1. SINA AND THE EEL ( SAMOA)

2. This story tells us how the first coconut tree grew.

3. Sina was a beautiful girl who lived with her parents beside the pool, where she used to bath everyday.

5. People everywhere heard of Sina’s beauty. A son of Cakobau, the King of Fiji went to Samoa, hoping to make Sina his wife. So he decided to turn himself into a baby eel and jumped into the pool where Sina bathed.

7. For a while Sina and the eel were friends and she played with it as a pet. As he grew older, she grew tired of the eel and wished he swam back to the ocean. When the eel would not leave the pool, Sina ran away to another village. The eel kept following her, even on land.

9. One day, feeling tired and unhappy, Sina met some men who were chopping trees. She asked one of them to cut off the head of the eel because it would not leave her alone.

10. The eel heard this and said: “ You may cut off my head if you wish, because my heart is broken.” Sina was surprised to hear the eel speak it was the first time this happened.

11. The eel said, “ I have lost my magic powers and can not change myself into a man again. I want you to remember me after I die, so please bury my head.

12. Sina did what the eel asked. From that spot a coconut tree grew.

14. In fact if you look at a husked coconut you will see that it has a face like an eel.

15. If you look at the shape of a coconut trunk, it is similar to shape of an eel’s body.

16. So we can say then that the coconut tree was a gift from a handsome Fijian man to a beautiful Samoan girl.

18. A Legend 1. A legend is a story that our elders told and believed in. 2. Title: Sina and the Eel 3. Characters: Sina, the eel and the tree cutters 4. Country: Samoa 5. Draw your favourite part of the story.