Note 9 — Chapter IV · MYTHS AND LEGENDS

In the Aka-Ko̱l and A-Pučikwar tribes there are several versions of a legend that makes the monitor lizard (Varanus salvator) the progenitor of the Andaman race. In all the versions there is no mention of how the lizard himself originated. The following was told me by an Aka-Ko̱l man. “When Ta Pe̱tie (Sir Monitor Lizard) was aka-go̱i (i.e. unmarried, but having completed the initiation ceremonies), he went into the jungle to hunt pig. He climbed up a Dipterocarpus tree, and got stuck there9. Beyan (civet-cat, Paradoxurus) found him there, stuck in the tree. She released him and helped him to get down. The two got married. Their children were the Tomo-la (i.e. the ancestors).”