Weipa

Weipa, also given as Waipa and coupled in one named Melpa tale with the hero-title Kwint Woep, is the courting hero of the versions of the great Hagen romance recorded by Georg Vicedom in the 1930s and told in neighbouring valleys. He sets out to win a distant bride, Rangkopa; in Vicedom's fuller telling their journey home is fatally interrupted and, after she is killed, he at length avenges her death with another man's help. Sources identify him as the same archetypal courting hero known elsewhere as Miti Krai.

Domains

• courtship
• vengeance

Powers

• court and win a bride in a far place
• avenge his slain bride

Relations

• lover: RangkopaHe courts and wins Rangkopa; their journey home is fatally interrupted.Vicedom, G. F. (1977). Myths and Legends from Mount Hagen. Port Moresby: Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies. (primary)

Sources

• Weipa (Waipa), coupled in one named Melpa tale with the hero-title Kwint Woep, is the courting hero of the versions of the Hagen romance recorded by Vicedom in the 1930s and told in neighbouring valleys.: Vicedom, G. F. (1977). Myths and Legends from Mount Hagen. Port Moresby: Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies. (primary); Rumsey, A. (2011). 'Style, Plot and Character in Tom Yaya Tales from Ku Waru.' In Sung Tales from the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Canberra: ANU E Press. (secondary)
• In Vicedom's telling the return journey is fatally interrupted, Rangkopa is killed, and Weipa eventually avenges her; scholars identify him with the archetypal hero also called Miti Krai.: Rumsey, A. (2011). 'Style, Plot and Character in Tom Yaya Tales from Ku Waru.' In Sung Tales from the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Canberra: ANU E Press. (secondary)