Tu'itatui

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Tuʻi-tā-tui (meaning: king strike knee) was the 11th Tuʻi Tonga, a dynasty of mighty kings in Tonga, and lived somewhere in the 12th century AD. If the number of stories told about him is an indication, then he was one of the mightiest kings of the dynasty for many generations before and after him.

Contents 1 Heketā 2 Rule 3 Sāngone 4 Nua 5 Last years 6 Notes 7 References

[edit] Heketā

Tuʻitātui had, like his father Momo, his court in Heketā (meaning: cripple hit), near the village of Niutōua on Tongatapu. It was there that he built, as an impressive gateway to the royal compound, the Haʻamonga-ʻa-Maui. From the Haʻamonga a path proceeded about 50 m to the slightly elevated ʻesi maka fākinanga, (stone to lean against) where the king sat against with his back, safe from any assassin from that direction. He was a huge, strong man, and easily handled a large stick as whether it was nothing. He hit everybody against the knees who would approach him too closely from the front. At par with this was his introduction of a new kava circle layout (a formal gathering of the chiefs of the country under him), in which the king sat more apart from the others (including supposed assassins) than before.

He also built there at Heketā the earliest known langi (burial tombs)– Langi Heketā and Langi Moʻungalafa (where four of his children were buried). But he himself would not arrive in using them. ^[1] He also made a sporting field to play sikaʻulutoa (reed throwing stick).

[edit] Rule

In addition to the Tuʻi Tonga maritime empire, TuʻItātui also inherited from his father Loʻau as a kind of prime minister. Together they put through landownershiop reforms and installed the Falefā (house of four), some sort of privy council.

As a prince Tuʻitātui probably had had a sheltered life, away from others. He did not know that he had an older stepbrother, until the latter stepped forwards one day when the people from the Haʻangongo tribe came to bring their dues. Fasiʻapule, as was his name, introduced himself with riddles. The king was impressed and made him a kind of governor.

At one stage Fasiʻapule needed all his cunning to get rid of two nasty goddesses, named Sisi and Faingaʻa, who were a white and a black heron. He said he had a surprise for them. If they would sit in coconutleaf baskets and look up at the sky, he would carry them around with a pole on his shoulder. So was done, but when Fasiʻapule came along a suited tree he hang up the pole with the two baskets over a limb and disappeared. Sisi and Faingaʻa, still looking at the sky and moving in the wind, thought they were still carried around. Until the baskets had rotten away and they fell through. They started to look all over the country for the evildoer, but he had by then left for Fiji.

[edit] Sāngone

Tuʻitātui had a pet turtle, of which he was very fond (but see Sāngone for another origin). One day the Sāmoans, a certain Lekapai in particular, stole it and ate it. By the time Fasiʻapule came with a recovery expedition to Savaiʻi, only the shell was left over, buried at a secret place and guarded over by the dwarf Lafaipana. Only when Fasiʻapule had shown he was sharper witted than Lafaipana in solving riddles, he was able to get the shell and return it to Tonga.

This story might be symbolic for the start of a revolt in Samoa by the chiefs Lekapai and Lafaipana, counteracted by Loʻau Tuputoka and Fasiʻapule. It would still take a century or so before Sāmoans drove out the last Tongan occupier from their soil.

[edit] Nua

One day Tuʻitātui in his canoe came along the weatherside of ʻEueiki island and saw a woman with her legs in the sea. For a while he was not sure whether she was a person or an evil ghost, but after some discussion and solving riddles, he decided for the former, and asked her to come to Olotele (the residence of a Tuʻi Tonga). She then told her name was Nua, and agreed to come with the king, she directly had recognised him because of his big, long head, unlike as any other man.

Nua bore him a son: Uanga. Another son: ʻAfulunga. A daughter: Fatafehi. A last son: Sina. Uanga built the Langi Leka, the first langi in Muʻa, he also moved the royal court to there after his father's death. But no one knows who were Tuʻi Tonga between Tuʻitātui and Uanga.^[2]

[edit] Last years

Tuʻitātui had several big houses in Heketā, and they were provided with a high platforms, called fata, made rom fehi wood, and as such called fatafehi. The word has since become a royal name in Tonga, one Fatafehi was the king's daughter.

One day the king climbed up on such a raised platform (some say it was on the Haʻamonga itself) and yelled to his sister, Lātūtama below: "Oh, some big vessels are coming, from Haʻapai very likely." "Lies!", his sister answered. She was a female Tuʻi Tonga. "Not lies, come up and see it for yourself. It is a large fleet, 1, 2, 5, no 100 boats I think", the king retorted. So the woman went up, and there was of course nothing to be seen. Then the king seized her and had intercourse with her, knowing that no one could see them. Lātūtama's maiden attendants below saw blood trickling down and asked what it was. "Oh, it is from a flying fox", Tuʻitātui answered. As such the place is still known as Toipeka (blood drip of the peka (flying fox)). But the attendants understood what was going on.

Lātūtama's brothers were enraged on hearing this and swore to kill the king. Tuʻitātui had to flee to ʻEua, but even there he did not escape his fate.

Meanwhile Fasiʻapule had returned from Fiji, and hearing that Tuʻitātui was in ʻEua, he, and a Fijian friend, embarked in their canoe to there. They were attracted by a strange light, which on arrival turned out to be the funeral torches of the dead king. Fasiʻapule killed his Fijian friend, substituted him on the place of Tuʻitātui and smuggled the body of the latter away from ʻEua. Approaching Tongatapu, he needed a rest on one of the outer islands, which was named Motutapu (sacred island) from then on, because it had served as a resting place for a Tuʻi Tonga. Then he went on to Malapo. But night came, and the procession had to stop on an island in the lagoon, close to Folaha, and that island is still known as Moʻungatapu (sacred mountain). Next day Malapo was reached and the body was taken care of by Tuʻitātui's mother's tribe, the Haʻangongo.

However, later claims (probably incorrect) are that Tuʻitātui was not buried in Malapo, but in Muʻa, or that it even was tried to bring his remains to Sāmoa. But by the time the fleet reached Haʻapai the corpse started so to stink that the adventure was to abandoned. What happened next is not clear, but people on ʻUiha claim that in the southeast corner of the island, an ancient grave, which contained the bones of a huge man, is Tuʻitātui's. But most historians doubt it. It also is claimed that the small islands south of ʻUiha known as the ʻOtu motu Kinekina, have become a symbol for the Tuʻi Tonga for this reason.

Preceded by Momo

Tuʻi Tonga around 1100

Succeeded by Talatama

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• I.C. Campbell; Classical Tongan kingship; 1989
• E. Bott; Tonga society at the time of Captain Cook's visit; 1982
• ʻO. Māhina; Ko e ngaahi ʻata mei he histōlia mo e kalatua ʻo Tongá: Ke tufungaʻi ha lea Tonga fakaako; 2006; ISBN 978-0-908959-09-9
• E.W. Gifford; Tongan myths and tales; BPB bulletin 8, 1924