SOME FOLK-SONGS AND MYTHS FROM SAMOA. 85 



allied to the ' guava.' The boy, biting a piece out, threw it at his father, 

 but failed to attract attention ; he then threw the rest of the apple. 



23. Leave it. Mafui r e seems to have at first disdained the boy, but 

 becomes imperious on seeing this proof of his strength. 



24. Sd-le-Fe'e is the Samoan Hades, the home of the ' race of Le-Fe'e/ 

 The story puts it near to Mafui'e's quarters. 



25. Nothing fell. I take this to mean that the tricks, which Mafui'e 

 practised successfully on others, had no power over the boy. 



26. Shall we fight ? The challenge is three-fold — to fight with weapons, 

 or with fists, or to wrestle ; Ti f i-ti'i, being the challenged, has the choice, 

 and rejects weapons and fists as feminine accomplishments. 



27. Broke his leg. Vtdcan too was lame, but he got his lameness in a 

 different way. 



28. Signs ; an earthquake at noon. With this compare, 



" A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd's warning ; 



A rainbow at night is the shepherd's delight." 

 The Samoans also have adages about the weather. Earthquakes are 

 severe and common in Upolu. In Savai'i, there is an extinct volcano 

 which, according to tradition, was active about four generations ago (see 

 Note 11, p. 75). In Mr. Pratt's own time, a small volcano showed action 

 in a village about eight miles from his residence. 



29. The making of offerings is a token of subjection. 



30. Threw it to Fiji. In Samoan tales, Fiji seldom fails to appear ; and 

 yet the Fijians are Melanesians. Niue is ' Savage Island/ to the east of 

 Tonga. 



31. Aiafu here is probably one of the islands of the Tokelau or e Union* 

 Group, to the north of Samoa ,- this group, which was recently annexed 

 by Britain, consists of — Atafu, Nukunono, Fakaofo, and Oloenga. 



32. They first got fire. The first getting of fire is a world-wide tradition, 

 but the manner of getting it varies ; cf. the story of Prometheus. 



33. Firewood and wood to rub. The text here is — ' ua maua a f i fo'i fafie, 

 ma la'au e si'a a'i le afi '; lit., ' we have got firewood and the stick to rub 

 with to produce fire/ 



34. He beat many trees. This seems to mean that he made the wood of 

 those trees suitable for producing fire when rubbed ; that is, he put latent 

 fire in them, so that men might not henceforth have to go down to the 

 Underworld to get fire, but might obtain it from these trees by rub- 

 sticks. See Dr. Gill's " Myths and Songs," p. 57, where also, as here, 

 only four trees are mentioned. In his myth about ' Maui, the Third ' 

 (p. 70), it is a post of the dwelling that first opens to give descent to 

 the world below; this may explain the ' reed' of Note 21. 



35. The f fau' tree is the Hibiscus tiliaceus; the 'tamanu' is the Callo- 

 phyllum inophyllum of Botanists. 



