I want my legs as sharp as dogs' teeth -
wild dogs,
wild Samoan dogs,
the mangy kind that bite strangers.

The potent forces of Tagaloa gave formation to the void, through lands and oceans, skies and underworlds. Through the womb of a mortal woman, Tagaloa transferred his divine mana into the human race. Sending his daughter Tuli down in the form of a bird, who turned maggots that had appeared from a rotting vine into living men and women.

When the concentration of mana is so significant, aitu, supernatural beings born as blood clots, originate. Saveasi'uleo was an aitu who ruled Pulotu, the spirit underworld. He had the upper body of a man and the lower body of an eel. His wife was Tilafaiga, another aitu. She and her twin sister Taema had swum from Samoa to Fiji and returned with the instruments for tattooing, a practice they introduced to Samoa. The child of Tilafaiga and Saveasi'uleo was born as a blood clot and buried, later emerging as an adult woman. Her name was Nafanua.

At a time of war on the island of Savaiʻi, Nafanua led the people of the west against the people of the east and defeated them. Following her victory she apportioned political authority over the various districts of Samoa among the chiefs who came to pay homage to her. On the island of Upolu, rivalries were also breaking out and the support of Nafanua was sought once more. Nafanua won again, and in so doing conquered all of Samoa...

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