12. Then Sinaleuuna wept
and uttered in soliloquy:
“Oh, Sinaleuuna, Sinaeteva,
you are enraged!
Where is our brother?
’Tis for him we are here and slighted.”
etc.
13. Sina called out to
the villagers for all to come,
All the beautiful young men
to assemble and find out
Of whom the figure in the
water was the image.
etc.
14. They sought in vain,
they could not find.
The shadow was bright and
beautiful and compared with no one.
When Maluafiti turned about
in his own land,
The shadow wheeled round and
round in the water.
etc.
15. But Sina heard not
the weeping of the sisters of Maluafiti.
Again their song rang out,
“Where is our brother?
’Tis for him we are
here and slighted.”
etc.
16. “Oh, Maluafiti!
rise up, it is day;
Your shadow prolongs our ill-treatment.
Maluafiti come and talk with
her face to face,
Instead of that image in water.”
etc.
17. Sina had listened,
and now she knew ’twas the shadow of Maluafiti.
These are his sisters too,
and I’ve been ill-using them.
etc.
18. Sina reproached herself:
“Oh! I fear these ladies;
I knew not they were seeking
a wife for their brother Maluafiti.
etc.
19. “Come, oh come,”
said Sina, “forgive me, I’ve done you wrong.”
Sina begged pardon in vain,
the ladies were angry still.
etc.
20. The canoe of Maluafiti
arrived.
He came to court Lady Sina,
and also to fetch his sisters.
etc.
21. He came, he heard
the tale of his sisters,
And then up flew implacable
rage.
etc.
22. Sina longed to get
Maluafiti;
He was her heart’s desire,
and long she had waited for him.
etc.
23. Maluafiti frowned
and would return,
And off he went with his sisters.
Sina cried and screamed, and
determined to follow swimming.
etc.
24. The sisters pleaded
to save and to bring her,
Maluafiti relented not, and
Sina died in the ocean.
etc.
In a story about another lady called Sinasengi, we are told about her wonderful pool. She had “caught the shadows” of a variety of scenes, and imprinted them on the water. A problem this for the photographers! Night-dances, races, club exercise, battles, public meetings, and some of the ordinary employments of daily life were all there. The pool was covered over, but by the removal of a stone this “chamber of imagery” could be all seen. Everything seemed so real that a man one day was so enraptured with the sight of one of his favourite sports that he jumped in to join a dancing party. But, alas! he bruised his head and broke his arm on the stones which he found under the surface, instead of the gambols of living men.