Masåla
Masåla appears in the Puntan Påtgon (Child's Point) legend of northern Guam as the strongest man of the Marianas in the age when giants were said to live in the islands. He grew jealous of his own small son, whose casual feats — such as tearing a coconut palm out of the ground to bare the burrow of an ayuyu (coconut crab) — began to outshine the father's fame. When Masåla flew into a rage, the frightened child ran to the island's northernmost point at Jinapsan (Hinapsan) and leapt across some forty miles of sea to the southern tip of Luta (Rota), leaving a giant footprint in the rock on each island. The tale explains the placename Puntan Påtgon and is told as a lesson about mamåhlao, the CHamoru value of humility and shame, which Masåla's pride and envy violated; in some tellings the child who made the leap grew up to become the great chief Taga.
Children
Domains
- strength
Powers
- to wield strength unmatched among the people of the Marianas
Relations
- father of: TagaIn tellings that continue the Puntan Påtgon legend, the giant child who fled Masåla's jealous rage and leapt from Jinapsan Point to Luta (Rota) grew up to become the great chief Taga."Folktale: Puntan Påtgon," Guampedia: The Encyclopedia of Guam, https://www.guampedia.com/puntan-patgon-folktale/ (secondary)
Sources
- Masåla is the strongman of Guam's Puntan Påtgon (Child's Point) legend, whose jealousy of his giant child's greater strength drove the boy to leap from Jinapsan Point in northern Guam to Rota.: "Folktale: Puntan Påtgon," Guampedia: The Encyclopedia of Guam, https://www.guampedia.com/puntan-patgon-folktale/ (secondary); "Chamorro Folktales about Guam: Puntan Påtgon," Stripes Guam (Stars and Stripes Pacific), https://guam.stripes.com/travel/chamorro-folktales-about-guam-puntan-patgon (secondary); Eric Forbes, "Puntan Påtgon," Paleric: Chamorro history and culture blog (October 2014), http://paleric.blogspot.com/2014/10/puntan-patgon.html (secondary)