Plant origins, stories, and legends from Kosrae and Pohnpei
Two tales of the origin of breadfruit on Kosrae
An excerpt from Translation of Thilenius, ed., Results of the South Seas - Expedition, 1908-1910, Sarfert: Kusae, 2 Half-Volume, by Carmen C.H. Petrosian-Husa, Anthropological Report 2008/1b Kosrae Historic Preservation Office, Kosrae Island 2008 © Kosrae Historic Preservation Office. Page 432.
10. The Origin of the Breadfruit on Kosrae. (samsam)
A Ton-eel lived in Infäl-sisik, a small river in Wukat. From there he swam to the rivulet Ineläka and from there to the mountain Ineläka, beyond the source of the river. There he lay down. A tomon anüt from Tafinkol, Neko, saw him there lying on dry ground. Neko walked in a wide circle around him in order to pass him. Then the eel talked to him, »Why are you afraid of me?
I am afraid because you are so big and lying on dry ground.
The eel replied, »Do not be afraid. Tell your people they shall bring me over to the Tafonkol-River.«
Thus, Neko sent his people away to cut wood in order to build a stretcher. When they were finished with it, they placed the eel on top of it and took him with them to Tafonkol, where they placed him into the water. The eel swam downriver to the sea and away to an island in the west. As a fare well he said to Neko, »I go away from Kusae, but I will send you something because you brought me here.« On that island the eel took the root of a breadfruit tree, wrapped it into 30 mats and sent the bundle by 12 men to Kusae.
A woman from Menka went fishing at nighttime. This was when she heard the men in their canoe talking about the bundle. The canoe landed at the place Muotä in Menka. Immediately after the men had placed the bundle on the ground they left again. The woman called the people together, and they went to the place and brought the bundle into the house and opened it. In it they found roots. They did not know what they were, nevertheless, they planted them and when the tree had grown tall it bore different kinds of breadfruits: fok sesak, mos in oä, pataktäk, fok keikei, fok fas, earkon, but no ik un lal. That tree was still standing not so long ago. Many people supposedly had seen it. When the fruits were big, all the people wanted to have roots from the tree. Thus, the breadfruit was distributed all over Kusae.
However, nobody had yet tasted the fruit. Once 2 boys from Mot went with other people to Lölö. There, in Kala, stood 2 breadfruit trees. One could see the beautiful fruits, but nobody dared to eat them. People did not know if you could die from them. The two boys tried one fruit. It tasted very good. Since then, people from Kusae eat breadfruit.
When Neko heard about the fruit and its origin, he knew that they were a present of the eel and told the people so.
11. The Origin of the Breadfruit on Kosrae, another legendary tale
Before, a long, long time ago, there was no breadfruit in Kusae. Only mos in Kosa1 existed. A man named Kol and his wife Nikol lived in Juson, in Utua-Harbor. One day the men went up into the mountains in order to look for food––wild taro and yam. Nikol was in the house. A sudden gush of wind came and carried the house together with the woman to an island in the west. When Kol returned home, he found neither his house nor his wife. On that island, there were all sorts of breadfruits and Nikol had plenty to eat. She always had to think of her husband. She looked for all kinds of roots from breadfruit trees, which she cut off from the trees, rolled them into mats and sent them with 9 men and one woman in a canoe to Kosae. The canoe arrived in Utua-Harbor at night. It was dark, and it rained. Thus, people in the canoe could not find the river in order to go to Juson. Therefore, they discussed what they should do. A woman from Menka in Fenkol heard what they were saying. She also heard the names of the people in the canoe. They were called: O, Nuo (a woman), O, Semano, Saromo, Poi, Poiküar, Äsouä, Soui, and Woinka. Because the canoe could not go any further, they simply took the bundle, threw it into the water, and turned back. But the woman, who wanted to fish with her net, found it and brought it to the shore. When people opened it, they found in it the roots of a breadfruit tree. The roots were distributed, and people planted them, one each in Juson, in Menka, in Jämual, and in Täf. All of them perished, except the root in Juson, which grew and bore fruits, to be precise all sorts of breadfruits. The Kusaean people came to Juson taking breadfruits from here, planting them everywhere.
