Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long BeforeTurner, George
History
Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before
Turner, George
Islands of the Pacific -- Social life and customs; Samoan Islands
On Upolu the name of Pili has an early place among the doings of
mortals and in the division of the lands. In one of the traditions his
history runs thus:--Manga had a daughter called Sina, who married the
king of Manu'a. They had a daughter called Sinaleana, _White of the
cave_, because she lived in a cave in which there was also kept the
parrot of the king. The god, Tangaloa, of the heavens looked down and
fancied her. He sent Thunder and Storm for her; they did not get her.
Lightning and Darkness were also sent to fetch her, but they also
failed. Next Deluging Rain, dashing down in great egg-drops, was sent,
but to no purpose. He then let down a net, which covered up the mouth
of the cave, caught her, and pulled her up to the heavens. She became
his wife, had a child, and named him Pili, or _Entangled_, from the
way in which she was entangled in the net.
Pili grew up to manhood under the care of the gods, and was sometimes
told, pointing down to the earth, that that place was his. He begged
of his father Tangaloa to be allowed to go down. The reply was: "If
you go down, come up again. But if you wish to go and not return, take
my wooden pillow and fishing-net with you."
He was let down to the earth by the fishing-net, and placed on Manu'a.
The king of Manu'a asked where he came from, and on hearing that he
was his grandson, and that his mother, Sina, was still up in the
heavens, he wept aloud. Pili went to visit Tutuila, tried his hand at
fishing, but caught nothing, and was mocked by the Tutuilans. He then
swam away to Savaii, took up his abode at the village Aopo, and from
that was called Piliopo. He quarrelled with the chief there and went
off to the village called Palapala, where he met with Tavaetele,
_Great tropic bird_, who had come from Aana on Upolu to seek taro
plants. The Palapala people were generous, and presented the Upolu
chief with 100,000 plants. The retinue of the chief made a difficulty
about taking so many across the channel, but Pili stepped forward and
said he would bring them all over himself, which he actually did, and
helped in making a taro plantation, which extended from the one side
of Aana to the other, right across the island. He remained there and
married Sina, the daughter of this chief.
Pili and his wife had four children. First there were twins, the one
called Tua and the other Ana. Tua was so named from the _back_ of a
turtle which Pili caught at that time, and Ana from the _cave_ in
which it was taken. The next born was called Tuamasanga, or, _After
the twins_. Then followed Tolufale, or _Three houses_, from the three
houses into which the mother was taken before the child was born.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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