Indonesian as opposed to the Malayan myth type in Indonesia. In other particulars its similarities are with the general Indonesian material, which, as has been pointed out, is at present difficult to separate into its constituents, al- though the absence of the trickster tales seems to argue little direct relation with the definitely later Malay type. With Polynesia, the Micronesian data show many features of re- semblance, and these are wide-spread in the whole Polynesian area. Melanesian similarities are far less striking, and when they exist, seem to be with eastern Melanesia rather than with New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago, though these are geographically nearer. The eastern Melanesian mythology appears to show evidence of greater Polynesian admixture or affinities and to be relatively of later development than that of the West; and this would argue that the Melanesian con- tact was historically late in Micronesia, however it may have occurred. Of the supposedly Papuan type of mythology little or no trace is found.
PART V
AUSTRALIA
PART V AUSTRALIA
T he continent of Australia is not only by all odds the largest land-mass of the Oceanic area, but also presents in its physical characters the sharpest contrast to the remainder of the region. Continental in size, only a small section of its great extent possesses a tropical environment, the whole of its interior and most of its western portion being a vast and al- most waterless desert. Instead of the conditions of life being easy and the food-supply abundant, as in the tropical islands, over great parts of its area the food-quest absorbed a large proportion of the energies of the inhabitants. In the desert the summer heat is terrible, while on the elevated plateaux and in the mountains of the south-east the winters are snowy, and the cold is often intense. The sad and almost shadeless forests of eucalyptus, acacia, and she-oak are in sharp contrast to the dense growths of the tropics, and the peculiar animal life, characterized by the abundance of marsupials and great struthious birds, sets it apart from most of the rest of the Pacific world. Moreover, Australia is to a large degree isolated from the remainder of the whole area in that only at the northern extremity of Queensland does it closely approach any of the surrounding lands, although its north-western coasts are not very remote, as Oceanic distances go, from eastern Indonesia.
The native peoples of Australia were in great measure as distinctive as its physical features, climate, flora, and fauna. Ranked in their culture among the lowest peoples of the world — wholly ignorant of agriculture, pottery, and domestic animals (except the dog), and over large portions of the area
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without any knowledge or means of navigation — they pos- sessed at the same time an extraordinarily complex social organization and an elaborate religious ceremonial. Although presenting a notable degree of uniformity throughout the continent, close study and comparison of the various tribes, particularly In regard to the languages spoken, has quite recently revealed ^ to us certain broad distinctions, which, although requiring more evidence before they can be accepted as entirely proved, suffice to divide the aborigines into two contrasted groups (or three, if Tasmania Is included). The first of these, which may be called the northern group, occu- pied that portion of the continent lying north of the twen- tieth parallel of south latitude, together with a large wedge- shaped area extending southward into the interior for nearly ten degrees farther. Throughout this area, comprising roughly one-third of the whole continent, the languages spoken fall into a large number of small, independent, unrelated stocks comparable to those of the Papuan tribes of New Guinea. Certain cultural and physical differences also seem to mark this northern group In contrast with the second, which occu- pied the whole of the remainder of the continent. The lan- guages in this area, although separable into a number of groups, show such a degree of similarity that they must be regarded as related in some sense, although the precise extent is not yet clear. The Tasmanians would seem to have constituted a third group, although the fact that they have been extinct for many years renders our information in regard to them so fragmentary that definiteness on this point is almost impossible.
These three groups have been taken as evidence of three suc- cessive strata of people. Of these the Tasmanians represent the oldest and most primitive, and that which presumably once spread over the whole Australian continent. The second group is explained as due to a great wave of immigration from the north which swept over and absorbed, or in places exter- minated, the Tasmanoid type. Latest in point of time Is the
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northern group, which, coming from the same general direc- tion, dominated the whole north and drove a wedge deep into the central portion of the continent. That the racial history of Australia has, however, not been quite as simple as this has become more and more clear with increasing information; but reference to other factors and possibilities may best be postponed to the final discussion of Australian mythology.
Material on the mythology of the Australian natives is com- paratively meagre. The rapid extinction of a large portion of the population before any adequate observations had been made, and the large areas, especially in the West, still remaining unexplored, leave us little more than fragments available for the continent itself; while for Tasmania we have almost lit- erally nothing. Enough material, however, is at hand to pre- sent an outline of the main features of Australian mythology, and to indicate at least some of its relationships.
CHAPTER I
MYTHS OF ORIGINS AND THE DELUGE
M yths of the origin of the world are largely lacking in Australia as in Melanesia. With few exceptions the ex- istence of the earth and sky seems to have been assumed, and apart from certain special mountains, rocks, rivers, and other natural features, no account is given of their origin.^ In a number of cases,® mainly in the south-east of the continent, we find the general assertion that “all things were made in the beginning by a deity or supernatural being”; but in the absence of any specific myths it has been pointed out ® that these statements may not necessarily mean all that seems to be implied. Had we anything more in the way of information than these brief statements of early missionaries and others, it Is probable that the real belief would be found to be that only certain special features of the landscape were regarded as having been so made. In one case — the Arunta of central Australia — the belief In an original sea appears; and according to this account,* in the beginning the world was covered with salt water, though gradually the sea was withdrawn by the people living to the north, and thus the land appeared.
Although native speculation as to the beginning of the world seems undeveloped, the same cannot be said with regard to the origin of mankind, for on that point there are many dif- ferent beliefs. The myths relating to this topic may be di- vided into three groups, according as they ascribe to man {a) a wholly independent origin, (l>) an independent origin as incomplete beings, who are then finished or completed; or (c) describe a definite making or creation by some deity. The
PLATE XXII
Ground-painting, made with coloured sands, repre- senting a mythical snake, which is shown descending into a hole in the ground. The other series of con- centric circles stand for trees and bushes; the foot- prints are those of a man who followed the snake. The paintings are used in connexion with ceremonials of the snake-totem Gian. Australia. After Spencer and Gillen, of Central Australia^ p.
740, Fig. 312.
WifrMi
25 .
P/iiMX
MYTHS OF ORIGINS AND THE DELUGE 271
first of these types seems to be mainly restricted to a series of tribes stretching from Lake Eyre northward through the central section of the country to the Gulf of Carpentaria.® Among all these tribes the belief is held that the totem ancestors of the various clans “came up out of the ground,” some being in human and some in animal shapes. They travelled about the country, usually leaving offspring here and there by unions with women of the people (of whose origin nothing is said) whom they either met or made; and ultimately journeyed away beyond the confines of the territory known to the par- ticular tribe, or went down into the ground again, or became transformed into a rock, tree, or some other natural feature of the landscape. These spots then became centres from which spirit individuals, representing these ancestors, issued to be reincarnated in human beings. Strictly speaking, although in some instances they begat direct descendants, these totemic ancestors should perhaps not be regarded as human creatures, for often they were themselves the fashioners of men from the incomplete forms in which they originated. As an example of the myths of this type (which are usually very trivial), we may take one from the Kaitish tribe.® In the past a Euro man arose out of the ground as a child, and was found by a woman be- longing to the Lizard clan, who gave it milk. Every day she went to gather berries for her husband, who was a Wild Turkey man; and every day she gave milk to the Euro child, who, when he grew larger, ran away and met a number of Iguana women, who tried to fight him with lightning. They could not catch him, however; and so, after killing and eating them, he travelled on and met a man from the Wren totem, whom he also killed. Then he climbed a hill, scratching the sand with his fingers as he went, and travelling on all fours, he came to the camp of some Rain women. They offered him food, but he grew angry when they would not yield to all his demands, refused to eat the food, and threw it away; whereupon the women killed him, after which he went down into the ground.
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In general the myths of these beings seem to be independent in origin and unrelated, and are mainly concerned with recount- ing the way in which they taught certain ceremonies and cus- toms to the people with whom they came in contact in their wanderings; so that they present few details of value for our purposes. Differing in some respects from these myths, yet on the whole belonging to this class, is the account given by one of the tribes from Victoria,^ according to whom the first man originated from the gum of the wattle-tree, and issuing from a knot upon its trunk, entered into the body of a woman and was born as a male child.
The second class of tales relates more directly to the origin of human beings. Myths of this type are apparently confined to the series of tribes just mentioned as having legends of the first category, but in this instance the area seems to extend as far as Tasmania. As an illustration we may take the version given by the Arunta.® At the time of the retreat of the original sea to the northward there were in the western sky two beings who were self-existing and of whose origin nothing is stated. From their lofty position they saw far to the east a number of Inapertwa, “rudimentary human beings or in- complete men, whom it was their mission to make into men and women.” These Inapertwa were of various shapes and lived along the edges of the sea. “They had no distinct limbs or organs of sight, hearing or smell, and did not eat food, and presented the appearance of human beings all doubled up into a rounded mass in which just the" outline of the different parts of the body could be vaguely seen.” The two sky-beings came down, therefore, from the sky and armed with large stone knives, set to work to make these amorphous objects into men. “First of all the arms were released, then the fingers were added by making four clefts at the end of each arm; then legs and toes were added in the same way. The figure could now stand, and after this the nose was added and the nostrils bored with the fingers. A cut with the knife made the
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moilth. . . . A slit on each side separated the upper and lower eyelids, hidden behind which the eyes were already present, another stroke or two completed the body and thus, out of the Inapertzva, men and women were formed.” Closely sim- ilar tales are told by many other tribes of the central area ® and the south-east,^® as well as in Tasmania.^
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MYTHS OF ORIGINS AND THE DELUGE 251
the earth and planted it, he sent down his daughter, Ligoapup, who, becoming thirsty, drank some water which had collected in the hollow of a tree. Without knowing it, with the water she swallowed a tiny animal, and made fruitful by this, she bore a girl-child. She, when she had reached maturity, became the mother of a daughter, who in her turn gave birth to a boy; and from a rib taken from this boy, after he had grown, a man was derived, who married Ligoapup and became the ancestor of the human race. The incident of the rib is probably an ele- ment derived from missionary teaching and well illustrates how such exotic features may be incorporated into native tales; but it becomes especially interesting when taken in connexion with some of the other myths which, though wholly native, ascribe somewhat similar origins to man or deities.
Thus, in the neighbouring island of Mortlok it is said that Ligoapup, after drinking the water from the hollow in the tree, bore a girl-child, and that then from her arm was born a boy, and from one eye another boy, from the other eye a second girl. From these the human race is descended. With this we may compare the origin ascribed to several living beings in the western Carolines,^® the Marshall Group,®® and Nauru, these being born or bursting forth from blood-blisters or boils on the bodies of one of the deities.®®
In Indonesia ®® the belief in the origin or birth of certain of the deities from a rock was well developed in some instances; and it is interesting (and perhaps significant) to find the same concept in the Micronesian area as well, where, in the Gilbert Group, it is said that in the beginning Na Rena or Rigi came out of a rock.®* It is likewise to be noted that in the Marshall Group ®® we find the theme of Blood-Clot Child again, an origin from a clot of blood being given in the Ralick Chain for two of the deities.
A divine source for the human race is, however, not the only belief which is held, for it is widely asserted that the first an- cestors of mankind were made. In the Pelew Group we merely
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find the statement®® that the two original deities created the first human beings, the male god making the first man and the female divinity shaping the first woman. In the Gilbert Group, at the other extremity of Micronesia, Nareua was said®’’ to have set fire to a tree, and mankind originated from the sparks and ashes, which were carried in all directions. In Nauru ®® Ancient Spider turned stones into men; but these became the supporters of the heavens and were not ordinary human beings. Indeed, no clear statement of the source of mankind appears to be given in this group; some of the deities, even, have no origin ascribed to them. Thus, Ancient Spider set out, after the world was created, to see if there were any other beings beside himself, and he came to a land where he found men and women sitting on the shore in the shade of the trees. Since he could not discern their faces clearly and wanted to know their names, he made, from the dirt under his finger-nail, a being, gave it wings, and told it to fly to the people and find out what they were called. So the bird-like being flew and settled upon the nose of one of the people. Another, seeing this, called out, “Tabuerik! kill it.” Thereupon the bird flew to the others, and each time he thus learned the person’s name, until he had got them all. Then he returned to Ancient Spider and told him the names.
Throughout Micronesia mankind is believed to have been originally immortal, or intended to be so, and to have become mortal as a result of special causes. Thus in the Pelew Group ®® Obagat wished that men should not die, and for this reason desired to place a stone in their breasts that they might be as lasting and as strong as the stone and not require food; but the Rail was opposed to this view and advised that only breath be put in man’s bosom so that he might be subject to disease and death. Obagat, however, unwilling to despair, sent his son to get the water of life to assure immortality to man; but when the liquid was brought in a taro leaf, the
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malicious bird caused a branch of a tree to strike and tear it so that the precious fluid was spilled upon the tree, which thus acquired long life and immortality, while man remained mortal.
In the central Carolines mortality was decreed for man by Olofat. Luk, the highest deity, asked, “How shall it be with men? Shall they fall ill and die, and then live again?” But Olofat answered, “When men die, they shall remain dead.” In the western Carolines a different tale is told.®^ In the be- ginning a woman named Mili’ar had two children, and when she grew old, she said to them, “After I am dead, you must bury me; but on the seventh day come and dig up my body. Thus I shall be alive once more, and beautiful and young again.” Soon afterward, the old woman died as she had fore- told and was duly buried; but when the son and daughter came away from the grave together, they saw a fine pandanus-tree and stopped to eat its fruit. Here they lingered for several days enjoying themselves, and only too late did they awake to the fact that the seven days had passed and that they had not fulfilled their promise. They hurried to their mother’s grave, but found that she had died a second time, and thus, because of their delay and forgetfulness, all men thereafter were mortal. Although the story embodies one or two details suggestive of missionary teaching, it is clearly aboriginal in origin. Another version from this same region states that in the beginning man did not die for ever, but like the moon, rose again. Each month, when the nioon waned and disap- peared, men fell into a short sleep; and when it reappeared, they awoke; but an evil spirit did not approve of this and so arranged that death was permanent.
Of the origin of the sun and moon several contrasted beliefs are held. In the Pelews the two original deities were said to have shaped them from stone with an adze and then to have cast them up into the sky; whereas in the Gilbert Group ^ the sun and moon, together with the sea, were the offspring of the
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first two beings created by Na Reau. After he had formed the first pair, Na Reau departed, saying, “I leave you here so that you may watch over this land, which is mine. See to it that you do not increase, for I will not agree to have any children here. If you disobey my commands, I shall punish you.” De- Babou and De-Ai, however, did not heed the words of their creator, and De-Ai bore three children, the sun, the moon, and the sea. Informed by the eel, his messenger, that his commands had been disobeyed, Na Reau took his great club and came to the island where he had left De-Babou and De-Ai; but in terror they fell down before him, begging him not to kill them, for, said they, “We find that our children are a great aid to us, since the sun makes it light, so that we can see; and when it goes to rest, the moon takes its place; and our third child, the sea, abounds with fish and supplies us with food.” When Na Reau had heard their plea, he saw that it was just, and forbearing to execute his intention, he went away.
The source of fire is variously explained. In the Pelew Group,®® Obagat, who is here a friendly deity, seeing an old woman suffering from sores about her mouth, due to eating raw fish and taro, took pity on mankind and taught them how to make fire by rubbing two sticks together. In the central Carolines®® Olofat was the owner or lord of fire, which he sent down to earth by the aid of a bird, who took the flame in its beak, and flying from tree to tree, put the seed of fire into them in order that men might extract it by rubbing sticks together.®’
In Nauru two tales relating to fire are told. According to one of them,®® the retreating tide once left two fishes im- prisoned in a tiny pool, but this soon evaporated, and the fishes perished. From the maggots engendered in the rotting fish were derived two women,®® one of whom wished, one evening, to go fishing, but had no fire with which to light her torch. She sought everywhere, but being unable to find any, she took two sticks and rubbed them together; and after a while her finger
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came in contact with the groove which she had made by rubbing and was burned. Looking into the groove, she saw fire and sang,
“Fire, Fire, whence do you come?
Fire, Fire, do you come from the nails of my finger?
Fire, Fire, do you come from the nails of my toes?
Fire, Fire, be warm, become hot, make the sparks glow.
Very hot, frightfully hot, terribly hot;
It is called e-kainir.”
Then the flame blazed up, and she was able to light her torch; and thus the Nauru people first got their fire. The other tale is not so much of the origin of the fire, but it presents features of interest for comparison. According to this," Areop-It-Eonin (“Young Spider”) was born miraculously from a boil upon Dabage, the tortoise; and when he had grown up to be a boy, he determined to visit the heaven-land. He climbed up through all the heavens until he came to the last, where were only Lightning and Thunder and Ancient Spider, the latter of whom called to Young Spider and asked, “Whence do you come?” The boy replied, “O! no, I do not come from a distant country, but from below;” whereupon Ancient Spider said, “How can you ascend hither, if your home is in your distant land?” The boy answered, “ I was running about and saw this country, and I saw you and came hither.” “Very well,” said Ancient Spider, “you may stay here, and we will live in my house;” but Ancient Spider laughed, for he knew how clever Areop-It- Eonin was and what was his origin, so he said, “Go, and get some fire from the house of Lightning, so that we may cook our fish.” Young Spider started off, and as he went, the old man said to him, “You must not wave the brand about, else you will wake up the old woman’s husband. Thunder, and then he will strike you.” Young Spider, however, laughed scornfully at this warning, and coming to the house of Lightning, he said to her, “Give me a fire-brand.” She got one for him, and shak- ing her head, said, “You must not clap your hands in im- patience, for my husband will wake and beat me, and I shall
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flash out at you;” but the boy cried out loudly, “Give me a fire-brand.” Accordingly she gave it to him, and as he went away, he whirled it round and round; and then Thunder woke up, for the fire flamed brightly, and he ran after the youth to strike him; but the latter turned about and broke one of Thunder’s arms, so that he fell weeping to the ground.^^ The similarity of this to the Polynesian tales of Maui’s bringing of fire is most significant.
