4. The Sky Man

(A Retold Myth from Yotefa Bay, Jayapura Area, Papua)

His Gentleness and Love Have Improved Human Life.

By CELLY AKWAN and BECKY SIMSON

How miserable life was for the people on earth! They did not have enough food and enough money. They also did not know the art of carving and other good traditions. It was a gentle and loving hero with supernatural ability who would change their misery into a life of abundance, friendship, order, and beauty. He was Wei.

An Extraordinary Creature

In the beginning, Wei lived in the sky. Later, he descended to the earth through the ganemo, a kind of tree bearing small, hard, oval, green, edible fruit. He lived in a cave near the ganemo. The cave was in a hill that faced the sea. This dwelling sheltered him from cold wind and was located near the human community in Cong Wei, a village near Skou, north of Jayapura. The villagers also called him Tangi. Because he came from the sky and lived on earth, he was also known as the sky man.

Wei was an extraordinary creature. Like any other great heroes with supernatural ability, he mastered the secret art of turning himself into any powerful living forms at will: a big snake, a big shark, an extraordinary man, or any other impressive living forms. A specific place needed a specific living form. So, when he was on land, he became a big snake during the day but a human being during the night. Besides, he could speak the human language fluently and could even eat and drink like most people.

When Wei descended from the sky, he brought along with him seeds to be grown and cultivated on earth. He brought the seeds of coconut trees, bananas, and sago trees. He also brought a miraculous tree, the Rawa Tawa Pisoya. The wonderful tree later bore cowry shells, highly valued as currency by the inhabitants of Cong Wei and its vicinity. In fact, the cowry shells from the miraculous tree were used as the first currency in that area.

To plant the Rawa Tawa Pisoya in the cave where he lived, he turned himself into a snake man. Planting it there would hide it from anybody who wanted to steal its unique fruit. This would also prevent animals and birds from eating its fruit, from falling outside his dwelling, and from spreading to other place.

Wei and the Two Sisters

One day, Wei who had become a snake came home from hunting. He was crawling under the ganemu when he saw some of its fruit lay scattered on the ground. Strange, he thought. Some strong wind could not have blown the fruit of the tree because there was no wind blowing from the sea. Then, he looked up and saw two women sitting on a branch. They were choosing the ripe ganemu, eating it hungrily but throwing the green, unripe fruit to the ground.

They were Lermoin and Yarmoin, her younger sister. They were two brave women from Lake Sentani.

When they noticed Wei, they climbed down the tree. The snake man moved his head up, looked at them, and then moved his head to the right and to the left. It was a signal to follow him; so, the two girls walked behind the crawling snake man.

Then, they entered the cave where he lived and were very impressed. The cave looked like a spacious house: it had a dining room, a bedroom, and a kitchen. It was very neatly kept and Wei lived like a human being in it. To their surprise, they noticed an old woman, his housekeeper, who also lived in the cave; they also noticed that he used plates to eat grilled, baked, or cooked food. It was a beautiful home and the two girls liked its lovely atmosphere. So, they heartily accepted Wei’s offer to them to live in his beautiful home.

Days went by and the sky man came to know Lermoin and Yarmoin better and better. Lermon was kind and good; so, Wei liked her. But Yarmoin was usually disrespectful, mischievous, and insensitive to Wei’s feelings.

Wei, the sky man, was a good-hearted man. He was incapable of doing evil things; so, he would suffer if anybody else did something evil to him. Human curiosity and ill will were some ways for him to know whether someone was good or evil from the way he or she acted on them.

Yarmoin’s Curiosity

One night, Yarmoin was walking alone outside the cave. Wei who took a human shape had not come back from the sea yet. She happened to discover a large piece of snake skin hidden behind some shrubs. She was certain it was Wei’s. She got a naughty idea. Wei wouldn’t be a snake man if he lost his snake suit, she thought. So, she made sure nobody else was watching her and took the skin and hid it in a place far away from the shrubs.

Wei who had just returned from the sea soon knew about the loss of his suit. The loss saddened him very much. Without that suit, he would not be able to change himself into a snake man. So, he became an ordinary man and talked less and less. To get rid of his sadness, he asked the two girls to leave his house.

To prevent them and anyone else from profanity, he built a karaweri near the ganemu. It was a sacred men’s house and had seiji or taboos. Wei kept his secret belongings here. Women, children, and domestic animals were forbidden to enter it.

The disappearance of his snake suit also changed his work. Every day, he collected various kinds of bird heads. Sometimes, when he got engrossed in his work, he stayed at the men’s secret house the whole day.

