Ekewane - The Sorceress Read online

Canoe carved from tomano tree.

  “Foolish men! Why do they have play silly games and then get so very angry?” thought Ekewane as they were walking back to their huts.

  The girls entered and lay down on their mats; it was still very hot so they both lay there listening to the sea until it lulled them to sleep.

  The days went by and more canoes had arrived from different islands. No longer were her people afraid of the new arrivals. Just as Bagonoun’s family had come from another island with similar stories of drought and hardship, so too did these newcomers.

  The new arrivals often spoke a different language, but many words could be understood and they quickly became part of the wider tribe. At night her people would gather around and listen to strange stories and legends told by the newcomers. The newcomers also brought with them sago and taro roots. The rains came regularly and the roots that were thought to be dead had germinated and could be harvested. A year had passed since they first arrived on the island.

  Ekewane could feel the tension within the tribe. For a while the newcomers seemed to have stopped the tension from rising to the surface, but eventually it returned.

  The newcomers also brought with them a new drink made from the coconut tree. They showed the men how to make the drink from unripened coconut buds. The men would climb up to where the coconut buds were still growing, and make a small cut at the bottom of these buds and then tie a coconut shell to collect the sap. Then they waited until it fermented; they called it ‘toddy’.

  One night there was a celebration, the toddy was ready to drink. After they ate, everyone sat around the large fires and the men handed around some of the toddy in coconut shells. Ekewane was sitting next to her friends curious at this strange drink, the liquid in the shell was handed to Emarr, and she shivered.

  “No!” she whispered to Emarr “it is evil, do not drink it!” She did not know why she had said this, and felt embarrassed.

  Emarr looked at her in surprise. Ekewane felt mortified, stood up and quickly walked away. Emarr watched her walk towards her hut and sighed. Sometimes he did not understand her, why was this drink evil? He looked around at the other men drinking and laughing, and then looked down at the grey liquid unable to decide. He sighed and then handed the cup to the man sitting beside him. Nobody had noticed Ekewane’s warning, everyone seemed happy and laughing.

  The merriment continued all night. Ekewane could hear the laughter from her hut, she still felt embarrassed at her warning to Emarr and lay listening to the ocean, and the breeze that was blowing the leaves on the roof of her hut and eventually fell asleep.

  The sun rose over the horizon Ekewane stepped out from her hut; she looked around the reef but could only see a few women and the children bathing and playing in the rock pools.

  “Where are the men?” she thought. She walked towards the sea and bathed in the warm clear water of a rock pool. When she got out of the water she noticed her mother coming towards her.

  “Ekewane some of the men will go up the mountain to the tall tomano trees, they will cut out from the branches new canoes so they can catch more fish. Our tribe is now very large and the men have to catch more fish in order to feed all the tribe. Your father will go with them and they will be away for many days.” Her mother sighed and left.

  Ekewane wondered if Emarr and Bagonoun would also have to leave and went off in search of them. They were not hard to see, as many of the men still slept even though the sun was now high in the sky. When she reached where they were sitting she asked,

  “Will you go with the men to the top of the mountain?”

  Both the boys nodded and smiled. “We will have our own canoe,” said Bagonoun excitedly.

  Ekewane looked at both the boys with envy: “Why do they always have the fun!” she thought angrily as she walked away.

  She did not hear Emarr run after her. When he reached her he whispered: “Be safe Ekewane . . . and don’t do anything foolish while we are away.” He then smiled, turned and ran back to Bagonoun.

  The days passed and still the men had not returned from the mountain. Ekewane and Eiru sat at their spot every night but did not speak, each with their own dreams.

  One evening they walked towards their place and saw Emet and Iudi sitting there laughing. Ekewane hated seeing the other two girls there; this was their place!

  “I will marry Emarr and Iudi will marry Bagonoun,” Emet said smugly, and then both girls laughed and walked away.

  Ekewane and Eiru felt devastated; had the girls’ parents’ gone to the boys’ parents to ask if they wanted to marry their daughters, as was the custom of their tribe? “Why do we have to get married?” Ekewane asked angrily.

  That night it rained and the girls wondered where their friends were. But they did not have to wait long to see them again. As the morning lingered on Ekewane and Eiru were walking along the reef with some of the other women. They had caught some large octopus and towed them behind on a string. Ekewane was busy trying to pull a large octopus that would not come out of its hole.

  “The men are back!” yelled one of the women nearby.

  Ekewane and Eiru, together with the women and children on the reef ran towards the men still in the distance, the octopus forgotten and left lying on the reef; they would pick them up on the way back.

  When they reached the men everyone was excited. The men showed the new canoes, as well as pandanus fruit and noddy birds. That night there would be another celebration. The group walked together happily to their village. Once Ekewane and Eiru greeted their fathers they looked for Emarr and Bagonoun. The boys were proudly smiling at them; they had built their first canoe and felt proud and excited.

