Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 03:08:19 +1000
From: Che Monro 
Subject: Re: (urth) Sharks in Pacific Folklore


>Incidentally, the quibble in Hanga's reply to the narrator question about
>palm leaf hats seems to be, literally, along the lines of, "No, the leaves
>are not my hat, even though you can make hats out of them. The whole tree=
 is
>my hat." As I mentioned earlier, I think that this means that Hanga's body
>is buried at the foot of the tree, though it is conceivable he means only
>that the tree grows over and shades the bay where he lives in the sunken
>temple. In my view, the first interpretation remains preferable.
>
>Nigel

Wise Ones,

Although it's certainly not an issue of truth or falsehood (Unless you=20
believe in the highly controversial truth-in-text theory), my impression=20
was that at the end of the story Hanga was swimming along beside the plane=
=20
in mid air in shark UFO form.

Second, "The Tree is my hat" My God...  I received the image of Hanga as=20
the island here, the entire island, with the tree growing on his head. So I=
=20
didn't see the meaning of it being either where his body is buried, or=20
shading his temple, although these are perhaps more plausible and less=20
fantastic interpretations of the idea.

Finally, I've read the North Point legend before, in a book of stories from=
=20
the islands. It was many years ago and I can't remember who wrote it, but=20
it's possible that you may find a similar legend recounted by Robert Lewis=
=20
Stevenson if you look for it. If not, well "The Bottle Imp" is a wonderful=
=20
story and I bet Wolfe has read it. ;)

Che

Ch=E9 Franz Joseph Monro -- http://www.chemonro.com
che@chemonro.com    --     flirt@technologist.com



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