OLOFAT, LUKE-LANG: MICRONESIAN MYTH IN CAROLINES
Erle Frayne D. Argonza
Among
the indigenous groups in the Pacific
Islands come the
Micronesian tales, such as this one from the Carolines. The lore speaks of the
highest deity Luke-lang and exploits of one of his sons Olifat.
Such a
myth has equivalents in the West notably the narrative of Odin and his son
Thor. What is curiously revealed in the Carolines myth is the theme of
‘destruction of man’ that is inextricably intertwined with the history of the
planet and with anthropogenesis.
The
Micronesians could be remnants of the 3rd root race of Lemurians who
were already largely de-programmed in antiquity, as two (2) other
root-races—Atlanteans, Aryans—would precede them. Yet remnants indeed survive,
and among their tales are bits and pieces of cosmogenesis, anthropogenesis, and
geological changes.
Interestingly,
the internecine conflicts among ancient ethnicities and races are also depicted
in the myth. Such conflicts are signs that the law of polarity was operating
more strongly among the mid-Lemurians (beginning of sexual human reproduction,
twinflame mates) who were traced as the earliest humans in this tale.
[Philippines, 30 June 2011]
Micronesia
Mythology - Miscellaneous Tales
ONE of the most important myths or series of myths in the Carolines,
outside of the more strictly cosmogonic tales, is that describing the exploits
of Olofat or Olifat, the eldest son of Luke-lang, the highest deity. In the
version from the central Carolines, which is here followed,' he appears as a
mischievous, almost malicious, person who stands in marked contrast to his
brother or brothers, who are beneficent; and it is interesting to compare this
antithesis of malice and goodness with Melanesian types.
Olofat saw that one of his brothers was better than he and also more
beautiful, and at this he became angry. Looking down from the sky-world and seeing
two boys who had caught a couple of sharks, with which they were playing in a
fish-pond, he descended to earth and gave the sharks teeth, so that they bit
the hands of the children. When the boys ran home crying with pain and told
their troubles to their mother, Ligoapup, who was the sister of Olofat, she
asked them if they had not seen any one about, whereupon they said that they
had, and that he was more handsome than any man whom they had ever beheld.
Knowing that this must be her brother, Olofat, Ligoapup asked her sons where he
was, and they answered, "Close by the sea." She then told them to go
and get the man and bring him to her, but when they reached the place where
they had left him, they found only an old, grey-haired man, covered with dirt.
Returning to their mother, they informed her that the man whom they had seen
was no longer there; but she bade them go back and bring whomsoever they might
find. Accordingly they set off, but this time they saw only a heap of filth in
place of a man; and so once more they went home to their mother, who told them
to return a third time. Obeying her, they questioned the filth, saying,
"Are you Olofat? For if you are, you must come to our mother";
whereupon the pile of filth turned into a handsome man who accompanied them to
Ligoapup. She said to him, "Why are you such a deceiver?" And Olofat
replied, "How so?" And she _said, "First, you turned yourself
into a dirty old man, and then into a pile of filth." "I am afraid of
my father," answered Olofat. "Yes," said Ligoapup, "you are
afraid because you gave teeth to the shark." Then Olofat replied, "I
am angry at Luk, for he created my brother handsomer than I am, and with
greater power. I shall give teeth to all sharks, in order that they may eat men
whenever canoes tip over." When Luk, who was in the sky-world, became
aware of these things, he said to his wife, "It would be well if Olofat
came back to heaven, since he is only doing evil on earth"; and his wife,
Inoaeman, said, "I think so, too. Otherwise he will destroy mankind, for
he is an evil being."
Accordingly Luk ordered the people of the sky-world to build a great
house, and when it was finished, he not only commanded that a feast be
announced, but also had a large fish-basket prepared, in which they placed
Olofat and sank him in the sea. After five nights, when they thought he would
be dead, two men went in a canoe and hauled up the basket; but behold! it
contained only a multitude of great fish, for Olofat had slipped away and
seated himself in a canoe near by. The men asked him, "Who are you?"
And he replied, "I am Olofat. Come here, and I will help you to put the
fish into your boat." Taking one fish after the other, he handed them to
the men, but in so doing he removed all the flesh of the fish and gave the men
merely the empty skins. For himself he kept nothing but the smallest ones; and
when the people said, "Why is it that you take only the little fish?"
Olofat replied,
"Give Luk all the big ones; I am quite satisfied with the little
ones." Then the people brought the catch to Luk, who asked them,
"Where is the fish-basket? Who took the fish out?" When they replied,
"Olofat did that, but has again placed the basket in the sea," Luk
said, "Has he then taken no fish for himself?" to which they answered,
"Only the very smallest ones." Luk now ordered all sorts of food to
be prepared for the feast and commanded that the fishes should be cooked; and
when all were gathered in the house, while Olofat sat at the entrance, Luk
said, "Let every one now eat. Let the food be divided, and let each
receive his share." Nevertheless, Olofat refused to receive any; and when
the guests took up the fish, lo! there were only the empty skins, and within
was nothing, so that they had to content themselves with fruit.
