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TRANSLATIONS
When the reader turns the tablet from side a to side b, another world awaits. A world of night, a nuku world dark as the depths of the sea. Turning the tablet compares with the deluge. In Fischer the following is important: "... How ideally to read a rongorongo tablet. Every even-numbered line on Side One is inverted; every odd-numbered line of Side Two is inverted ..." If this rule always was followed, then it would be easy to identify which side is side a and which is side b. The G tablet, though, is not engraved according to Fischer's rule. Both sides have their even-numbered lines inverted. I think this is a confirmation of the text being intended as primarily a moon calendar. The moon has two sides. G has 8 lines on each side. Q has 9. When I look at the reproduction of Q side a in Fischer I am capable of finding glyph line a9 to be according to rule (not inverted). Side b is more difficult, but at last I managed to find that line b8 is not inverted. The rule says odd-numbered lines on side b should be inverted and I can now perceive that line b7 indeed is inverted. Q follows the rule, but not G. Q has twice 9 = 18 lines, which suggests the sun rather than the moon. In G there is 1 glyph per day and 472 days. In Q there are 2 glyphs per day and 368 days. The pattern is reversed. 368 we can read as 36 and 8. 472 we can read as 4 and twice 36. Sun respectively moon (remember the Mamari moon calendar). When we turn the tablet of Q this is what we will find (though upside down):
Manu rere in Qb1-13 has a horizontal beak, and its uplifted fist is - like the 5 following glyphs - not quite real.
I have not listed Qb1-18 as an example of nuku, but in Mamari I have found e.g. these two glyphs to be nuku:
Indeed, I had great difficulty finding it anywhere in my glyph catalogue. It must be somewhere, of that I was absolutely sure, because of my way of creating the catalogue. At last I found it as an example of mauga. I think, I will add it also at nuku. It looks like a ghostly fish type of nuku. Considering the level beak of manu rere it could be like a 'fish nut' of nuku. 400 / 2 + 64 = 264. Two glyphs per day and adding 64 does not make much sense, I think. It is better to take the 'face value', i.e. identify the beginning of side b on Q with solstice. I had intended to arrive at nuku in *Qb3-41 because the parallel H text is turning side there. But the beginning of this page does not lead in that direction, I think. OK, let us jump there anyhow:
The parallel in H is beginning with day 280 (according to the rule of 3 glyphs per day counted from Ha1-4 and then adding 64):
No immediate conclusion can be reached. It is not even certain that Hb1-4 is a nuku glyph. Let us leave this trail. Instead, back to Fischer's rule. Does it apply to H? And how about the strange P?
Only G so far is different. We must look at Tahua, Keiti, and Mamari, too:
I can see that line Ab6 is upside down. Like G every even-numbered line (irrespective of side) is upside down. Our search for kuhane stations in Tahua seems to have been sound. In C it is easy to see the glyph lines. Side a follows the rule, but also on side b the odd-numbered lines are right side up. Also E is easily seen to follow the pattern of A, C, and G. Fischer's rule is not of any value. His rule is rather the exception confirming the basic rule: Reading begins with the bottom line on each side and the glyphs in these lines are not upside down. Why is he doing this? He is misleading us at every important point. |
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