The Ocean Race
(A story from Kiribati)
Tabuariki, Auriaria, Taburimai and Nareau met for a contest one day and decided to hold an ocean race. Each of them was to select the fastest craft he could think of. Tabuariki chose a porpoise, Auriaria a shark and Taburimai a swordfish - all of them deep-sea fish, fast and powerful. Nareau had different ideas about speed and chose a crab - a hermit crab that crawls along the ground. When the others heard of Nareau's choice, they laughed at him for the hermit-crab was among the slowest creatures on earth and the penalty for losing the race was to be a feast for the others.
On the morning appointed for the race, they met together on the lagoon side - possibly the Tarawa lagoon since Nareau was living at Temaiku and Auriaria at Eita, both of them Tarawan villages. The rules provided for four referees to be chosen, one for each craft, and Nareau gave careful instructions to his referee. When he felt the crab nip his toe, he was to press it into the sand under his foot and, when the race was truly under way, to pick it up and show it to the other referees as proof it had come in first.
At the start of the race, each of the contestants took hold of his craft - Tabuariki of the porpoise, Auriaria of the shark, Taburimai of the swordfish and Nareau of his hermit-crab. Meanwhile Nareau's referee had trodden a crab under his foot waiting for the contestants to let go their hold and for the race to start. Off, all the fish swam and, almost immediately, Nareau's referee picked up the buried crab and shouted out to his companions in triumph: “Look, here's the crab!” The other referees inspected it and confirmed it was indeed Nareau's chosen craft. When the four contestants went up to the referees to hear the result of the race, they were told: “The hermit-crab came in first by a long way. Nareau's referee showed it to us.”
Then Tabuariki and his companions, Auriaria and Taburimai, called for another race. They each let their craft go and the crab again beat the porpoise, the shark and the swordfish. The same thing happened a third time - the crab won again, beating the big, fast deep-sea fish. There is no doubt that Nareau was smart in planning victories.
Some clever people say the race was won in the following way. Nareau started off with three crabs. He let two of them go, one after the other, and each of them in turn reached the referee standing up in front. Nareau held the third crab in his hand until the first race started. Before each race was under way, one crab had crept up to the referee's feet so, when the fish set off, a hermit crab was already there.
Source
Traditional Stories from the Northern Gilberts
Ten Tiroba
1990
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