Children of Vatea

Of the six children of Vari, Mamae could follow out the lines of descent from Vatea only:

Kare i taka to e tokorima 'uanga i aku, o ta'i 'ua 'uanga i taka i aku, no Vatea 'ua.	I do not know the descendants of five, the descendants of one only are known to me, from Vatea only.
Tera ta Vatea 'anau, ta Papa i 'anau.	This is the family of Vatea that Papa bore.
Tera ta raua tama mua o Tangaroa.	Their first son was Tangaroa.
Aru mai o Rongo, aru mai o Tonga-iti, aru mai o Tane-papa-kai, aru mai o Tangiia.	There followed Rongo, followed Tonga-iti, followed Tane-papa-kai, followed Tangiia.page 16
O ta'i o ratou tua'ine o Te Ra-kura-iti.	Their one sister was Te Ra-kura-iti.
Tera to ratou au tu'anga i tuku'ia e te metua.	There were divisions given to them by their father.
E ta'ua kai to Tangaroa.	A division of food was Tangaroa's.
Tera tana au kai: e nu kura, e i'i kura, e 'uetu, e kaka kura, e au manu kura, e au mangaika kura.	These were his foods: red coconuts, red chestnuts, plantains, a red kind of taro, red birds, red fish.
Otira 'ua tana, no te mea kare i tika i te metua va'ine te au kai ravarai.	Only these were his, because his mother would not consent to all foods [being his].
Kua taumaro a Vatea raua o tana va'ine o Papa. Tera te mea i taumaro ai raua me tareke te au kai ravarai ia Tanga-roa, kare te metua va'ine e tae i te kai.	Vatea and his wife Papa disagreed. The subject they two disagreed about was, if all kinds of food were allocated to Tangaroa, the mother could not be present at the meal.
Ua tapu no te mea e tama a Tangaroa.	[The food] would be prohibited because Tangaroa was the first-born.
Ko ta te metua va'ine korero ia ia ra'i ta Rongo ta'ua kai ia tae a ia i te kai.	This was the mother's speech that the share of food of Rongo be large in order that she could be present to eat.
Tera teta'i korero a Papa ia riro nga tu'anga i tena ta'iaiti ia Rongo.	That was one talk of Papa so that dis-tributions would be obtained by that younger brother, by Rongo.

Vatea desired that Tangaroa, as the first-born, should have all the kinds of food, but Papa used her influence with her husband to restrict Tangaroa's official share to the foods which were of a reddish tinge. Red was chosen to pacify him, as it was the color of high chieftainship derived by the first-born. All other foods she obtained by intrigue for Rongo, as she was not prohibited by the law of primogeniture from sharing his meals. Thus Rongo got more than his share, not only of food but of power.

Ta Rongo tu'anga, e ua mangaia, e tikoru, e paku, e papa, e ta'uakai, e atua.	Rongo's share [consisted of] temporal power, bark cloth, paku [?], ornaments, a distribution of food, supernatural power.
Kia tae te tuatau i ropa ta raua takurua o te ta'ua kai koia 'oki te tuituitu, kua onge i ta Tangaroa. Kua taka-taka'i i te vaevae ta Rongo.	When the season arrived that their [Tangaroa and Rongo's] feast of food was spread out, that is, at the tuituitu feast, Tangaroa's [spread] did not appease the hunger. Rongo's spread [was so great that it] was trodden under foot.
No reira mai ia apinga, e tuoro takurua. Tera te tara me tuoro:	From that time was derived this thing [custom], a calling of the feast. These are the words when calling:
"Putunga a kai—	"The heaping together of food—
"Na Ruanuku, na Tangaroa,	"Belonging to Ruanuku, to Tangaroa,
"Na te anau Atea	"To the descendants of Atea,
"E tini—e mano—."	"[They are] myriad—[they are] numberless."