Flood-myths have thus far been reported only from western Micronesia — from the Pelews and the western Carolines. In the latter,^* it forms the conclusion to a long tale. A man and his wife, who was of supernatural origin, had endeavoured in vain to satisfy the hunger of her father, whose name was Insatiable, and who also was of heavenly origin, but had grown so huge that he filled the whole council-house and had eaten all the coco-nuts on the island. One day the husband, Kitimil, went out to look at his sugar-cane field, and seeing that a mouse had been eating in it, he came home and told his wife, Magigi, about it. Thereupon she said, “My father must be hungry; therefore he comes to eat the sugar-cane”; and though her husband replied that this was impossible, Magigi in- sisted, asserting that her father had the power to turn himself into a mouse. Kitimil, still incredulous, set a trap in the field that evening, and on hearing it spring during the night, shouted for glee. When his wife asked why he rejoiced, he said that at last he had found the mouse which had been eating his crop,® but Magigi was terrified and exclaimed, “Alas! it is certain that you have caught and killed my father. Go, and bring him here.” Accordingly Kitimil went and brought the body of the mouse, but when he looked in the council-house where his father-in-law used to be, only to find it empty, be finally knew that his wife had been right. Thereupon Magigi said to him, “In the morning Twill decide what we had better do”; and when the day dawned, she told Kitimil to take four of the mouse’s teeth and his blood, and then to bury the body.
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After Kitimil had done this, Magigi said to him, “Now a great storm will come, and the sea will rise in flood, and all the people of Yap will be drowned.^® We must, therefore, climb the highest mountain, and build on its top a pile-dwelling of seven storeys.” So they took some leaves and oil and the teeth and the blood of the dead mouse and went to the top of a very high mountain, where they built a pile-dwelling, seven storeys in height; and on the seventh day a great storm of rain and wind came, and the sea rose and covered all Yap. When the water reached the top of the mountain, Kitimil and his wife climbed into the lower storey of their house; and as the waters continued to rise, they went up higher and higher until they reached the topmost storey. Since, however, the deluge still rose, Magigi took some oil, and putting it on a leaf, laid it on the water ; whereupon the flood at once began to abate, and the storm ceased. Finally the land was dry again, and they came down out of the house, saying, “There is no one else left alive in Yap.” Yet one other man had survived by lashing himself to an outrigger of a canoe and anchoring it to a great stone; and after they had found this man, Magigi and Kitimil returned to their home, where Magigi bore seven children, who scattered over all the land.
The Pelew version is much more simple. Here the flood was caused in revenge by the friends of a minor deity who had been killed. Only to one old woman did they reveal their plans, advising her to take refuge on a raft; but though she did this, the rope with which she anchored it was too short, and so, as the waters rose, they covered the raft, and she was drowned. Her body drifted far away, but her hair caught in the branches of a tree, and there she was turned to stone and may be seen to this day.
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CHAPTER II
MISCELLANEOUS TALES
O NE of the most important myths or series of myths in the Carolines, outside of the more strictly cosmogonic tales, is that describing the exploits of Olofat or Olifat, the eldest son of Luke-lang, the highest deity. In the version from the central Carolines, which is here followed,^ he appears as a mischievous, almost malicious, person who stands in marked contrast to his brother or brothers, who are beneficent; and it is interesting to compare this antithesis of malice and good- ness with Melanesian types.^
Olofat saw that one of his brothers was better than he and also more beautiful, and at this he became angry. Looking down from the sky-world and seeing two boys who had caught a couple of sharks, with which they were playing in a fish- pond, he descended to earth and gave the sharks teeth, so that they bit the hands of the children. When the boys ran home crying with pain and told their troubles to their mother, Ligoapup, who was the sister of Olofat, she asked them if they had not seen any one about, whereupon they said that they had, and that he was more handsome than any man whom they had ever beheld. Knowing that this must be her brother, Olofat, Ligoapup asked her sons where he was, and they an- swered, “ Close by the sea.” She then told them to go and get the man and bring him to her, but when they reached the place where they had left him, they found only an old, grey- haired man, covered with dirt. Returning to their mother, they informed her that the man whom they had seen was no longer there; but she bade them go back and bring whomsoever they
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might find. Accordingly they set off, but this time they saw only a heap of filth in place of a man; and so once more they went home to their mother, who told them to return a third time. Obeying her, they questioned the filth, saying, “Are you Olofat.? For if you are, you must come to our mother”; whereupon the pile of filth turned into a handsome man who accompanied them to Ligoapup. She said to him, “Why are you such a deceiver.^” And Olofat replied, “How so.^” And she said, “First, you turned yourself into a dirty old man, and then into a pile of filth.” “I am afraid of my father,” answered Olofat. “Yes,” said Ligoapup, “you are afraid because you gave teeth to the shark.” Then Olofat replied, “I am angry at Luk, for he created my brother handsomer than I am, and with greater power. I shall give teeth to all sharks, in order that they may eat men whenever canoes tip over.” When Luk, who was in the sky-world, became aware of these things, he said to his wife, “It would be well if Olofat came back to heaven, since he is only doing evil on earth”; and his wife, Inoaeman, said, “I think so, too. Otherwise he will destroy mankind, for he is an evil being.”
Accordingly Luk ordered the people of the sky-world to build a great house, and when it was finished, he not only com- manded that a feast be announced, but also had a large fish- basket prepared, in which they placed Olofat and sank him in the sea. After five nights, when they thought he would be dead, two men went in a canoe and hauled up the basket; but behold ! it contained only a multitude of great fish, for Olofat had slipped away and seated himself in a canoe near by. The men asked him, “Who are you?” And he replied, “I am Olofat. Come here, and I will help you to put the fish into your boat.” Taking one fish after the other, he handed them to the men, but in so doing he removed all the flesh of the fish and gave the men merely the empty skins. For himself he kept nothing but the smallest ones; and when the people said, “Why is it that you take only the little fish?” Olofat replied.
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“Give Luk all the big ones; I am quite satisfied with the little ones.” Then the people brought the catch to Luk, who asked them, “Where is the fish-basket.? Who took the fish out?” When the 7 replied, “Olofat did that, but has again placed the basket in the sea,” Luk said, “Has he then taken no fish for himself?” to which they answered, “Only the very small- est ones.” Luk now ordered all sorts of food to be prepared for the feast and commanded that the fishes should be cooked; and when all were gathered in the house, while Olofat sat at the entrance, Luk said, “Let every one now eat. Let the food be divided, and let each receive his share.” Nevertheless, Olofat refused to receive any; and when the guests took up the fish, lo! there were only the empty skins, and within was nothing, so that they had to content themselves with fruit.
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fields, the husband always told his wife to take good care of the child and the cat and to give them plenty to eat; but the woman did nothing of the kind, for she starved them both, and then clapping the empty rice-basket on the girl’s head, filled her hair with crumbs. When the father came back home and asked, “Did the child have enough to eat.^” his wife would reply, “Just see! she has even got rice all over her hair,” but if she ever gave the girl and the cat anything to eat, it was old rice mixed with ashes. One day, when the man had gone off to his fields, the girl went down to the edge of the stream, and standing near a tall noenoek-tree, whose ripe fruits fell into the stream and were carried away, she held the cat in her arms, and the latter sang:
“The noenoek fruits are sweet.
Better than the rice and ashes That the step-mother gives.”
By and by the man came home, and finding his child absent, asked where she was, to which his wife replied, “ She has gone to the river.” After a while the man followed her thither and heard the song which the cat was. singing; but when he reached the place, he saw his daughter sitting on the top of a niboeng palm, holding the cat in her lap. Though the tree was very tall, the man tried to climb up, weeping and beseeching his daughter to come down; but she refused, and as he climbed, the tree became taller and taller, until at last, when it had grown almost up to the moon, a golden ladder was let down, and the girl with her cat climbed up and entered into the moon. The father tried to follow her, but no ladder was lowered for him, and trying to reach the moon without one, he slipped, fell, and was killed. To this day, when the moon is full, one can easily see Nini-anteh, as she is called, sitting beside a spinning-wheel with the cat beside her.
CHAPTER IV SUMMARY
I N drawing general conclusions regarding Polynesian myth- ology it was possible to employ a roughly statistical system, though with the clear realization that the use of this methpd was barely justified in view of the fragmentary character of the material. In the case of Indonesia, this treatment is less available, for here the incompleteness and in particular the unevenness of our material are much greater. No attempt, therefore, will be made to apply any statistical methods, and conclusions must depend very largely on more general features.
Considering first the question raised at the beginning of this section as to a distinction between specifically Indonesian mythology as opposed to Malay, the results are, it must be confessed, rather disappointing. Practically the only data from the reasonably pure and uninfluenced Indonesian tribes are from the Igorot and Ifugao of northern Luzon in the Philip- pines, and even this material is as yet scanty. The Tinguian seem to show fairly clear evidence of some outside influence. From the wilder tribes of the rest of the whole East Indian Archipelago no myths are available, so far as the writer knows. Judging from this scanty store alone, it would appear that the type of myths characteristic of the Indonesian tribes, who presumably spread over the whole Archipelago before the arrival of the Malays, was distinguished (i) by the absence of any strictly cosmogonic tales, together with those relating to the origin of man, and (2) by the considerable development of flood-legends. So far as known, the trickster tales, so wide- spread elsewhere in the Archipelago, are practically absent;
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but, on the other hand, a considerable number of miscella- neous myths, prett7 widely current in Borneo, Celebes, and the Moluccas, are present, at least among the Tinguian. It is perhaps significant, however, that in several instances these tales are more archaic and purely mythical here than are the somewhat sophisticated versions current in the extra-Philip- pine area. In many of the stories from the more or less mixed tribes of Borneo, Celebes, and the Moluccas one feels a certain indefinable Indonesian quality, and these elements seem, on the one hand, relatively less marked among the purer Malays, and on the other, are those which most frequently appear outside the Archipelago to the eastward in Melanesia and Polynesia; but it must be confessed that, as far as origin-myths are concerned, Indonesian and Polynesian beliefs have little in common. Affinities in the opposite direction, i. e. on the Asiatic continent, are, it must be admitted, vague. One would logically hope to find indications of relationship with the Mon-Hkmer peoples of Indo-China and the adjacent territory, with whom, on linguistic and perhaps on physical grounds, the Indonesians seem to be connected. Unfortunately, we possess little or no material on the mythology of the wilder Mon- Hkmer tribes, who have been uninfluenced by Indian or Chinese culture; although the few scraps which we have from these latter — i. e. from those who have almost certainly been modi- fied by contact with higher culture — seem to agree with what has been regarded as the most typical Indonesian material, in that the absence of any real cosmogony and the presence of more or less elaborate flood-myths are characteristic. It would be unwise, however, to lay much stress on these points, and all that can safely be said at present is that, on the one hand, there is no evidence against an affiliation of Mon-Hkmer and Indonesian mythology, which would be probable on a priori grounds; and that, on the other hand, there are suggestions of Indonesian influence extending eastward through Melanesia and beyond.
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For the bulk of the myth material from the Archipelago, exclusive of this more specifically Indonesian portion, the questions of greatest importance are (i) the extent to which it has been influenced by Indian and (2) by Islamic culture. The earliest period of Indian contact was one in which Bud- dhist influence was paramount, and perhaps the clearest evi- dence of its effect is seen in the Trickster Tales, a large portion of which appear in the Jatakas and other early Indian sources. The same tales have been found, as has been said, in Cambodia and Annam and among the remnants of the Cham, where In- dian culture became dominant even earlier than in the Archi- pelago; and some occur as far afield as Japan, where they are clearly exotic elements introduced during the earliest period of contact with China and Korea, in both of which areas Buddhism had already long been established. In how far other mythic elements in the Archipelago are to be traced to this Buddhist period must be determined by those more familiar than the writer with early Indian literature. Judging only from the evidence of the Trickster Tales, this earliest Indian influence shows itself in the mythology most strongly in Java and parts of Sumatra and southern Borneo. The decline of Buddhism in India and the reaction toward the later Hin- duistic cults, which had already begun as early as the fourth century a. d., was duplicated in large measure in the Archipel- ago: Prambanan succeeded Boro-Budur; Hindu epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata replaced the Jatakas as a source from which the Hinduized Javanese story-tellers could draw their inspiration; and the spread of literature and writing doubtless aided in the dissemination of this material. Beliefs in a triad of gods, in serpent deities and cosmic eggs, in heavenly beings with magic flying-houses {vidhyddharas) and roc-like birds who preyed upon man {garudas) — these and probably others seem attributable to this period and to Indian sources. These elements have, as compared with the earlier features, a wider distribution in the Archipelago, being noticeable in
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the more eastern Islands, such as Halmahera and parts of Celebes. How far we may trace their influence among the more interior tribes, such as the Battak In Sumatra and the Kayan in Borneo, is hard to say, but in the former instance appreciable influence must be admitted.
Islamic influences in the mythology of the Archipelago, while observable, of course, among those portions of the popu- lation which have become strongly Muhammadanized, seem, on the other hand, much weaker among the wilder tribes, from whom much of our material is derived. Even among the former, however, older Indian influences can often be discerned, as well as a surviving element of original Malay origin; but the difficulty of separating the three constituents here becomes very great.
When from the whole mass of the mythology of the Archi- pelago we have eliminated everything that may with any show of probability be regarded as due either to Indian or Islamic contact, direct or Indirect, there still remains a large body of material which must be regarded as native. The affiliations of this group of tales and incidents are clear, at least in one direction. With Melanesia and, so far as the scanty material bears evidence, with Micronesia the resemblances are patent. It is noteworthy that in the former area similarities occur predominatingly among those peoples which are Melanesian rather than Papuan in language and physical type, and which lie In the track of the assumed migrations of the Polynesian ancestors along the northern coasts of New Guinea and through the lesser islands, extending thence toward Samoa and New Zealand. With Polynesia itself the relations are also unmis- takable. Where they are clearest, they coincide with what we have denominated the later strata of myth, rather than with the earlier; with that which is more characteristic of Samoa and central Polynesia than of Hawaii and New Zea- land. To the west the congeners of this aboriginal Malay mythology are obscure. Our knowledge of the peoples of
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south-eastern Asia which have been uninfluenced either by Indian or by Chinese culture is thus far very meagre, and material on their mythology is almost wholly lacking. If we are to look to the Mon-Hkmer peoples for resemblances with the strictly Indonesian myths, we may perhaps expect to find the antecedents of Malay mythology among the Thai or Shan, that great group of peoples which, at the beginning of history in this part of the world, occupied so large an area in southern China and northern Indo-China. Driven south and east by the slow expansion of the Chinese on the north, they have, from the first millennium b. c., pushed down into the south-eastern tip of the continent, pressing in their turn upon the M5n-Hkmer, who apparently occupied much of the Indo- Chinese peninsula. Beset by peoples of Thai origin, on the one hand by the Sinicized Annamese, and on the other by the Siamese, the older M5n-Hkmer power of Cambodia finally perished. Yet it is not to the modern representatives of these conquering Thai peoples that we turn for help, for they have suffered too much outside influence to preserve intact their original beliefs. It is rather to the wilder tribes of Laos, the Shan States, Yxin-nan, and the other provinces of southern China that we might look for the prototypes of the Malay of the Archipelago.
PART IV
MICRONESIA
PART IV
MICRONESIA
O F all the island-world of the Pacific the Micronesian area affords the poorest store of myth material; not that the people of these islands were relatively destitute of mythology, but because until very recently practically no attempt had been made to gather and record it. Much of the treasure which was once so abundant has now disappeared for ever, and the blame for this loss lies here, more than elsewhere in the Pacific, at the door of the early European visitors. In all the other Oceanic regions they, or at least part of them, made some effort to record what their civilization was destined to destroy, but here scarcely a fragment was preserved. Racially the people of Micronesia show at least two or perhaps three component elements. A Melanesian factor is certain at least in some island-groups, although its relation to the other factors varies widely, some islands showing a large mixture of Melane- sian blood, others but little. The non-Melanesian element in the population presents some difficulty ; it may be predominat- ingly Indonesian or Malay, or a varying mixture of both, but in the present state of our knowledge it would be premature to come to any definite conclusions.
CHAPTER I
MYTHS OF ORIGINS AND THE DELUGE
D etailed myths of creation or origin are largely lacking from the Micronesian area, and the fragmentary cos- mogonic material varies widely. The belief that this world and the sky-world have always existed, together with an ap- parent lack of interest in their origin, seems characteristic of the Pelew Group ^ and the western Carolines;^ although in the latter islands, at least, the original earth is modified and made habitable. According to this account, Ligobund, a female deity, descended from the upper realm to the earth, but finding this a desert and infertile, she caused plants and fruit-trees to grow, accomplishing it by the power of her mere command. From the central Carolines ® the material is not much fuller. Here there was in the beginning a deity, Lukelang, who first created the heavens and then the earth; but since the latter was bare and desert, he took trees and plants from heaven and set them in the world which he had made. In the Gilbert Group * we are told only that Nareau and his daughter, Kobine, made heaven and earth.
