Panaumbe Penaumbe The Fishes And The Insects
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TALES OF THE PANAUMBE AND PENAUMBE CYCLE
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Aino Folktales
There were Panaumbe and Penaumbe. Panaumbe went down to the sea-shore,
squatted on the sand, pulled up his clothes, and, turning his back to
the sea, opened his anus as widely as possible. Then all the whales and
the salmon and the other good fishes, both great and small, thought it
was a beautiful cavern in the rocks. They all swam towards it, and
crowded into it. Panaumbe was much pleased. When his inside was quite
f
ll, he closed his anus and ran home. When he got to the house, he
closed the door and the window. Then he opened his anus again, and let
out all the whales and the salmon and the other good fishes, both great
and small, so that the whole house was full of them. They could not swim
away, because the door and window were shut. So Panaumbe caught them
all. Some he ate, and some he sold. So he became a very rich man.
Then Penaumbe came down, and spoke thus: "You were poor before. Now you
are very rich. How have you managed to get so rich?" Panaumbe said:
"Come and dine with me. I can instruct you while we are eating." So,
when Panaumbe had told Penaumbe how he had become rich, Penaumbe said:
"I knew that before." With these words, he pissed against the threshold,
and went out,--down to the sea-shore. Then he did as Panaumbe had told
him, and opened his anus as wide as possible towards the sea. Then he
felt all the whales and salmon and the other fishes, both great and
small, crowding in. When his inside was quite full, he closed his anus,
and ran home very quickly. When he got to the house he closed the door
and the window, and stopped up even the smallest chinks. Then he opened
his anus again, and let out all the whales and salmon, and the other
good fishes, both great and small, so that the whole house was full of
them. But when they came out, what had felt like whales and salmon, and
all sorts of fishes, were really wasps and horse-flies and spiders and
centipedes, and other poisonous insects, which stung him terribly. They
could not get out, because Penaumbe had closed the window and the door,
and had stopped up even the smallest chinks. So Penaumbe was stung to
death by the wasps and centipedes and other poisonous insects which had
come home in his inside.--(Written down from memory. Told by Kannariki,
June, 1886.)