MO01-036 - Folktale: haarii pokong petu (Haarii-nut leaf)

A folktale told by Maaria Goretti. The story is about a brother and a sister who lived on an isolated island. When the two went to garden, the haari-nut tree would transform into a female form and clean for the two siblings before they returned to their village. The two begin to question who has been cooking and cleaning for us. They plan to spy on who has been carrying out these duties. The boy sees the haarii-nut leaf transform into a female and tells his sister about what he witnessed. They hatch a plan to catch her and keep her as their domestic and getting rid of the tree so she would not turn back into a leaf again. A chief sees this female and falls in love with her. The other wives of the chief become jealous of her. She disappears when the other women try to force her to go to the garden, the chief learns of her disappearance, becomes angry and locked the wives in the house and burnt them.. Language as given: