1 AT004
Alick Tipoti Wadth, Zigin Ar Kusikus 2005
Linocut print 1020x2000mm image, 1120x2110mm paper $6750
Story: DTHUWAL AND HIS SONS Long ago a man named Dthuwal lived on a small beach north of Mainabi,
which came to be called Dthuwal Buthu. Dthuwal was a very skilled hunter. He had a great knowledge and
understanding of the weather patterns, tides and gardening. He had three sons. Wadth was the eldest, who
grew up to be an expert hunter out at sea. Zigin turned out to be a song composer and mastered the art of
tuning the warup. Kusikus, who was later to be called Pasuwa, was the youngest brother and grew up to be a
craftsman. INITIATION PREPARATION When the three brothers reached manhood, their father had decided
that the time had come for them to be initiated as men. He invited a man called Meseku2 the witchdoctor who
lived at Dthugngur3, a place near Sarupau Pad4 on the north side of the island. Three days before their initiation
ceremony, Wadth Zigin and Kusikus were told to rub sai (mud) from the nearby mangroves all over their bodies
and were not to wash it off until their appointment with Meseku. All three of them were to eat and sleep in small
zarazar (grass huts) specifically built for this occasion. KUSIKUS ESCAPES It was during this time when
Kusikus decided to escape from this time of preparation. He disobeyed his father's orders and on the very first
night he ran away in the middle of the night, washed himself in the sea and set off along the beach towards Upai
Wak5. KUSIKUS'S JOURNEY Kusikus walked till he came to a place called Waru Wak. By this time it was
daybreak. At Waru Wak he walked on the edge of the reef and saw a trail of Kabar (trochus shell). He jumped in
the sea and collected enough to carry in his hands. As he was surfacing, he was grabbed from behind by a
dthubur (male turtle) trying to mate with him. He struggled to escape, dropping all of the trochus holding onto
only two. In desperation to survive he used the sharp ends of the shells to stab the dthubur in the eyes and
killed it. He pulled the dead dthubur ashore, cut it and cooked some pagasiew madthu (shoulder meat) and some
thupai (fat). After he ate he called some spirits to help him to create a mask from the carapace of the turtle. He
cut the sharp ends of the trochus shells and used them for the eyes, molding it with some wam (bees wax). He
continued his journey carrying his mask till he came to a place called Goeragu Wak, a spot not far from Mekayna
Kosar. When he walked along the beach, he saw a kaigas (shovel-nose shark). He caught it and removed the
intestines and added the whole shark to his mask. He then hung his mask on a tree not far from the beach. By
now it was late in the afternoon and the tide was very low when he arrived at Moerarai Koesa. So he walked out
to the edge of the reef and there he saw a warukazi (small turtle). He jumped in head first into the sea after the
warukazi. When he grabbed the warukazi, he found himself wrapped with large tentacles of a markai sugu (devil
octopus). At this very moment Kusikus thought he would never see the sunset again. As he was taken to the
bottom of the sea, he called for some spirits to help him escape. He reached for a mazaupat (sharp stag coral),
broke off a small branch and stabbed the sugu in the head that created a large gash. The sugu spat Kusikus to
the surface of the water. Despite the wrestling with the sugu, Kusikus never let go of his warukazi. As the sugu
swam away it spoke to Kusikus in these words; 'Boo boo Sesew malu sugu - bu bu markai sugu'. Kusikus
continued his journey till he came to a place called Yaza. From the beach he saw a Maidthalaig (witchdoctor/
sorcerer) on the hillside of Yazau Pad practicing his magic and mixing some bush medicine. Kusikus tried to
disguise himself in the bushes thinking that he was not seen, but the Maidthalaig knew he was being watched
and pretended not to notice the presence of a stranger. The Maidthalaig could not concentrate on practicing his
spell and was furious at Kusikus watching him from the bushes so he decided to use the spell against Kusikus.
DTHUWAL SEARCHES FOR KUSIKUS Back at Dthuwal Buthu, Dthuwal had learnt of his youngest son's
disloyal act. He was furious and decided to search for his son. He asked his forefathers' spirits to guide him to
track down his son. He discovered his son's muykup (fireplace) at Waru Wak and was notified of what
happened by the spirits. His next clue was the mask he saw hanging on a tree at Goergu Wak. He spoke in these
words to the spirits. 'Kusikus ngau kazi -Kusikus kuthinal kazi' KUSIKUS'S DEATH Early in the evening
Kusikus rested at Bubul Nguki. He made him a dagul (fish spear) and was planning on eating fish the next day.