The conception of an original sea, on which a deity floated in the beginning,® seems characteristic of the Marshall Group or at least of that portion of it which is comprised in the Ralick Chain.® At the very first there was only the sea, which was limited to the south by a low, far-reaching reef and to the north by a swamp. A being named Loa said to the sea, “ Behold thy island reef,” and a reef appeared; and again he spoke, “See thy sand,” and the reef was covered with soil. Once more he said, “See thy plants,” and the earth was covered
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with living things; and when for the fourth time he spoke, “See thy birds,” birds appeared. Then one of them, a gull, flew up and stretched out the arching sky as a spider spins her web. That this idea of an original sea was not foreign to the Carolines seems to be shown by a myth reported from Yap,!^ according to which in the beginning a great tree grew upside down, its roots being in the sky, and its branches touch- ing the sea. In the boughs of this tree was born a woman to whom Yelafaz, a sky-deity, gave sand which she strewed upon the sea and thus formed the earth. Although the tale includes a jumble of ideas derived from missionary contact, these features of the tree and of the strewing of the sand upon the primeval sea are probably aboriginal, for the former is known also in Borneo,® and the latter occurs widely through- out Indonesia.®
The fullest and most interesting creation-myth comes from the little island of Nauru (Pleasant Island), which lies almost exactly on the Equator, just west of the Gilbert Group. Ac- cording to this tale,^® in the beginning there were only the sea and Areop-Enap, “Ancient Spider,” who floated above in endless space. One day Ancient Spider found a great rounded object, a tridacna mussel, and taking it in his hands, he looked at it from all sides, for he wanted to know if there was not an opening in it, so that he might crawl within; but there was none. Thereupon he struck the great shell, and as it sounded hollow, he concluded that there was nothing in it after all. He tried in vain to open his treasure, and at last, repeating a charm and making another attempt, he succeeded in prying the mighty valves slightly apart. At once he crept inside, but could see nothing for it was dark there because sun and moon were not yet made; moreover, he could not stand upright, since the space within the shell was too small. Ancient Spider sought everywhere on the chance that he might find something, and at last discovered a snail. Putting this under his arm, he lay down and slept for three days that he might give power
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to the snail; then he laid it aside and sought again, his search being rewarded hy another larger snail, which he treated like the first. After this, taking the smaller one, he said to it, “Can you lift the roof a little, so that we might sit up?” The snail replied, “Yes,” and raised the shell slightly; whereupon Ancient Spider took the snail, set it before the western half of the tridacna shell, and made it into the moon. There was now a little light, and by it Ancient Spider saw a large worm or grub, who, when asked if he could raise the roof still higher, suddenly came to life and said, “Yes.” So he laboured, and the upper shell of the tridacna slowly rose higher and higher, while salty sweat ran from the worm’s body, and collecting in the lower shell, became the sea.^^ At last he raised the upper shell very high, and it became the sky; but Rigi, the worm, exhausted by his great work, fell and died. From the other snail Ancient Spider now made the sun and set it on the east side of the lower shell, which became the earth.
Another version,^^ admittedly less original, presents in- teresting similarities to Polynesian and Indonesian tales. According to this, the great primeval divinity was Tabuerik, the deity of lightning and thunder, who, in the form of an omnipotent bird, soared in the beginning over chaos,^® for the heavens still lay prone upon the earth and sea.^^ Then Rigi, a butterfly, flew over land and water and separated them, and other deities, thrust the skies up to their proper place. A fur- ther possible element of Polynesian type is the fact that in the larger group the first beings were two worms, one of whom (a female) was named Lajnan (“Cliff” or “Rock”).^®
The myths relating to the origin of man are as varied as those just, considered. Several tales accord a divine origin to mankind. In the western Carolines “ it is said that Ligobund descended from the sky to the earth, and after making this habitable, gave birth to three children who became the an- cestors of mankind. Somewhat inore detailed accounts come from the central portion of the group.^^ After Luk had created
A AND B ??
Portion of the carved and painted decoration on the beams of a priest-king’s house in the Pelew Islands. The scenes represent episodes in myth and legend, but the particular story to which this series relates is not known. After Meyer, des ostindi-
schen Archipels und der SMsee^ i, Plate I IL
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what she was cooking. She replied, “Fish and eels,” and then saying that she was- going back to her comrade, she told the children to watch what she had left to cook. After she had left, the flesh of the children’s mother soon began to boil, saying, “I am your breasts here; I am your mother here!” The girl, who heard this, called to her brother, and he came and listened, whereupon the children said to one another, “We must run away, whether we meet with good fortune or bad.” The wicked woman now came home, and the children asked her where their mother was, to which she replied that her companion was still busy smoking the fish which they had caught, and that she was now going to take her some food. Then she went off again, telling the children to look after her own little one, who was younger than they; but when she had gone, the two children took the young child of the wicked woman, put it in the pan to cook over the fire, and ran away. They went across seven mountains and seven valleys and came to a river which was full of crocodiles, so that they could not pass. A bird saw them, however, and learning of their trouble, told them of a log that lay athwart the river some distance up-stream; and after they were safe on the other side, the bird flew across the log, which it nearly severed with its beak. The wicked woman returning to the house and finding her child all shrivelled and burned, set out at once in pursuit, saying, “You who did this shall die this very day.” By and by she came to the log by which the children had crossed, but when she attempted to follow them, it broke under her weight, and she fell into the stream, and the crocodiles ate her up. The bird now told the children that they must not follow the path that led to the left, but must take that going to the right. They did not heed this advice, however, and turning off to the left, after a time they met Kine-kine-boro, an ogre who had a carrying-basket on his back in which a man was stuck head down. The children called out, “Good grand- father, grandfather, look here!” and he, replying, “Ha! from
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the beginning of the world, I have never had any children or grandchildren,” looked around and called to them, “Grand- children, come here!” Accordingly they went with him to his house, and after they had been there half a moon, they said to him, “Grandfather, haven’t you an axe?” “Yes,” said he, “here is the axe, what do you want with it?” “We want to make a canoe to play with.” So they went to cut down a tree, and Kine-kine-boro felled one and carried it home for them; but next day, when the ogre and his wife had gone off to seek for men to eat, the children finished their canoe, loaded it with rice and precious goods belonging to the ogre, and pad- died away. Not long after, Kine-kine-boro and his wife re- turned, and as they had not found any men, they went to the enclosure where the children were kept, purposing to eat them. Since, however, their intended victims were not there, the ogre and his wife climbed into a tree to look for them, but could not see them, though by climbing a very tall tree Kine-kine-boro at last descried them, the sail of their canoe being a mere speck on the horizon. Then he took his hair and from it plaited a rope, which he threw after the canoe like a lasso, so that finally he caught the little boat and began to pull it in. The two children tried to cut the rope, but in vain, until, after sawing at it for a long time with a kris, it broke, where- upon — so tightly had the rope been stretched — the tree, in whose top Kine-kine-boro was, snapped back. Seven times it swayed toward the land, and seven times toward the sea, and Kine-kine-boro fell from the tree upon his wife who was below, and they both burst with a noise like thunder and died, but the children got safely away.®®
As an example of a different type of cannibal-story the fol- lowing may serve.^® A swangi {on& who is secretly a vampire) once was going out to eat the flesh of men when a youth met him and begged to be allowed to accompany him, to which the swangi agreed, but said, “If you go with me, you must shut your eyes, and open them only when I tell you.” The young
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man promised and closed his eyes, and when, soon afterward, the swangi ssid, “Open your eyes,” he found that he and the swangi on the top of a rfn'A-plant that grew up a tall tree. At the foot of this plant was a house, and one of the children of the people living there was ill. Then the swangi, saying, “You stay here. I will go down,” descended and took the liver out of the child, and not only ate it himself, but also gave the young man a small piece. The latter, however, did not swallow it, but only pretended to do so, eating instead a bit of coco-nut which he held concealed in his hand. Then the swangi said to the young man, “Tell me, friend, isn’t it good?” and the Latter replied, “It is very good.” Thereupon the swangi climbed down again to get him more liver, but after he had gone, the youth also descended, tied a rope to a heavy rice-mortar, and then went up once more, hauling the mortar to the top of the tree. By and by the swangi came out, but just as he reached the foot of the tree, the young man let the rice-mortar drop and called out, “It is falling; catch it.” Thus the rice-mortar fell on the swangi and killed him, where- upon the youth climbed down and showed the people in the house the liver of their child, saying, “Look, this is your child’s liver. A swangi has eaten the liver, so your child died. But it was fortunate that I was there, for now the swangi is dead.”
The following Philippine tale " introduces a number of incidents whose distribution is of interest. Aponibolinayen said, “I am anxious to eat the fruit of the holnay-trce belonging to Matawitawen;” but when Ligi asked, “What did you say?” she replied, “I said that I want some fish roe.” Accordingly, Ligi took his net and went off after fish, and when he had caught some, he took out the roe, brought it back to the house, and gave it to Aponibolinayen. She accepted it, but did not eat it; and after Ligi had gone away, she threw the roe to the dogs, who fought for it. Ligi heard them and said, “What are the dogs fighting about? I think you threw away the fish roe,” to which Aponibolinayen replied, “I dropped some.” Again
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Aponibolinayen said to herself that she wanted the fruit of the bolnay-tree of Matawitawen; but when Ligi heard her and asked what she said, she replied, “I am anxious for some deer liver.” So Ligi went to kill a deer, and he got one and brought the liver home; but though Aponibolinayen again took what he brought, she did not eat it, but when Ligi slept, flung it to the dogs, who quarrelled over it and woke Ligi. Once more he accused her of having thrown the food away, but she again denied it, after which she went to her room and lay down, while Ligi, turning himself into an ant, crept through the cracks of the floor, and hearing what Aponibolinayen was saying to herself, learned that she had not told him the truth. Thereupon he resumed his human form, and going to Aponi- bolinayen, said, “Why did you not tell the truth?” She an- swered, “I didn’t, because Matawitawen is very far, and I am afraid that you will be lost,” to which he replied, “No, give me a sack,” and so he took it and went off to get the holnay fruit.‘“
Arriving at the place where the tree grew, Ligi took the fruit and put it in the sack and carried some also in his hand; but when he was passing the spring in Kadalayapan on his way home, he met some beautiful girls, who said to him, “How pretty the holnay fruit is ! This sack is filled, and you have some also in your hands. Will you not give us some?” Ligi, however, gave them all the fruit, whereupon they said, “The child which Aponibolinayen is about to bear, and which asks for the holnay fruit, is not your child. It is the child of Maobagan.” At this Ligi was angry, and when he got home, he gave Aponibolinayen only the empty sack; but there was a small piece of the fruit which the other women had overlooked, and Aponibolinayen ate it and said, “ I am anxious to eat more, if there are more.” “What is that?” cried Ligi, angrily. “Get ready, for I will put you in the place where the tree is, if you want more, ” and so saying, he seized her and dragged her away to the tree, and digging a hole at its foot, he buried her in it
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and went away. Soon Aponibolinayen was about to give birth to her child.^® “What can I do?” she asked Ayo, her spirit helper; and when Ayo replied, “The best thing to do is to prick your little finger,” Aponibolinayen did so, and from the wound was born a child ^ which was given the name of Kanag.
Every time that he was bathed, he grew, and by and by, when he had become a boy, he was anxious to leave the pit; but his mother was afraid lest his father should find them. Nevertheless, the boy got out, and when he was safely away from the hole, he listened until he heard the sound of other children playing and then went to where they were swim- ming. The others inquired who he was, and one of them, called Dagolayan, saying, “He looks like my uncle in Kadal- ayapan,” asked Kanag who his father was, to which he re- plied that his parent was of Matawitawen.® Dagolayan and Kanag decided that they would go to fight, and Kanag went back to where his mother was in the pit at the foot of the tree to tell her; but though she did not want him to go, he insisted and said, “No, I am going. I will plant a vine; and if it wilts, you will know that I am dead.” ^
Next day Dagolayan and Kanag went off to fight, and when they struck their shields, it sounded as though a thousand men were coming. They met Ligi, who was surprised and who asked where he got the other boy who was with him; but when he heard, he wished to kill Kanag, who was saved only by the pleading of Dagolayan. Then they went and lay in wait to catch heads, and when a pretty young girl went by the place in which Kanag was hidden, he seized her and cut off her head, whereas Ligi and Dagolayan were able to get only the heads of an old man and an old woman. At this Dagolayan was angry and said to Kanag, “What did you say when you took the girl’s head?” Kanag replied, “The son of an alan [a minor spirit] of Matawitawen kills the pretty girl,” is what I said; but Dagolayan answered, “No, that is
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not what you said. You said that you were the son of a man who lived in Kadalayapan,” and thereupon they both went to live with Ligi in that place. Now, one day they played and danced in Kadalayapan, and when Kanag danced, the whole town trembled, and when he moved his feet, the fish were about his feet, which they went to lap, for the water came up into the town; but when he stamped, the coco-nuts fell from the trees, so that Ligi was angry, and taking his head-axe, he cut off Kanag’s head. At this instant Aponibolinayen looked at the vine which Kanag had planted, and behold, the leaves were withered; so she made haste to go in search of him. When she reached the place where Ligi lived, he saw her, but she reproached him, saying, “How angry you were, Ligi, for you killed your son.” At this Ligi hung his head, because he did not know that Kanag was his son; but Aponibolinayen said, “I will use magic, so that when I whip my perfume, alikadakad, he will stand up.”
Thus she restored Kanag to life, and when he came to himself, he said, “How long my sleep is!” “No, do not say that, your father killed you,” said Aponibolinayen. Ligi tried to keep Aponibolinayen and Kanag with him, but refus- ing to stay, they went back to Matawitawen, and when they arrived there, Aponibolinayen said, “I will use my power so that Ligi cannot see us, and the trail will become filled with thorns.” Accordingly Ligi could not walk in the trail, could not find them, and was sad; and therefore he lay down, while his hair grew like vines along the ground; and he did not eat, for he was always grieving about the things which he had done to his wife and son. At last, however, they forgave him and returned to Kadalayapan; and Ligi ordered his spirit helper to kill those women whom he had met at the spring, and to whom he had given the holnay fruit, for they had told him lies about Aponibolinayen.
Tales embodying the theme of the “magic flight” seem to be rare in the Oceanic area, and the few which have been re-
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ported may well be introduced. As an example, a story from Halmahera may be taken.'*® A woman once ate some mangoes belonging to a giant, while her dog devoured the skins, the consequence being that the woman bore seven children, and the dog, seven puppies. When the giant heard of it, he said, “Ha! ha! one of the children is mine.” So they brought out one, but he would not take it; then they brought out another, but he would not take that; and not until they brought out the last, the seventh, did he say, “Ha! ha! that is my child.” He took the boy home with him, saying, “Stay here, while I go to get food,” and when he came back, he shut up the men whom he had caught. One day he said to the boy, whose name was Badabangisa, “You must not go away, but stay in the house, and prepare your food and eat. I shall be gone a week.” The next time he went off, he said that he would be absent two weeks; but when he had left, Badabangisa released the men whom the giant had shut up, and taking the monster’s entire store of treasure, they all ran away after setting fire to the house. The cinders from the burning dwelling fell on the giant’s breast far away, and as he brushed them off, he said, “Badabangisa has set my house afire.” Accordingly he went home, and finding only the ashes of his abode, which were not yet quite cold, he immediately set out in pursuit. The fugitives, however, heard him coming, and when presently he asked, “ Badabangisa, what wrong has your father done, that you should leave him.?” Badabangisa replied, “I am waiting for you here.” Then Badabangisa’s companions, the men whom he had freed, threw salt behind them, and it became a great sea which delayed the giant, though finally he drank it all up.
Again he came after them, but when Badabangisa said to his friends, “Throw some ashes behind you,” they did so, and the giant’s eyes thus being blinded, he could not see. Yet still he pursued, so that Badabangisa said to his friends, “Throw some jungle marbles behind you,” and when they
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had done this, the thorny plants on which these little fruits grow, sprang up everywhere and covered the whole body of the giant. This also he finally overcame, and again followed after them, whereat Badabangisa said, “Throw some millet behind you,” and when they did so, the ogre stopped to eat it. Once more the monster came on, and since nothing was left to delay him, Badabangisa said, “Now my father will eat us up.” Thereupon he called out to the giant, “Father, what is that in your flesh?” and the giant replied, “Do not touch that; it is the life of my body. If you strike that, I shall die.” But Badabangisa struck it, and his father dropped dead, and when he struck the earth, he made part of the mountain fall.
Then Badabangisa called out, “People, be still! because you have urged me on, I have killed my father, ” and he ordered them to bring him three pieces of white cloth to bury the giant, but the monster was so large that these were quite insufficient. After this they went on, and coming to a town, Badabangisa kept firing guns for seven days and seven nights, so that the people issued forth and said, “Who has become a king, that he fires so many guns?” Then they came to Badabangisa, and taking him with them to the town, they made him a king, and held a feast for nine days and nine nights.
A tale which is wide-spread in Indonesia and which in spite of traces of outside influence seems to be largely local in development, is that of the “wonder-tree.” Once there were three orphan sisters, the two eldest of whom one day found in a harvested field a bird called Kekeko, and bringing it home, they put it in a cage. A few days later they heard the bird call, “Set me in a basket, and I will lay;” and though at first they paid no attention, they finally did as it demanded, since it frequently repeated the request; and lo! the next morning the basket was full of cooked rice and fish, steaming hot. This continued daily, and thus the children obtained their food; but as there was always too much in the basket, and it
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could not be kept, after a while the7 asked the bird to give them uncooked rice instead. This it did, and before long so great a store of rice was thus accumulated that all who came to the house were amazed at the wealth of provisions which the three poor orphans had.
