Manu Duality: Separation, Competition and Deception in Polynesian Bird Stories.

Abstract

In Polynesian societies, people developed a deep knowledge of all feathered creatures and devised a great many stories about them. This article offers a summary and a comparative analysis of 30 traditional Polynesian narratives. These stories feature two birds (or a bird and another animal) that either part company, compete with each other or deceive one another. Of these 30 narratives, 12 originate in East Polynesia, 6 in West Polynesia and the other 12 in Polynesian Outliers. These stories show that birds elicited much interest in people, that their habits and behaviour were intimately familiar to Polynesians and that they were perceived as much more than a food source. Their beautiful colours had to be accounted for, their origin thus explained in a story. The same went for a peculiar behavioural or physical characteristic, a call or cry, a feeding or nesting habit. These traditions describe birds as not having always looked, sounded or behaved the way they do now: in all these aetiological narratives a particular event triggered a change in appearance, voice or behaviour that became permanent.