Ro Lei
Banks Islands · numen · Banks Islands traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Ro Lei, the lady Lei, is the wife of Qat in the Banks Islands cycle. Her role is that of the coveted consort: the eleven brothers of Qat desire her, and their jealousy sets in motion the sequence of attempts on Qat's life, in which they fell a tree upon him, fling him into a pit, and try to drown or crush him, only for Marawa the spider to rescue him each time. Through her the cycle's central conflict of a hero against his envious kin is joined.
Domains
- marriage and consort
Powers
- be the coveted wife over whom the brothers plot
Epithets
- Iro Lei — the lady LeiR. H. Codrington, The Melanesians (1891), pp. 158-160. (primary)
Relations
- spouse: QatR. H. Codrington, The Melanesians (1891), ch. X, pp. 158-160. (primary)
Sources
- Ro Lei is the wife of Qat, whose desirability provokes the jealousy of the eleven brothers and the murder-plots that structure the cycle.: R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians (1891), ch. X, pp. 158-160. (primary)