The Folktales of Micronesia

Asmn folklore Studies Published by the Asian Folklore Institute Roger E. Mitchell Micronesian Folktales NAGOYA 1973 VOL. XXXII 1973 THE FOLKTALES OF MICRONESIA By R oger E. M it c h e ll TABLE OF CONTENTS IN T R O D U C T IO N ...................................... 1 TALES OF BEGINNINGS ....................... 16 The Theft of the Moon . 16 King of the Stars .......... 18 The Displaced Island . … 20 The Fished-up Island • … 23 The Island Dropped from Basket 26 6 The Loss of Fresh Water ..................... 29 1.he Origin of the Uoconut ................. 30 The Origin of Kava Drinking ............. 32 rhe Origin of Palauan Money ............. 34 10 The Great Navigator ................................ 35 TALES OF ANIM ALS .................................................... 39 11 How the Hermit Grab Won a Race . 39 12 The Battle of Whale and Octopus . 41 13 Rat’s Uanoe 1 rip .................................... 45 14 The Stolen Blessings ................................ 48 TALES OF ANIMALS AND PEOPLE ..................... 50 15 The Man-Eating Lizard ........................... 50 16 The Tricky Octopus ................................ 52 17 The Birds， Courtship ............................. 56 18 The Adopted Bird .................................... 60 19 The Helpful Bird ...................................... 62 20 The Eel’s Life-Restoring Medicine .... 66 21 The Shark Sons ........................................ 68 22 Origin of the Rat Clan ......................... 71 23 The Worm Mother-in-law ..................... 73 24 The Eel Lover .......................................... 75 TALES OF SOCIAL CONFLICT .................................. 77 25 The High Chiefs Revenge ................... 77 26 The Man Who Exposed Himself ......... 80 27 The Low Glass Boy and the Chief . 82 28 A Competitive Feast ............................... 83 TALES OF M ISFIT S，T RICK ST ERS，AND FOOLS 85 29 The himbless Glutton ............................. 85 30 Letao the JTrickster .................................. 89 31 Olofat and the Stolen Eyes ................. 92 32 I he Disguised Warrior ........................... 95 33 The Men Who Tried to Fly ............... 97 3334 5 6 2 9 8 9 9 3 0 06 0 o 111112 8 o2 5 ooo The Foolish Women Who Drowned lv( The Foolish Navigator ................... c^ The Soap-Eaters ................................. TALES 〕 7 UNUSUAL8 9 ^ 0 CHILDBIRTH12 56789012 3 4 .............. 3 3 Ignorance of Natural Childbirth .., 30 The Mosquito Larvae Pregnancy •, The Girl Born from a B o i l ........ TALES LOV ERS ................................................ 4 4 4 4 4 o 44444555 The Spirit Lover ............................. The Beheaded Lover ....................... The Double Suicide ....................... 7 The Scorned Suitor’s Revenge . 0 The Sore-Covered G i r l ................... 3 TALES SPOUSES .............................................. 38148147 2 2 2 6 8 o 0 15 223 38148147 The Undersea Bride ....................... The Heavenly Bride ....................... The Counterfeit Spouse ................. 3 The Wooden Bride ......................... 5 5 3444 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 The Unfaithful Husband ............... The Trapped Adulterer ................. The Dissatisfied Wife ..................... The Abducted Wife ....................... 二 TALES 5 PARENTS5 AND CHILDREN ........ 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ^ The Heedless Daughter ................. 5 5 The5 Girl Who Cooked the Baby . The Mermaid .................................... Transformation to a Lizard ......... 5 Obedient and Disobedient Sons .. 5 The Mistreated Step-son ................. The Jealous Father ......................... c TALES SIBLINGS ............................................ i 60 Crab’s Sons Battle ............... ' 61 The Exiled Sister .................. 62 The Abandoned Sister .......... OF E R O T IC ISM ............................. 82 63 Ignorance of Sexual Organs 82 64 Brother-Sister Incest ............ 85 65 The Biting Vagina ................. 87 66 The Sexual Contest ............. 90 67 The Detachable Penis .......... 91 TALES OF SPIRITS AND MEN ............................. 93 68 The Life-Restoring Medicine ................. 94 69 The Lost Bracelet .................................... 98 70 The Island of Dolphin Women ........... !02 71 The Swallowed Sons ................................ !07 72 Olofafs Son .............................................. !06 73 The Spirit and the Famine ................. !13 74 The Woman Who Died in Childbirth !18 75 The Spirit Fishing Companion ............. !21 76 The Cannibal Bridegroom ..................... !24 77 The Evil Sea Spirit and the Secluded Girl !29 78 The Giant’s Fish ...................................... !31 79 The Spirit and the Falling Fruit .... !34 80 The Deserted Woman and the Giant !37 81 The Story-Telling Spirit ......................... !40 NOTES ................................ !44 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............. !66 APPENDIV A: Map I . !71 APPENDIX B: Informants m VTTA .................................. ?76 INTRODUCTION Despite Magellan’s early landfall at Guam in 1521, Micro nesia remains a shadowy island world to most and the reasons would appear a composite of geography, trade, and happen stance. For over three centuries Guam was little more than a way station in the Spanish attempt to tap the wealth of the Indies. Micronesia itself had nothing in the way of spices or other precious commodities to excite the interest or cupidity of the Western world. Nor have there been chance visitors of the stature of Stevenson, Gaugin, Melville, or Michener to envelop the land of the tiny islands with the web of romance spun for the related islands of Polynesia. Even infamy was in large part escaped, for it was Melanesia that was to gain renown for the combined ferocity of its cannibals, headhunters, geography and native diseases. While there was some head- taking, especially in Western Micronesia, overall early contacts with Micronesians were relatively mild and the sporadic con flict was of short duration. Yet despite their modest impact on the imagination of the Western world, Micronesian societies developed and have main tained complex and satisfying cultures, approaches to living that will be presented in this study from the vantage point of rich and still flourishing complexes of oral traditions. Micronesia lies in the Western Pacific, east of the Philip pines, northeast of Melanesia, with Polynesia far to its east in the northern sector and closely adjoining in the southeast (see Map I). Micronesia, Land of the Little Islands, describes 2 ROGER E. MITCHELL it well. Total surface area is impressive, stretching more than 2000 miles from the southernmost of the Gilbert Islands north to lonely Farallon de Pajaros in the Mariana chain, and another 2500 miles from the eastern Radak chain in the Marshall Islands to tiny Tobi Island in the west. These many islands assume more humble status when considered in terms of land mass. Guam heads the list with 215 square miles. Babeldaob in the Palau Islands and Ponape Island are next in order with 153 and 129 square miles. But the rest of the major islands are drastically smaller. The several islands of the Truk group add only 38.5 square miles and the Yap Islands total about the same. One searches in vain for the towering peaks and deep of New Guinea. Yet within a modest topographical range valleys of Hawaii and Tahiti or the vast swamps and deltas there exists great variability, from the low lying Palau Islands and their rugged coral limestone formations and the equally low reddish islands of Yap to the more complex Guam, with its composite of upraised coral limestone plateau and weathered volcanic peaks. Other variations are the basaltic formations of Ponape and Kusaie, or Truk, with its several basaltic islands jutting up from a wide lagoon surrounded by a great coral reef. Palau, Yap, the Marianas, Truk, Ponape, and Kusafe: these are the high islands of Micronesia, and they constitute the bulk of habitable land, about 836 square miles. The rest of Micronesia consists of low-lying coral atolls, with an occa sional uplifted coral island like Fais and Nauru, which lack the enclosing coral reefs of the typical atoll. The atolls are the islands of romance, with their gleaming beaches of white coral sand, stately palms, and blue lagoons. Yet to be more pragmatic, living conditions are challenging. Coral sand and scanty humus limit severely what can be grown, providing rainfall has been adequate; and these islands are only a few feet above sea level. Since all of Micronesia is subject to severe typhoons and occasional tidal waves, eleva tion can at times tie of the essence. Moreover, population pressure can be severe, since the total land area of these hund reds of small islands is little more than two hundred and forty square miles (Freeman, 1951). THE FOLKTALES OF MICRONESIA 3 The relative obscurity of these many islands for much of their recorded history is best presented in historical perspective. Magellan’s famed voyage was part of Spanish attempts to exploit the wealth of the East Indies by establishing a new sailing route not under the control of the Portugese. While the islands of Micronesia had flourishing populations and had worked out, especially on the high islands, complex cultural patterns, yet to Europeans seeking gold and spices, these islands had little to offer. Despite the often reiterated Spanish position concerning its Christian duty to proselytize the heathens, it can be seen that such efforts followed expansion of empire. Not until Spain

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