Pyaini

In the forest of Yapai, a dog and a snake mated. It is said that the snake was the mother and the dog the father. They lived in a thicket of metae ferns where the snake gave birth to a son whom they named Kepakali.

Kepakali grew into a strong and handsome man and lived by hunting in the Yapai forest. One fine day when he went down to the Keta River, he saw smoke rising much further down the river. The air was so clear that day that he was sure that it was smoke from a fire and was surprised since he did not know of any other people living in the area. He was determined to go and find out who had made the fire.

First, he went to his house and got his spear and then set out on his adventure. He walked to Pipitaka and from there he could see that the smoke was coming from some distance away. He continued and finally arrived at a house. He leaned his spear against the house and went in. Inside he found a very beautiful woman named Koeae.

“Where did you come from?’ She asked.

“I have come from Yapai and happen to have gone this way,” he answered. “Are you living alone here or are you married?”

“I live here with my husband. He is from Aepanda of the Maitane tribe.” (Yaka Maitane was the tribal founder of Sakate and Yambanima).

“Why don’t you roll a cigarette and make yourself comfortable.”

Kepakali was very attracted to the woman and thoughts of stealing her passed through his head. “Where did your husband go?” He asked.

“He went to the Keta River to get kope wood to make billets to soak in the salt pools,” she answered.

Kepa left the woman and followed Yaka Maitane’s footprints. They led him to the Lelya bridge across the Keta River which Yaka Maitane used to cross back and forth while making salt. Kepakali cut down the bridge to stop Yaka Maitane from returning home, went back to the house and kidnapped Koeae. She was the sister of Ima and Alitipa who live near Kandep station. Kepakali brought Koeae to the grassland of Yapai and then to his home. They had a son named Pyaini and later they moved down to Mamale near Laiagam. Pyaini grew up in Mamale and sometime later his father died. Pyaini and his mother lived alone at Mamale for a while, but nobody would help them, so Koeae decided to return to her home in Kandep. She took her son and went from Mamale to Tesatesa where she met a Kunalini man.

“Where are you going?” He asked.

“We are going to Mungatesa in Kandep,” she explained.

“It is getting dark. Why don’t you sleep the night at my house?” He asked. He had pandanus, possum meat, taro and sweet potato in his house which he gave them to eat. They stayed there for the night and in the morning the Kunalini man noticed that Koeae was very beautiful, so he married her. She gave birth to a son named Yanana.

Pyaini grew up in the Kunalini man’s house, and when he grew up to be a strong young man, he left Telyatesa and went back to Mamale. There he married a woman from the Sambe Temanga clan whose name was Sambai. Pyaini had two sons, Laia and Kaina. His half-brother Yanana now lives in Muini and Lawe in northern Kandep. The Kunalini man regarded Pyaini as his first-born son and so gave him a large piece of land: Miuni, Keasa, Lawe, Yumbisa and Yakayele. In later generations, Pyaini gave all of this land to Yanana except for Yumbisa which they wanted to keep. That is why Pyaini and Yanana have a land dispute. The place where Maitane went to make salt was Ketapyaka and people still go there today.

(Pastor Papi Keso, Pyaini Ipakane clan, Mamale)