Note 10 — Chapter IV · MYTHS AND LEGENDS

Another legend telling how the monitor lizard obtained a wife was related to me on more than one occasion by A-Pučikwar men. “The first of the ancestors (Tomo-la) was Ta Pe̱tie (Sir Monitor Lizard). He lived at Tomo-la-tog. At first he had no wife. One day, when he was out fishing, he found a piece of black wood of the kind called ko̱lotat (Diospyros sp.). He found it in the creek, and brought it to his hut, where he put it on the little platform over the fire10. He sat down by the fire and set to work over an arrow that he was making. As he bent over his work he did not see what was happening. By and by he heard some one laugh, and looked up. Then he saw that the piece of wood had turned into a woman. He got up and took her down from the platform. She sat down with him and became his wife. They had a son named Po̱i (a species of small bird, possibly a woodpecker), and afterwards many other children. They lived together for a long time at Tomo-la-tog. One day Ta Pe̱tie went fishing and was drowned in the creek. He turned into a kara-duku.”