Because of the restricted number of red foods, Tangaroa's heaps of food at the feast were small. The share of food belonging to Rongo, owing to page 17the greater variety of material, was piled so high that the food rolled off the heaps and was trodden under foot. Tangaroa became so jealous (vare'ae) that he left ('oro) for other parts. Tangaroa was evidently married to a woman named Taka.

Tera 'oki ra te 'anau a Vatea, ta Papa i 'anau, ko Tangaroa te tama, i karanga'ia ai kare i 'anau mai no raro, i na roto mai i te 'atu 'e'e.	Also from the family of Vatea, born of Papa, of Tangaroa the first-born, it was said that he was not born from below but from the core of a boil.
I teta'i tana i na roto mai i te kokira upoko, no te mea a kikomua a ia i tapu ai.	In another story, he emerged through the hair whorl of the head [of his mother] because he was the first-born and thus tapu.

The reason for Tangaroa's abnormal birth is clearly explained. He was the first-born male (kiko mua, "first flesh") and could not use a common path, as he bore the tapu of primogeniture. This miraculous delivery is used to stress the importance of male seniority in the family.

Tera te rua o te tama o Rongo. Tei a ia te tu'amga, koia 'oki te ua mangaia.	The second son was Rongo. He had the share, which is power and authority.
Tera te toru o Tonga-iti.	The third was Tonga-iti.
Tei a ia te pi'a i te toa e te vainga'ere.	He had the receptacle of bravery and military enterprises.
Tera te 'a o Tane-papa-kai.	The fourth was Tane-papa-kai.
Tei a ia te pi'a i te umu e te atua.	He had the oven and the god.
Tera te rima o Tangiia,	The fifth was Tangiia.
Tei a ia te ika kokoti e te viriviri.	He had the cut-up fish [human sacrifice] and the viriviri [?].
Tera te ono o Te-ra-kura-i-'iti, to ratou ia tua'ine.	The sixth was the Red-sun-in-the-rising, their sister.

Rongo, besides securing power over the greater share of food, completed the discomfiture of his elder brother, Tangaroa, by obtaining his wife.

No'o i'o' ra Rongo i runga i to ratou 'enua. Tera te ingoa o te 'enua o A'ua'u.	Rongo remained on their land. The name of the land was Auau.
Riro mai ra te va'ine a Tangaroa ia Rongo. I ropa 'ekeke'ia e Rongo, i keu ai i ia a Taka.	The wife of Tangaroa was secured by Rongo. It was by greater sex appeal on the part of Rongo that Taka transferred her affection to him.
I tomata'ia i nunga i a Rongo teia apinga te te'e ure. Na Tu'a ia angaanga.	The custom of exposing the glans penis [superincision] was begun on Rongo. This operation was introduced by Tua.
E tae ake ra i te tuatau i 'anau ai ta Rongo tamaiti i a Taka, 'anau mai ra e tama'ine. O Tavake tona ingoa.	When the period was reached that Rongo's child by Taka should be born, there was born a girl. Her name was Tavake.
'Anau mai ra ta Tavake e 'anau kakaoa. Tera to ratou au ingoa o Rangi, Te Akatauira, Moko, Te 'Etu, Te Mata-o-Tangaroa. No'o kapiti i'o ratou i to ratou 'enua o A'ua'u.	Tavake gave birth to a brood of illegitimates. Their names were Rangi, Te Akatauira, Moko, Te Etu, and Te Mata-o-Tangaroa. They lived together on their land, Auau.

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The children of Tavake were called kakaoa (illegitimate) because she had no official husband; the father of her children was her own father Rongo. With the birth of Tavake's children the lineage of the main stock of Mangaia became definitely human.

Gill (6, p. 118) records a myth in which Tangaroa descends from the heavens on his rainbow girdle to mate with Ina-ani-vai, who gives birth to Tarauri and Turi, both flaxen-haired. (See 6, p. 13.) The sons engage in dart-throwing games with the seven dwarf sons of Pinga (p. 150). By some, the incidents were placed in the land of Ukupolu, showing that the early Mangaian historians had a memory of other Polynesian lands which they had not been able to work into Avaiki of the underworld.