2. The Second Creator

(A Retold Myth from Sarmi)

Without His Great Deeds, Human Life Would Not Have Been Better.

Without Merne’s great deeds, life for the people and animals and plants in the Sarmi region on the northern coast of Papua would have been worse. For it was Merne who killed Jame and made things new and good for all of them.

By CELLY AKWAN and BECKY SIMSON

The Male Twins

The story of Merne and Jame started in Serwar, an inland village in the Sarmi region. They descended uniquely from male twins. The wife of a married couple got pregnant in her stomach and thigh, and soon delivered the babies! The older baby was born from the stomach of his mother; the younger one was born from her thigh.

The boy born from his mother’s thigh was a scoundrel the minute he was born. He hit anybody and anything, screamed whenever he was dissatisfied, and enjoyed eating large quantities of human flesh!

The boy born from the stomach was different from his brother. He loved people, animals, plants, and defended them. He even made their life better.

The twins grew up in the jungle and understood animal languages. It was Fatrau, an extraordinary wild boar, whose death enabled people to speak animal languages. Unknowingly, two daughters of Igu, a married man, roasted the boar to death. The fat from its body proved to have magical effects on humans. When somebody rubbed it on his face, he was soon able to understand any animal languages. That is why tribes living in the Sarmi region venerated Fatrau’s spirit.

Before the brothers were adults, they were sent to the secret men’s house. It was a special house built only for men; women were not allowed to enter it. There, the twins would be initiated for some years into adulthood. Their uncles were responsible for educating the boys about the mores and beliefs of their community and the physical dexterity they needed for their future lives. Before the initiation period was over, the brothers should fulfill a requirement: each of them should kill someone. Killing someone meant finishing the education of each of them at the secret men’s house.

When they were almost adults, they had to do something none of their peers could do. They had to kill a huge monster, part snake, part man, and part crocodile. The monster had been living near a river with a cave behind it. It was stout and had horrible, sharp teeth; its gluttony was so strong that it ate up all human-beings and animals in the neighborhood. As soon as they met the heinous creature, the younger brother killed it with his deadly arrows.

Before it was given the death blow, the monster gave the twins four pieces of advice. “Remember my first advice. You should dam up a part of the river, empty it, and catch all of the fish in it. Then, bake the fish you’ve caught and serve them at a party in a sacred house you should build. And this is my second advice. You should build a sacred house where Awit, the sacred spirit, would dwell. Then, invite your uncles and show them your gratitude and respect by offering them a lot of food. And my third advice is this: you should wage a war against warring tribes to prevent more killings and destructions. Now if you want to keep on living, don’t forget my fourth advice. Defend your village and yourselves if you are stronger than your enemy, but escape if your enemy is stronger than you.”

After it was killed, the twins entered the cave. Here, they discovered bones and other remains of its meals. To their surprise, they also discovered that the dead creature left two girls alive. They looked beautiful to the eyes of the older brother. So, he said to his younger brother, “Marry the younger girl; I’ll marry the older one.” He then married the older girl, but the younger brother was more interested in eating human flesh; so, he ate the younger girl!

Ancestors of Merne and Jame

Merne and Jame were cousins. The first was a boy and the second a girl. Both were probably descendants of the male twins. Merne was probably the son of the elder son who had been born from the stomach of his mother. He was the bearer of light, fire, security, and order in the men’s sacred house. He was also the improver and creator of certain parts of the human body; in fact, he was the second creator. Jame was probably the daughter of the boy who was born from the thigh of his mother. She was the spirit of the jungle and the tribes living between the Tor and Mamberamo, two large rivers of the Sarmi region.

They were born at the time humans and animals lived under the ground and used the same language. At that time, the sky was closer to the earth than it is nowadays. Its height was about five tall coconut trees put one upon the other. There was no sun or moon.

