| Description |
Traditional story
This is a story told by Roland Maniot at Raputput village, Makada on 1 November 2022.
Some men from the other end of the beach went fishing and caught a very big fish with an overly long nose. They brought the big fish to the men and women who gathered at the beach, and they began preparing to roast the fish whole--not cut up--in an earth oven filled with hot stones.
While the people were preparing, the mother of the fish came swimming from the open sea towards the shore, approaching the rocky and bushland areas near the beachfront.
As the mother fish approached the beach, the men and women saw her arriving in the shallow water. She emerged from the water in the form of a woman. They brought her to the nearby sitting area where they were preparing the fish for the oven.
The people laid a mat for her to sit on and offered her betelnut, betel pepper, and lime.
[It is customary to welcome visitors with betelnut, which is chewed together while conversing. This traditional gift for visitors is known as ‘varlapang’].
She responded that she had her own betelnut, which was a different type, so she did not accept their offer. She also had her own betel pepper, which was a white-striped leaf, not the usual betel pepper leaf that people use. It was a special type of betel pepper leaf (known as ‘kakulai’), which is used in ceremonies. And she also had her own lime, which she kept in a container made of tree bark.
She put her betelnut on the leaf, sprinkled the lime on top, and then wrapped up the leaf to chew the whole package.
She indicated to the people that she was looking for her son. The dead fish heard their voices and knew that his mother was nearby looking for him. Indeed, this was not really a dead fish. It came back to life in human form, as the son of the mother fish that had already transformed into the human woman who was conversing with the people.
The boy stood up and walked down to the beach to meet his mother. The two walked into the sea, farther and farther, until they disappeared in the depths, where they originally came from and where the fish dwell.
They were magical fish, not the usual sort of natural fish.
(Steven Gagau, May 2024)
(revised, Russell Barlow, May 2024) |