One day, Wei went fishing. Before leaving, he told his housekeeper, “Don’t let the two girls come near the karaweri.”

Yarmoin had been curious to know what Wei did at the men’s house. Driven either by ignorance, disrespect, insensitivity, or a mixture of them, she made up her mind to enter the sacred men’s house Wei had built. She looked to the left and to the right to make sure no one else was watching her. She did not see anyone else; so, she sneaked into the forbidden house for women.

The scene she saw was beyond this world! She beheld a colorful panorama of various kinds of insects. There were butterflies with various wing sizes, big dragonflies, and various insects with colorful skins. All the insects were neatly arranged and kept in a kind of cage.

A beautiful butterfly with three-colored wings was flying near her. She wanted to touch and hold it, but it flew away.

“Oh!” Yarmoin sighed a breath of longing for the fascinating sight. She could not hold back her curiosity any longer. I’ve got to get into the cage, she said to herself. So, she opened the door of the cage – and suddenly all the insects flew out!

Larmoin was stunned and stared in disbelief at what she had done. “Oh-oh!” she cried. She was panic-stricken and ran out the sacred men’s house while crying.

The housekeeper and Lermoin who happened to be near the men’s house heard Yarmoin’s cry. They were also stunned to watch colorful insects flying out of the men’s house. Then, they ran as fast they could to the men’s house, hoping to capture the flying insects and put them back into the cage. But however hard the efforts they made, they could not get even a single insect back into its cage. A lot of the insects that flew out fell dead and lay scattered on the front veranda of the men’s house. Many others flew off in all directions. So, they helplessly watched the disaster happen and go by. The crying Yarmoin regretted her foolish conduct and waited for Wei’s return.

No sooner had the disaster happened than Wei, the owner of the beautiful collections, knew about Yarmoin’s transgression of the seiji. Instantaneously, his canoe on the sea was filled to the brim with dead insects!

Alas! Those women must have entered the secret men’s house, he said to himself. My work has been useless.

He pulled in his fishing line and threw the fish he had caught into the sea. Chagrined, he rowed back and went immediately to the karaweri.

He was heart-stricken when he witnessed what he had already sensed. So many of the insects had died too soon! His work was ruined.

With tears in his eyes, Wei gathered most of the dead insects that lay scattered across the floor. He buried them beside his house. He wrapped the rest and took them inside.

The Journey to the West

After the disaster, Wei did not feel comfortable at home. The earth he trod on felt as if it were hot. He wanted to go to places where he could continue his work of creating abundance, friendship, order, and beauty for the people. Those places were located in the West. So, he made up his mind to start a journey to the West. It would be a great journey.

So, he pulled up the miraculous tree and collected some ripe sago seeds. People living in the West would need them.

Before leaving, he met the three women. Though they had made him very sad, the good-hearted Wei forgave them for the disaster they had caused to him. So, as a sign of goodwill, he said, “Live here and take care of this house. I’m going to Nubay Bay. If our children and grandchildren get into trouble here, tell them to go there. Let’s hope that we’ll build Nubay Bay together.”

After saying his parting words, he went alone to the shore of Cong Wei, taking his priceless belongings along. On the beach, he put on his new suit made from the skin of a big shark and jumped into the sea. He then swam towards Nubay.

Descendants of other sky men

Wei was not the only sky man who descended to earth. Other sky men had descended earlier to earth and had descendants living there. The ancestors of the Sibi and Chai families who appeared for the first time on the island of Kayu Injau in Nubay Bay around present-day Jayapura are believed to have descended from the sky. Both families are therefore prominent among their fellow-people, elites of their community. Before Wei started his journey to the West, both families had settled in the eastern and western parts of the island.

The ancestors of the Sibi clan were two brothers. Sibi, the older brother, was keen on hunting. With his loyal dog, he hunted in the forest on the mainland for many days. Sedemboro, the younger brother, liked to live on the coast and take care of the fish living in the waters between Cape Bechai Sibi Sechomo and Cape Rengasechu.

But the present-day Chai clan has close affinity with Wei. For the ancestor of the Chai clan has been closely associated with Wei’s fish shape. Because of this close relationship, Wei has been sometimes called the Chai fish.

Nowadays, a lot of people from Kayu Injau believe that plenty of fish live in the waters between the two capes. How come?

Well, when Sedemboro was alive, people living around Nubay Bay lacked seafood. They suffered from malnutrition and other kinds of diseases and were weak. Sedemboro, the descendant of a sky man, took pity on them. Using his supernatural ability, he performed a lot of miracles in the sea surrounded by the two capes.

