The story of Itupo Loniu (Maria Pokisel) 2011-04-03-BC-04

Audio recording and transcription/translation of Maria Pokisel telling the traditional Tewi clan story of Lepejap, his wife Itupo Loniu, and their son Pwakop. This story includes a song in Mokoreng language — the same song that Kris repeats in the chauka story (2011-03-31-AH_AV-02), and a song in Koro, which is almost the same as the song Kris sings in his Itupo Loniu story. Synopsis: The family was going to go and hear the drums being played, but on the way a devil took Itupo Loniu’s place while she was going to fetch water. Itupo Loniu called out to them and the devil heard her and told Lepejap that it was just two chaukas fighting. Itupo Loniu climbed a cho-ul tree. She wanted to try and jump into the canoe from there, but the tree fell and she fell with it into the sea. She drifted along on top of the tree until she came to a beach where two young girls were. The girls were menstruating for the first time and had been put in isolation. They had gone to the beach for some fresh air, and they saw the tree with a woman on top of it. They came over to her and she told them her story. They bathed her and took her home to their grandma, who was a devil. The grandmother went to the bush to find food, and they devised a plan to fill up a cup with lice and water and cover it with leaves and give it to their grandma to drink. She drank the whole thing up and the lice were crawling around in her mouth and her belly. After she drank it her two devil’s teeth fell out and two normal teeth appeared in their place. Then Itupo Loniu and the two sisters bathed and got dressed. They decorated themselves and went to where the drums were being played. There was a huge crowd and lots of dancing, and they stayed for a while and went back home. The next day they returned to watch the drumming again, and that is when Pwakop and Lepejap spotted Itupo Loniu. The father and son went home and planned how to get their mother back. The following day they all returned to the drumming, and the father and son took Itupo Loniu away from the two sisters. The sisters protested and they went crying to their grandmother. The next day everyone went to the sea to spear fish. The devil woman was paddling the canoe for Lepejap and they came across a big giant clam with its mouth open. Lepejap told the devil woman to dive down and collect the clam meat. He told her not to use her hands or her feet to collect the meat, but instead to put her head inside the shell and carry it up to the surface on her head. When she did that the clam closed its shell and chopped off her head. Her body floated to the surface and they took it back to the beach. when they opened her belly they found dishes and palm fronds and all sorts of things in her (because she was a devil she ate the plates along with the food). After that Lepejap took Itupo Loniu home.