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

The Clubfooted Children

The Clubfooted Children

(A tale from Tonga)

There was once a married couple who dwelt in the midst of the forest. In course of time the woman bore a son, whose feet were deformed. The woman abandoned the child, for she was ashamed before her husband of its deformity. Now a demon seeking food found the child, and took him home to his own abode, where he was about to devour him, when he bethought him that the infant was still very small, and noticed, too, the misshapen feet. So the demon determined to keep the child till he had grown bigger before eating him. He put him in the loft (fata) of his house, and fed and looked after him.

After a time the woman bore another child, whose feet, like the first’s, were deformed. This child, too, she cast away in shame, and it was found by the demon, who put him in the loft to be kept until he was bigger.

The woman continued to bear children, until she had borne ten, each of whom having deformed feet was deserted in the bush, and was found by the demon, who put him in the loft. So all the ten children were being kept in the loft until they should be big enough to eat. As the children grew their deformity disappeared, except that of the eldest, who remained clubfooted. The demon, in his daily visits, did not make very thorough examinations. He merely stood below their lodging, and called, “Clubfoot, Clubfoot, show me your feet, to see if you are big, or still small.” Then one by one the children used to thrust their feet through an opening in the floor of the loft, saying, “Here are my feet.” Now, since the feet of the nine had grown strong and well-shaped, the eldest brother used to thrust his deformed feet ten times through the opening, so that the demon thought that they were all still misshapen and small. Time went on; the nine younger brothers grew big and strong, and at last they determined to escape. One day after the examination was finished, and the demon had left them, they climbed down from the loft, and fled. The nine whose feet were strong were able to run easily, but they would not desert their eldest brother, and suited their pace to him. A few hours after they had gone the demon noticed a human smell in the compound occasioned by their passing through it, and went to see if his captives were safe. He stood and called up to the loft; but there was no reply. He climbed up to see, thinking that perhaps they were asleep; but they had disappeared. So he came down, and ran about to find their tracks. When he discovered the direction of flight he set off in pursuit. As he went he thought of a stratagem to check the flight of the brothers. He uttered an incantation, “Tuputupulefanua, let down a great basket of food, and a big pig, that they may carry.” In an instant the food appeared before the brothers, but the eldest brother cried, “Cut the food up at once and distribute,” and he took a piece of yam and a piece of pork, and gave it to one of the youths, saying, “Yours, eat as you run.” So he did to all of his brothers, and no time was wasted, but they still ran on. When the demon knew that this ruse had failed he called again, “Tuputupulefanua let down a great stone wall in their path.” But the nine younger brothers climbed the wall, and fled until they came to the abode of men, but the eldest hid beside the wall. Then the demon came to the wall, and, as he was climbing it the hidden brother shook it, and brought it down, killing the demon. Then he went on, and they all escaped.

Source

Tales and poems of Tonga

E.E.V. Collocott

1971

Pages: 59-61

The Man-Eating Lizard

The Man-Eating Lizard

(A Legend from Kosrae)

This story is about the big lizard who lived in a cave near Okat Harbor. This lizard was a flesh-eater, and this lizard was very big. Also because she was a flesh-eater, she killed the interest of the people on the other side of Kusaie* from going there. Besides that, she lived right at the mouth of a passage leading from the land down into this harbor, Okat Harbor. And whenever she saw people coming, she counted the number of people in certain canoes or boats that were coming by. She figured out the number of people there were coming; then she would say, “I’ll eat three and leave three go.” This was how she was doing this business. And she kept doing this, eating the people, especially those people in Tafunsak, because it was Tafunsak where she was staying.

Kosrae 1899

Finally one day a group of men from all Kusaie Island called a meeting and decided they should kill this big lizard, instead of letting her keep growing and growing, killing the people of Kusaie and cutting the population of the place at that time. So the rest of the people agreed with this meeting and it was agreed that there would be some men to represent all four villages in Kusaie to go kill that big lizard. Then all those who were expert in making boats or canoes got together and decided on the very best type of design for the canoe that could go fast enough in the water that the lizard couldn't get the people in the canoe, those people that would represent the whole Kusaiean people in going to kill the lizard. There would be eight people in the canoe, two men to represent each village to go in this canoe. It was made according to the number of people that would represent the Kusaiean people to go kill this big lizard. And the canoe was made with the best design that the canoe experts knew that could go faster in the water than that lizard would.