  That night everyone seemed happy. The men had returned with many canoes; now more men could go out over the reef to the deep waters. Fishing from the reef was the women’s domain, and although the men were not strictly forbidden, they rarely fished from there.

  The next few days were peaceful. Ekewane and Eiru sat together with some of the older women and wove their mats and baskets, at night they watched the men in their canoes fishing off the reef. The men would light their flaming torches and catch the flying fish with nets tied to long poles; the same nets used to catch noddy birds.

  “I wish I could be out there on the canoe with Emarr and Bagonoun!” stated firmly Ekewane.

  Eiru shuddered at the thought; the sea beyond the reef was very deep and dangerous, and it was taboo for women to fish from the canoe and beyond the reef.

  The temporary peace within the tribe did not last for long. The unrest within the larger tribe was again building up. The men had to go further around the island in order to catch more fish to feed the tribe. The coconuts around the site were also becoming scarce and so groups would also go further around the island or up the mountain to gather them.

  One night the villagers were informed that there would be an urgent tribal meeting with all the families. The fire was built and the older members of the tribe sat around it, Emarr’s father was also amongst the men. The younger members were allowed to attend, but had to sit around in an outer ring.

  Ekewane and Eiru felt apprehensive, they did not know what this meeting was going to be about, so they sat there with the rest of the tribe and waited for the men to speak. Emarr and Bagonoun sat next to the girls silently; they also were wondering the reason behind this urgent meeting.

  It was Erangue that spoke first. “We are now many in this tribe. We know that the spirits of the island will not harm us, and the people who arrive are like us and have become part of our tribe. We are safe in our new home.”

  Nobody spoke; even the smaller children listened even if they did not understand what he was saying, but the tone of his voice commanded their attention.

  “The time has come. Our tribe has become too big to live together. We the elders have spoken. We will live in different hamlets according to our families. Each family will become a tribe and those that arrived from other islands m
ay choose to which tribe they want to belong. Each hamlet will have a tribal name and totem.”

  Everyone was silent. Ekewane looked around and realised what her father had said was correct. She had not noticed, but the tribe now were many, too many to count, for they stretched far in the circle around the elders. There were only a few when they had first arrived, now there were about a hundred!

  The men spoke and argued all night. They were deciding where their families would live, where those members that had not come from their island would belong? At one point Ekewane and Eiru yawned, they were tired and so stood up and went to their hut. Many of the other women and children also left. The elders would let them know when they had made decisions.

  The next morning Eiru woke Ekewane up. She was excited and wanted to know where they would live. Ekewane was afraid that they would not be together; her friends may have to move far away and so dreaded the outcome of the meeting. Eiru was impatient and when she realized that Ekewane was in no hurry, ran out to find someone that could tell her the news.

  Ekewane got up slowly, went down by the sea and bathed, as was her habit. She then looked around. “The men must be still asleep, they must have talked all night,” she thought. “There are only women and children up.” She was not sure where she should go so she walked without thinking to her favourite place and waited.

  Her friends must have known that she was there so they too went to join her. Ekewane smiled as she saw them coming - but her heart was racing very fast, she was afraid of the news they would tell her.

  “You will remain here at this bay with all of your family,” smiled Emarr. His brown eyes sparkling, as he watched Ekewane’s worried expression.

  She turned to Eiru. “And you?”

  Eiru smiled, “I am part of your family,” she said proudly.

  “Your father was the first to land here, so he has the right to choose to remain,” said Bagonoun.

  Ekewane was happy that Eiru would remain with her, but waited anxiously to hear where Emarr and Bagonoun would live.

  “We will both live in the next hamlet!” Emarr laughed unable to keep Ekewane in suspense any longer. “We will be close so we can still all meet here at night.”

  “Why are you becoming part of Emarr’s family?” asked Eiru talking to Bagonoun.

  “Because my father and Emarr’s father have become good friends, they are always fishing together, just like Emarr and me,” he smiled broadly showing his joy at the news.

  “But we found the lake as well,” said Ekewane. “Who will live there?”

  “Ramanmada’s family; Emet and Iud.” Both boys smiled at Ekewane’s expression.

  Ekewane at first felt angry. “Why should they have the lake, we discovered it?” She was irritated that Emet would live near the beautiful still water.

  “You cannot live everywhere! Would you rather the lake or the sea? Anyway now you will not have to see Emet and Iud every day!” Emarr laughed and the four friends felt happy with each other’s presence. They would not live in the same hamlet, but they would still be very close.

  Emarr also had another greater joy. He felt that his life was now complete; his family owned land and they were no longer considered from the Sitio class.

  Ekewane bowed her head and silently thanked her ancestors who had answered her prayers.