SOME FOLK-SONGS AND MYTHS FROM SAMOA. 245 



on and ready for the fishing, they saw that it would not prosper, 

 for it was fastened on wrongly ; so they went and reported this 

 to a fresh-water fish called le sesele; the sesele went and reported 

 to another fresh- water fish nearer the sea, called the 'ava-'ava; 

 the 'ava-'ava reported to a young 'bonito,' called the tava-tava, 

 which keeps near the entrance through the reef ; the tava-tava 

 went and reported to the atu, ' the bonito' fishes, [saying] that 

 they need not be alarmed, for that the hook was wrongly fastened. 



6. So the fleet of canoes made ready for the fishing and went 

 out with the hook o Manu; they paddled about among the 'bonito,' 

 but none would bite ; so the canoes returned to land. Then were 

 the family of the fisherman in great dread of the wrath of Tui- 

 Fiti. The other brother now tried, whose name was Mo'e-ulu-galu- 

 tele. He too failed from the same cause ; and again the mice 

 went and reported the failure, as before, which was duly made 

 known to the 'bonito.' Again they went out to catch 'bonito,' 

 but in vain ; so they returned to land. The family were greatly 

 distressed, saying, ' We shall be killed.' So they begged their 

 sister to try her hand at the fastening of the hook. She refused, 

 saying, ' When did a woman ever undertake to do such a work.' 

 But she begged them to let their little brother, Mo'e-ulu-galu-iti-iti, 

 try it ; and, if he failed, why then, they must all die together. 

 They answered, ' What does that little fellow know ? how can he 

 hit the right way? you try.' She, however, urged them, saying, 

 * Call Mo'e-ulu-galu-iti-iti ; let him tie on the c au o Manic. ■ They 

 then called him, and ordered him to make haste about it. The lad 

 answered, ' Oh ! but I have not bathed yet.' They kept on calling 

 and urging him to be quick, but Sina-te'e-alofa interposed and 

 begged them not to hurry the lad. He went and bathed ; then 

 came and dressed himself in his best garments, and asked his sister 

 to give him one of her finest sleeping mats to sit upon. His 

 brothers came in and saw him sitting on the best mat ; they said, 

 1 Oh ! is this thing sitting upon Sina's bed '? The boy, however, 

 continued to sit upon the clean mat, arranged the hook and line 

 properly, and completed the task. The mice saw that the hook 



