The Man who was born from a Chicken

Two men of the royal Miru tribe were walking to the well known bay of Hotu Iti where there was an abundance of fish and lobster. On the way, they stole a chicken to eat later in the day, one of the few birds which belonged to a very old woman. Furious at this thievery, Mea Kahis, the god of fishermen, caused them to fail in their fishing. At sunset, angry and tired, one of the men went to a nearby cave where they had hidden the chicken and fell asleep with the chicken, while his companion lit torches in the night to attract fish and lobster, hoping to change the bad luck that had followed them all the day. At dawn the second man finally went to the cave, tired and in a very bad mood. Since they had nothing else to eat, they killed the chicken, cleaned it and threw the interiors into a Pokopoko (a natural basin) near the cave which is called Tuki Haka He Vari. After eating, they went home.

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With the first rays of sunlight, A Ure, an elderly woman, went out to collect Auke, a seaweed which grows plentifully in Hotu Iti. Passing by the basin, A Ure was startled to see that it was full of blood and noticed that among the intestines of the chicken a baby boy was moving. The old lady, married for many years but with no children, freed the child and washed him off in the warm water of the sea. She ran home to tell her husband of her find and ask his approval to keep the child as their own son. The years went by. The child, whom the old people named Auviri, grew up and was notable, not only for his beauty and physical strength, but also for his wisdom, his abilities in the martial arts and his talent for fishing. The child was the joy of the old couple, who had never told him about his past. When Auviri turned 18, his parents took him to the annual Vai Arenga festival, celebrated with dancing, singing and a great feast in honor of the god Make Make, creator of the world, and in commemoration of the change of the season of the rains to that of good weather. At the festival, the serious songs, like the Ate Atua, were sung and the dancing was done by both sexes but separately. There Auviri met Koe Mata, a charming young woman with whom he immediately fell in love. As great as his love was his sorrow, since Koe Mata’s father was the chief of a neighboring tribe. Because of the difference in rank of their parents, Auviri couldn’t even think of marrying the girl.

When A Ure saw how her son was suffering, she decided to tell him the story of his strange birth and confess that she was not his mother. Auviri began to search over the entire island to see who might be his father, that man who slept with the chicken. After long wandering, he found the fisherman who had accompanied the supposed father on the night of his birth and he told him the name. Auviri found his father, who received him and listened to his story. Due to the great resemblance between the two, he recognized him as his son and received him in his house. Now that Auviri was under the powerful protection of the royal Miru tribe, the parents of the lovely girl had no reason to deny their permission. They married and lived very happily. When his father died, Auviri became chief of his tribe and great is the fame of the man who was born of a chicken.

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