Saveasiuleo

Saveasiuleo, or “Savea of the echo”, was king of Pulotu. The upper part of his body was human, and reclined in a house in company with the chiefs who gathered around him. The lower part of his body was the tail of an eel (pusi) which stretched away into the sea. This royal house of assembly was supported by the erect bodies of chiefs who had been of high rank on earth, and who, before they died, anticipated with pride the high pre-eminence of being pillars in the temple of the kings of Pulotu.

Pulotu was the final resting place for departed spirits. There were two circular openings among the rocks near the beach at the village of Falealupo where the souls of the departed found an entrance to the world of spirits (Pulotu) away under the ocean.

If a person departed from the earth and was of royal or Ali’i heritage, he would go to Pulotu on a vessel called Va’aalo aitu and the person would enter the larger of the two openings called Lualoloalii which was reserved for the chiefs.

If a departed person was a commoner, he would have to swim through the smaller underground opening called Lualologanua. They were conveyed thither by a band of spirits who hovered over the house where they died and took a straight course in the bush westward. There is a stone at the west end of Upolu called “the leaping stone”, from which spirits in their course leaped into the sea, swam to Manono, leaped from the stone on that island again, crossed to Savaii, and went overland to the Fafa at Falealupo, as the entrance was called.

At the bottom of the entrance, there was a running stream which floated the spirits away to Pulotu, the dominions of Savea Siu Leo. When they touched the water they were not to look to the right or to the left nor could they come back as the force of the current rendered the impossible. They were little more than alive, and this semi-conscious state continued until they reached Pulotu, where there was a bathing place called Vaiola, or the “water of life.” Whenever they bathed here all became lively and bright and vigorous. Infirmity of every kind fled away, and even the aged became young again.

It was supposed that in these lower regions there were heavens, earth and sea, fruits and flowers, Planting, fishing and cooking, marrying, etc. All very much as in the former world. Sometimes Saveasiuleo would come up from his kingdom and wander about the earth. One day Saveasiuleo met his nieces, Taema and Tilafaiga swimming back to Samoa from Fiji where they had learned the art of tattooing. He was overcome by the beauty of his niece, Tilafaiga so he abducted her. She gave birth to a blood clot called alualutoto. This blood clot later became the famous goddess of war, Nafanua.

Saveasiuleo’s brother, Ulufanuasesee, and his nephew came to reprimand him. He was so annoyed that he ate his nephew but he could not destroy his brother who was also a demi-God like himself. So his brother escaped and swam away.

The above information was taken (as written) from the MCKAY-FALE located in Sauniatu (on the island of Upolu) Western Samoa.