One day, he was going to perform another miracle of the sea. The people who had lacked seafood gathered along the beach. Some fishermen rowed their canoes to the sea where Sedemboro would perform his miracle. Sitting in his canoe, he just called the fish to appear in the water and look! One, two, three fish appeared; and then four, five, six; and then seven, eight, nine, ten; and then thousands upon thousands of fish! They were jumping, flying, darting, rolling, hissing by thousands near the surface of the sea, and swimming to and fro in innumerable schools of fish!

Of course, the fishermen near Sedemboro were the first to benefit from this miracle. Each caught so many fish that the canoe would have sunk if the sea had been choppy.

People watching on the beach did not have to be jealous of the fishermen. Soon, they saw thousands of fish swim confusingly to the shore, get stranded, squirm, and die. They ran noisily to the beach to grab as many as they could. To their amazement, they got so many fish that they did not know where to put them and how to carry them back to their houses.

The miracle Sedemboro performed in the sea made him a highly respectable person among his people. He was surely a powerful person.

Despite his power, he did not have the ability to recognize or sense the presence of other sky men in whatever forms they took. This would be true when he encountered Wei in the form of a shark.

Sedemboro’s encounter

Wei continued swimming from Cong Wei to find a new dwelling in the West. He passed by three coastal villages: Hal-Thaikang, Nafri, and Tabati. Finally, he entered Nubay Bay near Kayu Injau. He was exhausted because he had swum for so long. Every time he took a rest on the sea surface, fishermen hit him with their arrows. They were attracted to his fin because it sparkled and glittered in the sun. They thought he was a real, big shark.

Wei was not strong enough to continue his journey. Arrows had wounded him, and some were still piercing the hide of his back. The increasing weakness he felt forced him to emerge from the sea.

Sedemboro who was watching his fish from the canoe immediately saw Wei. He took an arrow, was just going to shoot the gigantic shark-like creature when he heard him shout, “Don’t shoot me! I’m not an ordinary shark.”

Sedemboro was surprised at hearing the shark shout at him. Soon, he understood that the huge fish must have been a powerful being, a sky man, in the disguise of a big shark. So, Sedemboro laid down his bow and arrows and approached the shark.

“Please, pull out these arrows,” he pleaded.

Sedemboro did what Wei told him. Then, he and Wei went to the shore. But when Wei took off his shark hide, Sedemboro was surpised at what he was seeing. Wei had a handome face, but had wounds on his body. Wei’s impressive appearance and suffering evoked Sedemboro’s admiration and sympathy. So, he rubbed the wounded body with liniment made from a mixture of roots and pulverized leaves of a certain tree. This medication restored Wei’s strength. Sedemboro’s kindness made him feel as if they had been close friends for a long time.

The gentle and loving sky man was also a man of honor. He did not forget to return Sedemboro’s kindness with precious things. They were things people lacked but needed very much for their life: sago seeds.

“Buddy,” Wei said. “I’m bringing seeds of sago with me. I’m going to make a forest of sago trees here for you and your descendants.”

Wei did what he had said. He spread the seeds of sago on the banks of the Nubay River.

“I name that grove of sago trees Yachmani. Take good care of it. And to commemorate our brotherhood, I permit your children and grandchildren to carve my image on the bodies of canoes and on the outer tips of the handles of oars.”

Since that time, Sedemboro’s descendants have followed Wei’s bequest. They continue to carve the bodies of their wooden canoes and the tips of the wooden oar handles with images of the Chai fish. It is a fish they should respect and preserve as a model for their art and, because of this, should consider a taboo to eat.

“Also, instruct them to keep their ornaments in sochriai bags, like the one I’m carrying now. When your next descendant gets a baby, call him Chai if he’s a son, and Rechoi if she’s a daughter.”

The kind Wei was aware that he had already repaid much of Sedemboro’s kindness. Now he felt it was the right time to give Sedemboro something that would benefit him and his descendants.

“You may name the male pig Nao, and the female pig Biae,” Wei requested.

The children and grandchildren of Sedemboro and their descendants have also fulfilled this bequest. They even went further by naming the male wave Nao and the female wave Biae. The male wave is carried by the strong western wind that brings the dry season while the female wave is carried by the gentle eastern wind that brings the rainy season.

After Wei gave his instructions, he put on his shark suit. He was about to jump into the sea when Sedemboro held him.

“I’m afraid the people in Nubay will kill you,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be better to live here? There’s a place of stone in the western part of Kayu Injau. It’s a very safe shelter.”

“Let’s see the location.”

Both went to the western part of the island. There was a cave under the island, but it was too small for Wei’s huge body. Since this visit, people have called the cave Serbache Kechaiji; the second word of this name contains the word Chai, another name for Wei.