Notes from a letter of Reverend Benjamin Gallen Snow January 1854
The following is transcribed from a copy of a copy of an original. The source is folder number four in the Lydia Vose Buck Snow collection of the Congregational Library, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02108; phone: 617-523-0470. Permission to post and link this transcription was granted, all errors, however, are that of the transcriber. In mid-2005 the guide catalog was located at Snow, Lydia Vose Buck (1820-1887). Collection of family papers, 1851-1890s, Congregational Library & Archives.
The narrative is a secondary source, a compilation of sources noted in the first paragraph. Numbers in square brackets indicate an estimated number of illegible words. Double square brackets are editorial insertions, some intended to aid those searching for modern transliterations of terms. Spelling errors that existed in the original document were not corrected.
On the thirteenth 13th of January, by the King's invitation, the missionaries attended one of [line missing] {page 24} ceremonies & which had taken place but once before since the establishment of the mission. Fifteen men from the main island, one of whom in particular was the priest, familiar with the incantations, came to perform their magic arts at the residence of each of the high chiefs in the islet of Lela. The following description of the ceremonies performed at one of the chief's houses is valuable as giving a glimpse of Kusaien worship of their spiritual deities, - in this case of those termed Sinlarker [[Sinlaku]] & supposed to have their residence in a species of freshwater eel, abundant in the mountain streams.
The leader or priest came first, having a wreath of bright flowers on his head & what looked like a stick with flower on the end, covered with two differently colored strips of bark, and stuck up in the hair at the crown of the head. He was without clothing save the Strong's I. sash or maro, & his body was besmeared with oil. Others had similar ornaments, though less showy. He performed the principal part of the ceremony, one other assisting in parts. The King, Queen, chiefs, and all were without any covering save the native. The first thing done was to place an old coconut just beginning to grow, before the chiefish {page 25} individuals. 2nd a large conch shell (Triton) is produced containing coconut oil and strip of coconut leaf to tie around the neck; also a wreath of 'paksik' and some green leaves of the arrowroot plant. 3dly, Some strings of the arrowroot leaf dyed, oiled and twisted are tied around the wrists of the chief & his wife by the priest & his attendants; after which they hold on the wrists while both repeat together something which the chief himself said he did not understand. 4th, the priest takes the shell containing the oil, holds it up before the man & woman & offers a prayer. 5th, the shell is passed to the man who passes it to the woman. She took out some of the strings of coconut leaves to on her neck and little oil to rub on her body, and passes it back to the man who does the same. 6th, Little baskets, long as my finger perhaps, containing fish &c are placed, turned and variously replaced, while the whole is interspersed with talk closing with a sort of prayer. 7th, an ava plant is placed before the door. The chief and his wife sit on mats inside and the Sinlarker men outside. The priest held the plant erect with his left hand while he broke off the branches with the other and threw them behind him. He then broke the stalk in four pieces, which he passed around him & over his head, then [line missing, contains 8th midline] {page 26} a very labored noise.
After the ceremony ended a compensation of the services was given, consisting of native mats, Kusaien belts, tobacco, and ava. The day closed with feasting when 'everybody gave to everybody.'"
The breaking of the four pieces sounds very much like sakauen enilap over on the island of Pohnpei.
The origin of coconut on Pohnpei
From The Book of Luelen by Luelen Bernart translated and edited by John Fischer, Saul Riesenberg, and Marjorie Whiting, published by ANU Press between 1965–1991.
Luelen Bernart, a member of a prominent Ponapean family, was highly regarded for his wealth of traditional knowledge. He wrote this version of his island’s history for his relatives and children, but the style of the text reflects the education he received at the Protestant mission school at Ohwa (Oa).
'The Book of Luelen’ is the fullest account of Ponape’s history that has ever been written by a native of that island. Luelen Bernart gives a comprehensive account
of Ponape from the time of its creation to the first European contact. Myths and legends interwoven with history and botanical lore provide a rich source of information about the island.
Luelen Bernart died near the end of World War II, but the record that he leaves behind gives an insider’s view of Ponapean history that will delight all those interested in the Pacific and its people.
