Lasa and the Three Friendly Spirits

Lasa and the Three Friendly Spirits

(A Tale from Tonga)

There was once a man named Lasa who dwelt on Vavau Island in Tonga. One day he went out into the bush to cut down a tree to make a canoe. After a whole day of toil, a tree was felled and Lasa went home to sleep. During the night the god Haelefeke, who was half octopus, came to the felled tree and said to it, “Lasa's tree, stand upright," and all the chips of wood flew together and the tree stood up again in its place. In the morning Lasa came and spent another whole day in felling the tree. That night, while he slept at home, the Octopus came again and restored the tree to its place. This happened three times. After hewing down the tree for the fourth time, instead of returning home Lasa hid himself and lay in wait. This time when the Octopus came Lasa sprang out and seized him and held him until he had promised to help build the canoe. So they built the canoe together, and when Lasa was preparing to sail away in it, the Octopus said, “If you should see anyone beckoning to you, do not refuse to take him with you."

Vava'u, Tonga

Lasa set sail, but after he had gone a little way he saw someone beckoning to him from the shore. So he stopped and took this man on board, and it happened to be the Hungry Spirit. A little farther on he saw someone else beckoning, and went to him, and took on board the Thieving Spirit: and still, farther on he found the Octopus himself and took him on board as well.

Then they sailed away to Fiji and landed on an island where a demon lived. They smoothed out their footprints in the sand, hid the canoe, and went to the demon’s house. Lasa climbed up to the ridgepole of the house, while the three spirits each stood close to a post. The demon was not home, but he presently returned, bringing weeping people whom he had stolen. At once he began to sniff suspiciously, saying. "I smell the smell of humankind," and catching sight of Lasa, he hauled him down from his perch. Then he saw the three spirits and tried to pull them out into the open, but the Octopus clung so tightly to his post that the demon could not pull him away: indeed, his hauling seemed likely to pull the house down. So the demon asked the Octopus to let go his hold on the post and promised that he would not harm him.

The demon brought in food, saying. “If you do not eat up every bit of this, you shall surely die." The Octopus and the Thieving Spirit both ate as much as they could, but still the food was not nearly finished. “Hungry Spirit, you must save us." Said Lasa. So the Hungry Spirit saved them by devouring the huge meal and, finally, the leaves and the bowls that the food was brought in.

The demon then told them that he was going to shake his vi tree and that they would die if any of the fruit fell to the ground. Lasa looked up and saw that the tree was so laden with fruit that not a single leaf could be seen. “Now surely we shall die." he murmured sadly, but the Octopus saved them by spreading himself out under the tree and catching all the fruit with his tentacles so that not one escaped him.

After this, the demon thought of yet another way to outwit the strangers. He called one of his Fijians and told him to go with the Thieving Spirit to gather land crabs, and that they were to have a race. "This time nothing shall save your lives," he shouted, “unless you can beat my man." So the two went off, and as the Fijian knew the place well he had his basket filled before the man from Tonga had caught even a single crab. As they were about to return, the Thieving Spirit asked the Fijian to climb a coconut tree to get nuts for them to drink. When the Fijian was up in the tree, the Thieving Spirit began to sing, “Tongan wakeful eye. Fijian sleepy eye; Tongan wakeful eye, Fijian sleepy eye." And he kept on singing until the Fijian fell asleep in the tree. Then the Thieving Spirit quickly filled his own empty basket with coconut husks and exchanged it for the Fijian’s basket of crabs. Having done this, he woke the Fijian, who came down from the tree and seized the basket of husks, not knowing that it had been exchanged. When the trick was discovered the demon flew into a great rage, and he told Lasa and his three friends to leave quickly and return to their own land. They obeyed immediately, and Lasa journeyed home without any further dangers.

Source:

Tales from the South Pacific Islands

Anne Gittins

1977

Pages: 79-81