It was Wari Lui’s intention that the story of the life of the Shark Warrior be told to an audience beyond the southeast coast of Papua New Guinea. His request has been met. Clearly, though, this collection of stories has a significance far beyond the documenting of the life of a great warrior. For myself as researcher, the Kila Wari stories have provided a focal point for examining many aspects of Vula‘a history, culture and cosmology. For instance, the practice of waka which emerges as an important theme in the narratives can be linked to similar concepts—the themes of other Vula‘a narratives—which together provide a glimpse of a more complete cosmological system.

We have also seen that each and every story which constitutes the legend of Kila Wari is represented in terms of a genealogical relationship. These treasured relationships connect people to their ancestors in a most immediate sense. They also serve as a form of logic^[28] that maps people into—because it is an experiential conjunction—the locations of emplaced events. Although differently conceived, genealogies are maps for the Vula‘a and for the anthropologist. As maps they offer a unique opportunity for translation.

For the Vula‘a, the Kila Wari stories embody identity. Although they are not widely known among the younger generations, they are held in trust by those who know their value. And while the application of this knowledge is occasionally invoked in the context of local politics, the Kila Wari stories serve a broader purpose. They are a repository for ‘traditional’ knowledge in a climate where the practices of the past have been significantly eroded by Christianity. Most importantly, they are reminders of an alternative way of life—a possibility of Being that is available, at least in the imagination, should people choose to engage it.

We have seen the weight that Wari Lui attributes to his genealogical connection to Kila Wari and glimpsed his mythic enactment of the warrior’s life. Similarly, when Numa Nama Gure speaks of the chiefly lineage to which he belongs, he is not merely commemorating the past. Rather, he is acknowledging a possible present—a present in which he may be called upon to enact the duties of his forebears. And he remembers the actions of his ancestors largely in terms of the landscape in which they are embedded. The Kila Wari stories speak of history but they are also mythic. They tell of the life of a great man but they also tell of what it is to engage with such a life—story-teller, ancestor and place participate in a shared identity that is aptly described as mythic.^[29] Western philosophy makes the existential point that human existence in the world is the primary concern of historical reflection.^[30] Although the Kila Wari stories are profoundly existential, they are more than the reflection of historical subjectivity. They encourage mythic Being in the face of social change and feelings of loss. Nevertheless, there is a common ground that transcends distinctions usually made between myth and history. The motivation for ‘telling lives’ stems from the need to reproduce identity—our sense of ‘self’ in whatever way that is conceived.