This is a part of my sporadic work on the Legend Series. I had a hard time finding good images. The images Ai often gave out made the islanders that look like Indians with the feather crowns, so that was interesting. The ending of this one is kinda funny.
The island was inhabited long ago by the ancient people (called Taotaomona). They were much larger than a regular person today. They also had magic, albeit little. The men were blessed with size and strength, while the women were gifted with wisdom and just a touch of magic in their hair.
One day, in the Hagatna bay. A group of fishermen noticed it their bay had grew. It was beyond confusing, to say the least. Another group of fishermen noticed that their bay, pago, also grew on the opposite side of the island.
“If this continues, our island will be cut into two pieces,” cried the islanders. A wise leader came up with an idea to protect the island. The fishermen would watch their own bays from their own bays.
^^Huge fish, but you can also see the Taotaomona are also big.
The next morning, a fisherman spotted a massive fish in Pago Bay. The giant fish swam in and started to nibble the shoreline. The fisherman ducks behind boulders to observe and passes the message to his clan leader.
The leaders came together and came a conclusion that they must kill the fish. They sent runners to Hagatna Bay to ask for help to save their island home. Soon, Pago Bay was surrounded by canoes and men. All of them diligently watching to prevent their land from being eaten away, both in and out of the reef. Regardless of how hard they searched or waited, the fish didn’t show. After awhile they give up and returned home.
^^Fish nibbling under the island from down under.
The news spread throughout the island about their imminent doom from clan to clan. They felt powerless to do anything.
The women of the island wore long, flowing locks and were proud to wash their hair in the river spring. The juices of lemons were used to enhance the magic. The peels were thrown into the spring after they were finished.
The maidens threw away the lemon peels into Hagatna Spring, but now they were popping up in Pago Bay. Which can only mean the peels were passing through the island, how did that happen? It could only mean the fish was nibbling under the island. A maiden cried out, discovering this new information, “We’re surely doomed.” Another maiden came forward and said, “Maybe we can outsmart the fish.” The fish will be lured into swimming to Hagatna spring and set up a trap. The women came together to gather to trim their precious hair and wove it into a net. The net grew large enough to spread out in every direction of the bay. Each maiden held onto the edges and spread out to sing, waiting for the fish by the spring.
^^This is not an accurate representation, as the ancient people did not wear clothes. And they cut their hair to make the net.
Their song carried under the island, and the soothing sound carried underwater to the giant fishes lair. Little by little, it slowly swam closer to listen to the maiden’s song. They sang and sang until they came up with new songs. The massive fish swam closer and emerges from the water. The maiden jumped into the spring surrounding it with their net to capture it. Their net didn’t give way no matter how much the fish struggled. It was a success.
One maiden immediately ran to Hagatna to tell the others they had captured the giant fish and that the island was saved.
Everyone rushed to the spring to see the freshly caught fish and were overjoyed. The maidens were celebrated for saving the island when men’s strength did not. Everyone ate the fish! Happy time!
Historical Context:
Here you can see the distance of how far the lemon peels traveled under the island. And the shape of the bay. Legends are always fun to explore of how something came to be.
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