Nareau

Ancient Spider, also called Nareau the Elder, a pre-existent being who commanded sand and sea water to bear children. Among these children was Nareau the Younger who killed Nareau the Elder and fashioned the sun and the moon from his eyes.

Nareau made the heavens and earth while he lived in Samoa with his daughter Kobine. He lived in Tarawa for twenty-seven generations, changed his name to Tautebū, and returned to Samoa in an outrigger canoe, the first of its kind ever seen in Samoa.1

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References

Notes

  1. Newell, J. E. (1895). "Coming of Nareau from Samoa to Tarawa." Journal of the Polynesian Society 4:231-235.

Sources

  • Leach, Maria, ed. (1956). The Beginning. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, p. 183.
  • Poignant, Roslyn. (1967). Oceanic Mythology. London: Hamlyn, p. 7.1