Sawos

(map)

A spirit house is a house where the ancestors' spirits reside. Men perform sacred ceremonies there.

Long ago, the ancestors had a spirit house called Sai, where the men scarified the skin of uninitiated boys.

Once, everyone went down to a pond to catch fish, except for three men, one of whom was mute. Two men went on top of the spirit house to play flutes, and the mute man sat underneath the house. Clouds gathered, wind blew, and rain came, and still the men blew the flutes.

Water rose to the base of the posts of the spirit house. The mute man went up to the other two and said with his hands how high the water was, but they did not believe him. The water rose higher; the mute man warned the others again, and they continued to ignore him. The water rose more and engulfed the spirit house with the three men.

That place is now called Seleapankraku. If you go there at night, you will hear the two men blowing flutes.

Slone, 2001, 1: 112.