Olofat, however, ate his own fish; but Luk said, "See, we have
nothing, whereas Olofat is able to eat his own fish, and is still not finished
with them." Thereupon he became very angry and sent word to Thunder to
destroy Olofat; but since Thunder lived in a house at a distance, Luk said,
"Take Thunder some food." So one of the gods took some of the viands
in order to carry them, but Olofat, snatching them from him, himself carried
.them to Thunder; and on arriving at the house, he called out, "O Thunder,
I bring food." Now Thunder had found a white hen, and coming out, he
thundered; but though Luk cried, "Kill him," and though Thunder
blazed, Olofat merely placed his hand before his eyes. Nevertheless, Thunder
followed him and thundered again and again behind him; but from under his
mantle Olofat took some coco-nut milk which he had brought with him, and
sprinkling it upon Thunder, he quenched the lightning. After this he seized
Thunder and bore him back to his own home; and when Olofat had returned to the
feast house, Luk said, "Why has the man not been killed?"
Notwithstanding this, Olofat again took his place by the door, while Luk now
ordered another of the gods to take food to Anulap. Thereupon Olofat stood up
and walked along behind the one who carried the food and he took the viands
away from him, saying, "I myself will take the food to Anulap." So he
went to the god and said, "Here are viands for you"; and then he
turned about and came back to the great assembly house, whereupon Luk said to
Anulap, "Why have you not killed the man?" Then Anulap took his great
hook, which was fastened to a strong rope, and throwing it at Olofat, he caught
him around the neck; but Olofat quickly seized a mussel-shell and cut the rope,
after which he hastened to the house of Anulap, where he sat down upon the
threshold. When Anulap saw him, he seized his club to strike Olofat; but as he
stretched it out, the latter changed himself into a wooden mortar. Thereupon
Anulap called, "Where is Olofat?" and his wife, answering, "He
must have run away," they lay down and slept. After all this Luk said,
"We can do nothing with Olofat; I believe he cannot die. Go, O Laitian,
and tell the people to come in the morning to make a porch for the house."
When the people had come and asked how they should construct the porch, Luk
said, "Go to the forest and bring great tree-trunks"; and when this
was done, and the tree-trunks were laid by the house, Luk commanded, "Now,
go and fetch Olofat." Olofat came and said, "I shall go, too";
but Luk replied, "You must aid us to build the porch. You must make three
holes in the ground, two shallow and one deep; and in these the tree-trunks
must be set." Accordingly Olofat dug three holes, but in each of them he
made an excavation at one side; after which Luk asked, "Olofat, are you
ready yet?" Thereupon Olofat, taking a nut and a stone, secreted them in
his girdle; and Luk said, "Now set the tree-trunks in the holes." In
obedience to this, three men seized the upper end, while Olofat grasped the
lower part; and they pushed Olofat so that he fell into the hole, only to creep
quickly into the space which he had made on the side. Not knowing this,
however, they then raised the tree-trunk high, and dropping it into the hole,
they made it firm with earth and stone.
All now believed that Olofat had been caught under the great post and
had been crushed to death. He, however, sat in his hole on the side, and being
hungry five nights later, he cracked the nut with the stone which he had
brought with him and ate it; whereupon ants came, and taking the fragments
which had fallen to the ground, they carried the food along the trunk to the
surface, going in long rows. The man who sat in the house above, seeing this,
said to his wife, "Olofat is dead, for the ants are bringing up parts of
his body"; but when Olofat heard the speech of the man, he turned,
him-self into an ant and crept with the others up the post.' Having climbed
high, he allowed himself to drop upon the body of the man, who pushed the ant
off, so that it fell to the ground, where it was immediately changed into
Olofat. As soon as the people saw him, they sprang up in fear, and Olofat said,
"What are you talking about?" When Luk beheld him, he said, "We
have tried in every possible way to kill you, but it seems that you cannot die.
Bring me Samenkoaner." After Samenkoaner had come and sat down, Luk asked
him, "How is it that Olofat cannot die? Can you kill him?" To this
Samenkoaner replied, "No, not even if I thought about it for a whole night
long, could I find a means; for he is older than I." Thereupon Luk said,
"But I do not wish that he should destroy all men upon the earth";
and so the Rat, Luk's sister, advised that they should burn Olofat. Accordingly
they made a great fire, to which they brought Olofat; but he had with him a
roll of coco-nut fibre, and when Luk ordered them to throw him into the flames,
he crept through the roll and came out safely upon the other side of the fire.
Then Luk said, "Rat, we have tried everything to kill him, but in vain";
and the Rat answered, "He cannot die; so make him the lord of all who are
evil and deceitful."
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