The third tale

A Bum as Bright as the Sun

In the South Pacific Ocean there is a cluster of small, beautiful islands called Tonga. Scientists now know that volcanoes created these islands, but long ago people told stories about how those islands came to be. A man named Albert Taufa, who lived on one of these islands, told this story about the island of Tanoa.

Tanoa belonged to a great god named Takafula, who appears on earth in either male or female form. Tanoa was one of three lake-islands on the island of Nomuka. The other two were Loto and Tefisi. Today, only Loto and Tefisi are still in the lake.

A mischievious Samoan god named Moso wanted to add an island to their own collection of ocean-islands. Late one night, Moso and a group of helper-gods snuck into the lake on Nomuka. Silently, they lifted the island of Tanoa out of the water and up onto their shoulders. So as not to wake Takafula, who was asleep to the west, they travelled east. But before they had even crossed the beach into the ocean they were spotted by one of Takafula’s helper-gods, who sped west and alerted Takafula. Because there were many thieves, Takafula knew being clever would be better than trying to stop them. The thieves were laden down with a whole island, so Takafula was able to speed past them unseen.

Moso and the thieves had come at night in the hope of being unseen. They thought they could get home with their island booty before the sun came up. Knowing this, Takafula positioned themselves to the east of them and bent over. Takafula’s bumhole shone like the sun itself. When Moso and the island-thieves saw its bright rays, they feared they would be seen in the dawn’s light. They dropped the island of Tanoa in such a hurry that it fell sideways: Tanoa today is not flat, but points up at the sky. But thanks to Takafula’s sun-bright bumhole, it is still part of Takafula’s island collection.