Yoponda and Nenaini

“What you really seem to want,” said Toeipa and Supaini to their brothers Yoponda and Nenaini, “is for us to leave so that you can live here alone on the land of our ancestors’ ritual site. In that case, we will go.”

Langane had seven children and their names were Nenaini, Yoponda, Kengetapane, Lauaka, Toeipa, Supaini and a sister whose name has been forgotten. Nenaini was the eldest brother, and Yoponda, the younger. One day, the family had a quarrel over an eel caught in a trap made from tree bark. This is how it started. The family wanted to hold a yainanda imbu ritual at a place called Imbukosa, so all of the brothers went to the forest to hunt. They hunted in the Imbukosa forest, which is next to the land owned by the Salyipu clan today.

 

While they were away hunting, their sister who was married to a Kola man, went to the Kope creek, checked her eel trap and found that an eel was caught in it. She brought it home. Toeipa and Supaini, who came home early from hunting, roasted and ate the eel for fear that it would go bad before the others returned home. They roasted it at the ritual site.

 

When Nenaini, Yoponda and the other brothers arrived home, Nenaini and Yoponda, who were the most outspoken, said, “Go get the eel for us.”

 

“We have already roasted and eaten it because we were afraid that it would go bad,” they answered. “Stop worrying about the eel and let’s roast the cuscus.”

 

“We will roast the cuscus tomorrow, get the eel for us now!” demanded Yoponda and Nenaini. They continued to demand the eel as one day passed, then another and still another. The cuscus began to rot, but still Yoponda and Nenaini continued to make the same demand.

 

“We roasted the eel and ate it because it was beginning to rot, so how can we go get it?” asked Toeipa and Supaini. They explained this again. “We have told you this again and again, but you do not seem to be able to understand. What you really seem to want is for us to leave so that you can live here alone on the land of our ancestors’ ritual site. In that case, we will go.”

 

They left, crossing the forest and then taking the path to Anjomanda. They brought a kaepu tree with them and planted it in Kalepangu on their own land. They planted it in such a hurry that they placed it upside down, so that its roots bend upwards and then curve back down towards the earth, forming an arch. This tree can still be seen today. Then Toeipa and Supaini continued on and settled in the Lumisa area of the Baiyer region.

 

Nenaini and Yoponda followed the footpath to Anjomanda and tried to catch up with Toeipa and Supaini to persuade them to return. Toeipa and Supaini, however, would not return and so Nenaini and Yoponda came back to Kola alone. By this time the cuscus had rotted and decayed, so they threw the remains into the river. The brothers then placed a stone at Maletau-Komakuliasa as a milestone to mark the fact that they might never see Toeipa and Supaini again. (The story narrator noticed that this stone has been rolled away recently). Kengetapaini, Lauka, Yoponda and Nenaini remained in Kola. They did see their brothers again, however, and before contact with Europeans, our forefathers went back and forth from Kola to Lumisa to the area where Toeipa and Supaini had settled. They did this to keep up their alliance with Toeipa and Supaini in the case of warfare. This alliance discouraged hostile clans from attacking them.

(Kepa Pupu of the Yoponda Ipupa clan, Walya, Minamba valley)

After the fight over the eel trap, Yoponda and Nenaini moved to the middle of the Kola area. One day, the two brothers slaughtered and roasted a pig to offer to the spirits of their ancestors. While Aiokone of Lyomoi and Nenaini were preparing the oven pit, Nenaini’s son Papata went off for a short while to gather leaves to line the pit. While he was away, Aiokone took the pig’s head and placed it in the pit with its snout point downward. Papata Nenaini returned and then waited for the meat to be cooked. He was the one who uncovered the food in the oven pit and he was struck by an unexpected sight. The pig’s head was roasted with its snout pointing downwards into the earth and not up.

 

“Why wasn’t this pig roasted in the usual manner?” Papata Nenaini said. “This is a bad omen. The rest of you can stay here, but I must leave.”

 

Papata Nenaini then left for Anjia in the Minamba valley and two of his brothers, Kiopalu and Yangupina, remained in Tambul. Yoponda also stayed in Kola. Papata worked hard clearing much of the land and planting many casuarina trees. Kiopalu and Yangupinau later migrated to Anjia to join their brother Papata. Later Yoponda followed his brother’s footsteps and settled at Walya.

(Tumu Bai of the Nenaini Kiopalu clan, Anjia, Minamba valley)

Around the time Papata came to Anjia, there was an odd little man named Kanomongali who had come from Tambul in the Kola area. One day he climbed up Mt. Hagen, which is commonly called Anjomanda in Enga. When he reached the grassland above the treeline, he put aside the cuscus he had killed that day and settled down to sleep at the foot of a rock. Huddled against the rock, he looked out into the night. He saw a fire burning not so far away and wondered who might have lit it or what it was, so he decided that he would go and find out in the morning.

 

The next morning, he lay the cuscus that he had killed on a rock ledge and went in the direction of where the fire had been burning. When he reached the place, he saw a single cordyline tree. The area around the tree had been so carefully swept that not a twig, leaf or stalk of grass could be found. In this area lay a bow, some arrows, a broken spear, some strands of human hair, and cordyline leaves that had covered the person’s buttocks. There had clearly been a fight there but curiously enough, there was no one within sight.

