Papuan Fairy Tales/The Snake Child
THE SNAKE CHILD.
In the old days, it befell that the men of Kulawa, who were out hunting, found a snake and killed it. When they returned home they smoked it, and would have eaten it at their evening meal. But a girl who was near said, "Ye are about to eat of the snake. Will ye not give me a little that I may taste it?" Then they, willing to please her, gave her the tail, and she ate it. And so much did she love the taste of its flesh that she said again, "I pray you, give me a little of the snake that I may eat." So they gave her the middle, and she ate it all. Again she asked for more, and they gave it to her, and again, until the head was all that was left. Then she prayed that they would give her the head also, and they gave it to her, and she ate it and went away.
Now it came to pass that after a time the woman gave birth to a son, in form like to a snake, and she feared him greatly. Therefore she left him and crossed the sea to the great island, Iriwavo. Much rain fell, and the voice of the thunder was loud, nevertheless the snake swam after his mother that he might be with her. The people of Iriwavo seeing him draw near said, "What is this which we see?" The woman looked also, and cried "It is a snake." Then she fled across the sea once more, and landed at Bolanai. Yet she knew that not here would she be safe from her son. Therefore she said to the men of Bolanai, "Cut stakes many and sharp." They did her bidding, and she said, "Watch in this place and I will stay in the house. And presently a snake will come to this village. Spare him not, but cut it in pieces." The men did as she said, and cut the snake into many pieces as soon as he entered the village. Then they scraped the pieces and boiled them and gathered together that they might eat them. "We have done well to obey the voice of the woman," said they, "for the eating is good indeed." Then said an old woman to them, "It were a pity for the memory of this good food to fade. Give me some to plant in my garden, that we may see if perchance it will live there."
So they gave the old woman some of the flesh, and she planted it in her garden. And it came to pass that after not many days it sprouted and grew high above the earth. Then came many people and broke off shoots from the strange plant which grew in the old woman's garden, and planted them in their own gardens, where the shoots grew and waxed strong. And many did eat of the roots, and found them good indeed, for the name of the plant is Taro, which is the chief of all food. Thus was it that taro came to us, and for this reason is it that the people of Bolanai have it ever in their gardens in plenty and of great size.