1. The Lost Unity

A Disaster Has Ruptured the Peaceful Life between Animals and Humans – for Good.

By CELLY AKWAN and BECKY SIMSON

In ancient times, there was peace among all things created. So, man and animals lived side by side peacefully for a long time.

Then, a disaster suddenly struck the harmony to pieces. Gone was the peaceful relation between man and animals. Sadly, nobody has ever been able to regain the harmony of ancient times.

What disaster has struck the peace with such a magnitude that no one has ever been able to regain it? A retold myth from Sarmi, Papua, tries to answer this question.

Sherimamun, Megim, and Satan

There was a widow who lived on Liki in the ancient times. (Liki is the largest island of the Kumamba Archipelago and is located north-west of Sarmi.) She had two daughters: Sherimamun and her younger sister, Megim. They were hardworking girls and helped their mother well.

One day, the widow and her daughters went fishing near the beach. While busily catching prawns from the surf, they did not know that Satan, an evil woman, was approaching them. She crept up and kidnapped the mother and took over her body. For a while, Satan played the role of the mother and looked for fish with the girls. Finally, she said, “That’s enough, let’s go home.” The two girls did not suspect her at all and obeyed her.

“I’m hungry, kids. So make papeda,” said Satan after they arrived home. The children set a fire, boiled water, and stirred the papeda. It was a sticky, glue-like, clear, tasteless, and sometimes gray pudding made from the sago flour and boiled water. Normally, people ate papeda with vegetables and meat or fish, cooked or roasted. But Satan could not wait and ate so much papeda that she nearly vomited. Then she decided to take a nap.

After getting up from her afternoon sleep, she complained, “I’m sick. Massage my legs, maybe I’ll get better.”

Sherimamun rubbed her legs. While working, she noticed that her “mother’s” legs were bigger and looked strange. But she still did not know what had actually happened. Megim then got her turn to massage her “mother’s” legs, and she also noticed that they looked different. But she did not understand either.

In spite of the girls’ massaging, Satan’s legs did not get better. She lay on the floor and groaned the whole day.

“This house isn’t good,” she complained. “I’ll die from pain, let’s move to another house.”

The two girls did not understand Satan’s decision. But they took their nokeng, bags woven from the bark tissues of a certain tree, their fish net, furniture, and a little firewood on their backs. Then, they walked to a hut Satan showed them.

After that, they built a fire. Satan went away, lay down, and slept with her sick legs facing the fire so that they could be warmed.

Days passed by. The girls noticed that their “mother” had changed, and their doubts about the woman increased and increased.

Finally, Sherimamun gathered courage and asked her sister one day, “Is she our mother?”

“I don’t know, but I’m afraid.”

One day, they made up their minds to leave and escape. To prevent Satan from waking up, they crawled out of the hut step by step, ran down the wooden stairs, and disappeared into the jungle.

Soon they arrived at Gabus, a tree spirit. Gabus came out of a hole in the tree.

“What’s up?”

“We’re looking for our mother,” Sherimamun answered. “Satan stole her and we’re afraid.”

“Well, then, please get in here.”

As soon as the two girls were in the tree, they did not have to worry about their safety. Gabus gave them fruit and papeda to eat.

Then, knocks outside the tree made their blood run cold. Gabus stepped forward, quietly opened the hole of the tree, and they heard him say, “No Satan, they’re not here.” Then, the hole was shut and Gabus was with the two girls again.

“Satan was looking for you, but she’s already gone.”

The girls drew a long breath and everybody could sleep peacefully.

The next morning, Sherimamun and Megim thanked Gabus for his kindness and left. They wanted to look for their mother.

For some time, they walked slowly through the jungle. Then, they met with a woodsman who was felling a tree.

“What’s the matter?”

“We’re looking for our mother. Satan seems to have devoured her and we’re afraid.”

“Satan has just passed by,” the man whispered and hurriedly added, “Be quick! Climb this coconut tree so she can’t see you if she returns.”

In the wink of an eye, the girls shinned up the tree to its top and tried to hide themselves among its fronds. Just before they were ready, Satan showed up.

“Ha . . .,” she shouted, “there you are! I’m coming up to get you!” And like a snake, she slithered up the coconut tree.

