3. Keiti was one of the few texts which Metoro 'read' for Bishop Jaussen. We should make use also of his words at hipu in Eb7-2 in order to minimize misunderstandings:
In addition to hipu he used the word hua, which means 'fruit' (both literally and as a metaphor for offspring of all kinds). The main word is hua, and te hipu (where te is equivalent to 'the') is more of an added precision. Kua hua te hipu could as a first approximation be read as something like: 'Here is (the) offspring, the water carrier.' I have learnt from experience that Metoro often new quite well what the texts were about, and here his words do agree with what we can see - the outline of a bottle gourd. |
