One day he was surprised to see one of the priests come to him leading
his ten-year-old boy.

"Take care of my boy," said the priest. "I am going to burn my god,
and I do not want my god's anger to hurt the boy. Ask your God to
protect him." So the priest went home.

Next morning quite early, before the heat of the sun was great,
Papeiha looked out and saw the priest tottering along with bent and
aching shoulders. On his back was his cumbrous wooden god. Behind the
priest came a furious crowd, waving their arms and crying out:

"Madman, madman, the god will kill you."

"You may shout," answered the priest, "but you will not change me.
I am going to worship Jehovah, the God of Papeiha." And with that he
threw down the god at the feet of the teachers. One of them ran and
brought a saw, and first cut off its head and then sawed it into logs.
Some of the Rarotongans rushed away in dread. Others--even some of
the newly converted Christians--hid in the bush and peered through
the leaves to see what would happen. Papeiha lit a fire; the logs were
thrown on; the first Rarotongan idol was burned.

"You will die," cried the priests of the fallen god. But to show that
the god was just a log of wood, the teachers took a bunch of bananas,
placed them on the ashes where the fire had died down, and roasted
them. Then they sat down and ate the bananas.

The watching, awe-struck people looked to see the teachers fall dead,