Tuohea was the king of southern Hao.
A very long time after Munanui, the king of southern Hao was born. He first saw the light of day in the northern part of the island of Hao. His father’s name appears in the history of certain ancestors of the island.
When Tuohea was born, he had four eyes, which terrified his father and mother. They took him to the southern part of the island and abandoned him there. Evil spirits cared for him throughout his childhood.
When he had grown to adulthood, no man could enter the southern region without being eaten by him. He lived beneath the earth on the two islets of Opokara and Onikau. He wandered throughout that region in search of food.
His clothing consisted of the rain, the sea, the wind and the sun. He wore no garments and walked completely naked through all those places.
His body was enormous, and the evil spirits of that part of the island served him. He had made certain things divine and had forbidden himself to eat them, on pain of death.
No one could enter his southern territory. Any canoes that ventured there were destroyed.
Thus, in those days, no one went to that part of the island, for fear of being attacked by the four-eyed savage and man-eater whose presence was known to all.
His brothers and sister nevertheless decided to travel there, for they knew that the monster was their elder brother. Their parents had told them the truth.
They set out under the pretext of going fishing. They caught some fish and, continuing their journey, reached the land of Onikau.
The brothers said to their sister:
“Go ashore and try to meet our brother Tuohea. Should the sight of you fail to soften him, seduce him by saying, ‘What! Do you not want me as your wife?’ Say other shameful things as well, so that he may become calm in your presence.”
Their sister went ashore carrying a supply of fish.
When she arrived, Tuohea, who was standing beside the beach, seized her in his arms. She told him not to hold her so tightly and then said:
“You must take me as your wife. You are a great and handsome man, and I greatly desire you. That is why I have come. Those who are out at sea have abandoned me and are returning home. Have pity on me.”
She spoke these words while weeping before Tuohea.
His heart softened. He embraced her, took the supply of fish, and together they disappeared beneath the earth.
Tuohea soon wished to go out walking, but the young woman persuaded him not to leave.
“Remain here beside me, in this land where I am so terribly afraid of being alone.”
Because she spoke while weeping, Tuohea stayed and returned to a cave. The young woman began making a fire in order to cook their food.
After covering the food, she entered the cave and sat beside Tuohea. She asked him what he knew and who he was.
He replied:
“I am the king of the southern region. My people are the evil spirits. My dwellings lie beneath the earth at Onikau and Opokara, where I spend every day.
When I am wandering and feel the need to sleep, I lie upon the stones in the lagoon. I suffer neither cold nor pain. Whenever I rest, two of my eyes sleep while the other two remain awake.
As food, I prefer human flesh. It is delicious.
The creatures that are sacred to me, and which I have forbidden myself to eat, are the shark, the large red mullet and the tuna. The bones of those fish are idols that I worship.”
At that moment, the young woman fully understood Tuohea’s secret.
She said:
“That is enough. Sleep now. I shall go and prepare our meal.”
She left to prepare the food. She then entered the sacred enclosure, stole the fish bones that Tuohea had made divine, and concealed them upon her body.
Afterwards, she awakened Tuohea and told him to come and eat.
He rose and came outside. The fish had been served. When the young woman had placed every kind of fish before them, Tuohea was unable to recognize those he had made sacred.
They ate. Once they were satisfied, Tuohea went to sleep within the enclosure.
The young woman rose, ran to the seashore and signalled to her brothers to come and collect her.
Her brothers paddled towards her, brought their sister aboard the canoe and headed for the open sea.
At that moment, Tuohea felt shivers passing through his entire body. From their canoe, his brothers had cast a spell upon him by means of the fish bones that their sister had stolen and carried beyond Tuohea’s enclosure.
They watched Tuohea standing on the beach, staggering like a drunken man.
Tuohea nevertheless set out and managed to reach Opokara. There he fell to the ground, while the canoe followed him along the shore.
When the brothers saw that Tuohea was completely overcome by their spell, that he had now fallen never to rise again and could no longer walk, they brought their canoe ashore at the very place where he had collapsed.
They disembarked, lifted Tuohea and placed him in the canoe.
He was not yet dead. His entire body had merely been weakened by the poison of the fish he had eaten and by the spell cast upon him by his brothers.
He lay motionless in the canoe, but his voice continued to say:¹
“I am King Tuohea,
the king of the great South,
of the South where there are no trees
and where there is only a reef.
My garments are the rain,
the wind and the sun.
My four eyes look
above and below,
but now my sight grows dim.
I am dying at Opokara.
Opokara is the place
where I walked for the last time;
Onikau is the place
where I shall remain for the last time.
I shall no longer be able to remove
the human flesh caught between my teeth,
and now my people will be unhappy.”
He repeated these words in the canoe until they reached Onikau.²
Tuohea died there. His brothers and sister carried his body ashore and buried him.
They then returned to their home.
A great distance separates the lands of Onikau and Opokara, where the enclosures in which Tuohea lived are situated.
Only from that time onward, after Tuohea had died through poison and sorcery, were people able to visit the southern coast.
And here ends the story of King Tuohea.
Author’s notes
-
Everything placed between quotation marks is spoken in the ancient Paumotu dialect.
-
From this point onward, the narrator returns to the modern Paumotu dialect.
