Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 1, 1890.djvu/61

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There was once a Mabuiag woman named Uga, who went along with the mari of a good-looking man named Tăbĕpa (or Tabepa mari). The latter lived at Pulu, a small island off the far side of Mabuiag. The mother of Uga said to her, “Don’t you go along with the Mabuiag men, you go with Tabepa.” Tabepa cut a quantity of grass for a dance at Kalalŭg, a hilly promontory on the western side of Mabuiag. Uga knew he was there, and went to him. Tabepa took her over to Pulu. Tabepa told the other mari who lived in Pulu to leave some turtle and dugong meat at Pulu for the father and mother of Uga, or else by-and-bye his wife’s parents would kill them all (1).

The mari then took a canoe and all went to Kibuka. They did not go straight, but first made Kaiola and then touched at some other islands, till finally a fair wind brought them to Kibuka. After they had been there a month Uga found that she was expecting (“got family inside”), and Tabepa said to her, “I think I will take you home and pay your parents for it” (2). The people of Mabuiag saw the rain-clouds and numerous waterspouts in the north-west, and at once concluded that Tabepa was returning.

Now a Mabuiag man named Kwoia was a former admirer of Uga’s, and bore a grudge against Tabepa, because he was selected by Uga (3). On Tabepa’s arrival Kwoia suddenly killed Tabepa and all the mari who accompanied him with a stone club, and ran a spear into Uga’s abdomen, killing her too. One and all of the murdered folk were transformed into porpoises (4), and they swam back to Kibuka. They, however, did not long stay there, but returned to Mabuiag, accompanied by heavy rain-clouds and a large number of waterspouts. The storm swept over Mabuiag, the force of the waterspouts even