When the day came for these people to go kill this lizard, the people were putting on some kind of traditional costumes, some kind of special clothes, different than the ordinary clothes that people wore every day during their daily activities. When this canoe shoved off from the land, there was music; all different kinds of old cultural things, or whatever you might say, were done by the people who remained on the land watching this canoe as it shoved off from the land and started on this trip to go kill the big lizard.     

Finally, when this monster lizard caught sight of this canoe coming up, she counted the number of people and there were eight people coming. So that monster lizard said, "Okay, I’ll take four and leave four free." When those people in the canoe came close to that big cave where the monster lizard was staying, the canoe went faster than when it was first shoved down into the water. The closer it came, the faster it went, because it was getting closer to the place where the monster lizard was living.

When the canoe reached the place where that cave was, they were shouting and trying to do something to attract the lizard to come after them. Then that monster lizard got into the water, started swimming after this canoe. These people kept paddling and paddling until they went over into the ocean. They went beyond the reef. They had already gone out from the harbor. And this lizard kept following them. The canoe went very fast because these people were the expert paddlers among the Kusaieans. They could paddle stronger and faster than anybody else could.

When they were about halfway into the ocean, that lizard, monster lizard, went slower and slower, and finally she was drowned. When these people came back, they cut some part of this lizard out and took it back to where the villagers were waiting, Tafunsak, where those people were staying, making a traditional feast, waiting for them to see if they were going to kill it. At the time they took one part of this big monster lizard, the blood of the lizard spread over the place where she was drowned and attracted all the fish in that part where she was thrown. The fish started fighting over her body.

And this story names some of the fish that were called in. We are still using some of those names today for those fish that participated in eating the body of this big lizard. And the people of Kusaie were just more than happy with those eight experts who killed this lizard.

* Former name of Kosrae

Source

Micronesian Folktales

Roger E. Mitchell

1973

Pages: 51-52

The Legend of the Breadfruit Tree

The Legend of the Breadfruit Tree

(A Legend from Guam)

Long ago, on the Pacific island of Guam, there lived two brothers. Each of them was kind, just, and faithful to his people. So it came to pass that one became the chief of the southern kingdom of Guam. The other brother became chief of the northern kingdom of Guam.

At first, the two brothers took turns holding enormous fiestas each month, to which the other kingdoms would be invited. Gradually, these fiestas were held every few months. Then they were held only once a year, and then— never.

Sometimes the brothers would think about each other, but their memories would be swept away by the hard duties of ruling so many people, people who continued to squabble and fight. So each time they planned to visit each other, their plans were delayed.

Many years after the brother’s separation, a great drought struck Guam. The people had become wasteful of the water and land. They argued with each other over everything. The less they had, the more selfish they became. Soon the drought became a terrible famine.

The chiefs advised their people to eat and drink sparingly, but greed continued to rule over compassion. As time went by and still no rains came to quench the thirst of both the land and the people, even the coconut trees withered and died. Nowhere on the island did any vegetation grow. All of the freshwater springs and streams dried to dust. The brothers in each of their kingdoms watched despairingly as young children weakened and grew silent with hunger.

“Enough!” the chief of the northern kingdom yelled. His chief counselor jumped.

“What is it?” the man asked. He watched his chief with dulled eyes.

“Get the four strongest men remaining in my kingdom and have them carry the youngest, weakest children. We will visit my brother in his southern kingdom and see if he will give us food and water.”

Meanwhile, the chief of the southern kingdom was experiencing the same terrible famine. He woke each day to complaints about the hunger that ravaged his kingdom. He went to sleep hearing the moans of starving people. Eventually, he decided to take three of his men and six of his children and see if his brother would help them.

The next morning as the sun was peeping up over the horizon, the morning birds still could be heard, lifting their voices in hopeful song. “A sign for us to begin,” thought the northern chief. Certainly we will find food at my brother’s.” The northern chief departed with four men and six children. The party walked slowly, saving their energy to plead with the southern chief. All along the path they passed dead trees and dusty pits where cooling springs once gurgled. Hour after hour they walked past parched ground.

At the boundary between the two kingdoms, the northern chief told his men to carefully set down the children. “Let them rest. Find shade for them. I will try to find some bite of food.”

Suddenly, the group heard a rustling from the dry tangle of bush and vines. The northern chief struggled to stand.

Surprised, he stared as his brother stepped toward him. For a moment, the northern chief thought he was seeing a mirage. The last time he had encountered him, his brother was healthy, strong, and sleek with good food. Now, he was gaunt and streaked with dry dust and sweat. The southern chief looked beseechingly at his brother. Then he realized there was no hope. His head hung low with failure and despair.