Merne

Merne was born and reared in the village of Salisa. When he was a boy, he learned to hunt wild boars and birds, to make earthen pots, and to dance with elder men and women in the decorated men’s houses. He soon grew up and became wiser than any other men. Since childhood, he had dreamed of making the life of his people better. He was against the killings of men and women and taught his people how to use fire and water. He also chewed betel nuts like the way people chew them nowadays and did not sleep with his girlfriend before she became an adult.

Merne could also talk with the spirits of trees and birds. That was how he learned to know them better than any other persons. Every day and night, he went and talked with the spirit of the ironwood tree. He was the most powerful tree-spirit venerated by people for his strength, mercy and omniscience concerning jungle life. He also knew Gomo, the female spirit of the tall and sturdy breadfruit tree. He was also a friend of the spirit of the areca-nut tree, the tree of female beauty because it gave men enjoyment and tenderness. Its nut was more potent than that of the coconut because it could be used to drive out diseases from werewolves. From the birds, he learned to know that red was the color of goodness: the color of the heart, the feelings, the life-sustaining blood, and the flowers stuck in the hair of young lovers. He also learned to understand that black was the color of men, of the poison from corpses mixed with charcoal painted on the faces of headhunters. Black was also the color of the Ware party; here, a headhunter would tell the gathering that he had killed a human being.

Merne grew up and became an adult. At such an age, he was determined to leave his village.

“It’s time for us, Mom, to awake people living in caves and stone clefts to start a new life,” he told his mother. “Let Yesrun and Mofin and the three dogs go with me; we won’t be able to meet you and my wife and children anymore.”

Yesrun was Merne’s younger brother and Mofin, his younger sister. They were searching for and gathering everything Merne should take. Merne himself went to a big ironwood tree, felled it, and shaped it into a beam. The beam would be the central pillar of the secret men’s house he would build.

“That’s good,” said a voice that swished through the leaves of the ironwood tree. “Go, I’ll help you.”

The small group was ready to start its journey. Yesrun carried the large nokeng, a bag woven from the thread-like tissues of the bark of a certain tree, containing the bundles of things Merne loved. It contained head-dresses, bracelets, calf belts, bandoliers, stone rings for ear decorations, nose pins, pointed cassowary bones used as knives, and feathers of the birds of paradise as hair ornaments. The group also took with them earthen cooking pots, stones, bamboos, and fuses for making true fire as well as bunches of flowers for making decorative chains around human heads. Meanwhile, Mofin carried the nokeng containing pork and vegetables while Merne himself carried the iron wood beam. All of these would be used at the secret men’s house Merne was intending to build.

The three siblings then parted from their parents and fellow-villagers and started their journey toward the coast. But, first, Merne had to meet with Jame, his cousin, and tried to stop her chaotic life and the destructiveness it caused.

Jame

Jame was a formidable figure. She was twice taller than the tallest man and much stronger than the strongest man. The sounds of her laughter and slaps of her thigh were so loud that they could be heard hundreds of miles away and so terrifying that little children cried in fear and blood-curdling dogs barked. Woe to any men who became the victims of her horrible pleasures. For she liked hunting them and eating their flesh while drinking their blood!

She was so powerful that all bees and ants and mice in her village obeyed her. All days and all nights, they went round and round, gathering food for her guests. The parties she gave to her guests went on for days. There were a lot of dancing, singing, and laughter and a lot of food and drink for every body. Jame did not spend a single night without beating the tifa, a small drum made from hollow dry wood whose ends were covered by iguana skin, and eating her fill of the roasted heads of men!

Jame had strong appetite she had to gratify any time. But how did it happen that she could not stop her gratification? She was possessed with Ceworanim. Ceworanim was a wicked spirit and lived in a cluster of bamboos. In fact, it was the most dangerous spirit of the jungle. Anybody possessed with Ceworanim would show insatiable appetite that needed continuous gratifications. Jame had become a slave of this uncontrollable passion.

Not only Jame but also her female friends were possessed with the spirit of Ceworanim. So, they all loved eating men’s flesh.

