Palau Islands

(map)

The stars are the eyes of the gods, with which they look down upon earth at night. Once, a man went up into the sky, stole one of those bright eyes, and brought it back with him. The Palau Islander's money was made from it.

The theft angered the gods, and they came down to earth to reclaim the eye and punish the theft. They disguised themselves as ordinary men and went door-to-door begging for food and lodging. Person after person treated them rudely and turned them away. Only one old woman received them kindly and set her best food and drink before them. When they left, they warned her to make a bamboo raft ready and, on the night of the next full moon, to lie down on it and sleep. This she did.

On the night of the full moon, a great storm came. The sea rose, flooding the islands, rending the mountains, and destroying homes. All the other people perished. The woman, fast asleep, drifted until her hair caught in the branches of a tree on the top of Mount Armlimui. There she lay while the sea ebbed to its previous level.

When the gods came looking for the good woman after the flood, they found her dead. So one of the women-folk from heaven entered the body and made her live. The gods begat five children by the old woman and then returned to heaven, as did the goddess who restored her to life. The five children and their human mother remained to repopulate the Palau Islands.

Frazer, 1919, 253-254.

Before humans, one of the Kaliths (deities) named Athndokl visited an unfriendly village and was killed by its inhabitants. Seven friendly gods, who went searching for him, were met with unkindness except from the woman Milathk, who told them of the death. They resolved vengeance by flooding the village, and suggested Milathk save herself by preparing a raft tied to a tree by a rope. The flood came and covered the village at the next full moon. Milathk perished in the flood, but was recalled to life by the oldest Obakad god. He wanted to make her immortal but was stopped by another god, Tariit. Milathk became the mother of mankind.

Kelsen, 1943, 132.