 

Deeply impressed by what he had seen, Kanomangali returned to Anjia and called together his relatives. He told them to get a white-haired pig to come with him because he had seen a strange sight up on the slopes of the mountain. They carried the pig to Anjomanda where there is a small lake.

 

There Kanomongali said to them, “I must leave all of you here and go alone.” Then he went back to the spot where the red cordyline tree was and uprooted it. To his amazement, blood dripped from its roots. He went back to the others, told them to slaughter the pig, collected the blood, and brought it to the place where the cordyline tree had stood. He poured the blood into a hole and covered it with earth. Then he tied up the cordyline tree with a rope made from lokai vines and brought it to the place where the others had slaughtered the pig. Then they all returned home with the tree and pork and planted the cordyline at their place which is called Mapetale. They made a fence of sticks and vines around the tree and bound the sticks with lokai vines. There they roasted the pig.

 

They stayed at Anjia, but every time they went to war, Kanomongali went alone to see the cordyline tree. It was absolutely forbidden for anyone else to do so. If he saw that the tree was growing well, he would return and tell his relatives that they should go to war, for they would be sure to win. Then they would go out, fight their enemies, pillage houses, and kill men, but they would never move to newly acquired land. They always returned to Anjia.

 

Today, we the descendants of Nenaini do likewise. We originated at Kola, but the reason we live at Anjia is because the cordyline tree is the source of our strength. All the descendants of our forefathers, who scattered in different directions, a long time ago, keep in contact and visit one another because we all know we have a common origin.

Nenaini first came and settled at Anjia. Yoponda stayed at Kola until Yoponda man stole a pig from a Lyomoi Tendopa man. A fight resulted in which Tendopa wanted to drive Yoponda out of the Kola area, but Yoponda fought on because he did not want to leave. Hearing about what a perilous situation Yoponda was in, Sasepau-Kulupai of the Yatapaki tribe went to get Yoponda. He brought him down to the Minamba where he settled at Walya. Today there is still some evidence of Yoponda’s settlement in Kola, for example, the creek named after him and his house site which is still remembered.

 

Yoponda and Nenaini lived as brothers for some time. However, one day while they were making an oven pit and preparing for an imbu ritual, a man by the name of Wate became ill. His testicles swelled up and he died. Yoponda accused Nenaini of practicing sorcery on Wate and a fight broke out between the brother tribes. This was the origin of the feud between Yoponda and Nenaini that continues today.

(Kepa Pupu of the Yoponda Ipupa clan, Walya)

In those days, warfare was prevalent, and it was in one of these wars that the sons of Yoponda and Nenaini became involved. The war, by which they were forced out of their territory, was against the Tendepa people and one other group whose name I cannot recall. The war broke out after a quarrel about a stolen boar and a tussle over a piece of land through which one man was building a garden fence.

 

The war that followed was one of the longest that was ever fought in the area. It went on and on until there was no more food left, and all the pig stock was destroyed too. When the war was over, compensation payments still had to be made, but Nenaini and Yoponda had no pigs with which to pay and so they were faced with another problem besides war. Nevertheless, my grandfather’s father’s grandfather (Kapia, the grandson of Yoponda) asked the Saka people to hunt and kill some possums and bring them down to Kola to help make his compensation. All that Nenaini and Yoponda could gather for these payments was possums; however, the Saka people brought along pigs, bananas and other foods besides possums.

 

Among those who came from the Saka region the leading groups the Sassipakuni people and they came to the rescue of the Nenaini and Yoponda people.

 

Compensation was then paid with possums and a few pigs. When they saw the plight in which the Nenaini and Yoponda found themselves, spokesmen from Sassipakuni said:

 

“These lands are caught up in warfare and are conquered by your enemies. Why do you allow your feet to be caught in such a troubled place as this? We are seeking new members and have much land that is vacant. Pay off your compensation debts and come to make a new home for yourselves in our territory.”

 

Without any hesitation or reluctance on their part, the Nenaini and Yoponda paid off their compensation debts: one to Kengetapae for their loss of two men named Umjape and Kambualo who were killed while fighting on Yoponda and Nenaini’s side; and another to Aiyokoni for the loss of another two men who died while fighting on their side.

 

After making these compensation payments to the Kengetapae and Aiyokone people, representatives of the Nenaini and Yoponda palu (lineage) spoke thus:

 

“These friends have come to rescue us from this troublesome place, so let us go. We have given you the pigs and possums for compensation and now we leave our territory to you.”

 

When they had spoken in this way, they gave away those lands which made up their territory in Kola: Kombolya, Sakala, Polyapu, Sokaenge, Wapulao, Nipilya, Ambano-Kungu, Lumbu-Pange, Molo, Mutumutu and Pokosaka. These lands made up their original territory, but they gave it away before they left Kola.

 

When they arrived here (in the Minyamp (Minamba) valley, they were given territory by the Sassipakuni people and were left there by them to live on their own.”

(From R. Lacey, 1975:259-60; Narrated by Kale, Yoponda, Walya in November 1972; translated by Nut Koleala)