A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Arebo, fierce, black and great, lives on the sea bottom, eating betel nut and pepper leaf with coral lime. A dispute over a poor lime gourd brings armed snakes against him. Rattling his gourd makes the surrounding water bubble, driving each attacker upward.

The smallest snake, Wakeke, had been denied food until Motabawa secretly fed him. Following that benefactor’s dive, he takes Motabawa’s sword as the larger snake is repelled, kills Arebo and carries away his liver. Fish pursue him over land, where they could then travel. Wakeke recruits Toda, a bower bird whose humanlike cries frighten them back to the sea. He escapes and becomes a chief.

Bubbling gourd defenceSmall snake victorBird ally mimics human
01

Origins & earliest records

Annie Ker, Papuan Fairy Tales (London: Macmillan, 1910), How Wakeke defeated Arebo, pp. 41–44. Individual narrator unnamed.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete selected narrative directly read in digitized transcription.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Papuan Fairy Tales: How Wakeke defeated Arebo, pp. 41–44

    Annie Ker, collector and English reteller · 1910

    Complete selected narrative inspected.

Family & connections

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References

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  1. Primary collected textKer 1910: How Wakeke defeated AreboResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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