And how did Jame see love? It was not love for one’s neighbor; neither was it selflessness. To her, love was adultery!

Possessed by the jungle spirits, Jame and her female friends desecrated the sacred men’s house through their wild behavior. They beat their drums during orgies in the men’s house, and any men could make love with any women in the men’s house. Not only that. They also permitted mothers, children, and domestic pigs to enter it. Being never satisfied with their heinous actions, Jame and her friends invented dirty jokes and used obscenities that ran wild among male adults.

The Battle

Not only was Merne shocked but also disturbed by stories of what Jame and her friends did. One day, he met with his cousin and admonished her.

“See how things are going on now,” he said. “You only indulge in chaos and destructions, ignore the customs, and don’t know how to work. Your gluttony can’t be satisfied, and you haven’t even given birth to a mouse! If you continue killing our men, and don’t have children, our tribe will become extinct. Who, then, will continue our lineage?”

There were down-to-earth considerations and dreams behind Merne’s admonitions. The earth was surrounded by coldness and darkness. Human beings still lived in caves and holes in the ground, with no knowledge of fire for cooking. As they became advanced, they learned to build houses and established rules for the sacred house. The rules forbade women, children, and domestic animals to enter it. Besides, they believed that spirits lived in plants, trees, animals, and the dead. They not only believed in Ceworanim, the wicked spirit, but also in Awit, the sacred spirit. Awit lived in the ironwood tree. One of Merne’s plans was to bring an ironwood beam to the secret men’s house he would build and use it as its central pillar. Awit would then live in that house and when he lived there, the secret men’s house would evoke a sacred atmosphere. No women had once seen Awit; a woman’s presence near the spirit would cause her to drop dead. The sacred spirit could appear in the form of a holy bamboo flute. It was played during various parties and ceremonies related to births, the warding-off of epidemics, and other social events.

Another plan behind Merne’s admonitions was driven by his childhood desire. He wanted to improve human life. So, it was the right time to express his desire to Jame – and to make it come true.

But Jame ignored her cousin’s advice. She continued dancing while beating the drum at the men’s house. She continued hunting and killing more men than she had done before. She even chopped off the head of Muru, her male partner who had always hunted men for her. When his blood seeped into the soil, rain began to fall. Jame then chopped off Muru’s flesh in smaller pieces, took them in her gigantic bag to Otara, her village, roasted them in her house, and gobbled them up. Not only that. She also terrorized her villagers frequently.

Jame’s terrifying behavior also affected the progress of animals. The animals that wanted to become humans turned into animals again. The half animals also resumed the forms of whole animals.

Merne who had heard all of these and failed to change the heart and mind of his cousin finally lost his patience. He summoned his army and led the soldiers to lay siege to Otara. As soon as the sun rose, they met Jame and her army and shot showers of arrows at her. Jame and her soldiers also attacked her cousin and the army he commanded. The two warring parties stopped at noon when Jame’s body became weaker and weaker from the arrows piercing it.

Finally, she tumbled. The impact of her gigantic body hitting the earth was so great that it shook the whole earth. In fact, it was the first earthquake on earth. Houses, gardens, and plants were destroyed and a lot of people and animals were killed.

The Aftermath

Survivors forgot the devastations for a while and joyously celebrated Merne’s victory. Men, women, and children shouted and leaped for joy and sang while beating drums they could get; dogs barked and howled noisily while wagging their tails; and even half animals came out of their hiding places and joined the happiness. It was the most boisterous time of the day.

The surviving people rushed to the place where Jame’s death body was lying. They wanted to chop off her head.

But just as they were ready to chop it off, they were taken aback by her loud voice. “Chop off my head, you cowards,” she shouted, “and don’t forget to roast it in an earthen pot. I haven’t sung my songs yet.”

Sensing that Jame was still alive, a lot of the survivors ran away from her. Only the most daring men returned and carefully began to chop off her head.

