TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

In G and K the bottom 'seed' is designed like a tagata head:

3
	Ga3-10	Ga3-11	Ga3-12	Ga3-13	Ga3-14	Ga3-15	Ga3-16
				-	-	-
	Ka4-4	Ka4-5	Ka4-6	-	-	-	Ka4-7

At winter solstice sun is standing so low in the sky, that only his 'head' is visible, but we can imagine the whole tagata figure because we can see his en face head.

... After deciding to live secretly among mortals as a farmer, Ku married and had children. He and his family lived happily until a famine seized their island. When he could no longer bear to watch his children suffer, Ku told his wife that he could deliver them from starvation, but to do so he would have to leave them. Reluctantly, she agreed, and at her word, Ku descended into the ground right where he had stood until only the top of his head was visible. His family waited around the spot he had last been day and night, watering it with their tears until suddenly a small green shoot appeared where Ku had stood. Quickly, the shoot grew into a tall and leafy tree that was laden with heavy breadfruits that Ku's family and neighbors gratefully ate, joyfully saved from starvation ...

The 'seed' at bottom in Ga3-11 respectively in Ka4-5 is the 'head' of the sun, indicating that the new 'plant' is the north (sunny) side of the island. As a further sign of this honu is added.

If we search for a 'moon head seed' at the bottom of a poporo glyph in G and K, we will find Gb2-4 (beyond the reach of the K text):


Gb1-26	Gb2-1	Gb2-2	Gb2-3	Gb2-4	Gb2-5
Sun		Moon		Mars

Gb2-6	Gb2-7	Gb2-8	Gb2-9	Gb2-10	Gb2-11
Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Te Pou

Without looking back to what I have suggested earlier I now created the table above. Then I looked and found a few differences, I had assigned Gb2-10--11 to Saturn for instance. The new interpretation is better, and 4 henua adorns the top row, while none is found in the bottom row - the 6 glyphs in the top row correspond to 'honu', while the 4 (Te Pou should not be counted) in the bottom row correspond to 'tavake'.

Gb2-4 (with 5 'feathers') has a henua with one straight short end and one curved, because Mars has two 'faces'. The 'seed' is not the moon but Mars.

Venus (Gb2-8) has a much greater 'seed', and two maro strings, presumably one for each of the two phases (morning and evening). Between the two phases Venus is invisible, hidden (piko), which explains why there must be two strings. Likewise Moon (Gb2-2) must have two strings because between waning (left) and waxing (right) there is a black new moon face.

The 'seed' in Gb2-2 is a crescent, not a 'ball'. But among the glyphs at the beginning of side b - where we should expect a poporo glyph for the moon - we find 4 glyphs with a general shape following the pattern of poporo:


Gb1-7	Gb1-8	Gb1-9	Gb1-10	Gb1-11	Gb1-12	Gb1-13

Gb1-14	Gb1-15	Gb1-16	Gb1-17	Gb1-18	Gb1-19	Gb1-20

Te Pei is located at Gb1-7, and the sequence of glyphs which follows up to Te Pou apparently is meant to describe how the different lights in the night sky are being born.

Gb1-9 and Gb1-11 are on one side of Gb1-13, Gb1-14 and Gb1-19 on the other side. Instead of 'feather' marks, there are crescent signs. The round 'seeds' are somewhat smaller than the Venus 'seed', but they could represent moon anyhow, because size may mean 'importance'.

In Aa4-76 we have not only double maro strings, but double seeds, which possibly, then, should refer to Venus:


Aa4-73	Aa4-74	Aa4-75	Aa4-76	Aa4-77	Aa4-78
kua hua te kahui					i te henua - e kua topa te kahui

Metoro here said kahui = bunch (of bananas etc), but presumably it referred to Aa4-73 and Aa4-78:

Kahui

Bunch; kahui maîka, bunch of bananas. Vanaga.

Bunch, cluster. T Mgv.: kahui, a bunch of grapes or pandanus. Mq.: kahui, a bunch, cluster, troop, assemblage. Ta.: ahui, heap, collection. (Cf. Sa.: fui, a cluster of nuts; fuifui, a cluster of fruit, a flock of birds.) Churchill.

Topa

1. To bend down, to drop to the ground; to fall on a certain date. 2. To stop doing something, to drop; ina ekó topa taau aga, do not stop, keep doing your work. 3. To remain, to be left over, to be unfinished; he topa te kai, the food is not finished, there is some left. 4. To come to one's memory; i te aamu he topa te vânaga tûai, in the legends old words come to memory. 5. To remember, to reflect (with mana'u as subject); e-topa rivariva tokorua mana'u ki te me'e nei, let the two of you think carefully about this thing. Vanaga.

1. Wine; topa tahaga, id. 2. To fall in drops, to descend, to go down, to abdicate; topa iho, to fall; hakatopa, to knock down, to cause to fall; hakatopa ki raro, to knock down, to subjugate. 3. Childbirth, abortion; topa te poki, to lie in. 4. A feast, to feast. 5. To arrive, to result; topa rae, newcome; topa iho, to come unexpectedly; topa ke, to deviate; topa no mai, topa hakanaa, topa tahaga, mau topa pu, unexpected; topa okotahi, solitary; hakatotopa, to excite, to foment. 6. Bad, low, cheap, failure; igoa topa, nickname; ariga topa, sinister, sly, ill-tempered, to hang the head; hakatopa, to disparage; hakatotopa, irresolute. 7. (Of upward movement) topa ki raro, to scale, to surpass; hakatopa ki te ao, to confer a dignity; hakatopa ki te kahu, to spread a sail; hakatotopa, to make a genealogy. Churchill.

4 * 76 = 304 = 16 * 19.