One day their uncle, who had heard of the great amount of rice possessed by the children, came to visit them; and when he asked them how they secured their supply, they said, “We have a bird, Kekeko, which we caught, and it gives us all the paddy.” The jealous uncle asked them to lend him the bird, and they agreed to do so, but first whispered to it not to give their uncle any rice, or at best, paddy of a poor grade. This order the bird carried out; but when the uncle saw that the bird failed to give him any rice. In his anger he killed it and ate It. After a time the two oldest orphans, his nieces, came to him to get their bird back, but the uncle said, “He does not exist any longer, for I ate him up.” On hearing this, the orphans were sad and rolled on the ground in grief, because they thought that they had lost forever the Kekeko which had helped them. However, they gathered up the bones of the bird and buried them near their house; and lo! from them a wonderful tree soon grew, whose leaves were of silken stuffs, whose blossoms were ear-rings, and whose fruits produced a pleasing sound. Thus the children were again helped by the Kekeko, even after Its death.®^
Another tale, similarly open to suspicion of extra-Indonesian influences, though probably in essence of Indonesian develop- ment, is as follows. Once upon a time there was a hunter who had a beautiful white cat to whom he one day happened to give food out of a coco-nut-shell which he had used for house- hold purposes, the result being that the cat later gave birth to a beautiful girl-child.®^ The hunter adopted the infant as his own, but later, when she was seven years old, he took to himself a wife, who was very jealous of the girl and did not know that the cat was her mother. When he went off to the
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A version from the Philippines ^ adds several features of interest. “‘We go to take greens, sister-in-law Dinay, per- haps the siksiklat [a sort of vine, whose leaves are used for greens] will taste good. I have heard that the siksiklat is good,’ said Aponibolinayen. They went to get her siksiklat. When they arrived at the place of small trees, which they thought was the place of the siksiklat, they looked. Aponiboli- nayen was the first who looked. As soon as she began to break off the siksiklat which she saw she did not break any more, but the siksiklat encircled and carried her up. When they reached the sky, the siksiklat placed her below the alosip-trte.. She sat for a long time. Soon she heard the crowing of the rooster. She stood up and went to see the rooster which crowed. She saw a spring. She saw it was pretty, because its sands were oday and its gravel pagatpat and the top of the betel-nut- tree was gold, and the place where the people step was a large Chinese plate which was gold. She was surprised, for she saw that the house was small. She was afraid and soon began to climb the betel-nut-tree, and she hid herself.
“The man who owned the house, which she saw near the well, was Ini-init — the sun. But he was not in the place of his house, because he went out and went above to make the sun, because that was his work in the daytime. And the next day Aponibolinayen saw him, who went out of his house, because he went again to make the sun. And Aponibolina- yen went after him to his house, because she saw the man, who owned the house, who left. When she arrived in the house, she quickly cooked, because she was very hungry.
“When she finished cooking, she took the stick used in roasting fish and cooked it, and the fish stick which she cooked became cut-up fish, because she used her magic power. When she finished to cook the fish, she took out rice from the pot, and when she had finished to take out the rice from the pot, she took off the meat from the fish. When she finished taking the fish from the pot, she ate. When she finished eating, she
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washed. When she finished washing, she kept those things which she used to eat, the coconut shell cup and plate, and she laid down to sleep.
“When the afternoon came, Ini-init went home to his house after he finished fishing. He saw his house, which appeared as if it was burning, not slowly. He went home because it appeared as if his house was burning. When he arrived at his house, it was not burning, and he was surprised because it appeared as if there was a flame at the place of his bed. When he was in his house, he saw that which was like the flame of the fire, at the place of his bed, was a very pretty lady .2®
“Soon he cooked, and when he had finished to cook he scaled the fish, and when he had finished scaling he cut it into many pieces, and he made a noise on the bamboo floor when he cut the fish. The woman awoke, who was asleep on his bed. She saw that the man who cut the fish was a handsome man, and that he dragged his hair. The pot she had used to cook in looked like the egg of a rooster, and he was surprised because it looked like the egg of a rooster; and the rice which she cooked was one grain of broken rice. Because of all this Ini-init was surprised, for the pot was very small with which she cooked. After Ini-init cooked, the woman vanished and she went to the leaves of the betel-nut, where she went to hide.
“After Ini-init finished cooking the fish, he saw the bed, the place where the woman was sleeping, was empty. He was looking continually, but he did not find her. When he could not find her, he ate alone, and when he finished eating he washed, and when he finished washing the dishes he put away, and when he had finished putting away he went to the yard to get a fresh breath. . . . When it began to be early morning, he left his house, he who went up, because it was his business to make the sun. And Aponibolinayen went again into the house.
“When it became afternoon, Ini-init went to his home.
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and Aponibolinayen had cooked, after which she went out to the betel-nut trees. When Ini-init arrived, he was surprised because his food was cooked, for there was no person in his house. As soon as he saw the cooked rice and the cooked fish in the dish, he took the fish and the rice and began to eat. When he had finished eating, he went to his yard to take a fresh breath and he was troubled in his mind when he thought of what had happened. He said, ‘Perhaps the woman, which I saw, came to cook and has left the house. Sometime I shall try to hide and watch, so that I may catch her.’ He went to sleep, and when it became early morning he went to cook his food. When he had finished eating, he went again to make the sun, and Aponibolinayen went again to his house.
“When the sun had nearly sunk, he sent the big star who was next to follow him in the sky, and he went home to spy on the woman. When he had nearly reached his home, he saw the house appeared as if it was burning. He walked softly when he went up the ladder. He slammed shut the door. He reached truly the woman who was cooking in the house. He went quickly and the woman said to him, ‘You cut me only once, so that I only cure one time, if you are the old enemy.’ ‘ If I were the old enemy, I should have cut before,’ said Ini-init, and he sat near her who cooked. He took out the betel- nut, and he arranged it so that they began to chew the betel- nut, and he said, ‘Ala! young lady, we are going to chew, because it is bad for us to talk who do not know each other’s names.’ Aponibolinayen answered, ‘No, for if the rich man who practises magic is able to give to the rich woman who has magical power, soon there will be a sign.’ Ini-init said, ‘No, hurry up even though we are related, for you come here if we are not related.’
“He begged her, and he cut the betel-nut, which was to be chewed, which was covered with gold, and he gave it to the woman who had magical power, and they chewed. When she laid down the quid, it looked like the agate bead, which has
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no hole for the thread. And the quid of Ini-init looked like a square bead.
“‘My name is Ini-init, who often goes to travel over the world. I always stop in the afternoon. What can I do, it is my business,’ he said. Aponibolinayen was next to tell her name. ‘My name is Aponibolinayen, who lives in Kaodanan, who am the sister of Awig,’ she said, and when they had finished telling their names, both their quids looked like the agate bead, which is pinoglan, which has no hole. Ini-init said, ‘We are relatives, and it is good for us to be married. Do not be afraid even though you did not come here of your own accord. I go to Kaodanan,’ he said. Then they married, and the sun went to shine on the world, because it was his business, and the big star also had business when it became night.”
In some versions the woman who provides food miraculously is a tree-spirit, or comes from a plant or fruit; while in other stories she appears from the sea. In its distribution the tale extends eastward into Melanesia.^®
The following tale embodies, among other incidents in the Indonesian area, that in which an animal, insect, or inani- mate object answers for an escaping fugitive, and so aids his flight. Two sisters, whose parents had been killed and eaten by a tiger and a garuda bird,®® saved themselves from their parents’ fate by hiding in a drum; but one day a man went out hunting, and his arrow falling on the roof of the house where the two were hidden, he found the girls and took the older, whose name was Sunrise, as his wife.
After a time the man said to his sister-in-law, “Bring me a piece of bamboo, that I may knock out the partition (at the nodes) and make a water-vessel for you to get water in,” but when he fixed it, he secretly made holes through the bottom also. He then gave her the water-vessel, and she went to the stream to bring water, but the bamboo would not hold it; and after she had tried for a long time, she discovered the holes in the bottom. Accordingly she returned to the house, but
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found that Sunrise and her husband had gone, for he had pierced the bottom of the water-vessel so that he and his wife might have time to run away.®^ Before going off, however, Sunrise had left two lice behind her and had instructed them to answer for her when her sister should return and thus delay pursuit, her orders being, “If she calls me from the land-side, do you answer from the sea-side; if she calls me from the sea- side, do you answer from the land-side; if she asks you the way, show it to her.” When the deserted sister returned to the house, she called to Sunrise and thought she heard an answer, but when she went thither, the reply came from the opposite direction. Thus deceived by the false calls, she was long delayed; but finally she discovered the trick, asked the way which Sunrise had taken, and set off in pursuit.®®
By and by she came upon an old woman, to whom she called, “Oh, granny! Oh, granny! look here!” The old woman said to herself, “Well, ever since the world was made, I have lived alone, so I won’t look,” but, nevertheless, she did look, and then asked, “Well, Granddaughter, where do you come from?” “Granny, I am seeking my older sister,” said the other sister, whose name was Kokamomako; and then hearing the sound of a drum, she inquired, “Granny, why are they having a feast over there?” The old woman answered, “Just now they went by with your sister,” and so Kokamomako con- tinued on her way.
When she came to the house, she called out, “Show me the hair of my sister in the window,” but the people inside held up the hair of a cat, whereupon Kokamomako said, “My sister is indeed ugly, but that is the hair of a cat. You must show me her foot.” Then the people took the foot of a cat and thrust it out of the window, saying, “If you want us to produce your sister, you must pick up a basket of rice that we will throw out,” whereupon they threw it out and scattered it. Then Kokamomako wept, for this was a task which she could not accomplish; but a rice-bird came up to her and asked,
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“ What is your trouble, and what do you want, that you are picking that up?” She replied, “I have no trouble, and I don’t want anything, but they have hidden my elder sister.” Then the rice-bird helped her, and it was not long before the rice was all gathered; but still the people would not bring out her sister. Sunrise; whereupon Kokamomako said, “If you don’t produce my sister, I will go home and set fire to my house,” adding, “when you see blue smoke, that will be the furniture; when you see white smoke, that will be money; when you see red smoke, that will be 1.” Then she went away, and soon they saw that she had set fire to her house, perceiving that the smoke was first blue, then white, and then red. Knowing that her sister was now dead. Sunrise went and bathed, and when she came back to the house, she took a knife and stabbed herself and died. By and by her husband went to carry her food, and found her dead, whereupon he also took a knife and tried to kill himself, but did not succeed.
Now there was a slave in the house who went to get water at the river, and when she looked in the stream, seeing the reflection of Sunrise, she thought it was her own and called out, “Oh, sirs, you said that I was ugly, but really I am beauti- ful.” Proud of her supposed good looks and thinking herself too good to be a slave, she threw away her water-vessel and broke it; but when she went back to the house, they sent her back again for water and once more she saw the reflection of Sunrise, for the latter and her younger sister (their ghosts) were hidden in the top of a tree that leaned over the stream. This, however, the slave did not know, and again she said, “Oh, sirs, you said that I was ugly, but I am really beautiful,” and again she threw away the water-vessel and broke it, doing this seven times before she told the people in the house that she had seen the reflection of Sunrise.^
In the house was another slave who suffered from wounds on his legs, and the husband of Sunrise ordered him to dive into the stream in order to seize her, but he refused. So all
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set upon him, and he was forced to do as he was bid; but though he dove and dove, and broke open his wounds, and coloured the stream with his blood, he could not find Sunrise.®^ Accordingly he came ashore and said, “I told you just now that I could not do .it, and now you have forced me to try, and I have broken my wounds open again.” Thereupon, as they sat by the stream, the husband happened to look up, and seeing his wife in the top of the tree, he called out, “Let down a rope, so that I may climb up.” So she lowered a copper wire, say- ing, “When you get half way up, don’t hold on so tight,” but when he climbed up and reached the half-way point, she cut the wire, and he fell and was dashed to pieces.
In the Polynesian and Melanesian areas the tales relating to cannibals were numerous; and they are also common in Indonesia, as several examples will show. Once there was an ogress called Bake, and a princess who spent her time weav- ing. The brothers of the princess went fishing, and while they were gone, she dropped her shuttle, whereupon she began to sing a song calling upon them to come and pick it up. Then the ground suddenly split asunder, and out of it came Bake who wanted to carry the princess away, but when the lat- ter said, “I must wait, I must wait for my brothers,” Bake said to her, “Very well, pound some rice for me.” After the maiden had pounded a little rice, she rested, for she wished to delay until her brothers should come back from fishing; but when the ogress could wait no longer, she herself took the pestle and finished preparing the rice. The princess set water on to boil and cooked the rice, which she ate from a tiny vessel using a needle for a spoon, whereas Bake ate from a trough with a great stone plate as a spoon. When, in spite of all delay, the princess had finished, the ogress refused to wait longer, and taking the maiden on her back she carried her off.
The princess, however, had secretly tied the end of a skein of thread about the tip of her finger so that the thread unwound itself behind the ogress as she went; ®® and just as the process
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was completed, the two brothers of the girl returned. They called to her, but getting no reply, searched diligently and found the thread, whereupon they started off at once in pursuit, following the trail thus left for their guidance. They came to some people who were making a garden and asked them if they had seen any one passing, going inland; and when the people replied, “Yes, Inang-i-Bake has just gone by, carrying a white pig on her back, and dragging something that con- stantly unwound as she went,” the two brothers pursued their quest. From time to time they met other people, all of whom gave the same information, until at last the brothers learned that Inang-i-Bake’s. home was near by. Now close to the house was a deep river over which was a bridge, and as the two brothers went toward Bake’s house, they saw something very white underneath it in a pen. When they got near, they perceived that this was their sister; for Bake had taken away all her clothes and had cut off her hair, and even shaved off her eyebrows. So the brothers threw their head-cloths to the princess for a covering, and then climbed into the house, but found that Bake was not at home, though her daughter, Gina- bai, was there. She asked them why they had come, and when they replied that they had heard that she was looking for someone to work for her, she answered, “Yes, you are right. You can cook dinner for me. Go down and kill the pig that you will find beneath the house.” Accordingly the brothers went below the house to cook the dinner, but first they re- leased their sister from the pen, and one of the brothers took her away across the river. When he returned, he secretly cut through all but one of the supports of the bridge, so that it could barely sustain the weight of a man;®® and then came back to help his brother. Again they went up into the house, and killing Ginabai, they shore off her hair and hung it out of the window of her room; after which they cut up her body and cooked and spiced it well, and ordered a louse from her head to answer for her when any one should call.
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On Inang-i-Bake’s return they set before her the food which they had cooked, and it happened that Ginabai’s brother found one of her fingers in his portion. When he recognized it, he cried out, and the bird which was sitting on the roof of the house said, “ Inang-i-Bake has eaten her child, and is angry, ” whereupon the people that were working in the garden, hearing the bird accuse Inang-i-Bake, said to each other, “Keep still, what is that that it is saying, ‘Inang-i-Bake has eaten her child and is angry’?” Then one of them replied, “Be still! shut your mouth! why don’t you keep quiet and listen to the bird who speaks, and who tells what is forbidden; who speaks of what is not allowed?” Then Ginabai’s brother sent his blind slave to look for his sister, and the slave went and called, “Mistress, mistress!” The louse answering in place of Ginabai, the slave returned and said, “My mistress is there.” When, however, the bird had again called out, and Ginabai’s brother had once more sent his slave, he finally went himself and found that his sister was not there, but only the louse which had answered for her. So he slew the louse and cut it into small pieces and cried out to the brothers of the princess, “Wait a bit, you have killed my sister,” but they ran away as fast as they could to the other side of the river, and when Ginabai’s brother followed them across the bridge, it broke and he fell into the water and was drowned.®^
Another version from the Moluccas runs as follows. Two women once went fishing, and coming to a river, one said to the other, “There are many fish in that pool; reach down for them, ” but when the other stooped for the fish, the first woman gave her a push, so that she fell into the water, and then she held her under with a forked stick. Great bubbles came up as the victim struggled, but at last they ceased and she was drowned, whereupon the murderess drew out the body, cut off some flesh, put it in a bamboo vessel, and going home, set the vessel on the fire to cook. Now the dead woman had two children, a boy and a girl, and they asked the wicked woman
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seven coconut-shells to build a house for him, after which he was carried home by his wife. The older sisters returning at evening, saw the new clearing and wondered at it, perceiving that it was ready for planting. When they got home they said to their sister, “You can’t go thus to the planting feast of Ta Datoe. Your husband is only a lizard,” and again they wiped their feet on him.
The nezt day Lizard and his wife went once more to their clearing and saw that the house had already been built for them by the coconut-shells, which had turned into slaves; whereupon the lizard said, “Good, tomorrow evening we will hold the preliminary planting festival, and the next day a planting feast.” Ordering his seven slaves to prepare much food for the occasion, he said to his wife, “Let us go to the river and get ready,” but on arriving at the stream, they bathed far apart, and the lizard, taking off his animal disguise, became a very handsome man dressed in magnificent gar- ments. When he came for his wife, she at first did not recog- nize him, but at last was convinced; and after she had been given costly new clothes and ornaments, they returned toward Lise’s house. As they came back, the preliminary planting festival had begun, and many people were gathered, including Kapapitoe’s elder sisters, Lise, and the old woman. The six sisters said, “Tell us. Grandmother, who is that coming.'’ She looks so handsome, and her sarong rustles as if rain were fall- ing. The hem of her sarong goes up and down every moment as It touches her ankles.” The old woman replied, “That is your youngest sister, and there comes her husband also,” whereupon, overcome with jealousy, the six sisters ran to meet their handsome brother-in-law and vied with each other for the privilege of carrying his betel-sack, saying, “I want to hold the jfnA-sack of my brother-in-law.” He, however, went and sat down, and the six went to sit beside him to take him away from their youngest sister, but the lizard would have none of them.
