One day it began to talk and told her stories about a snake’s life.  She asked the snake who had taught it to speak human language, and the snake said, “You did.” One morning the snake had become so big that the girl ran away, frightened.  The snake quickly caught up with her, for snakes can move faster than people.  It asked her, “Why do you leave me alone?” The girl said, “You are so big, I am afraid of you!” “Would you also be afraid of me if I were a man?” it asked.  “No, of course not,” said the girl.  So the snake changed himself into a man, for snakes have the power to take on other forms.  The girl thought he was very handsome, so she agreed to marry him.  They lived on that island for many years.

Origins of Agriculture. In the beginning of the world, people walked on an earth that had no plants.  There was nothing but sea, sand, mud, and rocks.  So the people said to each other, “What shall we eat? We are hungry but cannot fill our stomachs with sand or mud.”  At last, an old man said, “All good things come from heaven.  But only the birds can go there, since only they can fly.  Let us therefore send a bird to heaven to ask for food.” All the people agreed. First, they asked the parrot to go, but it just chattered.  Then they asked the hornbill, but hornbills cannot fly very high because their big bills are too heavy.  The pigeon could fly better, but it could not reach heaven either.  Then they asked the osprey to go.  Ospreys are first-class flyers, but this osprey did not even reach the clouds.

Finally they asked the manusio, a tiny songbird that elsewhere is called a rice bird.  It stayed away for a long time, but when it reappeared it held a long grass stalk in its bill.  When the bird dropped the grass, it began to grow.  Soon, all the hills and valleys of the island were covered with beautiful green grass. Later, some of the plants grew larger and became trees.  The people showed their gratitude to the manusio by giving it a necklace and the new name of Manu-limulimu (Bird Climb High).

Jan Knappert is a folklorist and writer specializing in African and Asian languages and oral literature.  Knappert has written extensively on tales and storytelling from diverse African and Asian cultures.  His new book Pacific Mythology was published in 1992, by HarperCollins.