According to Asmat tradition, Fumeripits was the first being who existed on earth and created the first ceremonial men's house called a jeu. Fumeripits grew tired of being alone, so he carved human figures from trees and placed them in the jeu, but they remained inanimate. To bring them to life, Fumeripits created a drum by hollowing out a tree and stretching lizard skin over it. When he played the drum, the figures came to life, their elbows unstuck from their knees, and they began to dance, thus creating the first people from trees who were Asmat.

1. Contemporary Traditional Asmat Culture, Part2 "The Asmat Creation Story: Fumeripits creates People from Trees" By: Paige Boyle 02.06.12 period:4 culture & Geography Source: Caglayan, Ph.D., Emily. "Asmat". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http;//www.metmusem.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 begun to play the drum, the human figures miraculously came to life, thier elbows came unstuck from thier knees, and they began to dance."

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