10 .THE SACRED TURTLE OF KADAVU

 10 .THE SACRED TURTLE OF KADAVU

The sacred Turtles of Kadavu is a legend of a figian island.It talks about one ritual on the island of Fiji.Evenif the ritual appears a little strange it is interesting and touches the heart. Long ago, in the lovely village of Namuana on an island of Fiji, there lived the beautiful Princess Tinaicoboga. She was the wife of the chief and was as kind as she was beautiful. The chief and his wife had one daughter, Raudalice, who often joined her mother in the water. Sometimes they would wade out to the coral reefs, and there, they would capture fish. Some days they climbed the cliffs beyond their village. 

The two women usually stayed close to shore, but one day they waded farther than usual. The day was beautiful, and the fish were thick and fast in the reefs. The mother and daughter hardly noticed how far they had gone when the wind to the east of the rocky shore began to pick up. 

There was a large canoe filled with fishermen from the village of Nabukelevu on the far side of the island. The men had spied the women from afar, and when they spotted them, they began to come fast toward them.When the fishermen were close, they seized the princess and her daughter. They quickly bound their hands and feet with vines from the sea and tossed them into the bottom of their canoe. Then they began paddling as fast as they could toward their own village. Tinaicoboga and Raudalice begged them to make them free, The warriors laughed at the women's tears and pleas. 

But the gods were not pleased with the fishermen cruelty. Suddenly the sky turned black, the wind began to howl, and the once-calm sea began to churn. The fishermen fought with all their strength to keep their canoe from turning over. The waves poured over the bow and the wind tossed the canoe this way and that. When they last looked down, they saw that the bodies that had once been women had turned into two giant sea turtlesThey threw the turtles into the waves.The turtles slipped easily and comfortably into the water. The moment they were safely beneath the surface, the sea grew calm, the wind grew still.Drenched and exhausted, the fishermen of Nabukelevu went home and never spoke of their disaster at sea or of their crime.Forever afterward, Tinaicoboga and Raudalice lived in the waters of that bay. Always they remained turtles, rescued and blessed by the gods, and guarded the village of Namuana. 

Even today in Namuana, the women of the village, dressed in mourning clothes and carrying sacred clubs, walk to the shore. There they stand and chant to their beloved turtles."Rise to the surface so we may see you, Raudalice and Tinaicoboga‟As the women chant, the giant turtles rise to the surface of Kadavu.But sometimes they do not rise, and the people say that whenever someone from Nabukelevu is present, the turtles stay beneath the water, for they recognize their enemies, and sea turtles never forget those who have done them wrong.