Even after her head was chopped off, it was still alive. But villagers in Otara, Jame’s village, got different news. It said Jame was killed in a battle with Merne and asked for a huge earthen cooking pot.

So, the strongest and most daring men from Otara carried a huge earthen cooking pot to the site of Jame’s death, and carefully put her chopped head in it. Even her fellow villagers, no matter how strong and daring they were, could not hide their fear of her. Some men from Otara were so frightened that they were turned by their own fright into animals and fled into the jungle!

Before the huge earthen cooking pot was put on the fire, the men from Otara heard the chopped head that was still alive in the pot say, “Kill and eat what is killed!” That was the law of the jungle from the Tor to the Mamberamo.

Then the earthen cooking pot was put on the fire and the fire boiled the water in it. The hot water made Jame’s head fizz thunderously and shocked the men from Otara.

Later, they were startled by Jame’s voice coming out from the pot. Her chopped head began to narrate her life and ideas in her songs.

Her singing voice sounded so powerful that her songs kept rolling in the air a week later. So loud was her singing voice that Merne and his brother and sister who were on their way to the coast were able to hear her thunderous singing voice. But after the chopped head of Jame finished singing her songs, it died.

Revealing the Great Plans

Merne and his small group arrived in Sawar, a coastal village, and met with Rotti.

A half-man, half-mouse, Rotti was one of the ancestors of the Sawar tribe. He mastered the secret of the magic fire. Rotti kept his fire near him and Merne kept his fire in his bag. Rotti and Merne introduced fire to the ancestors of the Sarmi people, including the Sawar tribe.

In order to honor Merne, Rotti held a small party. Like Jame, both men had control on animals. So, both sent all of the ants, mice, snakes, and fish away to gather the food needed. The elders of Sarmi were also invited to the party. They included Senies, Biri, and Waiyasi – great men who mastered the art of turning themselves into different living forms at will. So, Senies looked for food by turning himself into an iguana while Biri and Waiyasi went out at night in the shapes of fish.

Finally, the party was held. On this occasion, Merne revealed his great plans for making life better for humans.

First of all, women should not marry until they are mature. Besides, their power should be reduced and they should be forbidden to enter the men’s house.

Then, Awit Madu, a new sacred house for men, would be built in Sawar. This village was chosen because it was less muddy than other places. The new sacred house would be stronger and larger than other houses; its central pillar would be made from an ironwood tree.

Next, Sawena, an elder from Sawar, would call men to hold parties in Awit Madu. They would play as long as they could the long bamboo flutes in which Awit, the sacred spirit, lived. The participants would start with Semetaf, a party held for two years. Then they would continue with Merne’s own party in which he would teach them to sing “Ware.” The song began with, “We have killed a human being.” It was a sacred song sung by male youths who attended the annual initiation rites in the men’s house. It was sung after each killed someone to fulfill an initiation requirement.

In addition to that, there would be two profane parties in which women could take part. For these parties, Merne created “Weterap” and “Seberiatua.”

“Weterap” was a song about his journey with Yesrun and Mofin to Sarmi after killing Jame. There was no light when they arrived in Sarmi. It was still dark and the firmament hanged low above the village. Matoa, Saweri, and Wesi, the oldest people of Sarmi, were still living in holes in the ground. People did not know about houses and fire. So, Merne taught them how to build houses, how to cook vegetables on fire, how to chew betel nuts, and how to smoke tobacco.

“Seberiatua” was a song about the journey his group made to Anus, an island north of the Sarmi region. Merne told the people there that the spirits would be pleased and always help them if they held firmly to the rules he gave them. In a village on this island, he found two triton shells he would use to make musical sounds in the sacred men’s house.

Carrying Out the Great Plans

After visiting Sarmi and Anus, Merne and his small group returned to Sawar. On the day of their arrival, Merne had people build the new, large men’s house on a hill. The people worked hard and in the afternoon Merne erected the central pillar. The building of the new, sacred men’s house was at last completed before sunset.

