Island Nights' EntertainmentsStevenson, Robert Louis
General
Island Nights' Entertainments
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Islands of the Pacific -- Fiction; Short stories
About six miles up the coast there is a sheltered cove they call
_Fanga-anaana_—“the haven full of caves.” I’ve seen it from the sea
myself, as near as I could get my boys to venture in; and it’s a little
strip of yellow sand. Black cliffs overhang it, full of the black
mouths of caves; great trees overhang the cliffs, and dangle-down
lianas; and in one place, about the middle, a big brook pours over in a
cascade. Well, there was a boat going by here, with six young men of
Falesá, “all very pretty,” Uma said, which was the loss of them. It
blew strong, there was a heavy head sea, and by the time they opened
Fanga-anaana, and saw the white cascade and the shady beach, they were
all tired and thirsty, and their water had run out. One proposed to
land and get a drink, and, being reckless fellows, they were all of the
same mind except the youngest. Lotu was his name; he was a very good
young gentleman, and very wise; and he held out that they were crazy,
telling them the place was given over to spirits and devils and the
dead, and there were no living folk nearer than six miles the one way,
and maybe twelve the other. But they laughed at his words, and, being
five to one, pulled in, beached the boat, and landed. It was a
wonderful pleasant place, Lotu said, and the water excellent. They
walked round the beach, but could see nowhere any way to mount the
cliffs, which made them easier in their mind; and at last they sat down
to make a meal on the food they had brought with them. They were scarce
set, when there came out of the mouth of one of the black caves six of
the most beautiful ladies ever seen: they had flowers in their hair,
and the most beautiful breasts, and necklaces of scarlet seeds; and
began to jest with these young gentlemen, and the young gentlemen to
jest back with them, all but Lotu. As for Lotu, he saw there could be
no living woman in such a place, and ran, and flung himself in the
bottom of the boat, and covered his face, and prayed. All the time the
business lasted Lotu made one clean break of prayer, and that was all
he knew of it, until his friends came back, and made him sit up, and
they put to sea again out of the bay, which was now quite desert, and
no word of the six ladies. But, what frightened Lotu most, not one of
the five remembered anything of what had passed, but they were all like
drunken men, and sang and laughed in the boat, and skylarked. The wind
freshened and came squally, and the sea rose extraordinary high; it was
such weather as any man in the islands would have turned his back to
and fled home to Falesá; but these five were like crazy folk, and
cracked on all sail and drove their boat into the seas. Lotu went to
the bailing; none of the others thought to help him, but sang and
skylarked and carried on, and spoke singular things beyond a man’s
comprehension, and laughed out loud when they said them. So the rest of
the day Lotu bailed for his life in the bottom of the boat, and was all
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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