Stone images

Men were made of stones or earth by the creator god and his attendants, or else they are simply the successors of the gods themselves, and of them a woman always appears first and then a man, from whose union the remaining heavenly and earthly beings come into existence. In the Banks Island, Qat forms a being by weaving supple twigs, and suddenly becomes aware by its smile that he has produced a woman. Where Ndengei appears as the creator of men, his son Mautu (= Maui) is beside him as assistant. He made the first human pair from the eggs of the snipe, Kitu; his son developed them further till they were capable of reproduction. In Micronesia, also, the creation of man took place from inanimate stone, unless he was immediately connected with the gods by a fall due to sin. In Fakaafo, the first man, having proceeded from stone, made the arms and legs of his consort, Ivi, from clay, and enclosed one of his own ribs in her body, and from them all other men sprang.

In Pelew the divine couple, Irakaderngel and Ejluajngadassakor, created mankind, he producing the men, she the women. The modest creatrix hesitated to show her work, while the creator let his be seen freely. Since then all women wear a skirt of pandanus leaves, while the men go naked. The want of mental harmony prevailing between the two sexes is also referred back to this early time, for as the creating couple kept laying their creations pair by pair together on one side, it befell that many did not suit each other and disagreed. The first created beings were moreover pure Kalits, giants in body and strength, and rich in capacities which are lacking to the men of to-day. The inhabitants of Ascension consider that the stone monuments of their, islands were built by these.

Hero-gods: Meru, Moso, Oru, Maru

From among the gods of the second rank the god of war most frequently takes his place beside the highest and the oldest, although the character of a hero is clearly stamped upon him. His variations, also, are remarkable; in Samoa, Meru appears as the god of thunder and lightning, and passes into the war god Meso, or Moso, who again reminds us of the Tahitian Oro. Although in later times he was worshipped in the place of Maui as the finisher of creation, he is nevertheless human in his origin. In New Zealand Maru sends the rain and earthquakes also, he is recognised in the red planet Mars, and worshipped in the South Island as god of war to whom the slain are offered as sacrifices. Next to him the gods of the field and the harvest had the chief practical importance. Some of their attributes could be transferred to Tangaroa, Tu, or Tane, and worshipped with and in these. There were propitious and mischievous gods; in Tonga one was worshipped at the time of planting and the time of harvest, another was prayed to at the irrigation of the fields. But the goddess of the wind overthrew the plantations if she was not duly honoured. In New Zealand the image of Tiki, the first man, was venerated at the time of harvest.

In conclusion, let us draw attention to one of the host of heroes. A mighty figure meets us in Tawahaki, patriarch of the Maoris, whose acts were so illustrious that a daughter of heaven was willing to be his wife. After the birth of a child she fled back to heaven, and Tawahaki climbed up after her by a cobweb. But his brothers-in-law wounded him, and in revenge he called forth a flood; or, as one tradition has it, stamping in his anger, he broke the crystal covering of heaven, and the flood burst out. In the other legend, the hero, having been healed of his wounds by his wife Hirepiripiri, prayed that the flood might descend and annihilate his foes. Since that time Tawahaki has been propitiated at funerals as the conductor who brings the souls of dead chiefs from earth to heaven. We meet with earth-stampers also in Tonga. Huanaki and Fao swam from Tonga to Niue, stamped on the island to make it rise higher, and by a second stamp called forth the plants from which the first human pair sprang.

The condescension of female dwellers in heaven to earth-born heroes recurs in another form in many Polynesian legends. The daughters of Langi, the lord of heaven, feeling lonely in their empty house, made ready to set off and satisfy their curiosity by a nearer look at the folks below on the earth. Just then the sons of the prince were gathered at a festive kava-drinking when the goddesses drew near, and soon by the charm of their beauty kindled a bloody quarrel. The fearful uproar was heard in Bolotu, terrifying the gods in their assembly-hall ; and Langi hastened with all speed to punish the disturbers of the peace. But the eldest daughter had already, in the wild hurly-burly, been torn to pieces by the infuriated rivals, and the enraged father himself struck off the head of the youngest. This was hurled into the sea and became a tortoise; an animal which, since that, chiefs are forbidden to eat.