Satan who was chasing the two girls drew the attention of the spirit of the coconut tree. He saw what was happening and rushed to their aide. He allowed them to snatch coconuts and hurled them as strongly as they could at Satan’s head. “Cletch! Cletch!” sounded the splintering, spattering coconuts on Satan’s head as they broke.

“Ouch! Ouch!” cried Satan, as she fell. Before she reached the ground, a few ripe coconuts hit her so hard that she died.

Then, the tree-feller threw the corpse into a well. After that, Sherimamun and Megim found the courage to climb down the coconut tree. Both thanked the spirit of the coconut tree and the woodsman for their help, and continued their journey.

Although Satan was dead, the girls could not find their mother. They suspected that Satan had killed her and buried her in the ground.

Megim and the Snake Man

After having walked for a while, they met with a man who had just killed a hog with his arrow.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“We’re looking for our mother; we’re afraid.”

“If that’s the matter, come in here and help me slaughter this hog.”

Sherimamun and Megim went to the hunter’s hut and helped him slaughter the game. The flesh of the pig was cut into pieces and the intestines – also edible – were cleaned from their contents.

Then, Sherimamun told her sister to wash the intestines in the sea. Megim felt hot and tired; so, she walked slowly and waded through the water until it reached her neck.

After washing the intestines, she returned slowly to the hut. How disappointed and fearful she was! Sherimamun and the man were nowhere to be seen. Left alone in the jungle, Megim cried more than she laughed.

“Sherimamun, Sherimamun!” she shouted fearfully while searching for her sister. The whole day, poor Megim wound her way through the jungle, searching, shouting, and crying for her sister.

Before nightfall, she arrived at a gomo, a big and old breadfruit tree. She took a rest there for a while and then decided to climb the tree because she was hungry.

Just as she was sitting in the tree to pluck its edible fruit, Motomia, who was working in the neighborhood, came running. He looked young, handsome, and was the owner of the breadfruit tree.

“Who’s hiding in my gomo?”

“Me, I’m hungry,” Megim shouted fearfully and climbed down the gomo as quickly as she could.

She told him her story. Motomia took pity on her, and made up his mind to help her.

“Just wait here. I’m going to pluck some breadfruit for you.”

Like a snake, he crawled along the straight stem of the gomo, plucked some ripe breadfruit, threw them to the ground, and slid back to the ground. But just as he touched the ground, he disappeared like a ghost. The disappearance happened so quickly that Megim did not see it. Then, she noticed he was not there, and began looking for him. But she could not find Motomia however hard she tried to look for him. Suddenly, she was standing face to face with a snake that was coiling around the foot of the tree.

“Motomia! Motomia!” she screamed fearfully but then stood aghast at the frightening sight. The snake became Motomia! The snake man mastered the secret art of turning himself into any living forms at will.

“Where have you been?” asked Megim who was still aghast.

“Don’t worry. That’s the way I am, but don’t be afraid. Follow me, and I’ll give you food and you can be my wife.”

Megim was not sure of accepting or rejecting Motomia’s marriage offer. But she was afraid to be left alone in the jungle and so she accepted his request.

After a short journey, they entered Motomia’s village. Megim was taken aback by what she saw. Big and small snakes were crawling on the ground and in houses.

Megim forced herself not to run away. Never before had she met with a village inhabited by snakes and lived with them.

“Don’t be afraid,” said Motomia. “They’re just my folks and won’t do you any harm.”

His advice made Megim feel more assured. She then followed him to his house.

After they entered the house, Motomia coiled himself up like a snake and slept. Megim who saw this unique metamorphosis was not as afraid as she had been before. Later, when she called him, Motomia the snake became Motomia the man.

So, Megim and Motomia lived happily for some time. Soon, she gave birth to a son.

The Encounter

Megim’s baby became a young boy, and went hunting one day. He built a hut in a tree and sat in it while watching edible birds flying near enough to be shot with arrows. The first bird that flew past was so well shot that its feathers flew everywhere in the air. But the bird disappeared with the sosoroka, the arrow with one serrated end and made from the hard bark of a palm tree. The disappearance of the arrow was a great loss for him because it was beautifully made and ornamented. He had to find it. So, he quickly got down and looked for the lost sosoroka.

