Papuan Fairy Tales/The Unlucky Man
THE UNLUCKY MAN.
There were once two brothers, and they lived in peace until a woman caused strife between them. The elder brother married a wife, and soon after set out for the island of Iriwavo to buy a boar's tusk to hang round his neck, for so would he show that he was a chief. Now when he went he left his younger brother to care for his wife. But she was a wicked woman, and because her brother-in-law would not give her everything she wanted, she made a plan that she might punish him. Therefore when her husband came home she took him apart and told him lying tales of his brother, and the man, being her husband, believed her.
It came to pass that on the morrow the elder brother bade the younger go with him to look for gelaruru, which is the spawn of the flying fish. And they set out together in a canoe. When they were far out to sea the elder man dropped his boar tusk overboard, as though by accident, and he cried to his brother, "Look, the boar tusk has fallen into the sea. Dive quickly for it, before it is gone."
Then the younger brother dived overboard to look for the tusk. But when he came up to breathe the canoe was already far away. Then he called, "Come back, brother, and let me get on board." But his brother answered, "Thou shalt never come on board, for that thy deeds were evil while I was yet at Iriwavo."
"Nay, brother," cried the man in the water, "is it then an evil deed to hinder thy wife from doing wrong?"
Then was his brother yet more angry for that he had spoken thus of his wife. Therefore he flung in to the water a bunch of coconuts which were already sprouting, and said, "There is thy canoe, brother, I will now return; stay thou here." And he paddled swiftly homewards. Now when he reached the shore his wife said to him, "Where is now thy brother?" He told her what he had done, and, moreover, what the other had said concerning her, and the woman was much afraid lest the truth should be known. Then the man, talking amongst his neighbours, learned that it was indeed truth which his brother had spoken, and his heart burned within him for grief that he had thus wrongfully accused him. Therefore he set out once more in the canoe to look for him, and searched for long, but found him not. Then sorrowing he returned home, desiring to take vengeance on his wife for that with lying tales she had caused him to act thus. And he said, "Woman, what hast thou done? It is through thy lying tongue that I have killed my brother," and he made as if to kill her, and doubtless he would have slain her, but that he remembered she was his wife, and he spared her.
Now it came to pass that the younger brother, when he was left to die in the sea, rested his arms upon the coconuts which had floated to him, and thus he remained many days, eating the gelaruru which lay upon the face of the water. And when the east wind blew he cried, "O Lauraibo, biraigu, biraigu," so that it might no longer blow upon him. For when the east wind blew it drove him further from land. Then when the north wind came he cried, "O Lauraibo, newaigu, newaigu," for thus he prayed it to carry him to the shore. And the north wind blew, and after many days he reached a strange land, which he knew not.
So long had he been in the water that the roots of the coconuts had twined round his legs, and their leaves were tangled in his hair. He was also feeble for want of food, and he laid himself down under a tree and slept. And as he slept he dreamed that a beautiful maiden was near him. Therefore when he woke he went down to the beach to see if she were there, and lo, she stood as he had seen her in his dream, and, looking upon him even as he was, she loved him and asked him to be her husband.
Then she took him to the hill village where she dwelt, and undid the coconut roots which were twined about him, and when he had bathed she laid healing leaves upon his skin, and anointed him with coconut oil, and removed the tangles from his hair.
Then was he fair to look upon once more, and a girl, who was also a witch, beholding him, loved him, and she said to the beautiful maiden, "It is I who should have married the stranger."
"Nay, sister," answered the beautiful girl, "did I not find him upon the shore? It is for that cause that he is mine." Then the witch went away, but hatred and jealousy still lived in her heart.
But as for the man and his wife, they cared little for that, and for a time no ill came of it. When the sun rose far out to sea many moons after, a little son was born to them, and they loved him dearly. And it came to pass that on a day the mother went to the gardens to dig taro for the evening meal, and the man lay in the house asleep with his little son beside him. Then crept in the girl who was a witch, and in her hand she held a sharp stone with which to kill the man whom she would have married. Then as he slept she stabbed him until he was dead, and she fled far away, and no more came back thither. The little child lay on, in its dead father's blood, and when the mother came back, bearing the taro, she found her husband and her child lying dead upon the ground. Then was her heart filled with grief, and she mourned for them many days.