Fumeripits was the first being to exist on earth and created the first ceremonial house. Growing tired of being alone, he carved human figures from trees and placed them in the house. However, the figures were inanimate, so Fumeripits created a drum from a hollowed tree and lizard skin. When he played the drum, the figures came to life and began to dance - this is how Fumeripits made the first people from trees, who were the Asmat people.

1. Contemporary Traditional Culture, part 2 " The Asmat Creation Story: Fumeripits creates People from Trees" By: Brianna Clemente, January 31,2012 Period 4, Culture and Geography Source: Caglayan, Ph.D., Emily, "The Asmat". In Helibrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-, http://www.metromuseum.org/toah/hd/asma/hd_asma.htm ( October 2004); and Mr. Ruben Meza,2012

2. According to Asmat tradition: " Fumeripits was the first being to exist on earth, and he also created the first men's ceremonial house called a jeu."

3. Fumeripits would spend his days dancing along the beach, but after awhile grew tired of being alone.

4. So he chopped down a number of trees carved them into human figures, and placed them inside the jeu.

5. However, since the sculptures were inanimate, Fumeripits was still unhappy. He then decided to create a drum, and chopped down another tree, hollowed out the center, and stretched a piece of lizard skin over the top.

6. As he began to play the drum, the human figures miraculously came to life, their elbows came unstuck from their knees, and they began to dance.

7. This is how Fumeripits made people from trees. And the first people were Asmat.