Description
This legend comes from Moa Island Torres Strait. There are nine main characters in this story. The characters are seven blind brothers, their father’s skull and the Dogai (witch). Seven blind brothers lived with their father. When their father died they kept his skull according to Island custom. Just above the hillside lived the Dogai (witch). Every day the blind brothers set out on their canoe to spear fish on the reef. They all have ‘warkai’ (feathers) on their heads. The feathers on their heads help them to catch fish. Every time these magic feathers vibrate on their head it indicates a fish approaching and this signals for them to throw the spear at the fish. On their way home the Dogai plays her tricks with them by placing floating logs in front of the canoe and quickly steals the larger fish, leaving only the smaller fish for the brothers. This happened all the time. One particular night the eldest brother had a dream. In his dream a vision of his father came to him and said: “Go to Baban Kupi, you’ll see a turtle nest there, dig the eggs and cook them on hot coals. When the eggs are cooked, place them on leaves and finally smash the eggs on your eyes so you can see because the Dogai is stealing fish from your canoe”. The next day the eldest brother told his brothers that their father had came to him in a dream and had told them to go to Baban Kupi and complete his demands. So they all set off to Baban Kupi and dug up the turtle eggs and cooked them. When the eggs were cooked, one after another they smashed the eggs on their eyes. The blind brothers were shocked and amazed that they could see and were no longer blind. After that they set out to the reef. That day they speared more fish than any of the previous trips. On the way back the eldest brother told his brothers to pretend to be blind when the Dogai approached them. As they were about to arrive home the Dogai intercepted them to steal their fish again. Suddenly they all opened their eyes and said: “You’re the one who always steals our fish and now we will kill you.” And the Dogai said: “Good Job!! I stole your fish the whole time you were blind.” The blind brothers ignored the Dogai and speared her to death. Today you can see the form of rocks which represents the nine main characters of this story on Moa Island at Bapu area.
