Pedro Andi,  The perfume of the Wanduk Flower.

 

This tree is from (virgin) forest.  But it is wander!  It grows in the forest.  It is not what people have in their house gardens. It grows in the forest.

It grows in the vast, distant vast forest where no one goes.  The great (forest)... a place out of the reach of people.

And when it opens it stands giving off a perfume.   When it opens.

Since I transplanted it from there, it does not want to bloom here because people are watching.

It has a spirit owner.  When night falls it begins to open.

The wanduk's (spirit owner) woman  sprays her perfume into the open.

Since she is bathed in perfume when her head opens the perfumes is released from her head and gives off an aroma.  They say it is her head.   This is her hair.  It is her hair.

 Yes.  They say it is her hair.  When night begins to fall her head, her hair spreads open like this "san".

Then the aroma wafts out from inside her hair.

To our eyes this looks like an ordinary flower.

(But it 's) her hair.  This is her hair.  And her aroma comes out of there .  Yes! From there.  When it opens her smell wafts out.  They say that when she comes out into the open this (plant's amu) is a long haired woman.

She only bathes in perfume.  They say she is bathed in all of the perfumes of the forest.

So that is why in the evening she comes out smelling beautifully.

She gives off the smell when she comes out.

She goes out!   By the time night falls she wants to go out.

if she does not go out....?

Then it doesn't open, Her head doesn't open.  It is locked in here

These open, these flowers open.

So when her head opens these flowers open too so the perfume can waft out, the aroma.

Once her head opens.

When her head opens.

And the owner of wanduj does the same?

It to has one too.  It has a different amu. Its amu does the same.

It has a different kind of aroma.  That is how these are.  There are about 4 kinds of wanduj.

Since that is how they are, if you plant them close together like this they will test each other's strength.

They compete among the kinds of wanduj to see who has the stronger perfume, the stronger smell.

Who is stronger?  I give off a stronger aroma!  You think you have a stronger perfume.  I smell more powerfully!

So it is this one that has a strong smell?  This little one?

Yes.  It is this one.  The smell of this other goes away.  Its smell passes quickly.

By contrast the aroma of this one emanates every hour or two when its amu goes out,  when she goes out far.

They say that the smell does not just stay close here.  Later its owner comes back to the plant.

Later it returns.  This plant is its home.

It is when she goes out that that she smells like this.

When it is her time to come out and the wind comes up they say it fluffs out her hair.

Then she begins to walk and when she does (the flower) opens and gives off its aroma.

The perfume sprays out from inside her hair like this.

My grandfather was old (when he told me this), my mother's stepfather.

Lukas Shiguango told me this.  It is from him that I have taken it.

So other forest flowers, or wanduj are the work this way too?  Other kinds of wanduk? if their spirit owners go out?

Yes they say that their owners go out in the same way.

They say that that is how their smell comes.

They say that their smell emanates, they say that it is the same with all of them.  Their aroma emanates from their heads.

They spray out perfume from their heads, from inside their hair.

It is the same with wanduk.  Look how at the end of the branch it has a (flower) that looks like a bell.

 They it is her  head.  It is from their that the aromas emanate.

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