The Greedy Boy and the Coconut Crab

 The Greedy Boy and the Coconut Crab

(A Tale from Kapingamarangi)

There was once a naughty, greedy boy who lived in Thouhou Island, in Kapingamarangi Atoll, in the Eastern Caroline Islands. He loved to eat, and he thought only of himself. He liked to steal food from others. He hoped that it would never be found out.

For a long time, he succeeded very well. No one knew that he was a thief. But one of his tricks was discovered, and he was punished. It came about in this way.

A man and his wife found a coconut crab at Paewere, on the eastern side of Thouhou Island. They were poor, and they didn't often have coconut crab to eat, so they felt quite happy.

"Let's cook it and eat it," said the man.

"It's too small," replied his wife. "Let's keep it and feed it until it's much larger".

They left the crab in a deep hole and covered the top, so that it couldn't get out. Then, for many days, they carried food to it. They brought coconut meat and cooked puraka, or taro.

The coconut crab lives among coconut trees and grows to large size by stuffing itself with coconut meat. It is a land crab with strong, sharp, cutting claws. Since its main food is coconut, it is delicious to eat.

 

The man and his wife hoped to eat the crab, when it should become large and fat. But one day, the greedy boy found out about the crab. When no one was around, he stole it, roasted it, and ate it. He had the crab feast all by himself. How he enjoyed that meat! Not once did he think of the people who had fattened the crab for their own use, except to hide from them.

Now the boy didn't want the man and his wife to know that the crab was gone. He wanted them to keep on bringing food to the crab's hole. And who would be there to eat it? He, himself, of course.

"I'm very clever," he said to himself. "I'll just crawl into that hole a couple of times a day and eat up the good food."

That was exactly what he did. Day after day, he stuffed himself with the food intended for the crab. He was down in the hole one day, when the man and the woman came, and he heard them talking together.

"I haven't seen the crab for some time," said the man. "It stays far down in the hole."

"Let's kill it and eat it now," said the woman. "It must be full-grown and fat, by this time."

"Good! We will each make a torch and smoke it out," said the man. So the two went away and tied torches of dry coconut leaves.

The boy wanted them to keep on bringing food, and he thought of a plan. He filled two coconut shells with water and took them into the hole with him.

But the man and woman brought three coconut-leaf torches, instead of two. The boy didn't know that. They set fire to one of the torches. When it flamed well, they put it into the hole. The boy took up one shell, threw the water over the torch, and put out the fire.

Then the man and woman set fire to the second torch and put it into the hole. The same thing happened. The boy put out the fire with water from the second shell.

"That's the end of the torches," thought the boy. But he was mistaken. The man and his wife set fire to the third torch. "This will smoke out the crab," they said.

They pushed the torch far down into the hole and moved it all about. Suddenly, they heard someone yelling.

"Ouch! Stop burning me! Stop, stop!" howled the boy.

He crawled out and stood before them. The skin of his body, the hair of his head, and even his eyebrows were burned. The selfish boy suffered a great deal from the burns. But he had to suffer still more when he went about the village. The people pointed him out as the boy who stole food from others. As they say in Kapingamarangi, "That's the end of the story; just a tale told by the people."

Source

Legends of Micronesia (Book One)

Eve Grey 

1951

Pages: 11-13