{Luelen spells using his own orthography. In the following the modern spelling for the letter j would use an s. Luelen used an n with an accent mark for ng, those are replaced below. U is today W. T would today be D.}
The story of the coconut; concerning the coconut tree on Pohnpei, Chapter 79
1. The coconut was not originally a Ponapean tree. This is why it is not abundant in the forests of Ponape or on the mountains. This tree sprouted up from the grave of a certain dead person and was then propagated. And when it arrived on Ponape it floated hither on the sea in the second era and first came to Matolenim. And it is said that the dead person from whom the coconut sprouted was a relative of the Masters of the South. And he also had a brother, who was a member of the Foreign Clan, but the two were brought together by adoption by a single father and mother.
2. The coconut then reached Matolenim and made Tauenaring [Coconut Channel]. Now the coconut arrived on Ponape before the foreigners had reached Ponape. And this fruit is very useful to all the people of Ponape. When this fruit is planted in the earth they give it the name of ‘Ripe Coconut’ and when it has begun to sprout it is called ‘Sprouted Coconut’{kehki pahr}, while once it has been planted and sprouted and grown for perhaps two years or so it will be called ‘New Coconut’. And when it finally has borne fruit they say that it ‘has become mature’, while when it produces a flower bud and blooms and little immature nuts are on the stalk {kurupw?}, and it finally gets bigger than this, it is called ‘Drinking Nut’ {uhpw}.
Now this is not the direct story, for what I say has glanced off it, but let those who know hear later and set this story straight.
Another story of the coconut, Chapter 80
The beginning of the story of the coconut tree
1. There is a land in the south whose inhabitants came to Ponape and populated it in olden times. It is said that there is a lagoon on the northeast shore of this land which is quite near the land in which the sea creature Likapijino used to reproduce and was most abundant. Now when they became numerous they eventually appeared at the surface of the water, since they had become so many [and filled up the water below]. Those which gave birth at the surface of the water bore some little boys and girls. And the true inhabitants of the land discovered them and adopted them. And when they grew numerous they married among themselves or also married the natives of the land until they multiplied in that land. But they had no land of their own in which to be able to clear and plant food crops.
2. The sea creature Likapijino is large and long and also full of breasts like the breasts of women.2 There are some in Ponape but they are not too numerous with us. But there are many with them [in the land of the south]. We do not know the name of this land, but we do know that it is to the south of us. We call it ‘South’ because it is to the south of us. Now when the natives of that land made some food for themselves, such as a feast or the like, they would give them something, but they would then pay those others.3
3. Now there was a couple in that land who had two children, a boy and a girl. The boy’s name was Jaujamtakeria. He was a weak boy, reportedly sick with yaws and did not work at any time. His father used always to feel bad about him for there was no longer anything with which they could repay fish and the like which they ate at various times.4 So the sick boy was dissatisfied with [the fact that] he and his sister were of no use to their father and mother. But after they already had these children they also adopted a boy of the Foreign Clan named Kanikienjamtakeria to take the place of Jaujamtakeria, since he would probably soon die because he was sick.
4. Some ripe coconuts of Jaujam takeria were stored in the purlins of their house. He put them there when he was going to die. He then left instructions with his father that when he had died they should bury him in a grave and set down his coconuts at the head of the grave. Eventually the boy got worse and died. So the family buried him along with his coconuts. And here is a little thing he took pains to leave instructions about: when the coconut had sprouted and borne fruit it would be for the Foreign Clan boy to eat and to use for anointing. Now the Foreign Clan boy had the name of Lakam, while the children’s mother was of the Masters of the South and their father was of the Foreign Clan. Now that boy Jaujamtakeria died, and the coconut sprouted and became a coconut tree, and at that time that girl became pregnant and gave birth to a litter of dogs. And one day the man went to the other children’s place. He went and entered where they were and asked the girl, ‘How are you?’ The woman answered, ‘I have given birth to some puppies.’ The man said, ‘Well, where are they?’The woman answered, ‘They are hiding in the stone foundation of the house.’So the man looked down beneath the door and clucked together the little group of dogs [i.e., called them together by clucking] and they squeezed out from the foundation and sat together, turning their faces to the sky and all howled. The man then felt tenderly toward them.
This story is unfinished.
Chapter 40: The story of Ponapean kava
1. As for the story of the kava plant in Ponape, in the beginning there was a man in Upwind Uanik in the section of Mallanut who was named Uitanngar. He was a member of the Tipuilap [Great Clan], He was a master prayer.