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Next day was the planting, and his sisters-in-law would not let the lizard go in company with his wife, but took pos- session of him and made him angry. Accordingly, when Lise and the sisters were asleep, the lizard got up, waked Kapapitoe, and taking a stone, laid four pieces of bark upon it and re- peated a charm, “If there is power in the wish of the six sis- ters who wipe their feet on me, then I shall, when I open my eyes, be sitting on the ground just as I am now. But if my wish has power, when I open my eyes, I shall be sitting in my house and looking down on all other houses.” When he opened his eyes, he was seated in his house lugh up on the mountain, for the stone had grown into a great rock, and his house was on top of it. His sisters-in-law tried to climb the cliff, but in vain, and so had to give up, while he and his wife, Kapapitoe, lived happily ever after.^^
A tale wide-spread in the Archipelago, and interesting be- cause of its further extension elsewhere, introduces the theme of the descent to the underworld, though not as in the Polyne- sian examples of the Orpheus type. As told by the Galela,^* it runs as follows. Once upon a time there was a man who was accustomed to keep watch in his garden to prevent its being plundered by wild pigs. One night a pig appeared at which the man threw his spear; but the creature was only wounded and ran away with the missile sticking in its back. Next day the man followed the trail of the stricken animal and after a long chase found that the tracks led to a deep cleft in the rocks, which conducted him down into the earth, so that at last he came out in the middle of a town. The tracks led directly to one of the houses, which the man entered, and looking around, he saw his spear leaning by the door. From a neigh- bouring room he heard sounds of crying, and shortly a man appeared, who asked him who he was and what he wanted. When he replied that he had come to find his spear, which had been carried off in the body of a pig the night before, the owner of the house said, “No, you speared my child, and
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her you must cure. When she is well again, you shall marry her.” While talking, the man who was in search of his spear happened to look up and saw hanging from the rafters a bunch of pigs’ skins, which were the disguises that the people of this underworld assumed when they visited the upper earth to plunder the gardens of men. He finally agreed to try his skill in curing the woman whom he had thus unwittingly wounded, and in a short time she had wholly recovered. Some time after he had married her, she said to him, “Come now, you act just as if you had forgotten all about your wife and children,” to which he answered, “No, I think of them often; but how shall I find them?” A plan was proposed which he accepted, and in accordance with which they were both to put on the pig disguises and visit the upper world. No sooner said than done, and for three months he lived in the underworld, visiting the gardens of his own town in the upper world in the guise of a pig. Then one day, when he and others had come to the upper earth, they said to him, “Now, shut your eyes, and don’t open them until we give the word. After this, when you make a garden plot and the pigs come to break in and make trouble, do not shoot at them, but go and call out, saying that they must not come to this field but go to some others; and, then they will surely go away.” He did as they commanded and closed his eyes, but when he opened them, he was back once more in human form in his own garden and his spirit wife of the underworld he never saw again.
A still more characteristic version is told in Celebes.^® Seven brothers were hunting and drying the meat of the pigs which they had killed, but, as in one of the trickster tales, a man appeared who stole the food and made away with it, the brother who had been left on guard being unable to stop him. When the turn of the youngest came, he succeeded in spearing the robber in the back, but the culprit ran oif and disappeared with the spear still sticking in him. Now the spear belonged to the boys’ grandfather, who, angry at its loss, demanded
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that they find it and return itd® The brothers, therefore, went to a great hole in the earth, from which, they had dis- covered, the robber usually emerged. Taking a long vine, the others lowered the eldest, but he, soon terrified at the dark- ness, demanded to be hauled up again; and thus it went with all six older brothers, only the youngest being brave enough to reach the bottom. Once arrived, he found himself in the underworld and there soon discovered a town. Asking if he might come in, he was refused admittance on the ground that the chief was suffering from a great spear with which he had been wounded, and which was still embedded in his back. The young hero thereupon declared that he could cure the sufferer and was accordingly admitted to the chiefs house; but when he was alone with the patient, he killed him, pulled out the spear, and hastened to regain the place where he had been let down. On the way he met seven beautiful maidens who wished to accompany him to the upper world, and so all were pulled up together by the brothers stationed above, and each of them then took one of the.' girls for his wife.“ The occurrence of this tale in Japan,^’' and on the north-west coast of America is a feature of considerable interest.
A story of quite wide distribution is that of the half-child. According to the Loda version,^® the first man and woman lived by a river, on whose banks they had a garden. A boy was born to them, but later, when a second child was about to be brought into the world, a great rain and flood came and washed away half of the garden, whereupon the woman cursed the rain, the result of her malediction being that when the child was born, it was only half a human being and had but one eye, one arm, and one leg. When Half-Child had grown up, he said to his mother, “Alas, what shall I do, so that I may be like my brother, who has two arms and two legs?” Determining to go to the great deity in the upper world and beg him to make him whole, he climbed up and laid his request
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before the god, who, after some discussion, agreed to help him, telling him to bathe in a pool which he showed him, and at the same time cautioning him not to go into the water if he saw any one else bathing. Half-Child went to the pool, found no one else there, and after bathing came out restored to his proper shape and made very handsome.
Returning to his home, he found his brother eating his dinner, and the latter said to him, “Well, brother, you look very beau- tiful!” “Yes,” said Half-Child, “the deity granted me to be even as you are.” Then his elder brother asked, “Is the god far away?” and the other replied, “No, he is not far, for I was able to reach him easily.” The elder brother at once went up to see the divinity, and when asked why he had come, he said that he wished to be made as handsome as his younger brother. The deity replied, “No, you are now just as you ought to be, and must remain so”; but since the other would not be satisfied, at length the god said, “Well, go to that pool there and bathe; but you must not do so unless you see a dog (i. e. the image or reflection of a dog) in it, in which case you must bathe with a piece of white cloth tied round your neck.” So the elder brother went to the pool, tied a piece of cloth around his neck, and bathed, and behold! he was turned into a dog with a white mark around his throat; whereupon he returned to this world and found his brother, Half-Child, at dinner. “Alas!” said the younger brother, “I told you not to go, but you would do so, and now see what has become of you!” and he added, “Here, my brother, you must always remain under my table and eat what falls from it.”
Tales which involve themes of the “grateful animals” and the “impossible tasks” are quite common; and as an example of one type of these we may take a Dusun story from British North Borneo.^ Serungal was an ugly man, but he wished very much to marry a rajah’s daughter. On his way to the village of the rajah he saw some men killing an ant, but when he remonstrated with them, they ran away and left the insect,
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which crawled off in safety, A little farther on Serungal heard some people shouting and found that they were trying to kill a fire-fly, whose life he saved in the same manner as he had that of the ant; and before he reached the rajah’s gate he also rescued a squirrel. Arrived before the rajah, Serungal made known to him that he had come to ask for the hand of one of his daughters; but since the rajah did not want him for a son- in-law, he said to him, “If you can pick up the rice which is in this basket, after it has been scattered over the plain, you may have my daughter.” Serungal thought that he could not succeed in this impossible task, for the rajah allowed him only a short time to complete it; but nevertheless he determined to try, only to find that achievement was hopeless. He began to weep, but soon an ant came to him, and learning the reason of his lamentation, said, “Well, stop crying, and I will help you, for you helped me when men wished to kill me, ” and accord- ingly the ant called his companions, who quickly sought and gathered the grains of rice, so that the basket soon was full once more. When Serungal carried the receptacle to the rajah and announced that he had accomplished the task, the latter said, “Well, you may have my daughter, but first you must climb my betel-nut tree and pluck all the nuts.” Now this tree was so tall that its top was lost in the clouds, and Serungal, after several vain attempts, sat at the foot of the tree, weeping. To him then came the squirrel whom he had befriended, and in gratitude for the aid which Serungal had given him it climbed the tree for him and brought down all the nuts. The rajah had one more task, however, for Serungal to accomplish, telling him that he might have his youngest daughter if he could pick her out from among her six other sisters when all were shut up in a perfectly dark room. Serungal again was in despair when the fire-fiy came to him and said, “I will search for you and I will settle on the nose of the seventh daughter; so wherever you see a light, that will be the place where the rajah’s youngest daughter is.” “ Accordingly Serungal went
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into the darkened room, and seeing the fire-fly, carried away the woman on whom it had settled; whereupon the rajah admitted Serungal’s success and thus was obliged to recog- nize him as his son-in-law.^* Tales of this type present such close analogies to Indian and wide-spread European types that it is probable that they are directly or indirectly due to Hindu contact.
Widely disseminated in Indonesia, and also occurring far outside its limits, are stories based on a theme involving the miraculous providing of food by women of supernatural origin. A Bornean version ^ may serve as an example of this type. One day a man named Rakian was out hunting for honey, when in the top of a mangis-tree he saw a number of bees’ nests. The bees belonging to one of these were white, and as this was a curiosity, he selected this nest, removed it carefully, and carried it home. He spent the next day working in his garden and did not return to his house until evening; but when he entered, he found rice and fish already cooked and standing on his food-shelf above the fire. “Who can have cooked for me?” he thought, “for I live here alone. This fish is not mine, although the rice is. The rice is cold, and must have been cooked some time. Perhaps someone has come and cooked for me and then taken away my bees’ nest.” On going to look, however, he found his bees’ nest still where he had left it; so he sat down and ate, saying, “Well, if someone is going to cook for me, so much the better.” In the morning he went off again to his garden, and when he came back at night, there was his food already cooked as before; and this continued for some time until one day he resolved to return early to see if he could not solve the mystery. Accordingly he set off as if to go to his garden and then quietly came back and hid himself where he could watch. By and by the door of the house creaked, and a beautiful woman came out and went to the river to get water; but while she was gone, Rakian entered the house and looking at his bees’ nest found that
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there were no bees in it. So taking the nest and hiding it, he secreted himself in the house; and after a while the woman re- turned and went to the place where the nest had been. “Oh,” said she, weeping, “who has taken my box? It cannot be Rakian, for he has gone to his garden. I am afraid he will come back and find me.” When it was evening, Rakian came out as if he had just returned from his garden, but the woman sat there silent. “Why are you here?” said he; “perhaps you want to steal my bees?” but the woman answered, “I don’t know anything about your bees.” Rakian went to look for his bees’ nest, but of course could not find it, for he had hidden it away; whereupon he again accused her of taking his honey, while she denied all knowledge of it. “ Well, never mind,” said he; “will you cook for me, for I am hungry?” She, how- ever, replied that she did not wish to cook, for she was vexed; and then she taxed Rakian with having taken her box, which, she said, contained all her clothes; but he replied that he would not give it to her because he was afraid that she would get into it again. “I will not get into it,” said she. “If you like me, you can take me for your wife. My mother wished to give me to you in this way, for you have no wife here, and I have no husband in my country.” Accordingly Rakian gave her the bees’ nest, and the woman then said, “If you take me as your wife, you must never call me a bee-woman, for if you do I shall be ashamed.” Rakian promised, and so they were married; and by and by his wife bore him a child. Now one day there was a feast at a neighbour’s, to which Rakian went as a guest; but when the people asked him where his wife had come from, as they had never before seen so beautiful a woman, he replied evasively. After a while, however, all the men got drunk, and then, when they kept asking him where his wife had come from, he forgot his promise and said, “The truth is my wife was at first a bee.”
When Rakian got home, his wife was silent and would not speak to him, but after a while she said, “What did I tell you
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long ago? I think you have been saying things to make me ashamed.” Her husband denied that he had said anything wrong, but she insisted, declaring, “You are lying, for though you were far away, I heard what you said, ” whereupon Rakian was silent in his turn. “I shall now go to my home,” said she, “but the child I will leave with you. In seven days my father will pass by here, and I shall go with him.” Rakian wept, but could not move her, and seven days later he saw a white bee flying by, whereupon his wife came out of the house, and saying, “There is my father,” she turned into a bee once more and flew away, while Rakian hurried into the house, seized the child, and hastened off in pursuit. For seven days he fol- lowed the bees, and then losing sight of them, found himself on the banks of a stream where he lay down with the child and slept. By and by a woman came from a house near by, woke him, and said, “Rakian, why don’t you go to your wife’s house, and sleep there? The house is not far off.” “When I have bathed, you must show me the way,” said he, and she replied, “Very well”; so they went, and the woman pointed his wife’s house out to him. “Her room is right in the middle. There are eleven rooms in the house. If you enter, you must not be afraid, for the roof-beams are full of bees, but they do not attack men.” Accordingly Rakian climbed up into the house and found it full of bees, but in the middle room there were none. The child began to cry, whereupon a voice from the middle room asked, “Why do you not come out? Have you no pity on your child, that is weeping here?” Then, after a time, Rakian’s wife appeared, and the child ran to her, and Rakian’s heart was glad; but his wife said to him, “What did I tell you at first, that you were not to tell whence I came? If you had not been able to follow me here, certainly there would have been distress for you.” When she finished speaking, all the bees dropped down from the roof-beams to the floor and became men; while as for Rakian and his child, they stayed in the bees’ village and did not go back any more.
PLATE XX
Ancestral image from the island of Nias (Sumatra). The spirits of ancestors were supposed to enter these images and to abide in them for a time. Peabody Museum, Salemy Massachusetts.
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« on: August 03, 2019, 06:47:51 PM »
The other tale runs as follows. One day an egg, a snake, a centipede, an ant, and a piece of dung set out on a head-hunt- ing expedition, and on arriving at the house which they planned to attack, the egg stationed the party as follows: the centi- pede under the floor, the ant in the water- vessel, the dung at the top of a ladder leaning against a door, and the snake be- side the door, while the egg itself took its place in the cooking- pot. During the night the centipede came out of its hiding- place and bit the occupant of the house, who, as a result, went
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to light a fire; but there the egg jumped from the cooking-pot into his face, and blinded him. The man at once hurried to the water-vessel to wash his face, whereupon the ant stung him, and when he ran down the ladder, he slipped on the dung and fell to the bottom, where the snake bit him, and he died."
The group of trickster tales and fables of which a series has now been given are of especial importance, not only in the study of Indonesian mythology, but also in relation to the whole question of the origin and growth of Melanesian and Oceanic culture. Although widely spread in Indonesia, their distribution brings out the following facts. The tales, as a whole, fall into two rather clearly marked groups: {a) those in which the mouse-deer figures as the hero, and (b) those in which the ape or tortoise is the leading figure. The former group is most fully represented in the south and west, i. e. in Java, Borneo, and Sumatra, and is scarcely known in the Philippines; the latter is best developed in the east and north — in Halma- hera, Celebes, and the Sangir Islands — and is well represented in the Philippines, decreasing in importance from south to north. So far as any existing material goes, neither group of tales is known to those tribes which have had very little or no influence from Indian culture. The first of these two groups is, within its region of main development, most fully exemplified among the Javanese, who, of all the peoples of the Indonesian area had the earliest and closest contact with Indian culture; it is next best represented in those portions of Borneo, Sumatra, and the Moluccas which were colonized from, or more or less under the control of, the Modjopahit and other Hindu-Javanese kingdoms which grew up in Java during the first centuries of the Christian era. Outside of Indonesia, this group of tales is strongly represented in south-eastern Asia, i. e. among the Cham, and in Cambodia and Annam, where Indian influence was strongly established even earlier than in Java. It is de- veloped among the Malays of the Malay Peninsula, and even
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among the Shan o£ Upper Burma (who have in the one case early, and in the other case later, come in contact with Hindu, i. e. Buddhist, culture) a considerable number of the tales are found in typical form. Lastly, in India itself at least half of the series is known. On the other hand, none of the stories of thi s group has, the writer believes, thus far been reported from Melanesia or farther to the east.
Turning to the second group (the tales which centre about the ape or tortoise), it appears that in the eastern and northern portions of Indonesia, where it is best developed, it is strong- est in Halmahera, northern Celebes, and the Sangir Islands, and is well represented not only in Mindanao and among the Visayan tribes of the Philippines, but also in Luzon. Outside of the Indonesian area its distribution is sharply contrasted with the first group. Instead of being, as that is, strongly repre- sented in India and south-eastern Asia and unknown in Mela- nesia, it is comparatively rare on the Asiatic continent, but is rather widely distributed in Melanesia, while at least one of its themes has been reported from eastern Polynesia. One of the tales of each group is known from Japan.
From these facts it would seem that we might safely draw the following conclusions. The first group consists of two sets of tales, the first comprising those which are manifestly of actual Indian origin, occurring there in the Buddhist Jatakas and other early sources, and obviously introduced into In- donesia by the Hindu immigrants in the first centuries of our era; and the second including those of which examples are not known from India itself. The latter class the author believes to be of local Indonesian growth, though perhaps copied after Indian models. Such local imitation of foreign tales is a phe- nomenon well known in other parts of the world, and appears to be the most reasonable explanation of the conditions which meet us here. The second group, on the other hand, seems wholly or almost wholly of local origin, the rare instances of the occurrence of any portion of it on the Asiatic mainland
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being plausibly explained as due to the well-known backwash of Malayan peoples from the Archipelago at an early, though as yet uncertain, period. Its apparent absence from western Indonesia is, however, rather difficult to explain. It is possible that further data may make it clear that this group of tales is more purely Indonesian than Malayan, i. e. that it belongs to that earlier Indonesian stratum of population which followed the Negrito and preceded the Malay.
The extension of this second type into Melanesia and even to Polynesia, together with the absence of the first group from this easterly region, would seem to have still further significance, for it is a fair question whether this does not prove that the emigration of the Polynesian ancestors from the Archipelago must have taken place prior to the period of Indian contact. It will be noted, also, that one tale of each group has been re- ported from Japan. On the basis of the hypothesis which we have advanced, one of these would then be traceable to In- dian (i. e. Buddhist) sources, the other to the supposed still earlier influences which passed northward from the Philippines through Formosa and the Riukiu Islands to Kiushiu and southern Nippon.
