Recently we acquired two carved octopuses from two vastly different places; one striking a pose with curled up tentacles, and one funky little fellow with an equally funky rat sitting on his head. Something about two unrelated animals in one sculpture like this is bound to have a great story attached, and what I found was a rich history. The rat and octopus sculpture was carved by Sven V. Ortquist, son of a Swedish man and Samoan mother, who was a prominent carver, boat maker, book illustrator and painter that received the Consortium for Pacific Arts and Cultures’ Heritage Award and the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. The inspiration for this work comes from Tongan legend, told across the southern pacific. The Story of the octopus and the rat starts of in the ancient Kingdom of Tonga where a rat fell asleep in a hollowed-out canoe that was washed out into the sea. The rat, worried that it would never see land again, began to cry out, catching the attention of an octopus. The rat pleads with the octopus to bring him to land, and if the octopus agrees, he will give the eight-armed creature a reward. The octopus agrees and brings the rat back to shore but is then betrayed when rat laughs and runs away.
. This legend is still deeply rooted in the culture, a staple of Tongan diet is octopus, and the octopus and rat story gave way to the creation of traditional Tongan fishing lures called maka feke, literally meaning rock octopus. The construction of this octopus lure consists of a shell representing the rat’s body, rope resenting its tail, and palm fronds representing its legs. The maka feke is also a representation of evil or desire, and it is up to people to decide if they will give in to the maka feke or not. The cultural meaning of what appeared to be an odd wood carving of two completely unrelated animals led into learning a piece of Polynesian history that I admittedly did not know much of, but through this experience I am eager to work with these sorts of artifacts now more than ever.