2. He used to pray to Luk, the god of the Luk Clan. This man was a very old man. He was no longer able to walk about for he was blind. Now when he was a young man he had planted a coconut tree. This coconut tree he planted and dedicated to Luk, and when it bore fruit the man kept collecting the coconuts at the base of the tree all the time. It made no difference if they sprouted, he would just keep piling them up always. Eventually he became an old man and went blind and the coconuts of that palm tree became offerings to the god, for he had offered them to Luk. This was why Luk appeared to him when he was old. Now Uitanngar used always to lie on his mat, for he was an old man. Now one day he was lying on his mat and he heard what seemed to be a person stepping on his taboo place, for he used to make offerings to Luk. He then asked his identity, saying, ‘Are you man or god?’ Luk replied, ‘I am Luk. You are to come with me.’
3. Uitannar replied, ‘I am an old man and can no longer see things and can no longer walk about, for I am weak.’ But Luk called to him a second time, saying to him, ‘Stretch out your hand to me that I may get you.’ He then stretched out his hand to Luk, and Luk then took it and helped the man stand up. And when his hand touched Luk’s hand he became strong and could see things. Luk then took the man with him and they went and got a banana skin of the variety Karat, and made a canoe of it and rode in it to Matolenim.
4. They then paddled upwind off Alokap. They took out their Kauraap {a mixture of tumeric and grated coconut meat} and anointed themselves with it. They then threw away the squeezings in the sea in a certain pool. Some fish came and ate up the squeezings. They then gave these fish the name of Aringij. This is what they are named to this day.
5. The two then went on to Kinakap and spent the night on the shore, and then walked on up to Animuan, and then the two went on out to Na. They walked on out to the south of Na. The two then went on until they got to a place named Pejiko. They then met a married couple there, Jau-nok and Kat-nok.
The skin of Uitangar’sfoot
6. The woman was preparing a likpuake {a pendant, necklace perhaps}. This is an ornament for a man’s breast. The woman then conceived a liking for Luk and gave away the likpuake as a love gift, giving it to Luk. Luk repaid her with skin from the man’s heel, and told the woman to take it and bury it in the earth for it would sprout and form a plant.
7. Supposedly if people would drink its juice, they would become intoxicated with it and it would change their life. The two then walked on further to another place and found a dead person whom they were going to bury. Luk said to them, ‘You people bury this person carefully for it will sprout and make a plant, and you shall give it the name of sugarcane, and it will be named “Southern Sugarcane”.
8. The man now went back. Luk took Uitanngar back to his original home in Uanik, in the section of Mallanut.
9. Various people used to watch and be amazed at how the rats would go and eat at the base of the clump of that plant, and how, after they had eaten the plant they would get weak as if they were sick from it. They were no longer able to run about, but would simply crawl about on the ground and go over to the place where the clump of sugarcane was, and also eat some of it, and then go to sleep, and that was that.
10. Now the people of the land tried eating some of the roots of the plant, and all those who tried it became intoxicated from it. They therefore named the plant ‘intoxication’ because people ate it and became light-headed from it. And they also tried eating the sugarcane and they found it likewise delicious because it was sweet.
11. The people of heaven were in heaven and were looking down on the earth, and they saw how the people of that land would consume the kava and would become intoxicated from it. Accordingly one day two of them descended to investigate what the plant was like. They descended to Pejiko to ascertain the nature of kava. The two of them stole a cutting of kava. They took it up to heaven and they gave it to Nanitenlang [Lord of the Eels of Heaven, Nahnihd en leng in modern orthography] and to Nanitenpatanlang [Lord of the Eels of Patanlang]. The two of them took it and planted it in Tiuienlang [Garden Plot of Heaven], a garden plot which was in Patanlang.
12. The two planted it on that day and had a feast with it on the same day. When the kava was dug up, it was a very big kava plant. The kava was split on that very day.
13. When they were pounding it on that day, a joint of kava bounced out as they prepared the kava and fell down on Mallanut, at Uitanngar’s place, and sprouted there. This was the beginning of the kava plant multiplying in Ponape. Now here are the names of the women who took the kava up to heaven, Liteme and Litopra. Concluded.
Luelen might well have added, "Now this is not the direct story, for what I say has glanced off it, but let those who know hear later and set this story straight."
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