236 Gunnar Landtman. 



the stone, which they closed behind them. After tying his hands behind his back they left him, 

 and Koidåbo thought of his friends and cried bitterly. 



The people, unaware that Koidåbo had been carriei,! off, searched for him and called him 

 in every direction, but not finding him they wailed till night came and then vvent to sleep. 



hl the middie of the night the eldest of the hiivai-abére nipped off with her finger-nails a 

 pinch of flesh from Koidâbo's ehest and held it över the fire to find out vvhether he was fat 

 enough to be eaten. Snifring at the roasted flesh she said, „Oh, good smeil, he fat." In the 

 morning she said to the others, „More better we go eut him sage, by and by come back, kill 

 him. He got plenty fat." They blew at the stone, which opened, and they went to make sago, 

 closing the stone behind them. # 



Koidåbo when left alone found a small hole in the stone. He spät through the hole, 

 thereby attracting the attention of a small kangaroo which was passing by. Koidåbo said to the 

 kangaroo, „More better you go sing out (summon) pig, cassowary, any kind thing, come open 

 my door. Hlzvai-abére been go eut him sago, more better you come quick." The kangaroo 

 summoned the pig, another larger kangaroo, the iguana, and the cassowary to come and open 

 the door. At first the kangaroo scratched at the door with all its might, but the stone did not 

 move. Next the iguana came and dug at the door with its claws but could not open it. The 

 pig came and rooted at the door with its snout, trying again and again to open it, and the door 

 shook and yielded a little. Lastly the cassowary came and kicked at the door violently, and it 

 flew open at once. The kangaroo unfastened the ropes with which Koidâbo's hands were tied 

 together. His arms were terribly stiff and sore, and he tried to Stretch them out, first one and 

 then the other, hy catching hold of a branch of a tree and pulling them straight. The animais 

 all went back to the bush, and Koidåbo returned to his people who called out in surprise, „Oh, 

 Koidåbo, he come now!" They were in the act of launching a canoe to go and spear dugong, 

 and Koidåbo, who was afraid of the hhvai-abi're, went with them. They built platforms on the 

 reef, and Koidåbo mounted one of them to await the arrivai of the dugong. 



When the live hiwai-abi're returned from the bush, they found that Koidåbo had disap- 

 peared: „Oh, Koidåbo he no stop, he run away!" They threw their sago on the ground and 

 ran after him, following his scent as far as the place on the beach vvhere he had embarked. 

 There they transformed themselves into five dugong and swam after the canoe. 



The five dugong came up close to Koidâbo's platform. He speared the first of them, 

 thinking that it was a real dugong, and his people speared the four others. Koidåbo, holding on 

 to the harpoon-line, was towed far away by his dugong, and the other men too were carried 

 off in the same manner. The dugong came to Bôigu and from there went on into the deep sea, 

 never to return. Koid/iho and his friends like the liiwai-abére were transformed into dugong. *' 

 Ever since then there hâve been many dugong in the sea. (Gaméa, Mavvâta). 



HOW A HIWAI-ABERE MADE THE FIRST DUGONG AND CARRIED AWAY A MAN. 



153. In days long past a certain man named Ki'ba lived at Bûdji. He was a very fine 

 and handsome fellow, and a hlwai-abére (evll female being) who lived there took a fancy to him 

 and wanted to carry him away to another place. 



Tom. XLVII. 



