Ch6-50

Othosmops on March 3, 2025

(russian):

Panel 1:
BRUNO: May I now finally conclude my Easter Island narrative and give you the promised prediction for the future?
MIIKO: Please do.

Panel 2:
BRUNO: On Rapa Nui, the Matatoa - hunters probably led to the collapse of the Moai culture. There was a permanent lack of fresh water and food, and the birds had been wiped out on the main island. And some realized more and more that their ancestors were not helping at all. This subversion had probably been simmering for a while in the circles of the birdman cult, while the rest of the island continued to build hats for the Moai.
GISELLE: Birdman cult?
CATALINA:    * Siiiighs *

Panel 3:
BRUNO: Originally, the birdman thing was a kind of annual Olympics for the Rapa Nui tribes. It consisted of a single competition. Each tribal chief nominated a champion from his people. These champions were the athletes. They had to swim about a mile from Orongo, the most sacred and distinctive place on the island, through the wild, shark-infested Pacific Ocean with its sharp cliffs, to a small island called Moto Nui.

Panel 4:
BRUNO: The first person to bring back an intact egg from a tern nesting there to his chief was highly honored, and the chief became the birdman for a year, a kind of ceremonial king who was supposed to mediate conflicts. And there was soon a lot to mediate, namely during the collapse of the ancestor cult.