TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

The stingray appears but once in the index of The Raw and the Cooked, but not referring to M146. Instead, we find another myth:

"M147. Amazonia. 'The story of Amao'

There was once a young virgin girl called Amao. Having been accidentally fertilized by a fish which got inside her vulva, she gave birth to a boy.

When the baby was two months old, she happened to lay him down on a stone while she was catching small fish. Toward midday she went to pick him up again, but the child was dead.

We note 'midday', and that the catching of fish is a cause of death.

She wept all night. In the morning the child started to talk and explained that the animals had killed him by frightening him. If his mother wanted to be safe from their attacks, she should smoke them with a resin fire until they changed into stones.

When evening came, Amao buried her son. At midnight all the animals had turned into stones, except the great snake, the stingray, the wild pig, and the tapir who had gone off in the direction of the spring where the child had died. Amao went there, killed the wild pig and the tapir, cut them up, and threw all the flesh into the stream, apart from a thigh belonging to each animal, which she laid on the rock where they turned to stone.

Next, by means of a lasso, she captured the great snake and the stingray which were feeding on the bed of the stream. She turned them into stones with the help of resin.

Then she went back to her own people to teach them cooking and the arts of civilization. After which she disappeared, and no one knows where she went ..."

The Stingray and the Great Snake appear to be equal in kind. To catch them Amao used a lasso. Once again we must associate to Oroi, and to show this we continue with the story in Barthel 2:

"... When the lament was finally over, they took them (the dead) and buried them in the burial place of Ahu Ature Hoe (i.e., in Anakena). Now the people knew: (It was) Oroi's doing that Hahaki A Roro and his (brothers) had their intestines torn out. Then King Hotu grieved with the following (words): 'Oroi had secretly hidden himself when he came (with us) on board the canoe to this place ...'

I think it would be impossible to travel without one's shadow following.

"... Another month went by, and he was full of longing for his adopted child, Veri Hina. King Hotu arose and went away.

Ata, âta

Ata 1. Dawn, first light before sunrise; ku-hamu-á te ata , dawn has broken; ku-tehe-á te ata, it's already dawn (lit.: the lights have flown). 2. Particle inserted between the imperative prefix ka and the verb to signify 'well, carefully, intelligently': ka-ata-hakarivariva, prepare it well. Between the prefix e and kahara it expresses 'to make sure that, to take good care that...' : e-ata-kahara koe o oona, be careful not to get dirty; e-ata-kahara koe o kori te moa o te tahi pa, be sure not to steal chickens of another property. 3. More: iti, small; ata iti, smaller; he-ata-ata iti-iti ró, the smallest of all. Vanaga.

Âta 1. Shadow: he-veveri te poki, ana tikea toona âta, the child is frightened at seeing his shadow; person's reflection (in mirror, in water): he âta oou-á, it's your own reflection. 2. To be frightened by a shadow: he-âta te îka, the fish are frightened (and they flee) by people's shadows. Vanaga.

1. Image, picture, portrait, design; to draw, to paint (shadow sense). P Mgv: ata, image, likeness, portrait, shadow of a human being, form, shape, appearance, imprint, impression. Mq.: ata, image, statue, portrait, shadow, surface; to design, to mark. Ta.: ata, shade, shadow appearance, form, representation of an object, cloud, cloudy. 2. Transparency, end of day, sunset (bright sense); e ata, red clouds; ku ata, transparent; ata mea, ata tea, ata tehe, dawn, daybreak, sunrise; ataata, end of day, sunset. P Mgv.: ata, morning or evening twilight, daybreak, dawn; ata haihai, evening twilight, a beautiful sunset; ataiai, twilight, clouds red with the sunset; atakurakura, a beautiful sunrise or sunset; atareureu, dawn, the first peep of day, morning twilight. Mq.: ata, to appear, to rise, to shine (of stars); ata uá, morning twilight; ataata, diaphanous, transparent. Ta.: ata, twilight. 3. A designation of space; ata hakahohonu, abyss; ata hakaneke mai, nearby, close at hand; ata tapa, lateral, marginal. 4 ? Ata kimikimi, to inquire; ata puo, to hill a plant; ata ui, to examine, to taste. Churchill.

Atahenua (ata 3 - henua 1), landscape, countryside. Atakai: 1. Generous, hospitable, beneficent, indulgent, liberal, obliging; prodigality, indulgence; rima atakai, benevolent, generous, open-handed; gift, liberality. 2. Calm, unperturbed, grateful. Churchill.

Ata-ta T, evening (? ataata). Atatehe (ata 2 - tehe 1), dawn; popohaga atatehe, morning, early in the morning. Churchill.

He entered, greeted them, and wept (because of the reunion). He remained in the house (?) of his young son-in-law. It grew light, and King Hotu said the following to Veri Hina: 'Keep your eyes on me, (you and) the son-in-law, as soon as I leave. If the terns (manu tara) fly (high) above me (hiri), I shall continue to live.

