Kanu
Above and Kanu Below were both great chiefs.
Kanu
Above was known to be cruel and harsh and lived in the skies. Kanu Below
was known to be fair and
good. He
lived on the Earth with his beautiful daughter. He loved her very much.
But one day Kanu Above said, “I
want her to come and live with me.” So Kanu Above took her up to
Sky Country, while Kanu Below
sat alone. He wept for his missing daughter and began to neglect his
chiefly duties.
One day his under-chief came to
Kanu Below and said, “I must speak with you. Someone has come into
our village who is making
trouble. His name is Spider, and he is weaving sticky webs over everyone’s
doorways. People are tripping
and hurting themselves. What shall we do?”
Kanu Below said, “Send Spider to
me.” Spider came and listened as Kanu Below explained why he should
not spin harmful webs across
people’s doorways. Then Kanu Below went back to his people and said,
“We will keep Spider among us
for a while. Yes, he has caused some difficulties, but he also has much
good in him.”
And it was so.
Two days later, Kanu Below was
approached by another under-chief, saying, “Oh, Kanu, now another
stranger has entered our
village. His name is Rat, and he is sneaking into our people’s houses and
stealing
rice, meat, and koala nuts.”
Again Kanu Below asked that the
stranger be brought to him. “Rat, you cannot go into people’s houses and
take things that not yours.” And
again, Kanu Below spoke to his people, explaining that Rat had done some
terrible things but he had much
good in him and they would keep him in their village.
And it was so.
Before he knew it, Kanu Below
was once more approached by a troubled under-chief.“Kanu Below, we
have yet a third stranger who
has entered our village. This time his name is Anteater, and he is digging
up
everybody’s backyards. People
are falling into the holes and breaking their legs. This must not go on!”
“Tell Anteater to come to see
me.” Kanu explained to Anteater that he must not dig holes, because people
were falling into them. Then he
spoke to his people saying, “I think we should keep Anteater in our
village.
Yes, he has caused some trouble,
but he also has much good in him.”
And it was so.
Time passed, and one day the
under-chief approached Kanu Below and said, “Kanu, another stranger has
entered our village. His name is
Fly, and he is biting and stinging people on their necks and on their
behinds.
Whatever shall we do?”
“Tell Fly to come to see me.”
Again Kanu explained how his people must not be bitten. Then he said to
his
chiefs, “It is true that Fly has
hurt many people, but he has much good in him as well. I think he should
stay
in our village.”
And it was so.
Many days passed, and Kanu Below
was still very sad and spent most of the day weeping for his missing
daughter. One day he called his
people together and said, “If only someone could climb up into the sky and
speak to Kanu Above about my
daughter. Perhaps he would listen and return her to me.”
Most people were afraid of Kanu
Above because he was so powerful. So no one volunteered to go.
Then Spider, in a little voice
said, “Kanu Below, I will go for you. I will spin a web up, up into the
sky.”
Then other three voices joined
Spider’s and said, “You have treated us well. We would like to help, too.”
So it was that Spider spun his
web and fastened it onto a cloud. Spider, Rat, Anteater, and Fly climbed
it
and began walking around Sky
Country, calling for Kanu Above. “We come from Kanu Below who misses
his daughter very much. Can you
please return her to him?”
Kanu Above heard them and
approached, glaring at them. “Very well, come and sit down and we shall
have some food.” He whispered to
one of the women, and Fly decided to follow her to the kitchen.
When the food was served, Fly
buzzed to his friends, “Do not eat the meat! It has been poisoned.”
So Rat,
Anteater, and Spider said, “Thank you, Sir. But we do not eat meat in our
country.” Instead they
politely
nibbled from their bowls of rice and palm oil sauce.
Soon it was time to go to bed.
They had no sooner entered their sleeping quarters when they heard doors
and windows being locked from
the outside. Days went by, and they had nothing to eat or drink. Finally,
Rat said, “This is a job for
me,” and began gnawing through the wood. Then he went to various houses
and stole rice and nuts and meat
and fed his friends.
Kanu’s men saw that they were
still alive. They brought brush to set fire to the house. Anteater said,
“Here is a job for me.” Anteater
began to dig. Faster and faster he dug. Finally he dug a hole right under
the wall. The four friends
escaped.
Kanu Above said to himself,
These creatures are very clever!
He explained to them: “I will
return the child if you can pick her out from all the other children
here.”
Fly buzzed into the dressing
room and noticed one girl who received no help from the others. She had to
braid her own hair and put on
her own beads, bracelets, and ankle jewelry.
Fly flew back to his friends and
cautioned them, “The girls will all be dressed alike, but watch which
one jumps. That is our friend’s
daughter.” Fly buzzed over all the girls and, spotting the one he knew to
be
the “outsider,” he bit her.
Whoop! She immediately jumped.
The four friends grabbed her and
said, “This is the one! We choose her!”
Kanu Above said, “You are very
clever, indeed. Take the girl, and here are four koala nuts for her
father,
to show my admiration for the
four of you.”
So the four friends climbed back
down with their precious cargo and presented the happy girl to her father,
along with the four koala nuts.
“See this,” Kanu Below said to
his people. “You wanted to banish these four from our village, but it is
they
who have returned my daughter
to me. I am so grateful to them that I have decided they will be my
under-chiefs from now on.”
And it was so.
