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
The sea was the product of the next birth. Lu caught two fowls, and
when the sea rose took them with him into the vessel. He was not many
days afloat, some say six, when his vessel rested on the top of the
mountain called Malata, in Atua, east end of Upolu. Lu lived there at
the village called Uafato, and had there his Sa Moa, or _preserve
fowls_, which were not to be killed. Another story says that Lu came
from the west with his fowls, and that from his crew all the islands
of the group were peopled. He was said to have come from Pulotu,
Papatea, Pau, Vau, Aoao, and Ngaelu. Others say he came with his fowls
direct from Tafiti apaau, or the _Winged Fiji_.
Two of the people of Tangaloa of the heavens came down to fish. As
they were returning with two baskets of fish, the fowls of Lu leaped
up to peck at the fish. The lads caught and killed the precious
preserve, or Sa Moa, and ran off with them to the heavens.
In the morning Lu missed the fowls, and went off in search of them. He
saw from the unbroken early morning cobwebs across the roads east and
west, that no one had passed along there. He suspected the fishing
party from the heavens, and away he went up there from the top of the
mountain. He had nothing in his hand but his fly-flapper.
In the first heavens he smelled roast fowl, and presently he came upon
the two culprits as they were eating, and believed that they were
crunching the bones of the very fowls of which he was in search. He
charged them. They did not deny, but commenced to lay the blame the
one on the other, and hence the proverb to this day: "It was not I,
but you." He set upon both of them with his fue, or fly-flapper, and
hence the word to _fue_, or to fly-flapper, is used as a milder term
to express beating or killing.
Away the lads fled, and he after them up through the nine heavens,
laying out on them with his fue. When they reached the tenth heaven,
Tangaloa made his appearance and called out, "What is all this about?
Don't you know this is Malae totoa, the _place of rest_? There must be
no fighting here."
In the tenth heaven no strife was allowed; the place was kept
beautifully clean, no rubbish to be seen about the roads, and there
were no clubs hanging in the houses.
Lu told the cause of his anger: his Sa Moa or preserve fowls had been
stolen, and he had found the thieves in the very act of eating them.
Tangaloa said, "It is indeed very bad; but now that you have left
behind all the places where wars may be fought out, and have come to
this heaven of peace, let your wrath abate, spare these men, and you
shall go back with the title of _King of heaven_, and take my daughter
Langituavalu, _Eighth heavens_, to be your wife." "Very good," said
Lu; "let these men live, and let us be at peace, and conform to the
custom of Malae totoa."
A handsome dowry was got up, the marriage took place, and Tangaloa
told Lu to name the earth Samoa when he came down, and so keep in
remembrance his _preserve fowls_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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