In his search for it, he arrived at a forest of sago trees and encountered some people. The family was scraping out the heart of a felled sago palm to make flour. The husband was looking at the boy and suddenly was surprised to see that his face was similar in some way to that of his wife’s. Turning to his wife, he whispered, “The boy’s face looks similar to yours. Could he be the son of your sister?” His wife glanced at him and said, “I’m not sure.”

The boy was not aware that he was being observed. Strange enough, both the man and the woman did not ask him to tell them about who he was, where he came from, and who his parents were. Nevertheless, the couple had a strange feeling that the boy was in some way related to them; so, they just let him stand there.

As if covering his identity with darkness, the boy said, “I’d like to sleep for a while.” The family did not respond but left him alone. But without being noticed by Sherimamun’s family, he became a snake. When they realized that he was gone, the father told his children to look for him, but they could not find him.

Suddenly, a large snake appeared nearby.

“A big snake! A big snake!” the children screamed fearfully.

The alarmed father came running and with a heavy axe-blow cut the snake into pieces. Though his children were safe, he did not realize that the snake he had just killed was a human being in the form of a snake. In following his impulse, he unwittingly paved the way for a looming retribution he was not aware of. So, he dug a big pit and buried the pieces in it. Then, the family resumed their search for the boy but could not find him. They began to wonder about where he might have gone for a nap and about his identity. Something eerie about him was hanging in the air.

“Where’s the boy?” asked the father. “Could he have been the snake we killed?”

No one could answer him. Fearfully, the family hurried back home.

Meanwhile, Megim and Motomia had been waiting a long time for the return of their son. He did not show up and his parents were worried that something terrible might have happened to him.

Motomia had a strong feeling that his son was killed and it made him angry with the murderer. Turning himself into a snake, he began searching for his son. He arrived at the sago forest owned by Sherimamun’s family, and soon discovered a pit covered with loose dirt.

Motomia quickly put the soil aside and discovered the pieces of his slain son. He gathered them into a snake shape and, gosh, he soon revived his son! Together, they crawled into the jungle and became human beings again. They returned to their village and told Megim what had happened, who her son had met, and what they had done to him.

Megim got furious and her fury infected Motomia.

“I’m going there again tomorrow for revenge,” said Motomia .

The next day, Motomia turned himself into a snake and left his house. Soon, he arrived at Sherimamun’s house without knowing that Sherimamun was his relative. He got so furious that he bit one of her children and caused him to bleed. When the boy’s blood dropped on the ground, a heavy rain began to fall.

Motomia soon returned home and turned himself again into a human being. He felt satisfied for the revenge he had just taken.

“I’ve killed that woman’s child. Prepare papeda quickly. I’m hungry.”

The Separation

Megim was pleased and she quickly made papeda for her husband. But suddenly a terrible accident happened. In her hurry, she accidentally turned the earthen cooking pot with boiling water over. The spilt hot water flowed on the floor where some snakes were sleeping. Megim shrieked to save them, but she watched in horror how they were shriveled to death by the boiling water.

Like a spreading fire, the accident was soon spread to the whole village.

“Megim has killed some of us!”

Motomia and chiefs of the snake community did not know what to do. The common snakes were enraged and demanded retaliation. They screamed as if they were also going to be boiled to death. Emotions and commotions rose high in the village. At last, Motomia began to settle the matter with the snake chiefs while the crowd of snakes kept shouting and screaming for revenge.

In the beginning, the dispute seemed to have come to a dead end. Then, there was a way out. The chiefs and Motomia had tough arguments and talks with the common snakes and finally reached a consensus. The snake would move to another village and leave the human beings behind to face their fate.

That was a dilemma for Motomia. The snake man could be a snake or a man. As a snake, he had to side with his snake community. But as a human being, he had to live together with his human wife and other human beings. It was a hard choice for him to swallow.

Finally, he made up his mind He would live with his snake community.

So, Motomia crawled in front of the crowd and the snake community began their exodus. Thousands of snakes crawled along ladders and stairs towards the village exit. Megim sadly followed them with her eyes, as they left her and her son behind. Since that time, man and animals have lived separately.

Sherimamun and Megim are revered on Liki. They are considered the ancestors of the two families who live on and own that island.

Copyright©2008. All rights reserved. Published with written permission from the authors.