Tuitatui

Vorlage:No footnotes TuVorlage:Okinai-tā-tui (meaning: king strike knee) was the 11th king of the [[Tu'i Tonga|TuVorlage:Okinai Tonga]], a dynasty in Tonga, who supposedly lived during the 12th century AD. Most of what is known about him is through Tongan myths and tales

Heketā

According to legend, TuVorlage:Okinaitātui 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 [[Ha'amonga 'a Maui|HaVorlage:Okinaamonga-Vorlage:Okinaa-Maui]]. From the HaVorlage:Okinaamonga a path proceeded about 50 m to the slightly elevated Vorlage:Okinaesi 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 MoVorlage:Okinaungalafa (where four of his children were buried), but he himself would not use them. These stone structures still exist. He also made a sporting field to play sikaVorlage:Okinaulutoa (reed throwing stick).

Rule

In addition to the [[Tu'i Tonga Empire|TuVorlage:Okinai Tonga maritime empire]], TuVorlage:Okinaitātui also inherited from his father-in-law LoVorlage:Okinaau as a kind of prime minister. Together they put through landownership and social reforms, re-shuffled and strengthened the royal council of the Fale Fā (house of four), the ancient royal counselors and royal guardians of the [[Tu'i Tonga|TuVorlage:Okinai Tonga]]. TuVorlage:Okinaitātui removed from the Fale Fā, Matakehe and TuVorlage:Okinaifolaha and replaced them with TuVorlage:Okinaitalau and TuVorlage:OkinaiVorlage:Okinaamanave from Talau of the northern island of Vava'u.

As a prince TuVorlage:Okinaitātui probably had had a sheltered life, away from others. One story tells of how TuVorlage:Okinaitātui did not know that he had an older stepbrother named FasiVorlage:Okinaapule until he introduced himself to TuVorlage:Okinaitātui with riddles. The king was impressed and made FasiVorlage:Okinaapule a governor.

Sāngone

Tongan stories tell that TuVorlage:Okinaitātui had a pet turtle named Sāngone of which he was very fond. One day a Sāmoan named Lekapai stole the turtle and ate it. By the time FasiVorlage:Okinaapule came with a recovery expedition to [[Savai'i|SavaiVorlage:Okinai]], only the shell was left, buried at a secret place and guarded over by the dwarf Lafaipana. Only when FasiVorlage:Okinaapule had shown he was sharper witted than Lafaipana in solving riddles was he 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 LoVorlage:Okinaau Tuputoka and FasiVorlage:Okinaapule. It would still take a century or so before Sāmoans drove out the last Tongan occupier from their soil.

Nua

Another tale recounts how one day TuVorlage:Okinaitātui came along the weatherside of [['Eueiki|Vorlage:OkinaEueiki]] island and saw a woman with her legs in the sea. For a while he was not sure whether she was a human or an evil ghost, but after some discussion and solving riddles, he decided she was human and asked her to come to Olotele, the residence of the TuVorlage:Okinai Tonga. She then told her name was Nua, and agreed to come with the king.

Nua bore him three sons, Uanga, Vorlage:OkinaAfulunga, and Sina, along with a daughter named Fatafehi. Uanga built the Langi Leka, the first langi in [[Mu'a (Tongatapu)|MuVorlage:Okinaa]], he also moved the royal court there after his father's death.

Last years

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

Another Tongan legend states that one day the king climbed up on such a raised platform and yelled to his sister, Lātūtama below: "Oh, some big vessels are coming, from [[Ha'apai|HaVorlage:Okinaapai]] very likely." "Lies!", his sister answered. "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 nothing to be seen. The king then seized her and raped 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", TuVorlage:Okinaitātui answered. As such the place is still known as Toipeka (blood drip of the peka (flying fox)).Lātūtama's brothers were enraged on hearing this and swore to kill the king. TuVorlage:Okinaitātui had to flee to [['Eua|Vorlage:OkinaEua]], but did not escape his fate.

Meanwhile, FasiVorlage:Okinaapule had returned from Fiji, and hearing that TuVorlage:Okinaitātui was in Vorlage:OkinaEua, he, and a Fijian friend, embarked in their canoe there. They were attracted by a strange light, which on arrival turned out to be the funeral torches of the dead king. FasiVorlage:Okinaapule killed his Fijian friend, substituted him on the place of TuVorlage:Okinaitātui and smuggled the body of the latter away from Vorlage:OkinaEua. Approaching Tongatapu, he rested at one of the outer islands and that island from then on was called Motutapu (sacred island), because it had served as a resting place for a TuVorlage:Okinai Tonga. He then 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 [[Mo'ungatapu|MoVorlage:Okinaungatapu]] (sacred mountain). Next day, Malapo was reached and the body was taken care of by TuVorlage:Okinaitātui's mother's tribe, the HaVorlage:Okinaangongo.

There are claimsVorlage:By whom that TuVorlage:Okinaitātui is not buried in Malapo, but in [[Mu'a (Tongatapu)|MuVorlage:Okinaa]]. The people of Vorlage:OkinaUiha claim that he is buried there in the southeast corner of the island. In a remote area is an ancient grave which contain the bones of a huge man and it is TuVorlage:Okinaitātui's. There is also a claim that he is buried somewhere in one of the small islands south of [['Uiha|Vorlage:OkinaUiha]] known as the Vorlage:OkinaOtu Motu Kinekina, as they have become a symbol for the TuVorlage:Okinai Tonga for this reason.

References

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