The Legend of the Fall

The legend of the Fall, by which men, once godlike, became mortal, recurs in varying forms all over the world. Formerly an old man merely stripped off his old skin and appeared again in a new and rejuvenated form; but in the Solomon and Banks Islands all men became mortal in the following manner. An old woman threw her skin, in the usual way, into the water, but it caught and hung in a projecting bush. With her youth renewed the mother returned home. But as her children declined to recognise her, the old skin had to be looked for, whether or no, and put on again. Since then every one has died. In Lifu, death came into the world with the islanders' best fruit, the yam. The sons of the first man had been turned into animals, and one of them, the rat, brought up to the surface, through a hole, a yam-root from the plantations of an old gentleman residing at the centre of the earth. This was planted, and then men began to die, their lives being required in compensation for the stolen provisions. We are reminded also of the Fall, when the god Nobu, having created men, deserts Erromango for ever. In Vate they relate how the inhabitants, during the absence of Nugerain, one day burnt his great store of pearl-shells, and were condemned to die as the penalty.

To the fall of man corresponds a period of general decadence and degradation among the gods, in which the transformation of the chief god into bestial shape plays so important a part that one may see therein a justification of the apparently senseless worship of beasts. In Fiji they relate how Ndengei, looking once upon a time into a clear brook, was astonished to see how ugly he was. For this cause he assumed the form of a serpent. "If," said he, "I remain an ugly man, I shall be despised; but if I am a serpent, every one will fear and obey me." The preference shown for a beast-idol probably is due to a later growth, of the nature of a throwing-back. The purer and higher worship of a lord fell to that of a reptile; fear took the place of heroic courage and wisdom. So too the demigods are evidence of a corrupter age, which became dissatisfied with the old gods, and sought others. In Fiji a chief betook himself one day to the mountains, and cried: "Who will be my god?" No voice replied, and he went down to the sea and repeated his cry. Then a serpent answered "I will be thy god." The chief was ready to recognise the serpent, and became its priest. But even in the serpent form the worship was not permanent, for when Ndengei, with the end of his serpent-body petrified into the foundations of the earth, had lain down to sleep in the cavern of Raki-Raki, he was only visited by his old servant Uto; and as the worshippers grew more and more lukewarm, he generally came with empty hands.

The Deluge Legend

A Deluge-legend recurs in many places, but unconnected so far as appears with other mythologic conceptions of the same kind. Sometimes the supreme deity originates the flood, sometimes heroes open the way for it. The Ndengei of Fiji is also the Melanesian Neptune; and his relations to Tangaroa and Maui, the sovereigns of the sea and producers of floods, agree with this. When Ndengei, in those days a great chief, was dwelling on the seashore, a war with Tangaroa arose. Then he let the sea in from the north over all the low country and drowned the invader, while he himself took refuge in the mountains. On another occasion he flooded the whole country, because his twin sons had killed his favourite bird, a cock with beautiful feathers. He lastly banished the twins to the Reva district, where they became the patron gods of such as build canoes; and for this reason ship carpenters hold an almost sacred position, as in Tonga.

In the Pelews the Deluge-legend is told as follows. The old woman called Milath, who brought forth the four great lands, lived, at an advanced age, in the country of Ngareksbukt in Ejrraj. Once on a time the people there had killed one of the seven Kalits, and his friends in their course through Pelew came to Milath's house. She invited them in in friendly fashion, and asked what they wanted. The searchers explained that they were the friends of the missing man. The old woman gave them food, but also imparted the sad news that he had been slain by the people of her country. Then the friends in their wrath decided to destroy the whole land, with the exception of Milath, and advised her accordingly to make herself a raft of bamboo. This she was to keep in readiness attached by a long cable of lianas to an anchor in front of her house, and shortly before the full moon put much victuals on board and sleep there, for a great flood was coming. The old woman did as she was advised, and then the water flooded all the dry land; only the raft with old Milath remained afloat. But presently the cable of liana proved too short, and Milath was carried away by the flood and drowned. She drifted lifeless against a rock, and her hair got entangled in the boughs of a tree, where she was found by her friends. According to some, the body was changed into a stone, which is still to be seen ; but others say that it was revivified by a Kalit woman who took her form, and that she bore to the men who had taken part in the search those five children from whom the population of the Pelew Islands is descended.

The Banks Islanders tell a somewhat similar tale. Otherwise these floods are not always of the nature of judgments. Ndengei indeed causes one when he turns round. Here, as everywhere, legends of migrations are mixed up with the floods, and thus even historical migrations of the Pacific races connect themselves therewith.