by Albert Wendt
For the next few hours they storied the period of their separation from each
other while I listened and realised much of it I’d recorded already from Vela
whose stories about his recent life included me my wife children and Reina
Auva’a wasn’t a skilled storyteller: he often wandered off on boring tangents
or got mired in too much detail and uninteresting unnecessary information
Vela as usual rocked ’n’ rolled with verve power and hypnotic language
When I woke the Cave was alive with morning and Auva’a was gone
Wrapped securely in his white sleeping sheet Vela was snoring in his net
From my moa a healing boundless contentment radiated to all
my limits and through my pores filled the whole configuration
of the Cave that was now on the verge of giving birth to the fulfilment
of Nafanua’s final prophecy and Vela’s release and my future legacy
(2) Nafanua Returns
For every storyteller since Tagaloa invented the first Word the constant
challenge is how to tell your tale so your audience reader viewer
will believe it utterly so to now persuade you of the truth of the final
instalment in what I’ve titled ‘The Adventures of Vela’ I have to be
specially careful because what actually happened ‘is truer than fiction’
to use a hackneyed expression Vela has condemned as mental laziness
That balmy day as we waited we took down the nets cleaned the Cave
covered the throne with soft tapa hung the lanterns from the ceiling
and Vela avoided telling me about his conversation with Auva’a
and I didn’t reveal Auva’a’s question when they’d thought I was sleeping:
Is he ready for the roles She prescribed? And Vela’s hesitant
answer Maybe but only She will be able to assess that
Bring it on! I’d boasted to myself in my sleep Yeah bring on
my ferocious atua assessor and I’ll show Her I’m a holy rock ’n’ roller
from the land of the acid dead a fearless composer of beats and lyrics
that were beyond Vela’s comprehension a true original and apt chronicler
for the new phase in Her becoming in the stories I’d shape Her into
Yeah I was ready for the final revelation
The sunset was still blood red as we waited in front of the Cave
for the moon’s first sighting in the long silence which laced all things
with the intelligence of becoming And when the moon’s thick hair
first appeared out of the horizon we went back into the Cave
Auva’a now sat crosslegged facing the throne dressed in the white tapa
of royalty his head bound with red ti leaves his tatau-ed body
glistening with oil his wide eyes oceans for Nafanua to island
and populate with Her creations When I looked at Vela who now
sat beside Auva’a my brash courage was infected
by his contagious fear that ravaged my imagination with freaky scenarios
of what that night the full moon might give birth to and how our
capricious unpredictable Nafanua reacted to it
I rushed out and in the black moonlight and the flyingfoxes’ scrutiny
I pisssed and pissed and pissed into the moon’s reflection on the lava
as it dragged its round load of birth up and towards the Cave entrance
No escape now I was a protagonist in the action in the fulfilment
and its consequences and besides as a true writer I simply
had to know the final unfolding of the drama
Auva’a patted the space between them and I fitted myself into that
with our knees touching exactly like another piece of one of Reina’s
jigsaw puzzles my fear’s electricity transmitting to my companions
who grasped my shoulders to strengthen our linked presences
and Auva’a said Don’t be afraid you weren’t part of it!
Puzzled I wanted clarification of that but it was too late
for through the narrow entrance the moon was now following
the path it was tracing across the Cave’s black dome and
the three pe’a leaders which hitched onto the mosquito net strings
and hung there their luminous eyes snaring us
I wished and wished and wished for time to pass faster but
the moon was too heavy and deliberate in its tortured climbing
Soon our fear sweat and odour were mingling freely
First it was just a mere ripple a stirring in the pe’a’s eyes
as they gazed at the front entrance and in our startled fear
we turned and faced that direction catching the ripple as
it increased speed and form and slithered towards us
I stifled my fear and tried to rise but my companions pushed
down on my knees and stopped our link from breaking
The slither hesitated just before us and then as if it didn’t
care about us swivelled violently through all the spaces
that linked us leaving me yelping and gagging at the diseased feel
of wet matted shrouds and the stink of decaying flesh and marrow
So whad’s-up ma pets! the taunting hag’s voice grabbed
the backs of our necks and turned us to face her Whad’s-up!
The dirty stinking tapa-wrapped bundle on the throne with its leprosy-
ridden face and bones half-exposed was straight out of Reina’s favourite
horror flick The Mummy Returns and certainly didn’t need
more special effects to scare the shit out of this protagonist
Don’ be scared ma handsim’ stranger She caressed under my chin
with her fleshless fingers and gazed into my swirling panic
Dere ain’t no diff’rence between livin’and dyin’ and da stink of
men who’ve betrayed ya She whispered and Her breath stank worse
than the pe’a’s love odour And you’ve not done dat yit lover! Not yet
Vela and Auva’a sat with heads bowed hands clasped in supplication
dripping sweat into the mats and intensifying the stench of fear in the Cave
Ya don’ have ta shit yed ma pets She chortled We need ta waid for
da prodigious Moon ta shove da future out of her promiscuous passage!
