The story of Detora, the King of the sea
Once upon a time, there was a man called Denunengawongo. He
lived under the sea with his wife, Eiduwongo. They had a son whose
name was Madaradar. One day, his father took him up to the surface
of the water. There he drifted about until he reached the shore of
an island, where he was found by a beautiful girl named
Eigeruguba.
Eigeruguba took him home, and later the two were married. They
had four sons. The eldest was called Aduwgugina, the second
Duwario, the third Aduwarage and the youngest was called
Aduwogonogon. When these boys grew up to be men, they became great
fishermen. When they had become men, they lived apart from their
parents. After many years, when they parents had become old, their
mother had another baby boy. He was called Detora. As he was
growing up, he liked to stay with his parents and hear the storied
they told. One day, when he was almost grown to manhood, he was out
walking when he saw a canoe. He went to them, and they gave him
some of their smallest fish. He took the fish home and gave them.
Next day, he did the same thing but, on the third day, his parents
told him to go out fishing with his brothers. So he went them in
their canoe. When they returned that evening, the brothers gave
Detora only the smallest fish. So Detora went home and told his
father about it. Then his father taught him how to fish, and told
him about his grandparents, who lived under the sea. He told him
that, whenever his line stuck, he must dive down for it. And when
he came to the home of his grandparents, he must enter and ask his
grandfather to give him the hooks which he had in his mouth; and he
must refuse any other hooks that were offered to him.
Next day, Detora woke up very early and went to his brothers.
They gave him a fishing line with many knots in it, and a piece of
straight stick for a hook. Out at sea, they all threw their lines
in, and, every now and then, the brothers would catch a fish; but
Detora caught nothing. At last, he became tired and his line got
caught in the reef. He told his brothers about it, but they only
jeered at him. At last, he dived in. As he did so, they said to
themselves, 'What a stupid fellow he is, that brother of ours!'
After diving in, Detora reached the home of his grandparents. They
were very surprised to see such a boy come to their home.
'Who are you?' they asked. 'I am Detora, son of Madaradar and
Eigeruguba' he said. When they heard the names of his parents, they
welcomed him. They put a number of questions to him, and showed him
great kindness. At last, as he was about to depart, remembering
what his father had told him, he ask his grandfather to give him a
hook. His grandfather told him to take any hooks he liked from the
roof of the house.
Detora refused them all, and asked for the one that the
grandfather carried in his mouth. By this, the grandfather knew
that Detora had been instructed by his father, Madaradar; so he
gave him the hook from his mouth. Then Detora went back to his
brothers. Just as he jumped into the canoe, he saw a big whale
swimming towards them. He repeated some magic words to the hook and
let it go. The whale was caught on the hook and it pulled the canoe
out to sea, till they came to an island called Damo. The people of
Damo were very surprised to see this strange canoe, and the five
strange men. So they sent out some of their men to see what sort of
a canoe it was. When the Damo men reached the strange canoe, they
asked whether the strangers were explorers or fishermen. Detora, in
answering, said, 'We are both explorers and fishermen'. Then the
Damo men returned to the shore and told their people. So the people
of Damo chose five of their fishermen and sent them out. When thy
reached Detora's canoe, they cast off their lines and soon pulled
up a fish. They asked Detora and his brothers to tell them the name
of the fish they had caught. 'Irum' said Detora. This proved to be
the right name.
The Damo men threw in their lines again, and this time they
caught a different kind of fish. 'What is the name of this one?'
they asked. And Detora replied, 'Eapae!' Again the name wasthe
right one. This made the Damo fishermen angry. Detora's brothes
were very surprised at his cleverness. Detora now threw out his
line and pulled up a fish. He asked the Damo men its name. They
replied 'Irum' but when they looked again, they found that they
were wrong, for there was a black noddy on the end of the line.
Again Detora threw in his line and again he asked them to name the
fish. 'Eapae,' they said. But when they looked they found a basket
of pork on the end of Detora's line.
By now the Damo men were very frightened, for they realized that
Detora was using magic.
Detora's canoe was pulled close beside the other one, and he and
his brothers killed the Damo men and took all their fishing gear.
When the people ashore saw all this, they knew that their men had
been defeated in the fishing competition, for it was the custom in
those days for the winners of such fishing competition to kill
their opponents and take the fishing gear. So they sent out another
canoe. The same thing happened as before, and the people of Damo
became very frightened and fled from the beach. Then Detora and his
brothers pulled their canoe towards the shore. When they got to the
reef, Detora tipped the canoe over with his four brothers
underneath; the canoe turned into a rock. Detora landed alone on
the island. Soon, he met a man who challenged him to a competition
in catchingearamaeand fish on the reef. They saw one and both began
to chase it. Detora succeeded in catching it, whereupon he killed
the other man and went off. Farther along the beach, Detora won the
competition also, and killed his challenger.
Detora now set out to explore the island. Becoming hungry, he
climbed a coconut tree and dropped down some ripe nuts, the milk of
which he drank. With the husks of the coconut, he made three fires.
When the fires were burning brightly, he threw some coconut flesh
on, and this made a sweet smell. Then he lay down on the sand a few
yards away from the fires. He was almost asleep when he saw a grey
mouse approach the fires. It ate the coconut from the first two
fires and, just as it was about to eat the coconut from the third
fire, Detora caught it and was going to kill it. But the little
mouse begged Detora not to kill it. 'Let me go, please, and I will
tell you something' it said. Detora released the mouse, which began
to run away without keeping its promise. Detora caught the mouse
again, and picking up a small sharp piece of stick, threatened to
pierce through the mouse's eyes with it. The mouse became afraid
and said, 'Roll that small stone off the top of that large rock and
see what you find'. Detora rolled away the stone and found a
passage leading underground. Entering the hole, he made his way
along a narrow passage until he came to a road with people walking
to and fro.
Detora could not understand the language they spoke. At last he
found on young man who spoke his language, and to him Detora told
his story. The young man warned him against the many perils of the
new land, and directed him along his road. Detora came at last to a
place where he saw a platform covered with fine mats of beautiful
designs. On the platform sat a Queen Louse, with her servants
around her.
The queen welcomed Detora , and fell in love with him. When,
after a few weeks, Detora wished to return home, the Louse-Queen
would not allow him to leave. But, at last, when he told her of his
four brothers under the stone who could not be released except by
his magic spell, she allowed him to proceed. A number of people he
met wanted to do harm to the stranger, but Detora overcame them all
with magic spell.
A last they came to the rock where Detora had left his brothers.
He stooped down, repeated a magic spell, and the big rock changed
into a canoe containing his four brothers. Together the brothers
set sail for their own land.
After many days at sea, they saw the home island in the
distance. As they approached it, Detora told the brothers he was
going to leave them and go down to live with their grandparents at
the bottom of the sea. They tried to coax him to remain with them,
but he jumped over the side of the canoe, and down he went. The
brothers made their way to their parents and recounted their
adventures.
When Detora reached the home of his grandparents, they gave him
a fine welcome. After the grandparents died, Detora became king of
the Sea and the Great Spirit of Fishing and Fishermen. And
nowadays, whenever fishing lines or hooks are lost from a canoe, it
is known that they are lying on the roof of Detora's house.
End of Detora's Story……