A new shelf opens with three stories from the Solomon Islands, told whole from "The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folk-lore," by R. H. Codrington, published at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, in 1891. Codrington translated his stories from manuscripts written for him by people of the islands themselves, and he printed the home of every story beside its title. Of the thirty-one stories in his chapter of stories, three carry Solomon Islands homes — one from Florida Island, and two from Bugotu, on Ysabel Island. Those three are told here, in the book's order.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
The Heron and the Turtle — a heron, its foot caught fast in the coral as the tide rises, is freed by a turtle for the price of a sea-urchin, and promises to return the favour. When the people of Hagelonga net the turtle and fence him in for tomorrow's cooking, the heron keeps its word the only way it can: it dances. Passage note, exactly as told: the turtle is caught and meant for the pot, but he is danced free before any harm is done; no killing is depicted.
The Story of Kamakajaku — from his hill at Gaji, Kamakajaku sees the sea turn black, wades out to dip salt-water where the blackness lies, and is swallowed whole by a great kingfish, which carries him east to the rising of the sun. He wins free, follows the Sun to the village of the Sun's children, gives them fire for their food, and is let down to earth again on a cane. Passage note, exactly as told: Kamakajaku cuts the fish's belly open from inside with the obsidian in his ear and leaps out — a survival escape told in one line, with no gore and no human harm.
The Story of Samuku — Samuku, scolded by his wife and sent to see his dead father and mother in Tuhilagi, paddles there alone, spends a night among the company of ghosts at the Ghosts' Mangroves, and is taken in by the people of another place, with whom he stays for the rest of his life.
Of the book's thirty-one stories, three are told in this part — all three of the stories Codrington labels with Solomon Islands homes. The other twenty-eight carry other island homes in the book — the Banks Islands, the Torres Islands, the New Hebrides and their neighbours — and are not claimed for this shelf. No more than that is claimed.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:50 The Heron and the Turtle
8:25 The Story of Kamakajaku
13:58 The Story of Samuku
R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folk-lore (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891) — public domain.
Narrated by Violetta. Music: opening and closing theme, "Three Pairs of Yellow Eyes" — heard at the introduction and the close only; the stories themselves are read dry.
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Solomon Islands folk tales · Melanesian folk tales · R. H. Codrington · Florida Island tales · Bugotu Ysabel Island · Pacific folk tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