At this time, Merne carried out his other plan: the improvement of human life. He began by improving the sex organ of men and creating that of women. Long before carrying out this plan, Merne had known that the men’s sex organs were too long and women did not have sex organs! A woman got pregnant if the snake-like sex organ of a man bit her either in the stomach or in the thigh! And how agonizing it was to see a woman deliver a baby through her stomach or thigh! It was the right time for Merne to free men and women from their imperfection, including the terrible suffering of women delivering babies.

So, Waisa, Merne’s assistant, was given the authority to create the female sex organ. Mofin was chosen as the first new woman.

He asked Mofin to lie on the floor of a house. With a charcoal, he drew an image resembling a seed on Mofin’s stomach. No sooner had Waisa finished his creation than the curious Mofin touched the picture and missed it. For it flew up to the sky and became Mado, the moon.

“When I appear in the sky, you’ll bleed,” Mado told Mofin. “And you shouldn’t try to catch me.”

Though Waisa was upset with Mofin’s mistake, he soon got sober again and tried to create the female sex organ again. He asked Mofin to lie down again, drew the same picture again, and created the first female sex organ.

Mofin got up and was careful not to repeat her mistake. How exhilarated she was when she knew that the new organ was still on her body!

But she got so carried away by her excitement that she forgot Merne’s warning of abusing her new sex organ. For she soon called Yesrun, her brother, to try her new sex organ. Merne fortunately knew the burning desire of his sister and got angry.

“You shouldn’t try it with your brother. Call other men and try it with them!” he shouted.

The Fall

Merne had another subordinate whose name was Sigowen Feuron. Like Waisa, he was also given the authority to improve the sex organs of men; so, he was able to modify the sex organs of two young men.

Carrying out Merne’s instruction, both went delightedly to find Mofin. How disappointed they were! Mofin’s burning desire made her impatient, and tried out her new sex organ with her own brother – in the new sacred men’s house!

Merne had earlier told his sister to let him know how she and the two young men felt about the try-out. He waited for a long time for his sister, but she did not show up. He got suspicious of Mofin’s long absence; so, he decided to find out what was really happening with her at the men’s house. When he approached the house, he heard the voices of a woman and a man. He entered the house and noticed that Mofin felt pleased and Yesrun roared with laughter.

“It’s good,” both said, “man has been improved and that’s pleasing.”

After the Fall

Merne caught them red handed, got furious, and said, “Haven’t I told you not to try it between you? Haven’t you understood that the marriage between a sister and a brother is forbidden? You’ve already made me ashamed. I can’t live any longer with you here; I’m going back to the heavens!”

It was a quiet day in Sawar when Merne began to climb up a bamboo tree with two of his three dogs.

“I’ll take Tafes and Sirores, the two dogs, with me,” he told Yesrun and Mofin. “Neporef should stay with you because it’s still small.”

Merne climbed up the bamboo tree, his two dogs shinnying up behind him, turned his head downwards, and talked to his people. As soon as they reached the top, the tree grew five times taller than its usual height, and enabled them to step into the heavens. Mado, the moon, was waiting for them. Merne turned his head downwards once more and said, “When you commit a sin, my dogs will bark.” At that, the dogs’ voices thundered so loudly that they could be heard hundreds of miles away.

Merne then tugged the heavens, formerly hanging low above the surface of the earth, upwards until they reached their present height. Then he and his dogs promenaded across the sky. With the ascension of the firmament, Merne brought light to the village for the first time.

Mofin, Yesrun, and their friends were disappointed because they were abandoned. But their passion for playing the new game was so strong that the memories of Merne’s words were soon gone. So, they kept playing the game days and nights and soon the news spread along the coasts of Sarmi: ”Merne has improved humankind.” And when a thunder rolled, they pointed upwards and said, “Who has done something wrong? Merne’s dogs are barking!”

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

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.