That same night the Maidthalaig placed thorns from a thupmul (file ray) tail rubbed with poisonous paste along
a row of dthamu (sea grass) on a small patch of surum (grassy sand cay). He then used his powers to guide
Kusikus towards his trap. Before daybreak Kusikus woke up and set out to the reef. He came to this gangar
(rock coral) where he saw Sesew the markai sugu. He stretched out his dagul and threw it straight at Sesew.
Before the dagul could reach Sesew, a large fish jumped out of the sea and snapped the dagul in half. At this
very moment Kusikus stood on the thorns placed by the maidthalaig who was watching from the bushes in the
hills. By now Dthuwal had reached Bubul Nguki and could see his son falling backwards over the edge of the
reef. He ran towards Kusikus. On arrival, he discovered that his son had fallen into a giant pasuwa (clam shell).
Dthuwal called out; 'Kusikus ngau kazi - mika ngi kedtha pudthi - ai ai ai ai pasuwa' The Pasuwa swallowed
Kusikus cutting his head off and spitting it back on to the dry bed of the reef. Dthuwal grabbed Kusikus head
and held it next to his chest. From that moment on he referred to his son as Pasuwa. Pa-su-wa:- Pa: Pasuwa, Su:
Sugu, Wa: Waru These were the three creatures that tried to take his son away from the spirit of the earth.
Dthuwal discovered that each time these three spirited creatures fought with Kusikus, they weakened Kusikus's
spirits causing him to be weak. When Dthuwal returned home, he placed his son's head on a small sara and
smoked it sending his spirits to be with his ancestors in the sky. Later he took the head and buried it near his
zarazar. THABUTHIR Zigin had a pet snake that he called Thabuthir. Every day he would feed thabuthir with
birds and lizards. Thabuthir had a shape of a leaf on his head. INITIATION At Dthuwal Buthu, it was nearly
time for the initiation ceremony to take place. Meseku had collected some itip (a plant with long leaves with a
thorn on the end). He prepared a muykup (fireplace) using goeragarr watharr to make the fire. Dthuwal called on
Wadth and Zigin to go to Meseku. They crawled towards the burning fire. Meseku held itipal in the midst of the
thick smoke and whipped the young men's back creating scars of manhood. This action went on till midnight.
Meseku sang a chant, appointing three spirits for each of them to guide and help these two brothers for the rest
of their lives. The scars would heal in time and would show other people of other villages that they have special
powers and spirits as guards. WADTH AND ZIGIN Many years passed and Dthuwal died of old age. This was
when Dthuwal's place was soon to be called Dthuwal Buthu. Wadth and Zigin continued to live a little to the
north of Dthuwal Buthu. Often they would go out in their canoe and catch turtles. Years later after many trips,
Zigin became tired of going out to sea with his older brother. He would complain about getting wet and having
sore eyes from the salt from the splashes of the sea. ZIGIN AND THE SPIRITS Zigin refused to go out anymore
with his brother, instead he would sit up all night beating his warup (drum) composing chants and singing with
many spirits. He became so obsessed with spirits when the moon was full he would make the spirits dance all
night. Every night Wadth would notice flying foxes circling atop of his brother's house and could hear the
different voices singing ancient chants. Wadth moved further north of Zigin's zarazar because all the chanting
and the beating of the drum kept him awake all night 'til morning. SOLAL During the solal (mating turtle) season
(towards the month of November) Wadth would continue to hunt turtles and would catch many fat turtles.
There was always a row of turtles lying on their back in front of Wadth's house. Wadth became a great
champion at spearing and catching turtles. Whenever he would feel like eating turtle, he would cut one up and
cook it in an earth oven or just roast it on an open fire. He would also share with his younger brother whom by
now had started to depend on Wadth for food from the sea. The sharing continued for a long time until it came
to a point when Wadth started to find it difficult and frustrating doing all the hard work by himself for the both
of them. Whenever Wadth would ask Zigin to accompany him out at sea, he would always refuse, saying that
he was tired from beating his drum all night. Wadth decided that he would no longer provide the best parts of
the turtle for his brother. So when he decided to butcher another one of his catch, he only gave his brother
some mukuy madthu (pelvis meat) and katal madthu (neck meat). Zigin received no thupai (fat) from his brother.