“Will you please excuse me? I’ve got to be going,” said Wei on the surface of the water. “Thank you for all your help. It has brought me happiness. My dwelling is in Skou, not very far from here. Let me go now.”

But Sedemboro tried once more to convince Wei to stay with him. Staying with him would save his life.

Though the gentle Wei had made up his mind to continue his journey, he was touched with this earnest request. So, he postponed his journey and gave Sedemboro other instructions.

“If you have more seeds and flour from the sago trees that you don’t need, please, give them to my family living in Skou, to their children and grandchildren,” Wei requested. “And tell your children and their descendants not to eat the Chai fish, the mangrove prawns, the ware and cumeja fish, and the timsane shellfish.” These have been considered taboo sea creatures.

Wei also spoke about rituals for the dead.

“Your descendants should bathe corpses in the Nubay River before they are buried. If they obey my advice, their spirits will gather on the hill of Surbarai. It’s the place where I and other spirits will be waiting for them.” Surbarai is near Tarfia, a coastal village located westwards.

“And always remember this,” Wei continued. “If the western wind blows across the Nubay River towards your village some day, that’s the sign that we’re calling one of you family members to come to Tarfia.”

Sedemboro understood the meaning of this cryptic message. Wei meant to say that the western wind blowing towards Sedemboro’s village one day was a sign that one of his children would die and join the spirits of the dead on Surbarai.

Sedemboro kept all these important messages in his heart. He would tell them to his children and grandchildren.

Again, Wei asked to be excused and turned westwards. The local inhabitants have commemorated the parting on that coast by calling it Chai Tahaiti, Chai on the sea.

Encounter with the Toto family

The shark Chai then swam to Wachaiba in Ormu Kecil, a coastal village eastwards of Tarfia. The Toto family here gave him a hearty welcome and told him about the lack of sago trees in the region. Just as he had done on Nubay, Wei or the shark Chai made a forest of sago trees for the family. The sago trees in that region are still fertile.

Like what he had done to Sedemboro, Wei left some other instructions to Toto’s descendants.

“They shouldn’t fell all the sago trees at one time in one place. They should leave one or two trees behind, and go fell sago trees in other places. By doing so, they won’t lack food.”

Wei understood the importance of having enough sago trees for the people. Since he introduced the sago seeds, sago flour gotten from the sago trees has been used as the staple food of the people.

Wei’s death

After giving his instructions, Wei continued his journey. It was afternoon when he swam near Tarfia. The village was rather quiet because most of the villagers were still fishing on the sea.

When dusk began its descent in the West, he slowly approached Tarfia. He swam towards an old man who was sitting near the stairs of his house.

He emerged to the surface of the sea and startled the old man by nodding his head and speaking to him.

“Old man,” he said. “I’ve come to ask for your help.”

The old man grabbed his fish spear and held it in his hand. He was afraid and felt threatened by the presence of a huge shark that could speak his language.

“Kill me,” the shark requested. “Then, divide my flesh among all the inhabitants. But don’t eat my intestine. Bury it in the garden behind your house. You’ll see a miraculous tree grow there.”

At first, the old man hesitated. Then, he carried out the shark’s request. He killed him with his fish spear. Dusk had just slipped by.

After killing Wei, he shouted for help. The fishermen on the sea sensed that something unusual happened at their village and headed for the shore. The huge, dead shark they saw and the story of the old man they heard was astounding. Never before had anyone of them seen such a huge shark, heard him speak in their language, and heard him promise something good for them after he was killed. Could he be an ancestral spirit in the disguise of a shark? No one was sure, but they soon carried out the shark’s request.

They noisily lifted the body of the dead shark and put him on the shore. Then, using torches as light, they cut his flesh and divided it among themselves. Then, they buried his large intestine in the old man’s garden.

The first currency

After some time, the villagers began to notice a tree that grew right at the spot where the intestine of the shark was buried. It grew larger and taller and soon became the miraculous tree promised by the shark.

But the tree spread such a rotten odor that the village smelled as if it were filled with carcasses of sea fish. It made them feel dizzy; nobody wanted to have the foul-smelling fruit of the tree near Tarfia. It had to be moved somewhere.

Old men with great magic power gathered and tried to move the tree to a place far from the coast. Suddenly, the miraculous tree was hurled by a strong wind to Nimboran, a hinterland of Jayapura. The seeds of the foul-smelling fruit were scattered and became cowry shells. The cowry shells then became the first currency of the Nimboran people. That is why, a lot of cowry shells are discovered in Nimboran, but are rarely found on the coast.

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