In the old days, two young lovers from rival bloodlines had been exiled from their homeland far away to the northwest. Back then, people could assume the form of the animals for which they had been named, a skill that was later lost. In order to make their journey into exile, the two lovers took the form of the birds whose names they carried. The woman took the form of Pueo, the owl after which she was named. The man took the form of the bird after which he was named, Para, the white tern. Together, the two set off across the ocean. Para the tern darted ahead of Pueo the owl. The island from which they had been banished was barely out of sight before Para began to tire. By the time Pueo caught up with him, Para was floating on the water, dying. “I want to go back,” he said. “I’d rather die in my homeland, at the hands of my own people, than drown at sea.”

“We no longer have a homeland,” Pueo told him. “If you are tired, I will carry you in my claws. We will both spread our wings and beat them in unison, and that way we will traverse the great distances of the ocean without tiring.” She picked him up from the water, taking care not to wound him with her talons. When they spread their wings and began beating them together, they became one bird, the greatest of birds: Toroa, the wandering albatross. This is why the albatross is gray from above and white from below, and why it is so clumsy when it walks upon the land. And so, as one, the two lovers wandered the skies over the oceans, from island to island, for a thousand years. As one, they learned to drink from the sea by separating the salt from the sea water and expelling it in their tears. They were turned away from every island they went to. Finally they found an island that was the shell of a giant sea turtle that had run aground on a coral reef. No one lived on this island. Here, they assumed their human forms again and named their new home Toroa’eetee, which means “Home of the Wandering Albatross.” Over time, this was shortened to Oaeetee. The albatross became our totem. We used its bones for hooks and spear tips, and its feathers, symbols of peace, we wore in our ceremonies.