Kohai (who?), Koau (I, me), ''mo'' (and) Momo (crumb) were in the
Tongan mythology
Tongan narrative (or Tongan mythology) is a variant of a more general Polynesian narrative in Tonga.
Creation myth
In the beginning there was just the sea and the spirit world, Pulotu, and between them was a rock called Touiao Futuna. On the rock ...
the first human beings created on earth. They came forth from the ''uanga'' (maggots, fruitfly larvae; apparently also in
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
seen as a source of
generatio spontanea). Their being-first status has elevated them from mere mortals into the realm of divinity, and added mystical significance to their names. According to one informant Kohai was a woman, Momo a man, and the third one was forgotten. Another informant saw Kohai for the future, Momo for the present and Koau standing for the past. Yet another: Kohai came from the head of the maggot, Koau from the tail, and Momo is not mentioned. Kohai became the first
Tui Tonga
Tui or TUI may refer to:
Places
* Tui, Pontevedra, Spain
* Tui, Iran, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Tui, North Khorasan, North Khorasan Province, Iran
* Tui Province, Burkina Faso
* Tuis District, Costa Rica
* Tui railway station, New Zealand ...
.
This dynasty of the Tui Tonga, descendant from the maggot, is not to be confused with the real or divine Tui Tonga dynasty, which started with
Aho{{okinaeitu. It is a possibility that these ''uanga'' people refer to the ancestral homeland of the Tongan people, known as Pulotu.
Nevertheless, it is still customary for poets nowadays to recite or invent dynasties for the chiefs they want to please, going back to Kohai, Koau & Momo.
References
E.W. Gifford; ''Tongan myths and tales''; BPB bulletin 8, 1924
Tongan mythology