This is the story of the departure of Ulu and Ona,[1] who left their land and swam by sea and arrived at Tutuila. They dwelt at Tutuila. On a certain night there came a chief, Moamoanuia by name, who lived in the bush. He came to the ladies. He did not come in the light. The women said to the chief, "Come into the light." The chief answered, "I cannot enter; my eyes are dazzled by the light, for they are sore." They were not sore. It was his lie, that he might conceal his shame from the women; for he had a large nose like a cockscomb. That is the reason why he lived in the bush, that he might not be seen.
They spread their mats and lay down, and the chief slept between them; he faced the women. He turned to one woman and afterwards turned to the other. Then the chief Moamoanuia said to the women: "Women, do you keep awake, and when the cocks crow quickly awake me. I go off very early, lest my weak eyes should be dazzled by the sun."
The cocks crew and the women awoke the chief, saying, "Chief, awake!" The chief was startled, and went away into the bush, where he lived alone. He did thus for many nights, and both the women were were child by the chief. But they had not seen one another, because the chief went away by night.
Then one of them said to the other: "Lady, what do you think? Here we are near our confinements, and we have not seen who the chief is like." The chief came down one night, and the women dallied with him in order that he might sleep soundly. The chief became sleepy, and slept
- ↑ The MS. has O le tala lenei le teva a Ulu and Ona. The "and" is written over an erased ma, and Ona should, I think, be read o Na.
not to be used under penalty of death. It was also forbidden for any member of the family to sit back to back, lest it should be considered mockery and insult to the gods, and incur their displeasure. (Turner, p. 56.)
