The story of chauka (John Kris) 2011-03-31-AH_AV-02

Audio recording and transcription/translation of the traditional story of the chauka bird (Manus friarbird), as told by John Kris Hinduwan. Some of the dialogue is in Mokoreng language, and this may in fact be a traditional Mokoreng story. It is not from the Tewi clan. Synopsis: One day chauka’s wife went away somewhere and the people saw him alone and told him to come with them. But chauka wanted to wait for his wife. He called and called for her and she returned. They went and the people were angry with them because they had been waiting, and the chaukas were just singing. So the men got sticks and chased the chaukas away. And the news arrived that the chaukas were at Lou. A Lou man and his wife were making a garden, and they went to rest in the shade out of the sun. They started having sex, but the chauka interrupted them. The man thought that the chauka would go and tell everyone, so he and his wife chased the chauka and tried to beat him with sticks. But they kept missing and chauka escaped. He gathered all the chaukas from all around and told them to come to Lou to drink up all the fresh water and scatter it all around Manus. So they sucked up the water and filled up all of the creeks and rivers around Manus, and now Lou has no fresh water. They have to go to the beach and dig wells to get fresh water.