CHAPTER III
MISCELLANEOUS TALES
I N Melanesia, and perhaps also in New Zealand, one of the themes found to be characteristically developed was that of the swan-maiden, i. e. the descent of a heavenly maiden to earth and her capture and marriage by an earthly hero; and since tales embodying this motif are numerous in Indonesia, a con- sideration of the remainder of the mythology of this region may well begin with examples of this type. The Toradja in central Celebes say that once a woman gave birth to seven crabs which, in terror and disgust, she threw into the river. The crabs gained the bank, however, and there fixed seven places for bathing and built a house; but when they entered the water, they put off their crab disguise and assumed their human form. One day, when they were disporting themselves in the river and had left their crab garments on the shore, seven men crept up and stole their clothing, thus making it impossible for the maidens to resume their animal guise; and each of the men then took one of the maidens as his wife.^
Another tale from the same tribe shows a more typical form of the story. According to this, seven parakeets one day flew down to bathe, doffing their bird garments and laying them on a bench while they made merry in the water as beautiful maid- ens. Magoenggoelota crept up and stole the garment of the youngest, who, realizing that something was wrong, called to her sisters, “Whew! I smell human flesh,” at which the others were vexed and said, “Oh, how could any mortal come here? You are joking.” Soon they all went out to resume their gar- ments, but though the older sisters found theirs and donned
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them, the youngest was unable to perceive her own until she saw a man who held it in his hand. Her sisters had disappeared, for they had flown up to the sky; and when they arrived, they said to their mother, “Kapapitoe has gone away, for someone took her dress,” at which their mother shed tears and berated them for abandoning their sister, so that they did not dare to go bathing any more. Meanwhile the younger sister wept and begged Magoenggoelota to give her back her feather garment, but he refused, saying, “Come, stop your crying. I shall do you no harm, but shall take you to my house as my wife,” to which she answered, “Very well, if you will, take me with you; but first give me back my clothes.” When she had promised not to fly away, he returned her feather garment, but when she put it on, he held her fast until she said, “You don’t need tp hold me; I will not go away, for I do not know the road. If you are fond of me, put me in your betel-box, ” and accord- ingly he took out his betel-box, put her in it, and took her to his home.®
A version from Halmahera® shows a further development. A man once had seven sons. Attacked by a mysterious ill- ness, he gradually turned to stone, and the sons, wishing to seek for medicine with which to cure him, determined at once to set out in search of it. The youngest son, however, being very ugly and covered with sores, was left behind; but he, resolving to do what he could, started off alone in another di- rection and came to the house of an old woman, who took pity on him, cured bis sores, clothed him, and listened to the story of his quest. When she had heard his tale, she told him to hide among the bushes near a pool of water which was close by, and he had not been there long before five maidens came to bathe. They took off their garments and laid them on the bushes under which he was concealed; and while they were bathing, he stole the clothes of the youngest. The others, when they came out, put on their winged garments and flew away, but the youngest, unable to escape, begged in vain that
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he would return to her her magic robes, only to have him re- fuse and take her home as his wife. When he had told her of his quest and had asked her if she could help him, she imme- diately called for her flying-palace, and in it they both ascended to the sky. She brought her husband to the presence of the lord of heaven, who gave him, after hearing his story, the medicine for which he had been seeking, and with this the son now returned to his father, thanks to the aid of his wife’s magic flying-house. There he cured his parent; but his six brothers returning empty-handed, and being angry because the youngest had succeeded where they had failed, were later turned into dogs, while the hero and his wife lived happily ever after.
Gne more version of this theme may be given, in this in- stance from Java.^ A poor widow found in the forest an infant that had been abandoned and left at the foot of a tree, and in pity she took the child home with her, bringing it up as her own. The boy developed into a keen hunter and used to wander in the forest with his blowgun in search of birds, until one day he saw a very lovely one at which he shot and shot in vain. He followed it far into the jungle, and at last, losing sight of it entirely, he found himself on the margin of a beautiful pool, to which, as he looked, he saw a number of heavenly maidens flying down to bathe. From his hiding-place he beheld them lay aside their wings and enter the water, when he quietly reached out, and possessing himself of one pair, made a slight noise. At this alarm the bathers took fright, and hastening out of the water, seized their garments and flew away, — one, however, being unable to escape because the youth had pos- session of her wings. She begged him to return them, but he refused, saying that he would give her other garments if she would agree to be his wife; and being forced to assent to this proposal, she accompanied him to his home. One day she went to the river to wash clothes and left her husband to mind the kettle in which the rice was cooking, warning him on no
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account to take off the cover of the pot or to look within. After she had gone, he could not overcome his curiosity to see what it was she did not wish him to observe, his inquisitive- ness being especially keen since she had always been able to provide abundant meals although he had given her only one measure of rice. Accordingly he raised the lid, but saw noth- ing in the pot except boiling water and a single grain of rice; and so, replacing the cover, he awaited his wife’s return. When she came, she hurried to the pot and looked in, only to find the single grain of rice, since the magic power by which she had hitherto been able to produce food miraculously ® had been destroyed by her husband’s curiosity. This, of course, made her angry, because henceforth she was obliged to labour and to prepare rice for every meal in the usual manner. The store of rice in the bin now rapidly decreased, and one day, when she came to the bottom, she found her magic garment which her husband had hidden there. On his return she informed him that she must now go back to the sky, though she said that she would leave with him their child, which was still but young, and told him that whenever the baby cried, he was to climb up, place it on the roof, and burn a stalk of rice below, and that then she would descend to give her daughter food. When she had said this, she took a stalk of rice, lit it, and rose up to the sky in its smoke. The sorrow- ing husband followed her commands, and the child grew up to be as beautiful as her mother.
In these and other versions ® we may trace many variations of the theme, from the simple forms like the first, which seem to rest on the wide-spread belief which prevails throughout the region, of human beings in animal guise who can put off their animal shape and resume that of man; to those like the latter, where it assumes the type common in Indian and European mythology. It would seem that we have here, as in the case of the trickster tales, one group whose direct Indian origin is unmistakable and which has spread widely wherever
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this early influence has come; and another which is native in all its essentials, although this simple and apparently aboriginal type may, after all, be a local imitation of a foreign theme. The extension of the tale in its more typically Indian form to Melanesia ’’ and even to western Polynesia (New Zealand) ® is of great interest, and raises questions which may better be discussed in a consideration of the Indonesian tales as a whole.
Many of the stories in Indonesia are based upon the theme of the animal disguise, or “Beauty and the Beast,” the follow- ing being typical of this class.® Once there was an old woman who lived alone in the jungle and had a lizard which she brought up as her child. When he was full grown, he said to her, “Grandmother, go to the house of Lise, where there are seven sisters; and ask for the eldest of these for me as a wife.” The old woman did as the lizard requested, and taking the bridal gifts with her, went off; but when she came near the house, Lise saw her and said, “Look, there comes Lizard’s grandmother with a bridal present. Who would want to marry a lizard! Not I.”
The old woman arrived at the foot of the ladder, ascended it, and sat down in Lise’s house, whereupon the eldest sister gave her betel, and when her mouth was red from chewing it, asked, “What have you come for. Grandmother.? Why do you come to us?” “Well, Granddaughter, I have come for this: to pre- sent a bridal gift; perhaps it will be accepted, perhaps not. That is what I have come to see.” As soon as she had spoken, the eldest indicated her refusal by getting up and giving the old woman a blow that knocked her across to the door, fol- lowing this with another that rolled her down the ladder. The old woman picked herself up and went home; and when she had reached her house, the lizard inquired, “How did your visit succeed?” She replied, “01 alas! I was afraid and almost killed. The gift was not accepted, the eldest would not accept it; it seems she has no use for you because you are only a lizard.” “Do not be disturbed,” said he, “go tomorrow and
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ask for the second sister,” and the old woman did not refuse, but went the following morning, only to be denied, as before. Each day she went again to another of the sisters until the turn of the youngest came. This time the girl did not listen to what Lise said and did not strike the old woman or drive her away, but agreed to become Lizard’s wife, at which the old woman was delighted and said that after seven nights she and her son would come. When this time had passed, the grandmother arrived, carrying the lizard in a basket. Kapapitoe (the youngest sister) laid down a mat for the old woman to sit on while she spread out the wedding gifts, whereupon the young bride gave her food, and after she had eaten and gone home, the lizard remained as Kapapitoe’s husband. The other sisters took pains to show their disgust. When they returned home at night, they would wipe the mud off their feet on Lizard’s back and would say, “Pitoe can’t prepare any garden; she must stay and take care of her lizard,” but Kapapitoe would say, “Keep quiet. I shall take him down to the river and wash off the mud.” After a while the older sisters got ready to make a clearing for a garden, and one day, when they had gone to work, the lizard said to his wife, “We have too much to bear. Your sisters tease us too much. Come, let us go and make a garden. Carry me in a basket on your back, wife, and gather also seven empty coco- nut-shells.” His wife agreed, put her husband in a basket, and after collecting the seven shells, went to the place which they were to make ready for their garden. Then the lizard said, “Put me down on the ground, wife, so that I can run about,” and thus he scurried around, lashing the grass and trees with his tail and covering a whole mountain-side in the course of the day; with one blow he felled a tree, cut it up by means of the sharp points on his skin, set the pieces afire, and burned the whole area, making the clearing smooth and good. Then he said to Kapapitoe, “Make a little seat for me, so that I can go and sit on it,” and when this was done, he ordered the
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Equallf significant in its dissemination is another tale. The ape and the tortoise once determined to plant each a banana patch, the ape choosing his place on the shore, where the waves would save him the labour of keeping the ground clean, while the tortoise planted his inland. As might be expected, the ape’s bananas all died from the effect of the salt water, while the tortoise’s trees grew finely. By and by the latter’s bananas were ripe, but since he could not climb the trees, he was forced to wait until the fruit fell to the ground. The ape coming by, the tortoise asked him to climb for him and said that if he would do so, they could divide the fruit. Nothing loath, the ape sprang up into one of the trees, but did not throw any of the fruit down; and when the tortoise asked him why he did not give him some, the ape replied that he wanted first to taste them. He kept on eating the bananas and paid no attention when the tortoise begged him to throw some down, until finally the latter said, “Well, you eat the fruit, and throw me down the skins.” Even this the ape re- fused to do, saying that the skins were still better than the fruit, whereupon, angry at such treatment, the tortoise col- lected a quantity of bamboo sticks, which he sharpened and set thickly in the ground under the tree. Then he called to the ape that when he had finished, he must jump down to the ground; but in doing this, he fell on the sharpened randjans and was killed. This tale, besides being wide-spread in In- donesia,^® occurs also in Japan and in Melanesia.^®
A tale told variously of the ape, the mouse-deer, and other animals may be included here, since it also shows a distribu- tion outside the Indonesian area. According to this,*® the ape and another animal meeting on the shore, the latter suggested that they gather shell-fish, to which the ape agreed. They soon found a monster clam, and by the advice of his companion, on whom the ape had previously played a trick, the latter was induced to put his hand into the shell, which was open, in order to pluck out the mollusc; but no sooner did he attempt this.
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than the clam closed its shell, thus cutting off the ape’s hand. In a somewhat similar form the story is found farther to the east in New Britain.®**
In some of the tales the tortoise and the ape play parts else- where taken by the mouse-deer and the tiger. After outwitting and killing the ape by one of the various tricks already recited, the tortoise took the body, making tobacco from the hair; from the flesh, dried meat; from the bones, which he burned, he made lime for betel chewing; and from the blood, sago wine. By and by the other apes set out to seek their com- panion, and coming to the tortoise, asked if he had seen him whom they sought; but without answering their question, the tortoise invited them to come to his house and chew betel. After first declining his hospitality, they finally accepted it, whereupon the tortoise gave them sago wine, which they drank, saying, “Ha! but the wine looks red,” to which the tortoise replied, “Well, there is dye in it.” Then he gave them betel to chew, and after chewing a while, the apes went off; and as they departed, the tortoise said to himself, “Bah! you have drunk the blood and chewed the bones of your friend!” One of the apes overheard him and said to his companions, “Listen! what does he say?” whereupon the apes called to the tortoise, “What are you saying?” to which the tortoise replied, “Oh! nothing. I only said that it is going to rain, so you had better run along.” Then the tortoise began to laugh, saying, “Ha! ha! it makes me laugh heartily,”®^ but when the apes heard this, they went after the tortoise and urged each other on to crush him to death. The tortoise, however, thought of a trick to save himself, so when the apes said to each other, “Have n’t you crushed him yet?” he answered, “My father and mother tried to crush me to death and I didn’t die. Do you think that I shall die if you crush me ? ” Then the apes said, “Let us rather burn him to death,” but the tortoise replied, “My father and mother tried to burn me to death, but I didn’t die. Do you think you can burn me to death?” Then
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the apes said to each other, “It would be better to throw him into the sea,” and now the tortoise was happy, but for craft he wept, while the apes said, “At last we have won.” Accordingly they picked up the tortoise and threw him into the sea, but there he was in his element and laughed aloud and said, “Ha! ha! the water is the very home of my father and my mother.” At this the apes were greatly enraged and said, “We must find the buffalo to get him to drink up the sea.” The buffalo agreed, and had drunk up almost all of it when the crab, bribed by the tortoise with the promise of a ripe coco-nut, bit the buffalo in the belly and made a hole in it. Thus all the water flowed out again, and all of the apes were drowned but one, who was saved by leaping into the branches of a tree. She later gave birth to young, and from them all the apes of today are descended.®®
One day the trickster came across the ape, who said to him, “Friend, let us stew each other,” to which the trickster an- swered, “Good, but let me be the first to be stewed. Go and get a bamboo, so that I can creep into it.” When the ape came back with a piece of bamboo, the trickster crept into it and said, “Now, friend, you must go and pluck leaves to pack me in tightly. When you come back with the leaves, don’t look into the bamboo, but stuff the leaves in snugly, while you look another way.” The ape went for the leaves, but meantime the trickster crawled out of the bamboo cooking vessel and climbed up a vine which hung near by, while the ape came back and stuffed the vessel, which was now empty, with leaves, thinking that the other was still within. Then he blew up the fire and set the vessel on. It bubbled away, and when he thought the meat was done he took the vessel off, leaning it against a tree while he went away to get large leaves on which to pour out the food; but after he had disappeared, and the water in the vessel had had a chance to cool a bit, the trickster came down the vine and crept into the bamboo again. When the ape returned, he arranged the large leaves, removed those
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stuffed into the vessel, and shook out the trickster, who said, “Look, friend, how brave I am! When the water was boiling hardest, I did not feel it at all.” The ape, replying, “Well, well, I want to be stewed also, so that I may get warm,” crept into the vessel, whose mouth the trickster stuffed tightly, so that the other could not escape, after which he set the vessel on the fire. Soon the water got hot, and the ape, no longer able to bear it, cried, “Take me out, friend! take me out! I am afraid,” only to hear the trickster reply, “Well, it was just so when you cooked me.” “Good friend, have pity on me!” said the other, “take me out!” but the trickster answered, “Well, I did not complain when you cooked me.” So he showed no pity, but when he thought the other was thoroughly cooked, he turned out the contents of the vessel and ate him all up.®^
Not long after this, the ape, who in this instance was the trickster, chanced upon some people in a village who were watching a corpse; and when the chief told them to go and prepare a cofiin, the ape said, “I will go with you and help hollow it out.” The chief replying, “Very well,” the ape went with the others to cut down the tree and make the coffin. After it was finished, the people said that each one ought to get in and try it, whereupon the ape said, “I want to get in, too. Everyone ought to take his turn,” but when he was inside the cofiin, his companions suddenly put the cover on, because he was such a rogue and had tricked so many others. The ape called, “Let me out, let me out!” but they paid no attention, for they had decided that he must die. So the ape perished, and the people took the cofiin and burned it with all its contents.®®
In several of the tales the trickster plays the part of a judge, or of one who calls on another to decide a difiicult case. Ac- cording to one of these stories,®® a crocodile once was asleep on the bank of a stream when a great tree, uprooted by the wind, fell upon him and pinned him down so that he could not move. The trickster came by, and the crocodile begged
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him to aid him in getting free; but the former, saying that he could not do anything by himself, went off and came back with a buffalo, who was able to bite through the roots, whereupon the river carried the tree away. The crocodile’s appetite, however, got the better of his gratitude, and he begged that, to complete their good deed, they should drag him into the water. This the buffalo did, but the crocodile little by little induced his helper to push him into deeper and deeper water, thinking thus to get the buffalo in a position where resistance would be difficult and where he could the more easily catch him and devour him. Feeling that his suc- cess was sure, the crocodile told the buffalo what he pro- posed to do, but the latter was loud in his protests, saying that to eat him was a poor way to reward his aid; and he accordingly begged that the case be submitted to a judge, who should de- cide the rights’ of the matter. The first thing to come along to which he could make appeal was an old leaf-plate which floated down the stream; but the plate, on having the case stated, replied that he, too, had been treated ungratefully, since he had been thrown away, although he was still good for some- thing; and so, absorbed in his own wrongs, he drifted on down the river. The same thing happened with a rice-mortar and an old mat, so that the buffalo stood in great danger of death. The trickster, however (in this case the mouse-deer), quite unwilling to let his friend perish, ran off to get a deer and to secure his help. When the latter came back with him, he was appealed to as a judge; but saying that he could not decide the case unless the circumstances were made quite clear to him, he demanded that the whole affair be repeated for his en- lightenment. Accordingly, he made the crocodile take up his former position on shore with the buffalo coming to his aid; after which he said that he himself would prefer to have the whole scene enacted once more, but that if the buffalo did not choose to do so, then never mind. Thus the buffalo was able to escape, and the crocodile went away angry.
PLATE XIX
Ancestral image of. wood, consecrated by prayers and soaking in the blood of a sacrificed pig or chicken. •The spirits of the ancestors were sometimes thought to enter into these images. Ifugao tribe, Luzon, Philippine Islands. Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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One day the boar and the antelope met, and the fornaer said, “Friend, I dreamed last night that you would be eaten by me,” to which the antelope replied, “How can that be, for we are friends,” only to hear the boar answer, “What I have dreamed must come to pass.” When the antelope heard this, he said, “If that is so, let us go and put the case to our ruler,” but neither of them knew that the ape had overheard. The antelope and the boar came to the king, who, after he had listened to the case, decided that the antelope must really be eaten, because the boar had dreamed it. When the ape heard this, he had pity for the antelope, so he dropped down suddenly from the tree-top before them all, startling the king, who said, “What are you doing here?” The ape answered, “Why, I dreamed that I had married the daughter of the king, and I have come for her.” The king replied, “But what you say is impossible,” to which the ape retorted, “No, it is very possible.” The king hearing this, and- seeing the point, said to his servants, “The decision in the case of the antelope and the boar cannot be carried out.”
