The Birds and the Plantains

The Birds and the Plantains

(A tale from Tonga)

There were once two brothers, named Wise Malala and Foolish Malala, and they went one day and planted a plantain. On the following day Wise Malala sent his brother to see how their plantain fared, and he found that one leaf had sprouted. And so every day Foolish Malala was sent to look at the plantain. Every day for the next nine days he found that one more leaf had sprouted, until there were ten leaves. On the eleventh day the fruit spathe had appeared, and on the eighteenth day the fruit was ripe. But on the nineteenth day he discovered that the fruit had all been eaten by birds.

Then was Wise Malala very angry, and bade his brother call a meeting of all the birds, and to allow no bird to be absent. When the birds were assembled Wise Malala questioned them in turn, “Fowl, who has eaten our plantains?” The fowl denied all knowledge of the deed, as did also the rail, the pigeon, and all the birds; none knew who was guilty.

Then Wise Malala inquired if any were absent, and the names were called, and it was found that the misi had not appeared. Messengers sent to seek the misi found that he was sick; so orders were given to carry him to the meeting. When he was brought and questioned he, too, denied all knowledge of the theft; but he was made to evacuate his bowels, and the excrement was nothing but ripe plantain. So the guilt of the misi was established, and he was seized and killed.

Since then the remains of plantain have not been eaten.

Source

Tales and poems of Tonga

E.E.V. Collocott

1971

Pages: 58-59