and he arrived at the Puangangana.[1] Then Tingilau sang mournfully:
"Begging pardon, begging pardon,
Make apologies ashore to the Puangangana.
By this time were shouted praises
Of Sina in the inland villages."
Then answered the Puangangana: "Tingilau, you are present; Tingilau, you have come." Then the man sat still, [being] afraid. Tingilau sang mournfully:
"The body of the pua, leaves of the pua,
The trunk of the pua, the top of the pua.
Be not angry, but let me ask
Whether is Sina's praise shouted in the inland villages?"
The pua answered: "Come here. What a chief this is to run into danger! How do you know that there are trees which talk? You have passed beyond the country of men, you have come to the country of gods." The pua then said: "You go, when I pass out of sight, then at once do you jump down into the bottom of your canoe and leave it with me whether you get to the country of Sinasengi, where you will find your enemy."
Tingilau then went, and, when the pua was out of sight, he at once leaped down into the bottom of his canoe. He then prepared a fine mat, and was about to make the land vanish. Then he went to look; there was no one but [something] like the body of a canoe and outrigger. "I will go", said he, "for my fine mat. There it is in the rubbish carried by the current." Then he sat with the fine mat. The canoe of Tingilau was then beached, and he jumped ashore, and clung to a cocoa-nut. Then he fell down and slept. The birds fluttered about.
- ↑ A large tree, Pua (Hernandia peltata), said to have the power of speech (ngangana) . Cf. Turner, Samoa, p. 72; at p. 258 it is a cocoa-nut tree that stands at the entrance to the lower regions.
