ORIGIN OF THE COCONUT TREE

THE ORIGIN OF THE COCONUT TREE

The Straight Setting of the Myth

The rewriting of the story according to the comments from my fanfic group

This story is one of a well known myth that has been orally told from generation to generation in Samoa and may be most islands of the pacific, as they almost have the same belief of the past. Later on when missionaries arrived in the 1800, it was recorded and rewrote by several pacific people which ended up in different opinions and ideas. Some of them have told the myth incorrectly at the beginning, even though it came to the same conclusion at the end. However, this is the correct and the staright setting of this interesting and short traditional story of the pacific.

My mother was a nice looking lady from the capital city of Samoa, Apia. I haven't seen my fathersince I was born as he was believed to be a demon. I had no idea why I lived in a small pool of water in my village not as a human being but as a very tiny eel, until later, I heard people talking about me and the reason why I lived there.

One day, Sina, a very charming lady, came with a bowl to get some water from the pool where I lived. As she drew some water, I clinged to the side of the bowl and jumped into it. I could easily tell that the girl was not scared of me by the way she talked to me, even though she didn’t recognise that I could hear every single word she uttered when returned home.

On her way home, I just swam around, danced, laughed and gazed at her, without her knowing that I was madly in love with her. As a matter of fact, I had feelings of a human being, as my mother was a real person like all human beings, even though my father was not. That might be the reason why I could easily recognised Sina’s feelings, when she found me in her bowl of water. One thing that the beauty of Apia didn’t discover about me was my consideration of every human’s feelings and thoughts. That was why I could easily read her mind before she started communicating to me.

“Hello my little friend, I love you so much” said Sina.

“I love you so much as well, the beauty of Apia.” I murmured from inside the bowl.

“ Don’t worry about anything my dear, I will take care of you at home and treat you as my lovely pet.” uttered Sina.

"Oh Sina! You are so wonderful. What a beautiful lady you are. Don’t you know that I am so crazy about you? Please treat me as your future hubby, but not as a pet. " I whispered silently from inside the bowl of water.

I started to grow bigger and bigger and I could not be fitted inside that bowl of water anymore. I could remember when I was a year and a half old, Sina and her parents decided to put me back into same pool where I was found. Instead, Sina would visit me three times daily; morning, afternoon and evening. The plan sounded great for me as I would see my darling twenty one times a week.

Three years later, things were not impeccable. I grew more faster and by the time I was fully grown, the village discovered about me. They were so scared of me and my big body. Because they believed that I was half a human being and half a demon, I had an extra power to destroy the whole village and to kill them if I kept growing and growing faster. Therefore, they had a meeting to decide my future, and came to a conclusion of killing me the next day. I laid sadly at the bottom of the pool, listen hopelessly to the plan and arrangements of how to kill me, as they were all frightened and scared of my huge body.

When I saw Sina came to visit me that evening and for the last time, I felt pain in my heart, tears in my eyes, exhausted and weary because this would be the last time we met each other before I die. I knew how depressed she was when I called out my parting words.

"Sina, you are as beautiful as a flower in the morning. I believe you disagree with your village decision, but you can't do anything about it. I can see you weeping because I know you love me. I can also see your smooth body, as you are now standing at the top of the pool while I'm staring at you from the bottom. With this broken heart of mine, how am I going to forget you my one and only? Sina, if you love me, ask your village for my head only. Plant it near a stone wall. A tree will grow and thrive and bear fruits. Single fruits and fruit clusters. Husk the fruit and you will see my face; my two little eyes and my beautiful mouth. Pierce my mouth to drink the water inside the fruit. Once you drink and sip it, I promise I am giving you a real kiss of love.”

Sina did everything as she was told by her wonderful pet. Not long after. A tree began to grow, in fulfilment of the eel’s prophecy. The tree became known as a coconut tree and the coconut itself bears the image of the eel’s face.

Once again, Thank you very much for the comments.

MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!