Alcheringa Gallery
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Victoria, BC, Canada
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Queen Bee at the Singsing
Alois Sukundimi
Torembi Village
Papua New Guinea
2008
wood, natural pigments
10" x 4" x 9"
$1,200.00 CDN
CAT# Tor 0806
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Sorcerer and the Bees
A long time ago in my village, there lived a sorcerer named Ambunawie, with his wife and an in-law. Every morning around five or 6 o’clock the bees would beat their drums and sing in and around the village. When the bees come out every morning, the village people eould run to a nearby river, dive into the water and cover their heads with clay pots.
Ambunawie’s head is like a pig head and he used to perform some magic. He would says magic words (in order)to disappear into a small amount of water in a hole or coconut shell hiding from the bees.
One morning he tried to help his in-law to escape from the bees by his magic. Ambunawie taught his in-law to perform magic so that he could disappear into a coconut shell or water but it didn’t work. He told him to dig a hole and go into it. He told him not to come out until the bees were gone.
Unfortunately, he disobeyed the instructions and tried to see the bees coming. When the bees smelled him they went in the hole and stung him until his whole flesh and bones were gone. Later that day Ambunawie found his in-law’s skull in the ground and gave it to his wife.
At last he was angry with the bees and decided to kill them. In the morning he built a block wall and hid behind it waiting for the bees to come out. While he was hiding he heard the bees coming so he got his arrow and shot the one leading them and all the rest ran away forever.
Nowadays Ambunawie’s head is still living, not physically, but in spirit, and the old men worship him to perform magic or witchcraft.
As told by Alois Sukundimi
Torembi Village
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