Why the Village of Gavi Eats No Fish

There was a time when the villagers of Gavi were not opposed to eating

fish, alongside anything else that they could hunt or grow, but the Abaia

changed all of that and they never ate fish again.

The lives of the villages changed for the future generations as a result of

the initial actions of one hunter and his dog. When the hunter would go

looking for food, he would go alone with just his dog for company. This

time as he scouted for food, there were very little meat to be found and

after spending the whole day searching, the hunter had only managed to

find one wallaby which would not feed many people at all. Feeling

discouraged, the hunter continued to walk, desperately keeping his eyes

open for potential food. As he walked, his dog was running around,

sniffing in the undergrowth and investigating the smells around him – as

dogs do!

The hunter and his dog finally arrived at Lake Wapogi, and the man

rested for a little whilst his dog investigated the shallows of the lake. The

dog saw a fish in the shallow part of the lake, and being a hunting dog,

he quickly managed to grab the fish in his jaws and happily returned to

his master with his prize. The man realised that there must be more fish

in the lake and went to have a look. He found that the lake was full of

fish, enough fish for a banquet for an entire village!

Unfortunately, there was also something else that lived in Lake Wapogi,

something that spent its time hiding in the shadows watching over the

fish that were its children. The hunter did not catch anymore fish that

day. Instead, he returned to his village with the wallaby that he had

managed to catch, and this was cooked for the villagers. The hunter was

a sensible man and so he carefully marked the path on his return

journey from the Lake so he would be able to easily find his way back

with more of the villagers.

The villagers were overjoyed to hear that the hunter had found a lake

where there was plentiful fish as that would mean that their worries

about food would be over. Fish could be dried and smoked which would

preserve them and provide food over the harder months.

The men, women, and older children of the village followed the hunter

and his dog back towards the lake. Once they arrived, the women threw

the nets that they had brought with them out into the lake to catch the

abundant fish, prawns, and smaller eels. Whilst the women attended to

the nets, the men of the village used wood and rope to build racks on

which to dry and smoke the fish. The women caught so many fish in

their nets that the only way was to smoke them as, if not, the masses of

fish would go to waste. Food should never be wasted as you never knew

when harder times would arrive.

One of the women was a much more skilled fisherwoman than the

others and when she cast out her net, unbeknown to her at the time, she

snagged an Abaia in her net. Standing in the water, the woman did not

see what she had caught, thinking it was probably a larger, more mature

eel such as was found in the area, but it was not. It was the protector of

the lake; the Abaia. The Abaia can not be caught by the simple fishing

techniques of a village fisherwoman and it easily slipped away from her

grasp.

By this time, the villagers had caught more fish than they needed, and

the drying and smoking process was well underway. Tired from their

efforts, the villagers treated themselves to some of the fish that they had

caught and talked and celebrated until night fell. Contented, their bellies

full, the villagers feel asleep planning to return to the village the following

day.

As the villages slept, the Abaia was not resting. Furious and devasted

that the villagers had invaded its lake and killed its children, the Abaia

went to work to punish the villagers. Although the villagers had caught a

large number of fish, there were still eels in the lake, and these became

the messengers of the Abaia. The Abaia instructed the eels to swim from

the lake to every river in the area and bring back the water spirits to help

the Abaia punish the villagers who had harmed her children.

The eels went out and did as the Abaia requested. When the eels

returned, the Abaia and the water spirits caused the clouds to form and

heavy rain started to fall from the sky. It rained and rained until the whole

area was flooded. The villagers did not stand a chance and one by one

they drowned. The only survivor was a woman who managed to quickly

climb up a tree. The woman was known as a witch in her villager and

from the beginning she had suspected that the lake belonged to the

Abaia and so she had not eaten any of the fish. The rest of the villagers

had not listened to her warnings. Up in the tree, the woman watched as

the water continued to rise. She had managed to drag the dog up the

tree with her, but the dog had eaten fish and Abaia would not be

satisfied until every creature who had eaten its children had perished.

The woman reluctantly had to throw the dog from the safety of the tree

to meet its fate in the waters.

Once this was done, the Abaia was satisfied, and the waters began to

subside again. Devasted at the huge loss of life, the woman had no

choice but to return to the village where the young children had

remained to await their parents return. The woman told the children what

had happened and warned them that it would occur again if they ever

ate fish from a lake that belonged to the Abaia.

From that day forward, no man, woman, child, or dog, ever ate fish again

so as not to bring the wrath of the Abaia down on their village.