Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/407

Rh with that of my first exhibit. But it shows these conditional differences: First, Tarawa and not Samoa is the original land created; second, Tabakea the Turtle is the First-of-things, while Na Arean is his son; third, the real protagonist of the creation drama is neither of these beings, but a certain Au-ria-ria, who procures the separation of earth and heaven, raises the land, and fashions the luminaries, in the manner already familiar to us. This postulation of Au-ria-ria as the supreme creative power at once excites our question, for it runs counter to the almost universally accepted dogma of the race, that Na Arean was the maker of the universe. Something, in fact, must have happened to cause such heterodoxy. The myth contains its own explanation. It states that in the Darkness, before the heavens were lifted, "Tabakea and Na Arean were land-folk, they lived ashore; and the people who lived in the sea were Riiki the Eel and Baka-naaneku the Sting-ray." There came a bo-ni-buaka (outbreak-of-war) between the land-folk and the sea-folk. The latter were victorious; they came to live on the land, and then, under the direction of their lord Au-ria-ria, proceeded to separate heaven from earth.

What could be clearer than this? We are told in so many words how the autochthones of Tarawa, whose gods were the Turtle and the Spider, were invaded and overcome by a swarm of sea-farers, whose gods were Au-ria-ria, and the Eel, and the Sting-ray. Hence, syncretism, and the triumph of the strange gods in the composite cosmogony that resulted.

Happily, further evidence of the truth of this interpretation is available. I have an analogous version of the creation-tale from the island of Banaba, which not only corroborates essential points, but also adds detail to the story. This version again postulates a Tabakea, who was First-of-Things and father of Na Arean; and again it endows Au-ria-ria with supreme creative powers; it