Page:Folklore1919.djvu/247

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
A Tongan Theogony.
235

heard, or would have been heard had there been anyone to hear them, and forth leapt a pair of twins, male and female, called Biki and Kele. Again the tremblings and rumblings, and another pair of twins, male and female, Atungake and Maimoalongona, came forth. Again convulsions of nature, followed as before by a portentous birth, this third pair being named Fonu-uta (Land-turtle) and Fonu-vai (Sea-turtle). Once more the rock endured the pangs of labour, and bore the fourth and last pair of twins, Hemoana (Sea-serpent) and Lube (Dove). These being apparently the sole inhabitants of the universe, matrimonial choice could be exercised only within severely restricted limits, but the difficulty was surmounted by each pair of twins setting up house-keeping. And with the happiest results. The union of Biki and Kele was blessed by the birth of a son, Taufulifonua, and later a daughter, Havealolofonua. To Atungake and Maimoalongona was born a daughter, Velelahi, whilst Fonu-uta and Fonu-vai also became the parents of a daughter, Velejii.

As behoved kind and prudent parents, Biki and Kele next addressed themselves to the task of procuring a patrimony for their offspring, and by means unrecorded accomplished the difficult feat of causing to spring up a country called Tonga-mamao (Distant Tonga), to which their children Taufulifonua and Havealolofonua were taken. The brother and sister proved desirable in each other's eyes, and to them was born one of the greatest divinities in the Tongan pantheon, Hikuleo (perhaps Echo, and apparently a female divinity). Naturally enough in the legends of a people whose chiefs commonly had more wives than one, Taufulifonua's love for Havealolofonua was no bar to there being a partner in his affections. Havealolofonua, in fact, is represented as herself going away and seriously depleting the supply of marriageable young ladies by securing the heart and hand of Velelahi for her brother-husband. If a moral breach can ever be excused by results, this bigamous transaction should certainly be condoned, for Velelahi became the mother of a tribe of deities known throughout Polynesia, the Tangaloa, of whom there seem to have been five. The eldest Tangaloa rejoiced in the unwieldy but euphonious name of