As a symbol for the sun the heron was the sacred bird of Heliopolis [helios = sun, polis = city], which became the mythical phoenix of the Greeks. Without doubt through its association with the descending and rising sun the heron was comprehended as lord over the royal jubilee of rejuvenation, which was staged for a pharao who had reigned in thirty years."

From this perspective it is possible to see a kind of logic in the myth about the first Ariki Motogi (Ko Oto Uta), cfr at Kaffaljidhma and Mira:

At the time of the loading of the emigrant canoe, Hotu Matua ordered his assistant Teke to take a (stone) figure (moai) named 'Oto Uta' on board the canoe, along with the people (aniva) who were emigrating. However, the figure was left behind 'out in the bay' (E:73). After the arrival in the new land, after disembarkation in the bay of Anakena, and after the return of the explorers to the homeland, our source continues with the following account [E:87-90].

On the thirtieth day of the month of October ('Tangaroa Uri'), Hotu asked about the stone figure (moai maea) named Oto Uta. Hotu said to Teke, 'Where is the figure Ota Uta (corrected in the manuscript for Hina Riru)? Teke thought about the question and then said to Hotu, 'It was left out in the bay.'

Hotu said to Pure O, to Pure Ki, and to Pure Vanangananga: 'You fellows (kope), sail to the friend (hoou), to Oto Uta. Bring him here, he who is resting out in the bay. Move him carefully (? nee), you fellows, so that the king, that Oto Uta is not damaged!' Pure O, Pure Ki, and Pure Vanangananga took the canoe, put it into the water, and sailed to Hiva.

The canoe of Pure O left on the fifth day of the month of November ('Ruti'). After the canoe of Pure O had sailed and had anchored out in the bay, in Hanga Moria One, Pure saw the figure, which had been lying there all this time, and said to his younger brothers (ngaio taina), 'Let's go my friends (hoa), let us break the neck of this mean one (or, ugly one, rakerake). Why should we return to that fragment of earth (te pito o te kainga, i.e., Easter Island)? Let us stay in our (home)land!'

After the canoe of Pure O had departed, King Hotu contacted his guardian spirits (atua akuaku), namely, first, Kuihi and, second, Kuaha ...

... Pure O picked up a large round stone (pureva) and hit the top of the figure. Because of the stone, the neck of Oto Uta was broken.Then the wind started blowing, the billow rose, the waves broke, the rain started falling, the flame (i.e., lightning) shone brightly, and the thunder rolled. As soon as the wind started blowing, the waves broke, the rain fell, and thunder rolled, King Hotu knew that Pure O had done harm to Oto Uta. Hotu spoke: 'These fellows have done a mean thing to King Oto Uta!' After the neck of Oto Uta had been broken, Kuihi and Kuaha arrived. They picked up the neck of King Oto Uta, took it, and brought it with them. They arrived out in the bay, in Hanga Rau. (There) Kuihi and Kuaha left (the fragment).

After the neck of Oto Uta had been brought on land, out in the bay of Hanga Rau, the wind, the rain, the waves, and the thunder subsided. Kuihi and Kuaha arrived and told the king the following: 'King Oto Uta is out in the bay of Hanga Rau'. Hotu said to his servant (tuura) Moa Kehu, 'Go down to king Oto Uta and take him up out of the bay of Hanga Rau!' Moa Kehu arose, went down, picked up (the fragment), and carried (it) on his shoulders to the house. There he left it for King Hotu. King Hotu sat down and wept over King Oto Uta. This is Hotu's lament (tanginga):

ka hati toou ngao e oto uta e te ariki e / mo tau papa rangaranga o haho i te tai / mo tuu huehue rangaranga o haho i te tai / mo tau hahave rere ai ka pae / mo tae ngu rere ai ka pae / mo te ika aringa riva nei he aku renga ai ka pae

Broken is your neck, oh Oto Uta, oh king! / Floating (?) like a raft (?) out at sea. / To be erected for the drifting huehue (fish) out at sea. / Able (?) to put an end to the flight of the flying fish hahave; / Able (?) to put and end to the flight of the flying fish ngu; / Put an end to this fish, a dorado, with the good face! (E:87-90)

The transportation of the stone figure from Hiva is not a historical authentic voyage because all the protagonists are spirits. Kuihi and Kuaha, the guardian spirits of the immigrant king, who are at his side at crucial moments (Oroi conflict, hour of death), transport the (deliberately severed) head of the stone figure to the beach of the royal residence.

From there, a servant of the king, who is mentioned by name, carries the fragment of Oto Uta to Hotu Matua's house. If the last segment of the tradition is to be taken literally, the stone ancestor's head did not weigh more than what a man can carry.

The three 'fellows' (kope), commissioned by the king to bring the figure of Oto Uta unharmed from Hiva, all have names of spirits (akuaku) that live in the sea near Vai Hū and Hanga Tee on the southern shore. My informants (Laura Hill and Vincente Pons) gave me the names of four spirits, 'Pure Henguingui', 'Pure Ki', 'Pure O' and 'Pure Vanangananga', in connection with the traditional instruction to speak softly while gathering mussles at night on the beach (of the same coastal stretch).

The instruction can be explained in the following way: pure means both 'cowrie' (PPN. *pule 'cowrie') and 'prayer' - in the Easter Island script both are represented by Rongorongo 25 - while the qualifying additions refer to various ways of speaking. RAP. henguingui is synonymous with MGV. henguingui 'to whisper, to speak low' and goes back to west Polynesian forms (SAM. fenguingui 'to talk in a low tone'; UVE. fegui 'murmurer'). In many of the Polynesian languages, ki is the spoken word; in some few, ki refers to the process of thinking; (MGV., MAO., HAW.) and in some instances, it indicates special noises (MQS. ki 'to whistle with two fingers'; SAM. 'i 'to call like a bird'; TON. ki 'to squeal'). Generally, o is the affirmative answer to the caller, while vanangananga indicates repeated speaking. The four spirits represents, on one hand, the sound scale of empty conch shells and, on the other hand, a classification of types of prayers ...

I guess the 3 + 1 pure spirits could be represented at the beginning of the K text as the 3 islets (ga kope, fellows) where the manu tara birds alighted 'in the early morning' each year after having returned from abroad (Hiva):

Nga Kope Ririva Tutuu Vai

Ka1-1	Ka1-2	Ka1-3
Spring 'stones' out in the water:
Motu Nui	Motu Iti	Motu Kaokao
Pure O	Pure Ki	Pure Vanangananga

Ka1-4

Aldebaran (68.2)

'May 28

Sheratan 12


Ka1-5	Ka1-6
Theemin (68.5)
'May 29	'30 (150)
Sheratan 13	14

The O in Pure O presumably represents the 'Wheel of Time' when it has completed a round, possibly in 'May 25 (day 145 of the Gregorian calendar).

We should compare with the Chinese moon stations, with a head at Heka and with 3 stars (like life spirits) at the Belt of Orion:

20	Turtle Head	Heka (83.2)	*Ka1-24 (19)	'June 12 (163)	Pleione 13 (27)
			Ga1-19 (20)
21	Three Stars	Alnitak (84.7)	(Ka1-3)	'June 14 (165)	Albatain 2 (29)
			Ga1-21 (22)
22	Well	Tejat Posterior (95.4)	Ka2-10 (29)	'24 (St John's Day)	Albatain 12 (39)
			Ga2-1 (32)
23	Ghost	ρ Gemini (112.1) ?	Ka3-5 (46)	'July 11 (192)	Heka 3 (56)
			Ga2-18 (49)

There are 29 nights from Heka to ρ Gemini.