Myth of Ida Tongua

by G. Giles of Kelabo Station, Duna.

Huli term: Nogo Para Tambugua

This is an exact copy of the myth collected and transcribed by G.Giles. I have included the Duna language text as in her original. The myth is noted by C.Modjeska(1977:295-296) but, curiously,is not elaborated upon in his thesis.

Kora ima Hagania wane Hagidiamega ida tongua ndu haruye iba
Yolo Awalone angeda gada Awe mbidaya haruye hoyagi hoaye
hoda te ngaye abali Gunu GeloGili tingada geyarogo ida
tongua rana anduda nane ndu naye rarogo geo. Nane binia
andia amene ndu goya-neya ko andu ida bidia yao naye garogo
geo. Ima biniabi ngo hora ridiago nawagiye. Nane binia
ingini Hagai Hawinda Yandiga Walali tondoba hana home go ru.
flindi hoda nguni heyangi Yuna tobara geinia kunaga kunu
ameya mana ti gada ida tongua rana ngo rame range eya gada
yagiye hadianda ida tongua rana uraga ida ingini ndu tada
kendega gariaya kunu naye wuruaya hoaye Hawinda tingada
tongua ingini tondoba rada tondobane pugao Hawindania
ruwada nana ndu range yagi ranaga andiaamene yoloya tada
yagiye ima kuyera korada yagiye homeda Gunu ngada
GeloGili ida binia uye ima binia hundiyenoiga uli ndu irinia
uli hobira ima kuyera nana biyene iwana. Iyeda uli binia
rowa kanadiaga garuye ege gada kida gana mali roga ngaye
rowa garu rana togoya rindida nguni ndulu hoeiriaya
homebangi harago toba ngobime hoeiriariaya ngana.

A Kora(Duna term for people in Telefomin-Oksapmin area)
woman, Hagania’s daughter Hagidiame, brought a pig from the
banks of the Yolo and Awalo rivers across the Strickland
river down to Gunu (Koroba) and GeloGili (Duna term for
Kelote in Pureni, Huli). When she arrived there she saw that
there was a baby boy sucking milk from the pig. The boy had
no father or mother, he was just there sucking on the pig.
We say the boy had four sons, Hagai, Hawinda, Yandiga and
Walali (four clans in Kelabo area). In times of trouble
(explained as times when Dindi Gamu is performed) the men
from Duna follow their father’s mana. They travel along the
route of this pig taking string and cowrie shells.They shoot
pig and sleep where the -woman and pig slept. When they get to
Hawinda, the eldest of the pig’s sons, they buy a boy with
the shells. They then take the boy and some_menstrual blood
and go via Gunu to GeloGili, the place where the pig slept
and the woman disappeared. There is a big hole there and
the boy and the blood are put down there. The hole is then
covered over with wood and stones. When the time comes again
we do the same thing.

(An extract from Talk Never Dies: An Analysis of Disputes Among the Huli. A thesis submitted by Laurence R. Goldman for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University College, London. February, 1982., p. 448.)