ZIGIN'S JEALOUSY On receiving his share of turtle, Zigin asked himself, 'Ina mika kedtha ngau tukuyapan
ngaika kedtha ngapa watti madthul kusumnu'? (Why did my brother bring me bad meat?) Zigin was very furious.
He decided do use his special powers with the help of his spirits to prevent all the solal from reaching his
brother, Wadth. I will turn usalai away from him. "Ngath nungungu usalai adthaka thaiyaik " I will make hunting
even more difficult for Wadath. He will catch nothing. The following day he gathered branches from a special
tree and set foot out to the reef. He stood at Kabar Gizu pretending to feed the fish but at the same time
throwing magic powers into the sea trying to guide passing solal away from his brother who was in sight just a
little to the north. He would also jump into the sea and make splashes to chase away the nearing solal. Wadth
wondered what his brother was doing as he was preparing himself for a pair of solal nearing towards him.
"Tukuyap ngau midthmika - ina ngai kedtha anapin" Soon Wadth speared a solal and was pulling it up the
beach where he lived. Seeing this, Zigin immediately took hold of his wap and amu with some kuyur and
prepared himself, hoping for the next pair of solal to pass by. He stood out on the reef, facing west singing. He
sang all day trying to use his magical powers but had no luck. Zigin returned home at dark empty handed. The
moon sat high and shone brightly displaying the row of turtles on their back in front of Wadth's house. Every
night when singing, Zigin would ask the Kisai Maril (spirits of the moon) to draw down the thupai and kill his
brother's catch. The very next day Wadth woke up to find all his solal weak and on the verge of dying. His
spirits told him of Zigin's jealous act to make the Kisai maril take away the thupai from his turtles. From that
moment onwards, Wadth covered the solal he caught with mats. He continued to hunt and speared turtles for
many years. One day when he cut a solal on the beach, he allowed the waves to wash the eggs ashore and they
turned to stones. "Wadthan lag - ina Wadthan wöeybadth" (This is Wadth's place - Wadth's turtle eggs) Zigin
on the other hand stood out on the reef out from Kabar Gizu many times with no success. He would fall asleep
at times standing on the edge of the reef. Zigin died of starvation one day. He turned to stone waiting for a pair
of solal. The rock marks the spot where Zigin stood for days. Wadth lived to be an old man providing his catch
to many villages on Badu. Many years later he was introduced to the use of Nath through one of the villages on
the North side of the island. Acknowledgment and respect to my late father Leniaso Tipoti (ArganBesai) who
had taken time to retell and record these ADTHIL of our ancestors.
1. Mainab is on the south-east side of Badu
2. Meseku was a Zugub from Mabuiag
3. Dthug Ngur is on the north side of Badu
4. Sarupau Pad is right next to Dgthug Ngur
5. Upai Wak is to the west of Dthuwal Buthu
6. Male Turtle are known to attack and engage with people when diving to catch solal
7. The word Pasuwa was broken down to three different abbreviations: Pa-Su-Wa; Pa:Pasuwa, Su:Sugu, Wa:Waru.
8. Thabuthir was said to have come from Sabai Island
9. Men being initiated were not to look into their initiators eyes
10. Dad could not remember the words of this chant sang to him in ancient language by Athe Au
11. These scars are called - 'koey walaizi wam'.
12. Wadth was always referred to as 'malu mina geth mabaig'
13. Usalai - current flowing from east to west
14. Wap - harpoon, amu - rope, kuyur - darts to fit on the end of the wap.
15. As a result from Zigin actions and belief, Torres Strait Islanders never expose their turtles to the moon
Retold by Athe Yound Namoa to Leniaso Tipoti in the 1970s
Retold and recorded by Leniaso Tipoti 1994 Translated by Alick Tipoti 1999

Edition Size: 50
Medium: Linocut
Lino Created: Horn Island (TSI), QLD on June, 2005
Published: Cairns, QLD on December, 2005
Printer: Stuart Blannin Ferguson
Studio: Editions Tremblay NFP Paper: Saunders Waterford CP 300gsm
Orientation: Landscape
Paper Height: 1,120 mm ( 44.1" )
Paper Width: 2,110 mm ( 83.1" )
Image Height: 1,020 mm ( 40.2" )
Image Width: 2,000 mm ( 78.7" )