SOME FOLK-SONGS AND MYTHS FEOM SAMOA. 105 



' the house of the cocoa-nut tree/ It is situated some distance south of 

 Saua on Tau." 



" When adult, the god left this place, and travelled along the beach 

 till he came to the locality where the Tcava was growing, which Tangaloa- 

 le-Mana had caused to be brought from heaven. It had grown so well 

 and so thickly that the leafy branches enveloped his head and shoulders 

 as he passed, and that gave to the place the name of Saua, because the 

 leaves and branches of the Tcava plants enveloped his face j its previous 

 name was Anga'e-tele, ' the great east.' " 



" Tangaloa then turned aside to a house, belonging to a man whose name 

 was Pava. The only person there was a girl, Pava's daughter. ' Where 

 is your father/ asked Tangaloa-a-Ui. ' He is inland at work/ she said. 

 ' Go and tell him a visitor is here ; say there is a chief in the house/ 

 The girl went with the message, and told that there was a chief in the 

 house. ' What sort of a chief is he/ asked Pava. ' He is very tall, reach- 

 ing to the ridge-pole/ was the answer. ' Very well/ said he ; ' go, you 

 and your mother, take down the Tcava and I will follow by-and-by/ A 

 stream flowed over the land, down by the side of the house where Tanga- 

 loa was sitting. Pava therefore took a taro leaf, turned up its sides so as 

 to form a screen for him, seated himself on it, and floated down the 

 stream, intending to inspect his visitor before presenting himself before 

 him. He seemed to think that it would not be known that he was con- 

 cealed in the taro leaf. When he was floating past the house, Tangaloa 

 put out his hand, seized the leaf with its contents, and assumed not to 

 know that it was a man that was in it. So he said, ' Here's some food to 

 eat with the Tcava; how brown it is ! how sunburnt'! To which Pava 

 replied, ' Are you going to eat a man '? Tangaloa then says, ' Why then 

 did you come quizzing me ? Pava is a bad man ; he is quizzing [other] 

 men/ " 



" Pava makes some apology and then the Tcava is prepared. Pava had 

 three children ; one of these was playing about and making a noise. Tan- 

 galoa said to Pava, ' Tell your boy not to make a noise/ Pava paid no 

 attention. Again Tangaloa said, ' Tell the child to be quiet, on account 

 of the Tcava.' Pava gave no heed. The child kept on playing, until at 

 last he upset the Tcava bowl. Tangaloa then said, ' Did I not bid you re- 

 strain the boy'? Upon that, Tangaloa seized the boy, and gave him a 

 blow with the stem of a cocoa-nut leaf ; the blow divided the boy in two. 

 * Here/ said he — taking up the one part of the body — ' this is your share, 

 and this is mine/ — putting down the other part before himself. Pava 

 was grieved ; he would not touch it. Tangaloa then said, ' Did I not tell 

 you to forbid the boy ? You came quizzing me, and thinking I had no 

 power ; give me here your part/ He immediately took the two parts, 

 united them and the boy was restored to life ! " 



" Pava was now seized with fear, and said to his wife, 'Let us go; we'll 

 leave this place/ Then they started off through the bush in a westerly 



