OF THE SOUTH SEAS 383 



"When he had left, she rushed to the oven, opened the 

 bamboo, and saw on pieces of meat the special tattoo- 

 marks of the thighs of her gi'andmother and grand- 

 father. Aiie! She was riri. She fell to the earth and 

 wept, and then she was angry. She made up her mind 

 to get even with her false tane, and to hurt him the 

 worst way possible. She hurried to his spring by their 

 home in Arue, and caught his pet eel, Faaraianuu, 

 who was sunning himself on the surface. She slashed 

 him with her knife of pearl shell, and baked him in an 

 uvuL. She ate his tail at once and put the remainder of 

 the eel in a calabash. Then she left, with the ipu in her 

 hand, for Lake Vaihiria." 



Tiura halted his tale a minute to point out the con- 

 stellation of the Scorpion, and to say, "Those stars are 

 Pipiri Ma, the children, who lived at Mataiea long ago. 

 That is a strange story of their leaving their parents' 

 house for the sky!" 



"Aue! Tiura," said I, "the stars are fixed, but there 

 was the valiine with all but the tail of Faaraianuu in her 

 ipu, walking toward this very spot. What became of 

 her?" 



The son of Tetuanui smiled, and continued: 



"On her way she stopped to see the sorcerer, Tahu- 

 Tahu and his vaJiine. They were friends. After a 

 paraparau, the usual gossip of women, they asked her 

 what she had in her calabash, and she replied, 'Play- 

 things.' Then they told her her journey would be un- 

 successful, but she kept on to this lake and put the re- 

 mains of the eel in the water, right here where we are. 

 But the eel would not stay in the lake, and though time 

 and again she threw him in, he always came out. Fi- 



