Loke dokumentu kona ba 'Fundasaun reinu Vemassse nian' iha Livru 'Kanoik: Mitos e Lendas de Timor' husi Dos Santos, E (1967)
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Link to extract from Dos Santos, E. (1967) Kanoik: Mitos e Lendas de Timor, Lisboa: Ultramar. ("Folktale: Myths and Legends of Tiimor").

Tradusaun ba lian Inglés husi Kirsty Sword Gusmão (Nov, 2021):

The war between Behale and Liquiça and the founding of the kingdom of Vemasse

There exist two linked legends: the war between Behale and Liquiça and the resulting founding of the kingdom of Vemasse. 

According to the first, a long time ago the island belonged to two rulers: those of Liquiça and Behale. The war which erupted between the two which was the result of an unfulfilled barlaki (bride price) contract led eventually to the founding of the kingdom of Vemasse. 

Later, other kingdoms emerged and in 1868 they had reached 47. The plot of both legends is motivated by lulik superstitions and the unsavoury tendency of the Timorese towards mystical practices.

A sacred grass was the only weapon capable of killing Behale, once captured by the enemy. No sword could behead him nor spears penetrate his body. Only this one sacred grass could defeat him. 

A most sacred golden snake was the only power capable of protecting the people of Liquiçá, of freeing them from the persecution of their enemies and of leading them, safe and sound, to shelter. This same sacred creature, once transformed into a man, impregnated the sister of the ruler in order to guarantee the continuation of the dynasty. 

The propensity of the Timorese for belief in mystical practices resulted in the people of Liquiçá being deceived by certain individuals of Behale and consequently murdered. The treacherous ones went into the forest and caught as many snakes as they could. They then presented them before the second line troops of Liquiçá and promised them that, if they held them tightly in their hands and stayed completely still and silent, they would have a year of abundant crops of the kind henceforth never seen. 

In 1929 a man of Manatuto was arrested selling grains of corn and convincing the people of that area and others from Dili that one grain was enough to grow an entire cornfield.

At around the same time, a “fortune teller” from Aileu who called himself the  ‘black governor’ foretold the imminent departure of the White men …

In 1931 a religious sect was established around a magic man who was thought to be able to perform miracles with the help of a crystal ball. A throng of his supporters, under the command of the magic man himself, was said to have once raised a blue and white flag, encircled the catholic church and entered inside as far as the altar.

Such are the superstitions of the Timorese. Distressed by the fact that their religious beliefs locate their “Maromak” (God) far distant from humankind and leave them to fall prey to the malpractice of their demi-gods, to the “lulik” and the souls of the dead, they are prone to believe in all sorts of superstitions. 

The sovereign of Liquiçá was not content with the death of the Liurai of Behale. The vanquished were forced to pay various penalties and to surrender five of their most valiant warriors to serve in the Liquiçá army. 

But this wasn’t the gravest of humiliations for those from Behale. On the contrary, they saw in it an opportunity to avenge themselves for the indignities suffered. They chose the most brave and accomplished warriors from amongst the men of their army and sent them to the court of the sovereign of Liquiçá. 

Trained in the art of war and of subterfuge and trickery which commonly characterised the wars between the Timorese, the five men wasted no time. They immersed themselves in the work of closely studying the customs of the kingdom, the superstitions of the people and their tendencies. 

They went into the forests and caught as many snakes as they could. They then presented them before the second line troops of Liquiçá and promised them that, if they held them tightly in their hands and stayed completely still and silent, they would have a year of abundant crops of the kind henceforth never seen. 

They fell into the trap, so susceptible to superstition were their mentalities. 

The king and his generals fled and, reaching the beach, took to the sea in small boats, travelling along the coast in an easterly direction in search of a safe refuge. The people ran after the monarch, but arriving at the beach and not having access to boats, they followed at a distance along the road overlooking the coast. 

The king and the people met up close to a saltwater spring called Ué Massim which is the origin of the name Vemasse. Here a new kingdom was born which extended to the east and south, covering the regions known today as Baucau, Lautem, Ossu and Ussuroa. 