But if the terns dive (down) on me (vevero), then I have died. Then you (you and the son-in-law) shall go on your way!'

Manu tara

Sooty tern. The names of the age levels of the sooty tern were earlier used as children's names (Routledge). These names were (Barthel): pi(u) riuriu, kava 'eo'eo, te verovero, and ka 'ara'ara. Fischer.

To this Veri Hina replied, 'Agreed, father, we both, (I and) the son-in-law, shall keep a lookout.'

The king went toward the sea (i.e., toward the southern shore). When he reached Hatinga Te Kohe A Hau Maka, Oroi saw that the king had reached Hatinga Te Kohe. Oroi picked up the rope, took it, and came to the path (which the king had to pass).

'... The dream soul went on. She was careless (?) and broke the kohe plant with her feet. She named the place 'Hatinga Te Kohe A Hau Maka O Hiva' ...'

The dream voyage defines Hatinga Te Kohe as 'daybreak', because later - in a counterclockwise movement she reaches the apex (noon) at Poike.

But in the yearly movement, the pole at Hatinga Te Kohe is the opposite of Anakena (where the children were murdered). Anakena is July (new year) and Hatinga should therefore be December (midsummer), where the sun king is facing the risk of being 'broken' like the Waxing Moon at full moon time. Though he may survive and continue, slowly bending down with age instead of 'breaking':

He made a loop (hakapu) in the rope, covered (the trap) with grass, and took the end of the rope into his hand.

(Soul catcher from Pukapuka, Van Tilburg)

'... I cannot but notice that there are 6 double-circles in this snare. - Enmeshing, enfolding or otherwise entangling an individual's soul was part of black magic. In Tahiti and New Zealand, string figurers (called kaikai on Rapa Nui) were employed in the black arts. Priests involved with sickness/healing or with mortuary ritual were feared as threats to community wellbeing but also, on the more positive side, could perform the useful function of catching and holding an escaped soul and returning it to the body ...'

He went into a (grove of ) sandalwood.

Nau(nau)

Sandalwood which used to grow on the steep slopes of the coast: nau opata. Vanaga.

The Sandalwood (Santalum) tree. During the birdman ceremonies at Orongo, a piece of sandalwood was tied to the arm with which the victorious birdman held up the egg of the sooty tern. Barthel 2.

He had hidden there so he could watch the arrival of the king and (at the moment when) the foot (of the king touched the loop) quickly pull the rope. Then Oroi would come out immediately and kill the king.

At the borderline between darkness and light there are holes (pu, ana):

Kakaro

To carve a hole in a stone, like the paega holes in which were stuck the roof poles of the hare paega. To extract the flesh of a shellfish (to eat it) using a small stick or a pointed bone. Vanaga.

Ava, áva-áva

1. To remain (of dregs, of very small objects in the water or in a place which used to be full of water); he-ava, he-paroparoko, expression, said when small fishes swarm in the water holes along the coast. 2. Furrow, rut, groove, crevice, fissure; he-hahata te ava o te henua, a crevice opened in the ground. 3. To strike, to hit; to sound like a blow; ku-ava-á te poko (see also hatutiri), thunder sounded. Vanaga.

Áva-áva. 1. To lift up. 2. to strike, to hit repeatedly; he-áva-áva i te koreha a ruga a te ma'ea, he struck the eel several times against a stone (to kill it). Vanaga.

1. a) Distance, distant; ava poto, a short distance. b) Space, interval. PS Mq.: ava, distance, space, interval. Ta.: ava, interval. The simpler form of the root is va, which is not found in Rapanui and Marquesan, and in Tahiti is narrowly restricted to the spacing of thatch, but in Nuclear Polynesia and in the Tongafiti migration [va] is expressive of the sense of distance and interval. In Samoa the same meaning is carried by an advanced form of the root, and ava in this sense is not found elsewhere. Its reappearance in these three languages of Southeast Polynesia points to a direct migration from Samoa. 2. Channel, strait, pass, passage, breach, entrance to a harbor. Avaava. 1. a) To strike, to slap, to grind, to dent. b) To correct, to maltreat, to exterminate. 2. Angle, chink. 3. Tobacco. In this nook of Polynesia tobacco and its common method of pleasurable use are alike imported. In Melanesia tobacco was indigenous but was employed for the business of medication and not to assuage the conditions of cannibal society. The leaves when fully grown were shredded, macerated and employed as a cataplasm. Applied upon the abdomen it was the principal agency in the production of emesis and catharsis. Applied secretly in axilla [arm-pit] it superinduced the ecstasy of the priest when in the trance of possession by his god. In Fiji it was used as an insecticide. Avahi, a wedge, to split; avahiga, part, partial; avahiga kore, inseparable. Avamouga (ava 1 - mouga 2), valley. Churchill.