Dere Ar’ve said id ma beloved Said whad Akua shouldn’ say aboud
oder Akua and deir sacrid organs Her cackle was even scarier than
the witches in Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood my favorite version of
Bill Shakespeare’s Macbeth and a film I’d once shown Vela
The pe’a above us started flapping their wings in applause
She bowed to them and cackled T’ank yar t’ank yar ma Lovelies
And they shook their bodies furiously releasing more love scent
that She breathed in deeply Vundarful Vundarful! She sighed
and fanned more scent into Her nostrils with Her skeletal hands
Ar’ll always luv yar ma Lovelies ‘cause of ya unquesshianing alofa
Not like fuckin’ humans who’ll sell ya for Judas’s silver
Huge tears slid out from the empty bone sockets that were Her eyes
She wiped them away with the ragged corner of Her stinking shroud
Was this for real or was it a horror flick heavily influenced by
Jeepers Creepers Blade and Coppola’s Dracula?
If it was a horror movie then Nafanua was a skilled director
But though my fear had lessened because She hadn’t referred to me
as one of the betrayers I wasn’t reckless enough to ask Her
And as I’ve said already real life is more incredible than fiction
(And I was flattered being a protagonist in Nafa’s final e
pic)
When I examined Vela and Auva’a they certainly didn’t appear
to believe they were in a movie scripted and directed by a vengeful Nafa
Above us the Moon continued labouring across the dome clear
and as mesmerizing as the cinematography in Kill Bill
Around us every thing felt as if it was turning into a thick warm liquid
and the Cave wall started undulating slowly as if it was alive
Yes my fickle Priesthood we are in the Moon’s amniotic tide cauled
for birth and truth She murmured in the voice of a young woman
We gazed up at Her on Her throne and in amazement witnessed Her slow
tranformation from diseased hag into a woman more beautiful more mana-ful
than the Nafanua I’d inherited from Vela’s stories and I experienced
a fear more frightening than any I’d survived before and started realizing
why even servants of the Christian Atua couldn’t resist Her
We’re almost there She announced as the Moon reached Its final fullness
The light cut out and in the whispering darkness the cauled tide churned
heaved and heaved around us Push push push! Her voice encouraged
and onto the Cave’s dome in the Moon’s golden passage was born
a film which as it unfolded I titled The Final Revelations and during
which Vela and Auva’a grew alarmingly quiet while Nafanua laughed
wept and finally pronounced all humans ‘fucking bastards!’
21
The Final Revelations
To try to describe an audio-visual experience like a film in language
is like trying to contain water in unskilled grasping hands
or like putting a fixed grid over a sea that is too fluid for it
but here is my attempt to capture The Final Revelations
and that night’s audience reactions to a film in
which they were the stars villains and extras
To this day the question has remained: Who scripted and directed
and projected that film of the Moon giving birth to that period
of Nafanua’s life with Her taulaaitu and the missionary Albinos?
Nafanua is the obvious answer but my moa keeps rejecting that
(and I’m too sceptical to ask Her because She’ll egotistically claim that role
and boast that Walt Disney Pictures Her favourite filmmakers financed it)
Dawn the camera sweeps slowly over the waking figures in
Nafanua’s Temple and out over the village and swiftly above the sea
towards the Bay entrance out of which is emerging the high white sails
of a ship with a spindly windswept man on its bow
He’s dressed in black robes and looks like a middle-aged Maifea?
Back in front of the Temple a superbly fit Nafanua is now exercising
to the rapid rhythm that an old and puny Vela is beating on a pate
and an even older Auva’a rubs his potbelly and yawns repeatedly
into a sky that is now opening People are sweeping and cleaning
the Temple compound Others are lighting fires for the morning meal
Back on the ship other men in black are now with their leader
exhilarated fearful carefully surveying the coast ahead and around
A Palagi ship a ship! someone in the Temple compound shouts
They all crowd to the edge and gaze down at the ship with Nafanua’s
prophecy of the arrival of Maifea’s? kind written on its magnificent sails
Auva’a Tupa’i and others who’ve visited other parts have already seen
these ships and the pork-white-skinned men who own them
And most enticing are their miraculous cargo and religion
They returned and told a joyous Nafanua that Maifea’s? people
would soon be in their district (but were too frightened to tell Her
that hundreds of people were converting to the new religion —
you don’t tell atua what they don’t want to hear!)
