Warohunugamwanehaora is a character in San Cristoval folklore in

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

; he is similar to Qat and

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

, being the youngest of a band of brothers.

Mythology

The youngest of a family of brothers, Warohunugamwanehaora is born and grows to adulthood all in one day. His brothers fear and envy him for his cleverness and strength and under the guidance of the oldest brother, Warohunugaraiia, they try several times to kill him. The first time, they trick Warohunugamwanehaora into a deep hole and drop a post on him, but when they turn around there he is, sitting on top of the pole. Then they try sending him against various vicious animals—a

giant clam The giant clams are the members of the clam genus ''Tridacna'' that are the largest living bivalve mollusks. There are actually several species of "giant clams" in the genus ''Tridacna'', which are often misidentified for ''Tridacna gigas'', th ...

, a man-eating fish, a

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

—hoping he will be killed, but each time Warohunugamwanehaora is victorious and when they arrive home he is sitting there waiting for them. Next they try

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

, sending the young man up a

betel The betel (''Piper betle'') is a vine of the family Piperaceae, which includes pepper and kava. The betel plant is native to Southeast Asia. It is an evergreen, dioecious perennial, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkins. Betel plan ...

tree and enchanting the tree to become so tall that he will never be able to get back. But Warohunugamwanehaora causes the tree to bend down until it touches the ground in front of his house and again, when the brothers arrive home there he is awaiting them. Finally the brothers decide they must kill him themselves, and devise a plan to cook and eat him. With Warohunugamwanehaora's help they build a mighty oven, and when the fire under it is hot enough they throw him in and pile huge rocks on the top. The oven gets hotter and hotter until even the stones piled on top grow soft; although they feel sure their plan has succeeded, the brothers (wary by this time) wait until the oven is completely cold before opening it. Just as they are pulling the last stones away a voice behind them says, "Is it done, my brothers?" and there behind them, sure enough, is Warohunugamwanehaora. At last out of patience with his brothers, particularly the eldest who has been the instigator of the repeated murder attempts, Warohunugamwanehaora builds a very small oven and a very small fire and tells Warohunugaraiia to get in. Thinking he could not be harmed by such a small cookfire, the eldest brother gets in and is promptly roasted to a turn, and Warohunugamwanehaora and the rest devour him.

Sources

{{Reflist Melanesian mythology