Momo

Who is Momo?

Momo was the 10th Tuʻi Tonga, a dynasty of mighty kings in Tonga, and lived somewhere in the 11th, maybe 12th century CE. He was named after one of the original gods of Tonga, a trio known as Kohai, Koau, mo Momo. It was under his reign that the Tuʻi Tonga maritime empire started to blossom.

King Momo had his court in Heketā, near the village of Niutōua, so named because a red and a white palm grew from the same hole. His people were known as the Haʻa-mene-ʻuli, because in order to honour him they had to keep their head lower than his, and thus shuffled around on their bottoms instead of their feet.

One day the king fell in love with a beautiful girl and sent his envoy, Lehaʻuli, to her father, Loʻau, the Tuʻi-Haʻamea with the request to beg him for a yam for his plantation. Loʻau understood the real meaning of the request and answered that he was unable to help as one yam was still immature and the other had already sprouted. He meant to say that his youngest daughter was still too young while his older daughter, named Nua, had already brought forth a child and was therefore an old woman.. Her husband was Ngongokilitoto from Malapo, chief of the Haʻangongo tribe.