Tlic Folk-Tales of tlie Kiivai Papnans. 79 



The house was built on the ground, not on piles, and there was no floor. All of a sudden 

 the oid people, wlio were standing at the posts, sank down into the ground uttering a long tre- 

 mulous whistie. The children tried to keep them back but could not stop them. 



After the old people had been swallowed up by the earth, their voices could be heard 

 from beneath the ground saying. *" „All post along man-house you call him dgetobe-mémeu. You 

 look out (after) house good, look out place, garden. You stop along place, me stop along ground. 

 Me no proper man, me come from kangaroo, worm. You proper man, me been make you, you 

 stop. Suppose you find him some big kaikai, kill him pig, cassowary, you put him along every 

 post, every pickaninny put him what post father he been go down." 



Ua-ögrere inaugurated a great ceremony in which a kangaroo plays an important part and 

 which is connected with the initiation of the young men, and she enjoined upon the people to 

 follow her directions carefully. They were strictly forbidden to eat kangaroo meat. (Abbrev.). 



At last the woman became very old and parted from the people. She said, „Eye belong 

 me come no good, I no can look long way. I got no mother, I got no father. This place belong 

 you fellow; I don't know where I go, what place. I go on top, you fellow stop along ground. 

 You fellow puU out taro, make kaikai, you leave him along ground, by and by I come down, 

 take him." 



There was a small hut with one side of the roof resting on the ground while the other 

 was supported by a post. Ua-r5grere shook hands with all her children and passed the palm of 

 her hand över their faces. She went up on to the roof of the hut by the post, and then began 

 to climb up a rope which was hanging down from the sky. After a time the rope broke and 

 one end of it feil to the ground, but the woman remained in the sky. 



All taro, yams, and sweet potatoes dérive their origin from Ua-ögrere, and she helps the 

 people in their garden work. On festive occasions they offer her food which is placed on the 

 ground close to the men's house. (.Some Màsingâra men). 



A. Ua-6grere sprang from the ground, and she was the first person in the world. One day 

 she shot a kangaroo and put it on Ihe fire in order to burn off the hair, but the kangaroo was not yet 

 quite dead and floundered up wiih a cry, „Enga-engal'^ The woman took fright, and thinking that it 

 was a man threw the animal aside. The worms which formed in the dead kangaroo developed into 

 people, as told in the first version, and that was the beginning of the Màsingâra people. The gdmoiia 

 plant grew up from the navel of the dead kangaroo, and Ua-ögrere showed the people how to use it. 

 She sent people to kill kangaroos, and on their way back they sang, 



„Dtigidoro lära inénw dnoono d^curo onodno iruatere iruero dorougnige,'^ which means, „Kangaroo 

 kill him now, sing (song) belong you me (us), that sing belong fight. Wood (the dead kangaroo) there 

 he stop." 



Ua-ögrere introduced the ceremony which is connected with the kangaroo and forms part of 

 the initiation of the young men. The people were forbidden to eat kangaroo. 



When Ua-ögrere became old she impressed upon the people the importance of keeping her 

 directions, and parted from them saying, „You fellow follow that law all time. You fellow stop, me 

 finish now, me go on top." The people lost sight of her and did not know where she had gone. (Some 

 Mäsingåra men). 



B. Ua ögrere collected the worms from the dead kangaroo in a bowl which she placed close 

 to the fire, and in the heat they were transformed into people. She forbade the men to eat kangaroo. 



N:o 1. 