Related to the class of trickster tales proper are some of the stories which are told of another hero, who in many respects resembles the Till Eulenspiegel of European folk-lore, as the trickster does Renard the Fox. As examples of these tales we may take the following.- One day the king sent a servant to pick flowers on the land of the hero, in whose house he saw three such beautiful women that he forgot about his errand and returned to the ruler with empty hands, saying that he had beheld three women who were so enchantingly lovely that they put the king’s wives to shame. The king desired, there- fore, to have them for himself, and planning to get rid of the hero, he summoned him, saying, when he came, “Don’t be disturbed because I have sent for you. I only want you to go for me to the sky to see how my ancestors are getting along; and I shall, therefore, burn you up, so that you can ascend thither.” Full of sorrow, the hero went back to his wife and
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her lovely sisters and told them what the king had commanded; but his wife replied, “Don’t be distressed; I shall conceal you in the sleeping-room, and for two days you must not come out.” The three sisters next hastened to pound up a great quantity of rice, from which they made an image of a man that exactly resembled the hero, and then they wept and wailed and let their tears fall upon the image and it came to life. They dressed the impersonator in the hero’s clothes, instruct- ing him to say that he would return from his journey in three days; and so the false hero went to the king and said that he was ready to start on the journey to the sky, “How long will you be gone?” asked the king, and the image replied, “I shall be back in three days.” Then the king’s servants, wrapping the impostor in palm fibres, set him afire, and as he was made of rice-flour, he was burned up entirely and left no trace, whence they said, “He has gone on his journey.” Meanwhile, the real hero remained in his sleeping-room, and the three sisters cooked a great quantity of delectable viands. After two days they had finished, and dressing the hero sumptu- ously, and putting upon him golden rings, bracelets, and orna- ments, they gave him the food to take to the king. When he arrived, he presented this, saying that the king’s ancestors in the upper world sent him many greetings and this food as token of their affection; and that they begged that he himself would come to visit them. The king was much surprised to find the hero safe and sound, and said, “Have you already re- turned? You said that you would stay away three days, but only two have passed.” “Yes,” the hero answered, “I did not think the sky was as near as it is. If all this food had not had to be prepared, I would have been here much sooner.” “ Is n’t it so far then?” asked the king. “Oh, no,” said the hero, “it is only a little distance.” “Where did you get all these golden ornaments?” queried the king. “Oh, your ancestors gave them to me, and you also can have some if you go.” The king said, “Shall I let myself be burned in order to go thither?” “Cer-
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tainly,” the other replied, “in no other way can you obtain such fine things.” “Very well,” said the king, “set nae afire,” but his companions cried, “Me too, me too,” for all were anxious to go to the sky. “Well, wait a bit,” said the hero, “until I gather enough palm fibres for you all.” So he went to the forest and collected a great quantity, and then, wrapping the king and his friends in it, he set it afire. When it was com- pletely burned out, there their bodies lay, all shrunken and charred; whereupon the hero called to the people, who had hated their ruler because of his oppression of them, “Take everything you find in the king’s house and apportion it amongst yourselves, for all that he possessed he had taken from you.” So the people divided the king’s treasure, and the hero and his wife and her sisters lived happily ever after.®®
As another example of these tales we may take the story of Taba. He was anxious to marry the king’s daughter, but for a long time could think of no way in which he could compass his wish. At last, however, he hit upon a plan. Finding that not far from the house was a great zaaringin-tree, the path to which was very roundabout and much obstructed, he secretly made a short cut to the tree, after which he went into the house and pretended that he was very ill, sitting by the ashes on the hearth and groaning that he was surely about to die. Asked what could be done to help him, he said, “Oh, if you will only go for me to the great waringin-tree which grows by the road. A spirit whom I worship lives in that tree, and if you would ask it, it would tell you what I could do in order to get well.” The people pitied Taba and went down the road to the tree; but he, meanwhile, hurried thither by his shorter path, climbed up into the tree, and secreted himself; so that when the people arrived and asked whether Taba would regain his health, he called out, “He must be married to the king’s daughter. Only thus will he recover.” Before the people could teach the house by the regular road, Taba got there, and when they arrived he was sitting groaning by the fire. The people,
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telling him what the oracle had said, agreed to aid him in carrying out the command of the supposed spirit; and thus Taba became the son-in-law of the king and soon was well againd®
Two other animal stories or fables may be given in connexion with the series already presented, since, although even more clearly of extra-Indonesian origin, their distribution serves to confirm the evidence of foreign influence in all of this type of tale. One day the cat reproached the deer for having stepped on the ear of one of her kittens, but the deer excused himself, saying that he was startled by a bird and ran, and that the blame thus rested with the bird, who, by flying up suddenly, was the real cause of the accident. The cat then went to the bird and accused it, but the latter shifted the fault on another bird, who had alarmed it by appearing with white feathers about its neck. In its turn this bird put the blame on another, which had appeared with its whole body yellow, and this bird said that it had done so because still another had a yellow beak. The latter, on being approached by the cat, alleged that this was owing to the fact that the crab had jointed claws, while the crab transferred the blame to the mouse, who, he said, had stolen his hole. When the cat, at last, charged the mouse with the ultimate responsibility, the latter could not think of any excuse to give on the spur of the moment, and so, losing pa- tience, the cat jumped upon it and ate it up. Ever since that time cats and mice have been at war.^°
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without danger of being burned to cinders. ’ Then he continued : ‘It is well! Approach me! . . . Seize hold of one of those bristles that stand out from my hair,’ and so Muntalog did. . . . Then Mumbonang said to him again: ‘Come nigh! Take this white part, or extremity, of the eye that looks toward the north-east.’ . . . And he took it and placed it in his hand. And Mumbonang said to him once more: ‘Come near again, and take the part black as coal, the dirt of my ear which is as the foulness of my ear.’ And so he did. Then Mumbonang said to Muntalog: ‘Take these things and bring them to thy son Amburnabbakal and to Ngilin, in order that the latter may give them to the Ifugaos.’ And he said again to Muntalog: ‘Take this white of my eye (flint), this wax from my ear (tinder), and this bristle or point like steel for striking fire, in order that thou mayest have the wherewith to attain what thou seekest.’” In this tale we have a closer approach to the various Polynesian myths of Maui and of his securing the fire from the fire-deity.^®®
From central Celebes a diflFerent type is recorded. Fire was given by the deity to the first men; but they allowed it to go out, and since they did not know the secret of how to make it, they sent a man named Tamboeja to the sky (which at that time was near the earth) to get flame. The inhabitants of the sky-world told him that they would give him fire, but that he must cover his eyes with his hands so that he would not see how it was made. They did not know, however, that he had eyes under his arm-pits also, which enabled him to watch their actions and see how they made fire with flint and steel; and this secret, together with the fire itself, he took back to earth and gave to men.
Bornean myths of the origin of fire are as follows. Accord- ing to the Kay an,“® fire was invented by an old man, named Laki Oi, who discovered the method of making it by pulling a strip of rattan back and forth under a piece of wood. The Dyaks of the Baram District describe the origin of fire as
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due to an accident. “One dajr when the man and the dog were in the jungle together, and got drenched by rain, the man noticed that the dog warmed himself by rubbing against a huge creeper (called the Aka Rtiwa), whereupon the man took a stick and rubbed it rapidly against the Aka Rawa, and to his surprise obtained fire.” Later some food was accidentally dropped near the fire, and the man, finding it thus rendered more agreeable to the taste, discovered the art of cooking.*®®
CHAPTER II
TRICKSTER TALES
I N Polynesia the tales of the exploits of the hero Maui formed a cycle which was current everywhere in one form or another, and which was in many ways, perhaps, the most characteristic of legends as it was the most popular. Cor- responding to the Maui cycle in Polynesia in universality, characteristic quality, and popularity, but differing entirely in type, are the Indonesian trickster tales centring about the mouse-deer (kantjil or pelanduk), the tarsier ape, or the tor- toise; and these stories, of which there are very many ver- sions, may well be considered next, and before taking up those of more miscellaneous character.
In these tales or fables (for very many of them are indeed such) the mouse-deer usually plays the leading part in Borneo, Java, and Sumatra, as well as among the Malays of the Malay Peninsula; whereas in Celebes and Halmahera the same ex- ploits are often attributed to the ape. Sundry other tales of a like character seem to be recorded only of the ape, and others again only of the tortoise. The order of the incidents varies considerably in different regions, although the series usually starts with a tricky exploit which rouses enmity and pursuit. In Java,^ the beginning is as follows. One day the kantjil was resting quietly when he heard a tiger approaching and feared for his life, wherefore, quickly taking a large leaf, he began to fan a pile of dung which happened to lie near. When the tiger came up, and overcome by curiosity asked what he was doing, the mouse-deer said, “This is food belonging to the king. I am guarding it.” The tiger, being very hungry, at
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once wished to be allowed to eat the royal food, but the kantjil refused for a long time, advising him not to touch it and say- ing that it would be wrong to betray his trust; but at last he agreed to let the tiger have his way if he would promise to wait before eating it until he, the kantjil, had gone; for thus the blame might be escaped. No sooner said than done; so when the kantjil had reached a safe distance, he called back to the tiger, ^^You may begin now,’^ whereupon the tiger hun- grily seized what he thought was a delicious morsel, only to be cruelly deceived. Furious at the trick played upon him by the little kantjil, he hurried after the fugitive to get his revenge.^ His intended victim had meanwhile found a very ven- omous snake, which lay coiled up asleep. Sitting by this, he awaited the tiger’s arrival, and when the latter came up rag- ing in pursuit, he told him that he had only himself to blame, since he had been warned not to eat the food. ^‘But,” said the kantjil, ^^you must keep quiet, for I am guarding the girdle of the king. You must not come near it, because it is full of magic power/’ The tiger’s curiosity and desire being, of course, only stimulated by all this, he insisted that he be allowed to try on the precious girdle, to which the kantjil yielded with apparent reluctance, again warning him to be very careful and, as before, saying that the tiger must first let him get safely away, in order that no guilt might attach to him. When the kantjil had run off, the tiger seized the sup- posed magic girdle, only to be bitten by the snake, which he did not succeed in killing until after a severe struggle/
Thirsting for vengeance, the tiger again took up the pursuit of his clever little adversary, who, meanwhile, had stopped to rest, so that when the tiger caught up with him, he found him sitting near a clump of tall bamboo. The kantjil greeted the tiger warmly and said, without giving the latter time to express his anger, that he had been appointed keeper of the king’s trumpet. The tiger, immediately desiring to try this wonderful instrument, was mdueed to put his tongue between
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two of the bamboos, being told that, as soon as the wind blew, they would give fine music. The trickster ran off, and presently a strong gust arose, swayed the bamboos, and thus pinched the tiger’s tongue entirely off.^
Again the tiger gave chase, and this time found the kantjil standing beside a great wasp’s-nest. As before, the trickster warned the tiger not to disturb him, for he was guarding the king’s drum which gave out a very wonderful tone when struck; but the tiger, of course, was most anxious to have the opportunity of sounding it. With feigned reluctance, the kant- jil at last agreed, stipulating, as before, that he be allowed to get out of the way. As soon as he had put a safe distance be- tween himself and the tiger, he gave the signal, and the tiger struck the nest, only to be beset the next instant by a swarm of angry wasps.®
For another famous exploit of the trickster we may take a Bornean version.® One day the mouse-deer was going out fishing when the tortoise, the deer, the elephant, and several other animals asked to be allowed to go with him. He agreed, and so large a catch was secured that the party resolved to smoke a portion to preserve it. The elephant remained be- hind next day to watch the drying fish; but while he was on guard there came a great crashing in the forest, and presently a huge giant appeared, a forest demon, who calmly stole the fish, ate them, and walked away without the elephant daring to stop him. When the fishermen returned, they were much disturbed over the loss of their fish, but as they again had a large supply, they left another of the party on guard next day. Once more the giant came and ate the whole, this continuing until all the animals had had their turn except the mouse-deer, and all had failed to prevent the giant’s theft. The other ani- mals laughed at the tiny fellow’s boast that now he would catch and kill the thief; but as soon as the fishermen had gone, he got four strong posts and drove them into the ground, after which he collected some rattan and began to plait four large
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strong rings. Before long the giant came crashing through the forest, but just as he was about to take the fish, he saw the mouse-deer, who kept busily at work and paid not the slightest attention to the intruder. Overcome by curiosity, the demon asked what the trickster was doing, and the latter replied that his friends suffered much from pains in the back, so that he was preparing a remedy for them. “That is interesting,” said the giant, “ for I, too, suffer much from pains in my back. I wish you would cure me.” “All right,” said the pelanduk. “Go over there and lie down, put your elbows close to your sides, and draw up your knees; and I will massage you and apply the cure.” The giant at once complied, and the tricky mouse- deer, quickly slipping the strong rattan rings over the demon’s arms, legs, and body, fastened them securely to the great posts. In vain did the giant struggle to get free, but the rattan bonds could not be broken, so that when the fishermen came back, they found the mouse-deer sitting quietly beside his cap- tive, whereupon they at once attacked the monster who had been so neatly trapped and beat him to death. Almost the same tale is found in German New Guinea, and the essential theme of binding or tying a giant by a ruse or in his sleep also appears elsewhere in Melanesia.®
One day the trickster fell by accident into a deep pit, from which he could not climb out, try as he would. For a long time he sat there wondering what to do, but at last an ele- phant came by, and seeing the mouse-deer, asked him what he was doing. The latter replied that he had information that the sky was going to fall and that all creatures would be crushed, whence he had taken refuge in this pit in order to save himself. Greatly alarmed, the elephant begged that he, too, might be allowed to come into the pit, and the trickster agreeing, he descended, whereupon the kantjil, seizing the opportunity, jumped upon the elephant’s back, from which he was able to leap out of the pit; and so he ran away, leaving the elephant to his fate.®
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Numerous tales are told of the tricks played by the mouse- deer on the crocodile. Once the former wished to cross a river which he was unable to wade or swim because it was in flood, so, standing upon the bank, he called for the crocodiles, say- ing that the king had given command that they should be counted. Accordingly, they came in great numbers and by the trickster’s directions arranged themselves in a row extend- ing from bank to bank, whereupon the mouse-deer pretended to count them, jumping from one to the other and calling out, “one,” “two,” “three,” etc., until he reached the opposite bank, when he derided them for their stupidity.^®
Resolving to be avenged, the crocodile bided his time, and when the trickster came later to the river to drink, he seized one of the mouse-deer’s legs in his mouth. Nothing dismayed, the captive picked up a branch and called out, “That is not my leg; that is a stick of wood. My foot is here.” The croco- dile accordingly let go and snapped at the branch, thinking that it was really the trickster’s leg; but this gave the needed opportunity, and the clever mouse-deer bounded away to safety, leaving the stupid crocodile with the stick in his mouth.^^ The crocodile, however, determined not to go without his revenge, lay in wait, floating like a water-soaked log until the mouse-deer should visit the river again. When, after a while, he did come to the stream and saw the crocodile motionless, he stood on the bank and said, as if he were in doubt whether or not it was a log, “If that is the crocodile, it will float down- stream.” The crocodile, resolving not to give himself away, remained motionless; and then the trickster added, “But if it is a log, it will float upstream.” At once the crocodile began to swim slowly against the current, and the mouse-deer, hav- ing discovered what he wished, called out in derision, “Ha! ha! I have fooled you once more.”
The trickster is not invariably successful in avoiding cap- ture, although he usually manages to escape by a ruse. Thus, being caught one day in a trap while he was plundering a
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man^s fields, he feigned death. The owner of the field discover- ing the culprit, and thinking that he was already dead, took him out of the snare, intending to carry him off, but when the man^s back was turned the trickster jumped up and ran awayd^ On another occasion, the kantjil was caught, carried home by a man, and put in a cage to keep until his captor was ready to kill and eat him; but though the outlook was dark indeed, at last a stratagem occurred to him. A dog came by and asked why the mouse-deer was thus shut up, whereupon the latter said that he had been chosen as the husband of the chief s daughter and was to be kept in the cage until the morrow, when the wedding was to take place. The dog wished that he might marry the beautiful maiden himself and asked the captive if he would not be willing to have him change places. With apparent reluctance the trickster agreed, and the change being effected the mouse-deer was free once more.^^
Other adventures of the trickster in which he escapes by a ruse of a different sort are as follows. Being about to be at- tacked by the buffalo, who wished to kill him, the trickster put on his head a false pair of horns to alarm his adversary, and reddening them as if with blood, stood ready for the at- tack. When the buffalo appeared, the ape (who was the trick- ster in this instance) called out that he had just killed several other buffaloes and was quite ready for further conflict, where- upon his opponent, deceived by the imitated horns and blood, fled, thinking that he had caught a tartard^
A somewhat different version, in which the tiger is the ag- gressor, runs thus.^® The tiger was seeking the kantjil to eat him, when the latter hastened to find a J/^j^f-plant, whose leaves he chewed making his mouth blood-red; after which he went and sat down beside a welL By and by the tiger came along, and the trickster, assuming a fierce aspect and drivel- ling blood-red saliva from his mouth, said that the tiger had better look out, as he, the mouse-deer, was accustomed to eat tigers, and if the latter did not believe it, let him look in
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the well, in which he would see the head of the last one that he. had finished. The tiger was much alarmed, though not wholly convinced, so he went to look in the well, where he saw, of course, the reflection of his own head. Thinking that this was really the head of the tiger which the mouse-deer had just eaten, and convinced of the trickster’s might, the tiger ran away as fast as he could.
