Somewhere
beyond
July 4 - where a
'fishhook' could
illustrate the idea of
land being drawn up from
the deeps - we ought to
find some sign of a
newborn 'Land':
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Ga2-9 |
Ga2-10 |
Ga2-11 (41) |
Ga2-12 |
|
ψ8 Aurigae
(103.2),
Alhena
(103.8),
ψ9 Aurigae
(103.9) |
Adara
(104.8) |
ω Gemini
(105.4),
Alzirr
(105.7),
Muliphein
(105.8) |
7h (106.5) |
|
no star
listed (106) |
|
July 2 |
3 (*104) |
4 (185 = 80
+ 41 + 64) |
5 |
|
ºJune 28 |
29 (*466) |
30 (181) |
ºJuly 1 |
|
'June 5 |
6 (157) |
7 (*78) |
8 (525) |
|
"May 22 |
23 (*63) |
24 (144) |
25 (*431) |
|
Ain al Rami
(286.2), δ
Lyrae
(286.3), κ
Pavonis
(286.5),
Alya (286.6) |
ξ Sagittarii
(287.1), ω
Pavonis
(287.3), ε
Aquilae, ε
Cor. Austr.,
Sulaphat
(287.4), λ
Lyrae
(287.7),
Ascella,
Bered (Ant.)
(287.9) |
Uttara
Ashadha-21 |
19h (289.2) |
|
NUNKI
(288.4), ζ
Cor. Austr.
(288.5),
Manubrium
(288.8), ζ
Aquilae
(288.9) |
λ Aquilae
(Ant.)
(289.1), γ
Cor. Austr
(289.3), τ
Sagittarii
(289.4), ι
Lyrae
(289.5), δ
Cor. Austr.
(289.8)
|
|
January 1
(366) |
2 |
3 (*288) |
4 |
|
ºDecember 28 |
29 |
30 (364) |
31 (*285) |
|
'December 5 |
6 (*260) |
7 |
8 (342) |
|
"November 21 |
22 (326) |
23 |
24 (*248) |
|
... The
brothers
had no
idea
what
Maui was
up to
now, as
he paid
out his
line.
Down,
down it
sank,
and when
it was
at the
bottom
Maui
lifted
it
slightly,
and it
caught
on
something
which at
once
pulled
very
hard.
Maui
pulled
also,
and
hauled
in a
little
of his
line.
The
canoe
heeled
over,
and was
shipping
water
fast.
'Let it
go!'
cried
the
frightened
brothers,
but Maui
answered
with the
words
that are
now a
proverb:
'What
Maui has
got in
his hand
he
cannot
throw
away.'
'Let
go?' he
cried.
'What
did I
come for
but to
catch
fish?'
And he
went on
hauling
in his
line,
the
canoe
kept
taking
water,
and his
brothers
kept
bailing
frantically,
but Maui
would
not let
go.
Now
Maui's
hook had
caught
in the
barge-boards
of the
house of
Tonganui,
who
lived at
the
bottom
of that
part of
the sea
and
whose
name
means
Great
South;
for it
was as
far to
the
south
that the
brothers
had
paddled
from
their
home.
And Maui
knew
what it
was that
he had
caught,
and
while he
hauled
at his
line he
was
chanting
the
spell
that
goes:
O
Tonganui
/ why do
you hold
so
stubbornly
there
below?
The
power of
Muri's
jawbone
is at
work on
you, /
you are
coming,
/ you
are
caught
now, /
you are
coming
up, /
appear,
appear.
Shake
yourself,
/
grandson
of
Tangaroa
the
little.
The fish
came
near the
surface
then, so
that
Maui's
line was
slack
for a
moment,
and he
shouted
to it
not to
get
tangled.
But then
the fish
plunged
down
again,
all the
way to
the
bottom.
And Maui
had to
strain,
and haul
away
again.
And at
the
height
of all
this
excitement
his belt
worked
loose,
and his
maro
fell off
and he
had to
kick it
from his
feet.
He had
to do
the rest
with
nothing
on.
[Babies
are
always
born
completely
naked.]
The
brothers
of Maui
sat
trembling
in the
middle
of the
canoe,
fearing
for
their
lives.
For now
the
water
was
frothing
and
heaving,
and
great
hot
bubbles
were
coming
up, and
steam,
and Maui
was
chanting
the
incantation
called
Hiki,
which
makes
heavy
weights
light.
At
length
there
appeared
beside
them the
gable
and
thatched
roof of
the
house of
Tonganui,
and not
only the
house,
but a
huge
piece of
the land
attached
to it.
The
brothers
wailed,
and beat
their
heads,
as they
saw that
Maui had
fished
up land,
Te
Ika a
Maui,
the fish
of Maui.
And
there
were
houses
on it,
and
fires
burning,
and
people
going
about
their
daily
tasks.
Then
Maui
hitched
his line
round
one of
the
paddles
laid
under a
pair of
thwarts,
and
picked
up his
maro,
and put
it on
again
... |
However, although
the common
Polynesian myth of
'fishing up land'
was not farfetched
in the Pacific -
where volcanic
activity pushed new
islands up and let
them sink down again
later - such a
phenomenon was
hardly in the minds
of those ancients
who invented the
star figures.
Possibly, therefore,
the creator of the G
text could have put
the idea of drawing
up land earlier,
where Orion appears
to lift up the skin
('cloth') of a dead
old lion from the
river Eridanus:
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Ga1-7 |
Ga1-8 |
Ga1-9 |
Ga1-10 |
|
Tabit
(71.7),
π²
Orionis
(71.9) |
π4
Orionis
(72.1),
ο¹
Orionis
(72.4),
π5
Orionis
(72.8) |
π¹
Orionis
(73.0),
ο²
Orionis
(73.4),
Hassaleh
(73.6),
π6
Orionis
(73.9) |
Almaaz
(74.7),
Haedus I
(74.8) |
|
May 31
(151) |
June 1 |
2 |
3 (520) |
|
ºMay 27 |
28 |
29 |
30 (150) |
|
'May 4 |
5 (125 =
148 -
23) |
6 (*46 =
*73 -
27) |
7 (493) |
|
"April
20 (*30) |
21 (111
= 125 -
14) |
22 (478
= 492 -
14) |
23 |
|
Tail-6 |
ι
Ophiuchi
(255.3),
Grafias
(255.4) |
κ
Ophiuchi
(256.2),
ζ Arae
(256.5),
ε Arae
(256.8),
Cujam
(256.9) |
no star
listed
(257) |
|
Wei,
η Arae
(254.3),
DENEBAKRAB
(254.7) |
|
November
30 (700) |
December
1 (*255) |
2 (336 =
153 +
183) |
3 |
|
ºNovember
26 |
27
(*251) |
28 (332) |
29 |
|
'November
3 (673) |
4 (308 =
335 -
27) |
5 |
6 (*230) |
|
"October
20 |
21 |
22 (295
= 336 -
41) |
23
(*216) |
The
tip of the tail of
this lion skin was
down in the Eridanus
river. ºNovember 26
can be counted as 92
* 6 = 23 * 24 and
the Chinese lunar
station Tail
was ruled by 'the
Tail of the
Scorpion'
(Deneb-akrab,
μ Scorpii),
the star which was
close to the Full
Moon in ºMay 27 (to
be counted as 52 * 7
= 364).
|
Egyptian
water
ripples |
 |
Phoenician
mēm |
 |
Greek
mu |
Μ (μ) |
|