[1] The myth of Hainuwele was recorded by German ethnologist Adolf E. Jensen following the Frobenius Institute's 1937–38 expedition to the Maluku Islands.

Ameta climbed the tree to cut the flowers to collect the sap, but in the process slashed his finger and the blood dropped onto a blossom.

Each day she gave them something bigger and more valuable: golden earrings, coral, porcelain dishes, bush-knives, copper boxes, and gongs.

Hainuwele can be understood as a creation myth in which the natural environment, the daily tasks of men, and the social structures are given meaning.

In the myth, spirits and plants are created, and an explanation is provided for the mortality of mankind and the formation of tribal divisions within the Wemale ethnic group.

[citation needed] Jensen found versions of the basic pattern of what could be defined as "Hainuwele Complex," in which a ritual murder and burial originates the tuberous crops on which people lived, spread throughout Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

In light of this fact Jensen indicates that some rituals of the Wemale people, such as the “Maro dance,” include many elements of the Hainuwele myth.

[citation needed] Additionally, among indigenous people in Seram, there are different versions of the origin myth in which the "magic" female secretly brought forth foodstuffs, sagu and valuable items from her menstrual blood and/or vagina (i.e., menstruated or born from her vagina rather than defecated)[9][10] Some versions suggest the menstrual blood allowed these items to emerge from the earth.

When discovered, she turned into the "original" sago starch producing tree (pohon sageru; the sugar palm - Arenga pinnata).

It underlines the fact that, since she had defecated them, the gifts that the generous girl Hainuwele was giving out had an unclean origin and, although useful, they defiled the persons accepting them.

The uncanny way in which the material gifts were brought forward points out the reality that all the objects enumerated in the myth were foreign, not produced in Seram, and thus not available on the island before the 16th century.

[citation needed] Alternatively, archaeological evidence from Seram and Ambon among other Malukan islands indicates 11th-14th century Song-Yuan Dynasty stoneware ceramics were quite prevalent; the green glazed Celadons being particularly important in marriage ritual exchanges and dispute settlements.

[9][10] There are Thai and Vietnamese glazed ceramics from the 14th century onwards, increasing in abundance during the various Ming Gaps in Chinese trade policy and practice.

Dongson drums were distributed throughout the archipelago and likely related to the spice trade reaching as far as China since at least the Han Dynasty over 2000 years ago where cloves were mandatory for visitors to the court to freshen their breath.

[citation needed] Gold, silver, bronze (especially gongs), glass (bangles and beads), and iron items were also available prior to western colonialism - although mostly traded in rather than locally produced.

[citation needed] Hence the various gifts of the Coconut girl can be interpreted as "dirty money", polluting and degrading everyone who accepts it, bringing about a socioeconomic conflict and the deviation from an ideal state.

[citation needed] Thus, the Hainuwele legend as recorded by Jensen was a myth that sought to rearrange the inconsistencies with which the Wemale were confronted as the elements of change affected their society by trying to bring about agreement of the more recent socioeconomic clash with the older mythical representations.

[citation needed] Following the conflict brought about by the material objects that were obtained through Hainuwele the introduction of mortality among humans became a sort of compensation in order to reintroduce peace with the world of spirits and deities.