The terns calmly circled above the king when he arrived. King Hotu came along and reached Te Tingaanga O Te Hereke (literally, 'the meeting place of the dangerous one'). King Hotu looked down on the loop of the rope, which was open, as it was lying there, covered with grass. He moved his foot and stepped on the edge of the loop. King [!] Oroi saw that the foot of King Hotu was in the loop and pulled the rope. King Hotu let himself fall to the ground (on purpose).

But in doing so, King Hotu firmly stepped with his foot on the rope, which made it taut, so that Oroi would think the follwing: the foot of King Hotu has entered into (the loop of) the rope. Oroi came out of the sandalwood (grove?), ran very fast, and headed straight for the king to run him through with the needle-sharp bone dagger (ivi heheu).

'... Ana-heu-heu-po, the pillar where debates were held - what kind of debates?'

Heu

Offspring of parents from two different tribes, person of mixed descent, e.g. father Miru, mother Tupahotu. Heuheu, body hair (except genitals and armpits). Vanaga.

1. Heheu; ivi heheu, the cachalot, bone needle; hakaheu, spade, to shovel, to grub up, to scratch the ground, to labor; rava hakaheu, laborious, toilsome. 2. Hakaheu, affair. Churchill.

M. Heu, to separate, to pull asunder; the eaves of a house; weu, a single hair; hau. to hew; heru, to comb; huru, hair on the body; down; feathers; maheu, scattered; maheuheu, shrubs; mahuru, scrub; heuea, to be separated. Text Centre.

From the several meanings of the word heu I get the impression that at the center (of meaning) lies the concept of 'difference'. At the eaves of a house the roof is ending. To pull asunder, separate, to have a mixed descent. To debate, i.e. discuss differences of opinion. Metoro (we remember) used the word heu at what looks like the X-area (Ca5-16 and preceding glyphs):


te hokohuki erua		te marama	te maitaki

te henua	kua haga te mea ke	manu puoko i tona ahi	kua heu te huki

The 'whirlpool' is the end, the 'mouth of Mundo'. There are 13 'feathers' on Ca5-16. The old year evidently 'goes down' at Alphard (a name which is strangely similar to the letter of beginning, alfa). Ana-heu-heu-po has po there at its end probably to indicate the 'black cloth' ...'

At that moment, the king cast a spell (tohu) on Oroi, namely:

kikita kikita	...
taviri tavara	Turn around as though gripped by a dizzy spell
ki raro koe	and fall to the ground.
ka mate!	Die!

We note 'dizzy' and recall that hiro means 'to twist'.

Taviri

To turn around. Vanaga.

Key, lock, to turn a crank. Hakataviri, a pair of compasses. T Mgv.: taviri, a key, a lock, to lock, to twist. Mq.: kavii, a crank; tavii, to twist, to turn. Ta.: taviri, a key, to turn, to twist. The element viri shows that the primal sense is that of causing a motion in rotation. The key and lock significations are, of course, modern and negligible. Churchill.

Ûa

Rain; 1. ûa hakamito, persistent, but not strong, rain; 2. ûa kura, fine rain, drizzle; 3. ûa matavaravara, strong rain; 4. ûa parera, torrential rain; 5. ûa tai, rain followed by fair weather at sea. Ehu ûa, drizzle. Vanaga.

Ûaûa. Tendons, muscles. 1. Hau ûaûa kio'e, line made from rats' tendons. 2. Ûaûa toto, vein, artery. 3. Ûaûa piki, spasm. Vanaga.

1. Rain; hoa mai te ua, to rain; mou te ua, to cease raining. P Mgv., Mq., Ta.: ua, rain. 2. Vein, artery, tendon (huahua 1) (uha G); ua nene, puls; ua nohototo, artery, ua gaei, pulse. Uaua, vein, tendon, line; kiko uaua, muscle T. Hakauaua, to mark with lines. P Pau.: tare-ua, tendon. Mgv., Mq., Ta.: uaua, vein, tendon. Churchill.

Screaming, Oroi fell to the ground, he who had set the trap, and he died ..."

Heyerdahl 6:

"... the Kwakiutl culture hero is associated with the clever person who by trickery stole fire from its guardian 'at the edge of the day', a myth related to the wide-spread series of American heroes who obtained fire for humanity by snaring the rising sun.

Both Henry (1928, p. 466) and Luomala (1940, p. 49) observe how the Polynesian islanders, just like the North American Indians, record the sun-binding legend, in which the culture hero snares the sun with an all-powerful rope made from his sister's hair.

Luomala (Ibid.) presents an interesting study of 'Oceanic, American Indian, and African Myths of Snaring the Sun', and says: 'The most impressive similarity between any two areas is the Polynesian and North American use of rope made from a woman's pubic hair ..."