THE OLD WOMAN OF POLNOUM AND POKOP OF POHYOMOU
Once there lived in a place call Polnoum an old woman and her grand daughter. In the nearby forest there was a masalai who used to turn into a wild boar and ravage the villagers' gardens. Although the villagers would build fences around the gardens the masalai would go into the enclosure, change into a wild boar and eat up the taro and other food crops. All the villagers were afraid of this wild boar. One day the old woman told the villagers to dig a hole and then plant sharp stakes at the bottom of the hole. When the hole was finished they put small sticks over the mouth and placed leafs on top to cover the hole. Next morning when the old woman and her grand daughtercame, they saw the big wild boar in the hole. They immediately went to the village and told the men to come and kill the pig and bring it to the village. They cut up the pig and then the old woman began to apportion the pig among all the people of the village. Having divided up the pig the head was kept for the old woman and her grand daughter. When they arrivedback at their house the old woman put the head of the wild boar in the pot and asked the grand daughter to watch it cooking while she went to thegarden to get taro to eat with their pig. When the pot boiled she heard a voice coming out of the boiling pot saying,
When she went a second time to stack the fire she heard the same voice saying,
Then a third time she went to stack the fire and heard the voice again saying,
By this time she had become very frightened and sat at the door to wait for her Bubu to return from the garden. When the grandmother returned from the garden she said, "Why didn't you light the fire under the pot?" She replied saying, "Bubu I stacked the fire but when the water boiled the voice from the pot s aid it would eat us". Bubu herself then went to stack the fire. As she began stacking the fire the voice from the pot was heard saying, "Polok... polok... I will eat you and your Bubu." As soon as she heard this she ordered her grand daughter to immediately get breadfruit leafs. The grand daughter brought back many breadfruit leafs which they proceeded to cover the mouth of the pot and then fastened tightly by ropes. Having done this the old woman and her grand daughter packed up their belongings and ran away from the village of Polnoum. The old woman and her grand daughter walked and walked until they reached Walpei. When they looked back they could see Polnoum, so they walked on again. This time they came down to Lah-Weyau and then came up to Powat. At Powat they stopped and looked back, but they couldstill see Polnoum. They walked on. When they got to N'Dranou, they stopped and looked back. Polnoum was still visible. So they continued walking until they came to Yirngou. At Yirngou they stopped at looked back and still they could see Polnoum. This time they went down to the river Lawes and then came to Tulul. At Tulul they stopped and looked back. For the first time they could not see Polnoum. "Now we will stay here", said the grandmother. The two decided to settle at Tulul and start a new life. That evening the grand mother cooked some food. They ate and then slept. When they woke up next morning their fire had gone out. They had no fire to cook their food. The grandmother started making n'dop (Manus basket) and gave the "kum n'dop" to her grand daughter to throw to different places. She threw the kum n'dop to Pwihan but the kum n'dop came back. She threw the kum n'dop to Sirah, it came back. She threw it to Kopou but it came back. Finally when she threw the kum n'dop to Pohyomou, it did not come back. The old woman then told her grand daughter to go to Pohyomou because there was fire there. When she reached Pohyomou, she saw Pokop having his morning wash. She took the stalk of the "n'dau" leaf and threw it in the water. Pokop did not see her. Then she threw another stalk in the water. This time Pokop saw her. She then said to Pokop, "I have come to get fire for me and my grandmother". Without saying anything more she followed Pokop to the house. When they arrived at the house she saw that they were getting ready to cut open one of Pokop's wives and deliver the baby. The baby will live and the mother will die. The girl intervened by saying, "Wait, I'll go and bring my grandmother". Then she walked back to Tulul. Having got her grandmother they returned to Pohyomou. On the way the grandmother got parahiy, nolou leafs, membuu leafs and kayal leafs. When they reached Pokop's house the old woman began performing certain rituals on Pokop's wife. They waited for the wife to go through labour and then the grandmother delivered Pokop's child. This time both the mother and the child survived. However sometime later the child died. After this time they stopped cutting up women to deliver their babies. While they were in Pohyomou the old woman told Pokopthat they had run away from a masalai pig and that this masalai will be following after them. Pokop told the old woman and her grand daughter to stay with them at Pohyomou. He also proceeded to ask them if there were a ny sign of the coming of the masalai. The old woman said that the coming of the masalai will be preceded by a small shower and rainbow accompaniedby thunder and lightning. On hearing this Pokop instructed his wives to heat stones and boil water while he dug a big hole under the ladder to the haus marit. Inside the hole they planted sharp stakes facing the mouth.They then cut the ladder on the underneath as well as cutting the sticksthat support the sohol. As they sat and waited the mwalau (small shower) began to fall accompanied by thunder and lightning and a rainbow. The masalai arrived and went straight to the hausboi. Suddenly from Pokop's hausboithe masalai beat the garamut, "Tit...tit...tit...; tit.. tit...tit; tit...tit...tit ". After the third round Pokop called from the haus marit, "Oi! Who are you and what do you want?" The masalai replied, "I am looking for an old woman and her grand daughter". Pokop replied, "They are herewith me in the house. But before I hand them over to you, you must come to the ladder and dance". The masalai came to the ladder and climbed halfway where he started to dance. To his surprise the ladder snapped and the masalai fell on the sharp stakes in the hole. Straight away the ten wives started emptying their pots of boiling water and hot stones on top of the masalai. As he was dying the masalai said,
The old woman and her grand daughter stayed at Pohyomou with Pokop and his ten wives and then returned to Tulul. The name Tulul came from present day Walpei. In the past this region was commonly called Polnoum. Par payai e par tiyiy, sindrik. The end ********************
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