FOLKTALES. 



I. LEGENDARY HISTORY (no. I-2O; cf. index, History). 



THE ORIGIN OF KIWAI ISLAND AND PEOPLE. 



1. Long ago there was no Ki'wai, no Abaüra nor Mi'hu, nor any other Island (in the 

 Fly), except Wäboda; only Düdi and Mandvete, the tvvo banks of the river, existed. 



The people of Düdi and Manavete used to throw all sorts of refuse into the river, and it 

 floated with the current to a certain place where it sank; as this went on for a long period a 

 sandbank gradually formed, ' but no one lived there as yet. One day a dead nipa-paim drifted 



down the river and was stranded on the sandbank. A large 

 hawk called wario came flying and lighted on the nipa-palm. The 

 bird carried a fish in its claws, and while it was eating it some 

 particles of the fish feil on to the palm and began to decay under 

 the burning sun. A number of worms formed in the fish, one 

 of which began to grow larger and larger till it developed into a 

 man, and his name was Méuri (ef. no. 272). He was the first 

 man in Kfwai, and „he all same make himself, he no come along 

 (from) other place." When Méuri was fuU-grovvn he walked all 

 över the island. The wario brought him fish which he ate. 

 Certain fruit and seeds fioated över from Manavete and Struck 

 root in Kfwai, and in the course of time a wood sprang up. The 

 first tree to grow there was the ûmianmia, next came the wdra- 

 kara or sosöme, and the third was the söputdmo. 



One day two men named Gérepa and Bdduri came to 

 Méuri from Paturi in Manävete, they were looking for a bov 

 named Àmue who had been taken by a crocodile (cf. no. 2 C). 

 „Who you?" they said on seeing Méuri. „Me Méuri, me stop 

 this place. Where you come?" „Me come along Päturi." The 

 two men thought the sandbank a good place, so they went back 

 to Päturi and fetched all their people to live there. Their fira 

 went out on the way back to Kfwai, and they sent Kapia, the 

 black cockatoo, to get them fire from Manävete (ef. no. 272). 



Tom. XLVII. 



A man. Head-dres.s of cassowary 



featbers; breast-shell; groin-shell. 



Drawn by Käku of Ipisîa. 



