Morobe Province

(map)

Once, while the people of a village were clearing forest for a new garden, they saw a big python. Happy with such a find, they killed the snake and took it back to the village for everyone to eat. The snake's head went to an old woman. This woman put it in a clay pot, told her grandson to watch it, and went to the garden to get other ingredients for a good soup.

The python's child, in the meantime, had been searching for its father, and when it asked the woman's grandson, he told about the python that the villagers had killed and eaten, and that his grandmother had the head.

"Have you eaten the head?" the python-child asked.

"No, we won't eat until Grandmother returns from the garden."

The python-child said it would take the head back to its home. It also told the boy to take his family to the top of the mountain, because something would happen to the village that night.

The python-child returned and asked all the snakes to gather. After telling them about his father, he asked which of them would go and fight the villagers. One snake volunteered.

That night, as the villagers slept, the snake went to the middle of the village and broke the earth. Water shot out of the ground suddenly, collapsing the houses and killing the nonplussed villagers. Only the boy and his family survived.

Slone, 2001, 2: 873.