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Mosaic 1 Reading, 4/e
Brenda Wegmann
Miki Knezevic

The Physical World

Imagining the Context

Skim the story and answer the question below.



In the beginning there existed only the sea and the spirit world, called Pulotu. Between Polutu and the sea lay a rock called Touia'o Futuna where the gods lived: Biki and his twin sister, Kele, 'Atungaki and his twin sister, Maimoa'o Longona, Fonua'uta and his twin sister, Fonuavai, and Hemoana and his twin sister, Lupe. Biki and Kele had two children: Taufulifonua, a son, and Havea Lolofonua, a daughter. 'Atungaki and Maimoa'o Longona had a daughter named Velesi'i.

When Taufulifonua came of age, three women bore him three sons: Hikule'o, Tangaloa, and Maui. These sons divided up the world as they knew it. Hikule'o took Pulotu, the spirit world, Tongaloa took the sky, and Maui took the underworld. Then Hemoana and Lupe divided up what was left. Hemoana, who had the form of a sea snake, took the sea. Lupe, who had the form of a dove, took the land.

Tangaloa, who lived in the sky, had many sons: Tangaloa Tamapo'uli'Alamafoa, Tangaloa 'Eitumatupu'a, Tangaloa'Atulongolongo and Tangaloa Tufunga. But as Tangaloa grew older, he became tired of looking down at the empty sea, so he sent his son, Tangaloa'Atulongolongo, in the form of a plover to fly down and search for land. Tangaloa'Atulongolongo found nothing but a reef which lay right below the water. So, old Tangaloa told another son, Tungaloa Tufunga, who was carving a sculpture, to throw the wood chips from the carving into the sea. As Tungaloa Tufunga continued to throw the wood chips in the sea, Tangaloa'Atulongolongo the plover flew down to see what had happened. But nothing had happened. However, on his third journey to the sea in the form of a plover, Tangaloa'Atulongolongo found that the wood chips had formed an island. The island was called 'Eua. Tangaloa Tufunga continued throwing down wood chips to create two more islands: Kao and Tofua.

Next, Maui created the greatest island of all, the island of Tongatapu. One day he went fishing with a special hook, but when he tried to pull up his line, it got caught. He pulled with all of his might, and when the line finally came up, he found that he had pulled up Tongatapu from the sea. He continued fishing and pulled up almost all of the islands of the archipelago.

Finally, on the island of 'Ata, Tangaloa'Atulongolongo created man. Like 'Eua, 'Ata had begun as a reef under the water. 'Tangaloa'Atulongolongo visited 'Ata in the form of a plover, dropped a seed onto the island, and returned to the sky. When he came back to 'Ata, he saw that a creeper had grown from the seed and split in two. Again he returned to the sky. The next time he came to 'Ata, he saw that the root of the plant had rotted, and in the root he found a small worm. He split the worm in two with his beak and the top half became a man called Kohai. The bottom half became a man called Koau. The plover found a tiny piece of worm on his beak which became a man called Momo. Maui brought wives from Polutu for Kohai, Koau and Momo, who were the first men and ancestors of the Tongan people.



1

What does the story describe?