This is a story about fishermen.
These two fishermen, who were none other than a man and his wife, planned to go torch fishing. They therefore gathered dried coconut palm leaves and made torches from them. They then waited for nightfall before beginning to fish. After catching enough fish, they returned home. They cooked their catch and, just as they were about to eat, the woman said to her husband, “Go and wake the children so that they may come and eat.” The father replied, “There is no need. Let them sleep, and let us eat.”
The children, who were not asleep, had heard their parents’ conversation. They were hurt by their father’s behaviour towards them and therefore decided to leave their parents’ home immediately and flee from such selfish parents. Their parents continued eating peacefully, believing that their two children were asleep, although they had already fled.
After finishing their meal, the parents went back into their house and discovered that their two children were missing. When they saw them fleeing towards the heavens, they tried to pursue and catch them, but in vain. The children always remained ahead, while their parents followed at some distance.
They called out to them, “Pipiri, come back to us!” But the children replied, “We shall not return to you. Torch fishing is unkind: it leaves children to suffer from hunger. Therefore, they are going to seek refuge in the heavens, and from now on Matarii¹ will be seen above and Pipiri ma² below.”
It was out of despair that these two children decided to leave their parents³.
¹ A group of stars.
² Ma indicates that Pipiri is accompanied by another person.
³ A legend of the inhabitants of the island of Huahine.