3. In a cycle of time the periods succeed each other. When one goes away another comes. This is a fundamental observation which puts light on the meaning of a 'joint' in time. In the beginning, when rational mind still was dormant, there were no joints in time. They are artifacts, not there from the very beginning. ... During his descent the ancestor still possessed the quality of a water spirit, and his body, though preserving its human appearance, owing to its being that of a regenerated man, was equipped with four flexible limbs like serpents after the pattern of the arms of the Great Nummo. The ground was rapidly approaching. The ancestor was still standing, his arms in front of him and the hammer and anvil hanging across his limbs. The shock of his final impact on the earth when he came to the end of the rainbow, scattered in a cloud of dust the animals, vegetables and men disposed on the steps. When calm was restored, the smith was still on the roof, standing erect facing towards the north, his tools still in the same position. But in the shock of landing the hammer and the anvil had broken his arms and legs at the level of elbows and knees, which he did not have before. He thus acquired the joints proper to the new human form, which was to spread over the earth and to devote itself to toil ... When a period becomes old, its back becomes 'broken' (like in a very old person). A successor must come. The new one is very young, and we can interpret the presence of 'hua' (offspring) glyphs beyond a 'joint' as showing this fact:
In between Hatinga Te Kohe and Tama (the child) we have Roto Iri Are:
The birth of a new 'rising fish' seems to be the motif in Ab1-37--38:
In Aa8-77--78 the 'conception' perhaps is illustrated, with the old 'bird' at left (Aa8-77) and the 'youngster' at right (Aa8-78):
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