In 2012 at Gora Art Centre, Fate Savari presented a schoolbook she had obtained from her granddaughter. It was filled from front to back with drawings about her ancestral Ömie stories (including the creation story), histories, culture and clan designs. There were also some loose pages in the front and back of the schoolbook and more drawings on paper wrapped up in a larger drawing on paper. Fate created the book and drawings because she felt a great urgency to record her profound knowledge before she passed away. She used whatever materials she could find on hand. After presenting this first book, Fate requested “another book and drawing materials” so she could still create art during the seasons that she didn’t have any barkcloth to paint. So in 2014, Fate filled yet another drawing book with her art and this drawing is from that second collection of drawings.

Fate has drawn the woven string-bag of Vetara, the woman who lived on Huvaimo. Vetara distributed all the food to Omie people from this bilum in the Ömie creation story. There was one thing she left and threw it into the bush. Fate does not know what that thing was.

Below is the Story of how Mina, the first man, stole the fire from Insa, the woman weaver of Huvaimo exactly as Fate Savari remembers the story (*translated by Rapheal Bujava and transcribed by Brennan King at Gora Art Centre, Gora village, January 2012). In Fate’s version of the story, at this time, she refers to Vetara/Insa simply as “the woman”, and Mina, the first male ancestor, as “the man”. This story is a part of the Ömie creation story.

THE STORY OF THE OLD WOMAN BILUM-WEAVER, INSA OF HUVAIMO, AND THE STOLEN FIRE*

This is a legend story. Beginning of the woman’s story. The same woman has a bird and it is picking up the fruit. Before, there was one old woman living on Huvaimo (Mount Lamington) and she was weaving a bilum. When she was weaving the bilum she lit a fire where she was sitting down. There was a man and he was sitting on Mount Obo and he was living there. The man would hunt and catch plenty of animals to eat, but he did not have fire so the man could not cook the animals he caught. So he said, “I have plenty of animals to eat but no food, so I have to go and look for fire.” He saw the light on Huvaimo where the woman was sitting, weaving the bilum. The man went near Huvaimo and was trying to reach the fire but he could not reach it because the mountain was so high. So he went back to Manenobehi, to the bush, to find bush bamboo. He was trying to steal the fire from the woman. He found bamboo to reach up and steal the fire. He went back to Huvaimo with the bamboo. He reached up with the bamboo but it was not long enough so he went back to get more bamboo. He tied the bamboo together and this time he was able to reach the fire and steal it. The woman was busy weaving the bilum so she did not see him steal the fire. The man took the fire back to his home on Mount Obo. He cut firewood and stones to cook the animals he had killed. While the man was heating the stones to create the fire to cook the meat, the woman looked around and saw that her fire was gone. She saw small pieces of fire on the ground and looked across to Mount Obo and saw the big fire with smoke rising up. She left her bilum and put her hands up on her head, very worried and angry, saying, “Who came and stole my fire?!” She was yelling from Huvaimo to the man at Mount Obo, saying, “You stole my fire so you are going to be old and your teeth will fall out and when you hunt it will be hard for you to find animals to kill!!” She cursed him. She said he could only get married to a woman in his own family, not with any woman he wants. She said he will live for a few years and suffer and then he will die. The woman from Huvaimo went and gathered food from the garden. Then, from the top of Huvaimo, she threw the food out to the people. She got angry and shared the food with the Managalasi people all the way down to Musa. But the small food she gave to the Ömie people. She punished the Ömie people with only small food because the man stole the fire. The food was in the bilum that she was sharing with the people. The End.