“Oh, my brother, there is nothing to eat. Nothing has survived this terrible drought. Guam’s people will die,” moaned the northern chief. His brother nodded his head in agreement. The children listened but did not utter one word of complaint.

The two groups decided to rest the night at that place, since they were too tired to return home. Gently, the two chiefs placed the children on beds of dried grass.

They pleaded with the children to hold on one more day, but the exhaustion and disappointment were too great for their already weakened hearts. As the moon rose, the children’s sad faces smoothed, one by one, into death. The men dug twelve sad graves before the moon set, then went to sleep in sorrow.

The next morning, they awoke with the bright sun burning their faces. For a moment, the northern chief forgot about the famine and about the sad news he would have to bring to his people. The birds were singing.

He remembered his failed quest when he opened his eyes, ready to shake his fist at the birds flying above. How could they sing on such a sad day!

A mottled shadow cooled the earth on which he lay. When he looked up, lo and behold, twelve large trees stood where a dozen new graves had been.

“Brother, wake up! It’s a miracle!” the northern chief cried.

He looked again. Yes, twelve trees stood tall and strong. Half of them bore fruit! Large green fruit, dimpled and round, almost within reach.

Breadfruit

The men harvested the fruits and shared them equally. The breadfruit, as it came to be called, nourished both kingdoms. The famine was ended!

To this day you can eat delicious lemmai, the breadfruit that bears its fruit in spring, or dokdok, the fruit that ripens later. And you won't go hungry.

Source

Marianas Island Legends: Myth and Magic

Nancy Bo Flood

2001

Pages: 66-69

The Firewalkers

 The Firewalkers

(A Legend from Fiji)

On an island near Suva, the capital of Fiji, there lives a tribe known as the Firewalkers. The men walk on burning hot stones, and yet their feet are never burnt and their skin is not even singed.

The people say that long ago an ancestor of theirs was given the power to do this by a stranger, and from that day to this they have been able to walk on heated stones.

The men of the village used to meet in a large house in the evenings to chat and to tell stories. Each one took turns in providing food, and they always tried to bring some special delicacy for their evening meal.

One day a man called King Chestnut Tree promised to catch some eels; so he set off very early in the morning and went to fish in a small pool. There he found that a large stone had fallen into the water, making it very muddy. So he climbed onto the stone and sat down, thinking that perhaps a big fish was hiding beneath it. He began to dig around the stone with a stick, and then he jumped down into the hole he had made, and very cautiously he felt with his hand. Suddenly he pulled out a great eel.

He threw the creature across his shoulder and started to return home with his fine contribution to the feast. But he had not gone very far when his burden spoke to him. “Do not kill me,” he said. “Spare my life, and if you let me go I will give you wealth and riches.”

The eel slipped off his shoulder and immediately turned into a fine young man.

“I don’t need wealth, for I am already rich,” replied Chestnut Tree. “Who are you?”

“My name is King Lemonjuice,” said the young man. “Please let me live and in return I will make you the champion javelin thrower.”

“All my tribe are javelin throwers, and I happen to be their captain,” said Chestnut Tree proudly.

“Let me live,” begged Lemonjuice, and he tried to bribe his captor by offering to make him the most handsome man, and then the best navigator. But Chestnut Tree became tired of this bargaining and refused all the tempting offers.

“I will teach you how to walk on hot stones and bear terrific heat,” promised the captive, who was becoming desperate.

“What was that? What did you say?” Chestnut Tree was interested at last.

Lemonjuice explained quickly that the first task was to gather firewood for four days. Then they must dig a large pit.

“Then we must light a fire in the pit, and after that we must bury ourselves in the embers and bake for four days and four nights. When we have done that I shall have kept the promise I made to you in return for sparing my life, and we can both go home.”

Chestnut Tree agreed to do this, and together they made a great oven and heated the stones with fire for four days and nights. When the embers were removed and the stones leveled, the two men walked over the burning hot stones and then stepped onto the grass once more. Neither of them had singed a foot or burnt a toe, nor had they any pain or discomfort.

Lemonjuice suggested that they should bury themselves in the oven, but his friend was afraid that this might be a trick and that he would be left there to be cooked alive.

“No, I prefer just to step on the stones and not stay there long lest my skirt be burnt,” he said.

So he did that again and came out of the oven safely without a burn, and from that day to this all the men of that tribe have been able to walk on hot stones as their ancestor did long ago.

Source

Tales from the South Pacific Islands

Anne Gittins

1977

Pages: 11-13