The monarch had taken with him the decapitated head of the liurai of Behale and the most sacred object of the kingdom, the golden snake, carefully stored in a precious coffer of sandalwood. The monarch attributed the good fortune of having arrived safely to the golden snake. 

The years passed without the king having found a wife. He got old and the people were devastated by the lack of an heir. 

And it was the sacred object of the kingdom which yet again saved the people of Liquiçá. On a calm and dark night, it slithered out of the sandalwood box, took the form of a muscular and handsome man and he went to the sister of the monach, the widow of the king of Behale, who was sleeping peacefully in her bamboo bunk. 9 months after this supernatural encounter, three twins were born.

The young lads grew up, curious to know their father. Every time they enquired about him of their mother, she would change the subject.

And so they became men. And the mother took them to the sacred coffer and, opening it, showed them the “lulik”, indicating to her sons that this was their father.

The sons were astonished. One of them believed the mother and greeted the news of his sacred paternity with reverence. The other two scoffed. Right then the lulik object took human form and, directing itself at the first son, said:

“Because you respect me who created you, you will be the king of Vemasse and your descendants will inherit the royal title. Your brothers and their descendants will be nothing but ordinary citizens and condemned to poverty and servitude as punishment for their sacrilege.” 

Having spoken thus, he once again assumed the form of a reptile and slithered back into the box. 

The prophecy was fulfilled just as an irrevocable commandment of an omnipotent god. One of the sons of the widow of the king of Behale, specifically the one who had recognised his father, inherited the kingdom. His brothers were expelled from the court and they lived forever more in poverty and in service to the nobles. And even today their descendants continue to suffer this divine curse. 

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Istória seluk kona-ba fundasaun reinu Vemasse husi povu Wai Lia (ho interpretasaun husi peritu istória timoroan Antonio Vicente Marques Soares) mak hanesan tuirmai ne'e:

The founding of the kingdom of Vemasse

Following the formal divisioning of island Timor between the Dutch and the Portuguese in 1859, in 1862 Governer Alfonso da Castro divided Portuguese Timor into 11 districts. While the formal administrative boundaries were new, according to Soares, the boundaries were drawn up in consultation with political and ritual leaders across the east of the island and largely followed the existing sacred border agreements between the kingdoms and sub-kingdoms. One such agreement was said to have occurred early in the colonial period between the houses of Loi Leki in Wailili and the emerging ‘autonomous’ kingdom of Vemasse. This story centers on a spring called Wai Lotu (which is today connected to the five branch houses of Loi Leki) and provides a local account of the arrival of Portuguese rule (in the form of a sceptre (rota) which they say they received from Vemasse in 1512). While both Wailili and Vemasse had received ruling sacra in the past from Luca, the people of Vemasse were now in possession of sacra (rota) given to them directly by the Portuguese in Lifao. As a result of these changing political dynamics, the Wailili rulers from the houses of Loi Leki house were called to the coast to make an agreement about the division of political authority under (symbolic) Portuguese rule. Following a ritual which proved the ‘stupidity’ of the indigenes of Loi Leki (and hence the political superiority of the rulers of Vemasse) the houses of Loi Leki carried the rota from Vemasse east to other kingdoms as far away as Baguia.iv This sacred oath created two new houses—Uma Meti (the ruling house of the sea) in Vemasse and Uma Lari (the secondary house of the mountains) in Wailili. As with the sacred oath made between the springs of Wai Husu-Wai Lewa and Wa Lili-Wai Wa (see chapter four), from this sacred agreement the people of the salty waters of Vemasse (ET: we masi(n)=salty water) and the spring of Wai Lotu (W: ‘small water’) in Wailili exchanged ritual names. Until this day certain houses from Vemasse are said by the elders of Loi Leki to have the rights to the fruits of the land around Wai Lotu and in the past to have come to offer annual sacrifices to the ancestors of the spring.