The Shamed Adulterer of Kwaybwaga
The legend of Inuvayla'u belongs to the erotic folklore of northern Kiriwina and was recorded by Malinowski together with the song and dance that commemorate him. Inuvayla'u, a man of the Lukuba clan in Kwaybwaga, possessed a member of prodigious size which would steal away on its own to the wives of other men while they worked in the gardens or fished. When the outraged men of the village finally shamed him publicly, he cut off his member piece by piece with an axe; the pieces turned into stones which are still pointed out near the village. He then left Kwaybwaga with his mother, singing the melancholy song that bears his name, and the Inuvayla'u song and dance remained part of the village's ceremonial repertoire. The tale served Malinowski as a document of Trobriand attitudes to adultery, shame, and punishment.
Domains
- sexuality
Powers
- to make his penis travel of its own accord over great distances
Sources
- Inuvayla'u is the protagonist of a famous Trobriand legend and song from Kwaybwaga: a headman whose prodigious member committed adulteries throughout the village until, publicly shamed, he cut it off piece by piece, the pieces turning to stone, and departed south singing his lament.: Malinowski, Bronislaw. The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia. London: George Routledge & Sons, 1929. (secondary); Malinowski, Bronislaw. The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia. Reprint edition. Boston: Beacon Press, 1987. (secondary)