Ko Tangaroa

 Ko Tangaroa

(A Legend from Rapa Nui) 

There was a divine being, the Giant (Teko), and another named Tangaroa.

There was a big dispute between them because Tangaroa wanted to come here, to Te Pito o te Henua. The Giant said to him,"Don't go. You will never get there. You don't know how many days you will need to get there. You will die on the way."

Tangaroa didn't pay any attention. He left on his way here.

Four days later, the Giant saw that Tangaroa was not there. Moe ava, the Giant's son, said,"Tangaroa has gone by sea to an island."

The Giant felt bad for Tangaroa and left. With only a few steps, he arrived here and asked, "Tangaroa, where are you?" There was no answer.

The Giant went back to Hiva, crying for his brother Tangaroa.

One day a seal came here and landed on Hanga iti.

A woman woke up in the morning and went out to make her curanto. She went down to the sea, washed her taropa basket and squeezed it so that the dirt would come out.

Just then, she saw a seal lying on the beach. She went back up the beach and told her husband, "Father, there is a seal lying on the beach."

The husband called some other men and they came.

The seal was sleeping so they put a rope around it and tied it to a rock.

Tangaroa woke up with a start. Seeing the men that were hitting him with sticks, Tangaroa screamed, "I am an Ariki! I am Tangaroa! Leave me alone!"

These men that were killing Tangaroa didn't pay any attention. They yelled, "Lying seal!"

After killing the seal, they cut it up into pieces to be cooked in a curanto. But it didn't cook well. They gave Hanga iti Bay a new name, "Red Tangaroa Bay."

They sent a piece of the seal to the people of the Hanga Hoonu region. They received it and cooked it, but it didn't cook well. So they named that place "Re'e."

Source:

Legends of Easter Island

Father Sebastian Englert

2007

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