Sina and her eel
Long ago there was a girl named Sina. Tales of her beauty spread through the pacific islands. In Fiji the magical fijian chief heard about Sina and wanted to win Sina as his wife. He turned into a eel and traveled to Samoa in Savaii. When Sina was getting water for her Mum’s cooking she scooped up one,then two and then three. She noticed the eel and took the eel inside and put him in a jar full of water. She looked after the eel until was too big to fit in the jar so she put it in a spring. Sina looked after it in the spring until it was too big she put it in the village pool. The eel would always hide in a corner where it was safe and no one would notice, But when Sina would swim in the village pool it would come up and circle around her. Sina was afraid of the eel and moved to nearest villages but the eel would follow her.In Safune village pool she looked in her reflection and saw the eel she was frightened and cursed it and called it Mata ole aitu pool .
It means a demon’s eye in English.She was frightened and went into the chief’s fale and told her cousin and the chief that this eel was hunting her. Her cousin was sent to behead the eel . The eel was beheaded , before he died he said to Sina “ My beautiful Sina listen to my word in pity , fulfil my last wish . I am the Tuifiti from faraway Fiji , I came to win you as my wife . I have lost the art of magic making and therefore I am unable to change myself into a man , Sina before I die cut off my head and bury it in front of your fale . A tree will grow out that will be useful to you , Drink from these fruit , when you are thirsty , And you will be kissing me” . The poor heart broken eel died . Sina did what the eel said. The fruit had two eyes and one mouth , so every time Sina would get a fruit she will be in fact kissing the eel. That was the first coconut tree in Samoa.The two eyes and the mouth represent Sina’s eel .
By: Tino
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