Now they are arriving and She wants to hurry down and greet them
but Vela who She allows more leniency cautions against it
They may be carrying those Palagi diseases that are devastating
the country he advises Her so She instructs Tupa’i Her general
to take warriors and the matai council and give Her Palagi relatives
a welcome worthy of royalty With Auva’a and Vela She would hide
observe and if She deems them worthy of Maifea’s? trust She’d come
forward and embrace them (and the gifts they surely had for Her)
The camera focuses on the three punts loaded with the captain
and the white-collared men in black and two Samoan interpreters
coming into the beach on which Tupa’i and the matai are standing
behind them lines of warriors and then the women and children
Up in a clump of breadfruit trees Nafanua Auva’a and Vela sit watching
She is utterly convinced Maifea’s? people will love Her
(I was so stupid! She curses as the captain and missionaries step
onto the beach and Tupa’i’s tulafale shuffle forward
I should’ve erased the bastards right then! She swallows an erupting
sob For the rest of the film She’d say nothing but Her anger
would clog the Cave then change to forgiveness but by the end
of the Revelations would again threaten to burn us to ashes)
On the crowded beach the captain through the interpreters
greets Tupa’i who in turn greets the men in black and invites
them to his faletele for the ava of welcome Nafanua’s wide-eyes reflect
the three priests in loving detail as they walk with Tupa’i across the malae
When the visitors are seated the tulafale taupou (Nafanua’s niece)
and aumaga start the ceremony of sharing the ava the blood of brothers
The film compresses the ceremony into shots of the taupou mixing the ava
the orator in loud oratory sharing it out their guests drinking and concealing
their dislike of the brown liquid then Tupa’i drinking the last cup
His leading tulafale then welcomes their guests in formal ornate oratory
and one of the missionaries’ interpreters replies and introduces
their head priest who defies good manners by rising to his feet
We bring you the Kingdom of God as promised by your ancestor Salamasina
to Malietoa generations ago! He declares
I’d forgotten! Nafanua cries and Vela remembers how after Nafanua
had bequeathed Her empire to Her granddaughter Salamasina
the leading Tama’aiga had sought a share of that from Her
Believing Samoa was now free of war after years of Nafanua’s peace
Salamasina shared out the different districts Malietoa arrived late and all
Salamasina could do was prophesy that his Kingdom would come
from the Gods — and here it is! And Nafanua wants to jump down
from their hiding place and receive it from the priests
They’re fulfilling your prophecy Auva’a agrees with Her but Vela reminds
Her of the wars that had erupted between the Tama’aiga
after the country had been divided The Albinos may want our land too he adds
As usual you’re being bloody paranoid Vela Auva’a accuses
I can’t wait! Nafanua threatens to break the branch She’s jumping
up and down on Every thing comes to atua Who wait Vela clinches Her
and She nearly chokes swallowing back Her greedy anticipation
I need to welcome Maifea’s? aiga after all these years She declares
Other sects who call themselves Christian have invaded your beautiful
count
ry the priest continues They’re not true Believers We’re from Rome
where the Pope the true Father of the only True Christian Faith resides
and He has sent us to save you from those other evil missionaries
who’re misleading you … Nafanua’s tight alertness is contagious as
She considers the priest’s declaration and Vela waits for Her reaction
We believe in One God one Church one Pope Who is infallible!
Vela’s catches the alarmed flash in Nafanua’s eyes and wants
to reassure Her but Auva’a shakes his head once and he doesn’t
So my granddaughter’s prophecy is coming true but what does that mean
for us? She murmurs and they dare not answer One God one Church
and a Pope who is mortal? She asks
Vela’s fear is like a stingray’s barbed tail jabbing into his moa:
Salamasina’s very prophecy could mean the end of their queendom
He glances at Auva’a and knows he too has reached that conclusion
They watch as She swings down branch by branch lands on the ground
and instead of joining the ceremony starts running towards Her Temple
What are we going to do? Vela asks Auva’a who continues observing
the priest who is now saying This is the heart of the Nafanua Religion
which has dominated your country for centuries and we’re here
to show you Nafanua is a false God a God of the Darkness
Who has been used by Her taulaaitu to dominate exploit and rule you
Yes my brethren we’re here to free you from your slavery to a false atua
Such reckless courage such ignorance Vela declares his fear all-gripping
How can he say his Kingdom is the one Salamasina promised and then
condemns our atua and us as being false and evil? Auva’a asks but
he and Vela know it’s all part of the politics the power games that keep