Folk Tales of Papua New Guinea continues with eight more tales of the Kiwai Papuans of the Fly River, British New Guinea (now the Western Province of Papua New Guinea), collected by Gunnar Landtman, who lived with the Kiwai in 1910–1912 and recorded them from named narrators, published in his The Folk-Tales of the Kiwai Papuans (Helsingfors, 1917). They are read here in Landtman's English text, as printed, by Bruno.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
In Bídja and the Wallaby, told by Gágu of Mawáta, a wallaby-etengena teaches Bídja fishing "medicine" in a dream, and the Mawáta people eat fish for the first time. The Óboubi, told by Námai of Mawáta, the water beings of Kimusu reef, masters of crocodiles, who wail in the night over a crocodile that men have killed. The Busere-Busere Cause Sago to Grow in Kiwai, told by Káiku of Ipisia, a felled sago palm's top floats from Purütu to Kiwai, and sago grows there ever after. Müe, told by Námai of Mawáta, the great-eared being of the guda-tree at Háemüba, who covers himself with his ears at night. The Dibiri Boy and the Busere-Busere, told by Káku of Ipisía, a lost boy is caught by the sago-making girls and marries two of them. Tu and the Orordrora's Daughter, told by Japía of Ipisía, a tree-being seizes Tu for his daughter to marry, and Tu, mourned as dead, walks home with his wife. The Woman Carried Off by an Óboubi, told by Bíri of Ipisía, a Sümai woman is kept under the sea until her husband dreams where she is. The Hiwai-Abere and the Night Fisher, told by Námai of Mawáta, a hiwai-abere steals a friend's voice in the night and swallows the catch — and why the Kiwai no longer call to one another in the dark.
A note on the tales as written. Landtman's text stands as printed on this shelf — his spellings, pidgin dialogue and glosses kept — including Bídja's fishing rite, where he spits the chewed plant on the stone, on himself and on his leg, as the book prints it. The óboubi kill and eat dugong, and their bones lie in circles "in the same way as people arrange skulls which they have captured from enemies" — a simile, as printed; that they sometimes eat people lost at sea is a clause, and no person is eaten in this reading. Their females wear no grass skirt, as printed. The orordrora does not eat Tu — "you no kaikai, I want marry him"; the carried-off woman refuses her captor — "you been steal me" — and goes home with her husband; the hiwai-abere swallows fish, not the girl, and nobody is harmed. Only the main tellings are read: Bídja's shorter second version, and the night-call tale's other versions — one with a fight and a killing, one with a wife carried off and never found — are not read. Other tales of the book were passed over at this shelf's gate for what they carry; no completeness claim is made for the collection.
Chapters
0:00 Opening theme — "Glacial Forest 3"
1:17 Bídja and the Wallaby
3:52 The Óboubi
5:09 The Busere-Busere Cause Sago to Grow in Kiwai
6:08 Müe
7:18 The Dibiri Boy and the Busere-Busere
10:38 Tu and the Orordrora's Daughter
12:05 The Woman Carried Off by an Óboubi
14:10 The Hiwai-Abere and the Night Fisher
From The Folk-Tales of the Kiwai Papuans (1917) by Gunnar Landtman — public domain. Music: opening and closing theme, "Glacial Forest 3".
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