Demon Girls of Ujae
(A Legend from the Marshall Islands)
The iroij (chief) of Rongerik atoll owned a tree with the most beautiful yellow flowers, the kio. Every morning his flower-pickers draped the flowers about his head and neck. The people of Rongerik danced as the flowers were placed on him.
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| Rongerik Atoll |
Not far from Rongerik atoll is the atoll of Ujae, an island of demons. One morning, two demon sisters from Ujae smelled the beauty of the flowers. Their desire for the beauty grew until one night the two flew to Rongerik Atoll.
The demon girls chanted as they draped themselves with the iroij’s kio:
Beauty collected in woven baskets,
We hook flowers behind our ears.
Decorating each other,
We fly, fly far away.
When the new morning dawned on Rongerik, the people danced. But the iroij flew into a rage. His flowers were gone. He ordered the flower-pickers to be killed.
For each of three nights, the Ujae sisters flew to the iroij’s beautiful tree. For each of three mornings, the iroij killed his flower-pickers for not delivering his precious flowers.
On the fourth morning Bwilbilinlokerem, the iroij’s assistant, pleaded with him to stop the killing. “Someone must be stealing your flowers. Let me try to catch them tonight.”
That very night Bwilbilinlokerem took several men and hid by the tree. Just as they were nodding off to sleep, they heard the demon girl’s chant:
Beauty collected in woven baskets,
We hook flowers behind our ears.
Decorating each other,
We fly, fly far away.
As the Ujae sisters leapt away from the tree, the men grabbed them. They hauled the demon girls to the iroij’s house.
The iroij didn’t even bother to look at the two of them as he ordered Bwilbilinlokerem to kill them. The men dragged the sisters away. “Let us go, iroij.” The demon girls cried out, “We will go straight home and never come back.”
The iroij glanced down at them. “Stop,” he told his men, then turned to the two. “You are very beautiful.” Touching each girl tenderly on the cheek, he continued. “Instead of killing you, I’ll take you as my wives.”
A great wedding ceremony was held. The people of Rongerik welcomed the girls to the clan. From that day forth the sisters lived with the iroij as wives and the iroij once again got his morning flowers.
In time, however, the girls missed their parents. They begged to return, but the iroij refused to let them go. The girls persisted, promising to return. The iroij finally relented. He ordered a canoe made ready. Together, they sailed to Ujae. They landed near the place called Menkaru.
The oldest of the girls flew off immediately as they landed. The iroij grabbed the younger one and held tight. He ordered the men to go and search for his other wife. He, his young wife and Bwilbilinlokerem went off to find the demon parents.
The demon people crept out of the bushes as the Rongerik group left. They pulled the iroij’s canoe onto the shore. They took it apart and buried it, piece by piece, in the sand.
“We’ll catch them and we’ll eat them,” the demon leader told his people, “we’ll cook them with breadfruit and taro.”
The demons danced about and sang their demon song. They sang to alert the demons in the nearby islands.
The iroij’s company couldn’t find the older girl or the parents. They returned to the beach and couldn’t find the iroij’s canoe either.
“What did you do with it?” the iroij yelled at Bwilbilinlokerem.
“We left it…” he tried to answer but was interrupted by a sound.
“Kaibad O Kaibad,” the demons sang to each other, gathering for their feast.
The iroij’s men jumped. “What’s there in the bushes?”
“Kaibad O Kaibad,” the demons kept singing. Drums rumbled beneath the call.
“That’s my family,” the young girl told the chief.
“What do we do?” asked the iroij.
The young wife called to a karuk, a tiny crab.
Dig, dig into the sand.
Find what’s hidden there.
“Kaibad O Kaibad,” the demons sang to each other, gathering for their feast, echoed under her chant. The demons gathered beyond the bushes. The karuk dug up one part of the canoe. The girl called to it again.
Dig, dig into the sand.
Find what’s hidden there.
“Kaibad O Kaibad,” grew in strength and numbers. The men saw shadows of the demons dancing in the bushes.
The karuk dug quickly, bringing up different parts of the canoe. As it dug, the men built it again.
“Kaibad O Kaibad,” sang the demons as they gathered at the edge of the jungle carrying baskets of taro and breadfruit.
The canoe was finished. The demon girl told the iroij’s men to bring two long sticks from the wut ilomar, a special tree.
The demons stepped from the bushes. The men threw the branches into the canoe. They set sail. The girl took the sticks and stood at the front of the canoe.
The demons leapt into the water, swimming after the iroij’s canoe. As the demons reached the canoe, they climbed aboard.
The youngest demon girl chanted:
The stick floats on the ocean,
It drops from the canoe and all are eaten by the sharks.
She swept every demon from the canoe. Then she saw her parents and older sister fly to the canoe. The young girl lay down the sticks.
“Come with us now,” her parents called to her.
“I wish to stay with my husband.” She told them and called, “Older sister, come back with me.”
The parents turned to the iroij, “If you take our daughters, keep them with you all the time. If you climb the coconut tree or if you go fishing, they must always be there beside you.”
“Agreed,” the iroij said. Together the demon sisters and the iroij sailed back to Rongerik.
One day, much later, the iroij went fishing by himself. Black clouds gathered above him as a big wind swooped in. The iroij paddled hard against the wind and waves, but to no avail. Right then he remembered his promise. “I didn’t take the girls with me.”
He was blown away, away, away until he disappeared. Up to this very day no one has seen the iroij. The demon sisters returned to Ujae.
That’s the end of the story.
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