The ape, however, encouraged the tiger not to be afraid of the trickster, who was not so terrible a person after all, and to prove this, he said that he would go with the tiger to seek the kantjil once more; while to demonstrate his good faith he proposed that they should tie their tails together so that they might thus make a common attack, the ape riding on the tiger’s back. The latter agreed and in this way again approached the clever little rascal; but as soon as the latter saw them coming, he called out, “Ha! that is strange! There comes the ape who usually brings me two tigers every day as tribute, and now he is bringing only one.” Terrified at this, the tiger ran away as fast as his legs would carry him; and the ape, being tied to his tail, was dashed against the rocks and trees and was killed.
The wide-spread tale of the hare and the tortoise is told almost universally through this Indonesian area, with the trickster, of course, playing the rUe of the hare. The story is everywhere so much alike and so well known that it is scarcely necessary to give these local versions.^®
The trickster tales so far presented have the mouse-deer for their hero in Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, as well as in the Malay Peninsula; while the same narratives are told of the tarsier ape in many instances in the rest of the island region and of the hare in Cambodia and Annam. The following stories, on the other hand, seem to be recounted almost wholly of the ape and are confined within a somewhat narrower geo- graphical area.
There was once an ape who was the friend of a heron and
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?wHo said, Friend, let ns louse each other, and let me be loused first/^ The heron, replying, Yes, you first, then picked off the ape’s lice, and when this was done, said, ‘^Now, do me also.” While he was being loused by the ape, he said, «^Ow! you are hurting me,” but the ape answered, /“^No, I am only pulling off the lice.” In reality he was tearing out the heron’s feathers; and after he had plucked every one, he said, ^^I am quite finished; fly away,” whereupon the heron started to fly, only to find all his feathers gone, while the ape went off, leaving the heron very angry.^^ Shortly after- ward the ape met another heron, who, determining to punish him for his deed, said that there were very fine berries to be had in a place of which he knew across the sea, and invited the ape to go with him to get some. Taking a great leaf, he made a canoe of it, and the two set out, the ape paddling and the heron steering; but when they were well out of sight of land, the heron pecked a hole in the bottom of the boat, which quickly filled and sank, the bird flying safely away and leaving the ape struggling in the sea.^®
In the versions from the Malay Peninsula, Sangir Islands, and Halmahera the ape was just about to drown when a shark appeared, and thinking he was to have a good meal, told the ape that he was going to eat him; but the latter answered that he had no flesh or entrails and that he would afford only a sorry meal. The shark, surprised at this statement, asked where his flesh and entrails were, and the ape replied that he had left them ashore, but that, if the shark would carry him to land, he would go and get them. The shark accordingly bore the trickster to the shore, where the ape told his rescuer to stay while he went to obtain his flesh; and in this way he kept the shark until the tide had ebbed so that he was unable to get away, and thus died. This episode of the rescue from drown- ing, and of the ungrateful killing of the rescuer, shows an inter- esting distribution, occurring in Annam and India, as well as in Micronesia,®^ Melanesia,®^ and Polynesia.®^
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A similar tale is found among the Iban and Sakarram Dyaks,^®® only reversing the order, so that after twice fail- ing to make man from wood, the birds succeeded at the third trial when they used clay. Farther north, among the Dusun of British North Borneo,^®® the first two beings “ made a stone in the shape of a man but the stone could not talk, so they made a wooden figure and when it was made it talked, though not long after it became worn out and rotten; after- wards they made a man of earth, and the people are descended from this till the present day.” The Bilan of Mindanao ^®^ have a similar tale. After the world had been formed and was habitable, one of the deities said, “Of what use is land without people?” So the others said, “Let us make wax into people,” and they did so; but when they put the wax near the fire, it melted. Seeing that they could not create man that way, they next decided to form him out of dirt, and Melu and Finu- weigh began the task. All went well until they were ready to make the nose, when Finuweigh, who was shaping this part, put it on upside down, only to have Melu tell him that people would drown if he left it that way, for the rain would run into it. At this Finuweigh became very angry and refused to change it, but when he turned his back, Melu seized the nose quickly and turned it as it now is; and one may still see where, in his haste, he pressed his fingers at the root. Another account says that the images made of earth were vivified by whipping them.^®® In a few cases we find that man was supposed to have
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been made of other materials. Thus the Ata in Mindanao declare ^”® that grass was the substance used, whereas the Igorot in Luzon say“® that the ancestors of all others than themselves were made from pairs of reeds. In Nias one ver- sion states “ that man was formed from the fruits or buds of the tree which grew from the heart of one of the earliest beings, while various gods developed from the buds on the upper part of the tree. “When these two lowest fruits were still very small, Latoere said to Barasi-loeloe and Balioe, ‘The lowest fruits are mine.’ But Balioe answered, ‘See, then, if you can make man of them. If you can do that, they belong to you; otherwise, not.’ Latoere being unable to form men from them, Lowalangi sent Barasi-loeloe thither; but he could shape noth- ing more than the bodies of men, although he made one male and one female. Then Lowalangi took a certain weight of wind, gave it to Balioe, and said, ‘Put all of this in the mouth of the image for a soul. If it absorbs all of it, man will at- tain to a long life; otherwise, he will die sooner, just in pro- portion to the amount which is left over of the soul that is offered him.’ Balioe did what Lowalangi had told him, and then he gave the people names.” In a few instances still other substances are said to have been used from which to make man.“®
Myths relative to the creation of animals ascribe various origins to them. Some of the Kayan in Borneo say that two of the descendants of the armless and legless monster de- rived from the sword-handle and spindle that fell from heaven, cast pieces of bark upon the ground, and that these turned into swine, fowl, and dogs; while others declare that all the birds, beasts, and fish were derived from the leaves and the twigs of the wonder-tree. In south-eastern Borneo serpents, tigers, and all noxious animals were formed from the body of Angoi, the deity who had provided humankind with breath. When the other divinity, who had wished to bring man im- mortal life from heaven, found his endeavours forestalled, in
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his anger he attacked Angoi and killed him, after which he cut up the body and scattered it far and wide, and from these fragments came all the harmful animals. From the Ifugao in the Philippines we have a more detailed account. The child of a sky-maiden and a mortal was cut in two, the mother returning to the heavens with her half and the husband re- taining the other portion. Unable to restore this moiety to life, the father left it to decay; but learning of this fact, the mother descended and from it made various animals, birds, and the like — from the head, the owl; from the ears, a cer- tain tree fungus; from the nose, a mollusc; from the bones of the breast, a serpent; from the heart, the rainbow; from the hair, worms and maggots; from the skin, a bird; from part of the blood, bats; and from the intestines, several sorts of animals. The Mandaya in Mindanao state that “the sun and moon were married and lived happily together until many children had been born to them. At last they quarrelled and the moon ran away from her husband. . . . After the separation of their parents the children died, and the moon gathering up their bodies cut them into small pieces and threw them into space. Those fragments which fell into the water became fish, those which fell on land were converted into snakes and animals, while ‘those which fell upward’ remained in the sky as stars.”
Of the origin of the sun and moon several accounts are given. According to the Kayan of central Borneo, the moon, at least, was one of the descendants of the armless and legless being sprung from the sword-handle and spindle which fell from heaven; but in Celebes sun, moon, and stars were made from the body of a celestial maiden while in Nias sun and moon were shaped from the eyes ^ of the armless and legless being, out of whose heart grew the tree from the buds of which men and gods originated. Elsewhere in Indonesia the sun and moon are either said to have been created, or noth- ing is stated regarding their origin. In Polynesia a theme which has been shown to be wide-spread is that of the separation of
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heaven and earth and the raising of the heavens; or the belief that formerly the sky was low and close to the earth, and that a deity or a demigod later uplifted it to its present place. The same concept appears also in the Indonesian area. Among the Ifugao, in the Philippines, it is said that the sky was once so very near to the earth that it interfered with the plying of the spear, while its cannibalistic propensities were causing the extermination of mankind.*^ The aid of the gods was accord- ingly invoked, whereupon one of them, who had always re- mained in a sitting position, suddenly rose and with his head and shoulders thrust the heavens far above. The Tagalog also state that the sky was once so low that it could be touched with the hand, and when men were playing, they would strike their heads against it, whence they became angry and threw stones at it, so that a deity withdrew it to its present position. The Manobo of Mindanao say that the sky was so close to the earth that a woman hit it with her pestle while pounding rice, whereupon the heavens ascended to a great height. A similar tale is known also to the Bagobo in the same island. The theme of raising the sky is well known in Borneo. In the north-west the deed was accomplished by the daughter of the first man,^®® while the Dusun of British North Borneo declare that the sky, originally low, retreated when six of the seven original suns were killed.^®® Similar tales are told in the south-east and elsewhere in the island,^®^ and also occur in Nias,^®^ Rotti, and Loeang-sermata.^®® Deluge-myths appear to be fairly well developed in Indo- nesia and show some features of interest; while in the Philip- pines, as already pointed out, the origin-legends in many instan- ces begin with such a tale. As told by the Ifugao of Kiangan, the story runs as follows.^®^ “The first son of Wigan, called Kabigat, went from the sky-region, Hu dog, to the Earth World to hunt with dogs. As the earth was then entirely level, his dogs ran much from one side to another, pursuing their quarry, and this they did without Kabigat hearing their barking. In conse-
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queace of which, it is reported that Kabigat said: ‘I see that the earth is completely flat, because there does not resound the echo of the barking of the dogs.’ After becoming pensive for a little while he decided to return to the heights of the Sky World. Later on he came down again, with a very large cloth, and went to close the exit to the sea of the waters of the rivers, and so it remained closed. He returned again to Hudog, and went to make known to Bongabong that he had closed the out- let of the waters. Bongabong answered him: ‘Go thou to the house of the Cloud and of the Fog, and bring them to me.’ For this purpose he had given permission beforehand to Cloud and Fog, intimating to them that they should go to the house of Baiyuhibi, and so they did. Baiyuhibi brought together his sons . . . and bade them to rain without ceasing for three days. Then Bongabong called . . . and so they ceased. Wigan said, moreover, to his son Kabigat, ‘Go thou and remove the stopper that thou hast placed on the waters,’ and so he did. And in this manner, when the waters that had covered the earth be- gan to recede, there rose up mountains and valleys formed by the rushing of the waters. Then Bongabong called Mumba’an that he might dry the earth, and so he did.”
The central Ifugao have a different version.^®® According to this, “One year when the rainy season should have come it did not. Month after month passed by and no rain fell. The river grew smaller and smaller day by day until at last it disappeared entirely. The people began to die, and at last the old men said: ‘If we do not soon get water, we shall all die. Let us dig down into the grave of the river, for the river is dead and has sunk into his grave, and perhaps we may find the soul of the river and it will save us from dying.’ So they began to dig, and they dug for three days. On the third day the hole was very large, and suddenly they struck a great spring, and the water gushed forth. It came so fast that some of them were drowned before they could get out of the pit.
“Then the people were happy, for there was plenty of water;
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and they brought much food and made a great feast. But while they were feasting it grew dark and began to rain. The river also kept rising until at last it overflowed its bank. Then the people became frightened and they tried to stop up the spring in the river, but they could not do so. Then the old men said, ‘We must flee to the mountains, for the river gods are angry and we shall all be drowned.’ So the people fled toward the mountains and all but two of them were overtaken by the water and drowned. The two who escaped were a brother and sister named Wigan and Bugan — Wigan on Mt. Amuyao and Bugan on Kalauitan. And the water continued to rise until all the Earth World was covered excepting only the peaks of these two mountains.
“The water remained on the earth for a whole season, or from rice planting to rice harvest. . . . At last the waters receded from the earth and left it covered with the rugged mountains and deep valleys that exist today.”
More or less fragmentary versions of similar tales have been given from the Igorot,“® and it is probable that they also exist among the Tinguian.^’' In Mindanao the Ata tell how in very early times the earth was covered with water, and all people were drowned, except two men and a woman, who were carried away and would have been lost, had they not been rescued by an eagle, who carried one man and the woman to their home. The Mandaya in the same island have a still different account, according to which all the inhabitants of the world were once destroyed by flood, except one woman. When the waters had subsided, she gave birth to a son, who, when he grew up, married his mother, thus re-peopling the world.
The Borneo versions are quite different. The Iban, or Sea Dyaks of Sarawak say that once, just as the harvest was ripe, it was found that a large part of the fields had been de- spoiled during the night. Since no tracks could be found, watch was kept, and a huge serpent was seen to lower itself
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from the sky and to feed upon the rice, whereupon one of the watchers, rushing up, cut off the snake’s head and in the morning proceeded to cook some of the flesh from it for his breakfast. Hardly had he eaten, however, before the sky was overcast, dark clouds rolled up, and a terrible rain-storm caused a flood from which only those few persons escaped alive who succeeded in reaching the highest hills. The Dusun of British North Borneo have a picturesque variant. “Long ago some men of Kampong Tudu were looking for wood to make a fence, and while they were searching they came upon what appeared to be a great tree-trunk, which was lying on the ground. They began to cut it with their parangs, intend- ing to make their fence from it, but to their surprise blood came from the cuts. So they decided to walk along to one end of the trunk and see what it was. When they came to the end they found that they had been cutting into a great snake and that the end of the ‘trunk’ was its head. They therefore made stakes and driving them into the ground bound the snake to them and killed it. Then they flayed the skin from the body and taking it and the meat home they made a great feast from its flesh. The skin of the snake they made into a great drum, and while they were drinking they beat the drum to try its sound, but for a long time the drum remained silent. At last, in the middle of the night, the drum began to sound of its own accord, ‘Duk Duk Kagu; Duk Duk Kagu.’ Then came a great hurricane and swept away all the houses in the kampong; some of them were carried out to sea together with the people in them, others settled down at what is now Kam- pong Tempassuk and other places, and from them arose the present villages.”**® In Nias the flood-myth takes a still different form. According to this, “once there was strife be- tween the mountains, each one desiring to be the highest. This angered one of the deities, who, saying, ‘Ye mountains! I shall cover you all,’ took a golden comb and threw it into the ocean, where it was changed into a mighty crab, which
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stopped up the overflow of the sea. Then came a great rain, and these causes generated a vast quantit7 of water, which rose higher and higher until three mountains alone remained uncovered. All the people who fled to these with their animals were saved, but all others were drowned.”
Very commonly in savage mythology we find the idea that death was not originally intended to be the inevitable fate of mankind. In Polynesia, as has been shown, death was due to Maui’s failure to pass through the body of Hine-nui-te-po, or to the express decree of some deity who wished man to die, in opposition to another divinity’s wish that he should be im- mortal. In Indonesian tales immortality is lost, in many cases, by an error. Thus, the Dusun in British North Borneo say that “When Kenharingan had made everything he said, ‘Who is able to cast off his skin.? If anyone can do so, he shall not die.’ The snake alone heard and said, ‘I can.’ And for this reason, till the present day, the snake does not die unless killed by man. (The Dusun did not hear or they would also have thrown off their skins and there would have been no death.)”
The Nias myths ascribe mortality to a mistake. When the earth was finished and complete, the divine being who had spread it out and shaped it fasted for many days, after which he received nine plates, each filled with a different sort of food. Choosing that with the ripe bananas, he threw away the plate on which were some shrimps, and in consequence of his hav- ing eaten the easily perishable food man perishes and decays, but the snake who ate the shrimps became immortal. In Celebes, Borneo, and elsewhere we have already seen that the immortality designed for man by his creator was lost through the fact that while the creator had gone to secure the breath of life, the image made by him was vivified by the wind or by some other deity; hence man’s life is as unstable as the winds.
Myths of the origin of fire present a number of different
PLATE XVIII
Dyak drawing on bamboo representing mytholog- ical scenes in the spirit-world. In the upper row are seen the soul-trees” with the souls ready to be re- born; in the central section, among other things, is the boat in which the souls of the dead are ferried across to the spirit-island. The lowest band shows figures of serpents, fishes, and crocodiles. Ethnographische Rijksmuseum, Leyden, Netherlands.
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forms in Indonesia. According to the Igorot,”® only two per- sons survived after the flood, a brother and sister who had taken refuge on Mt. Pokis. “Lumawig descended and said: ‘Oh, you are here!’ And the man said: ‘We are here, and here we freeze!’ Then Lumawig sent his dog and his deer to Kalau- witan to get fire. They swam to Kalauwitan, the dog and the deer, and they got the fire. Lumawig awaited them. He said: ‘How long they are coming!’ Then he went to Kalau- witan and said to his dog and deer: ‘Why do you delay in bringing the fire? Get ready! Take the fire to Pokis; let me watch you!’ Then they went into the middle of the flood, and the fire which they had brought from Kalauwitan was put out! Then said Lumawig: ‘Why do you delay the taking? Again you must bring fire; let me watch you!’ Then they brought fire again, and he observed that that which the deer was carrying was extinguished, and he said: ‘That which the dog has yonder will surely also be extinguished.’ Then Luma- wig swam and arrived and quickly took the fire which his dog had brought. He took it back to Pokis and he built a fire and warmed the brother and sister.” This theme of the fire being brought from another country by animals is also found in Melanesia,^®® while the Ifugao of Kiangan have still another version.^®”- After Bugan, who was the sister-wife of Kabigat, had become reconciled to her marriage by the praise of Muntalog, Kabigat’s father, “Kabigat requested leave to return, but Muntalog answered: ‘Wait one day more, until I in my turn go to my father Mumbonang.’ Muntalog found his father and mother seated facing each other; and, upon his arrival, his mother, Mumboniag, came forward and asked him: ‘What news do you bring from those lower regions, and why do you come?’ The father . . . inquired likewise as to the reason of his coming. Muntalog answered: ‘I have come, father, to ask thee for fire for some Ifugaos who remain in the house of Ambumabbakal.’ ‘My son,’ the father replied, ‘those Ifugaos of yours could not arrive at (or, come to) Mumbonang
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