Ghost of a flea

Look who's coming for dinner

A Fijian village, believing itself to be suffering a cursed existence, has once again apologized for eating a Methodist missionary.

The residents of Nabutautau say they have had hard luck since 1867, when their tribal forefathers dined on the Rev Thomas Baker, a Methodist missionary. Baker was probably the one of the first white men they had seen. The village in the inaccessible centre of the archipelago's main island, Viti Levu, has been the butt of Fijian jokes for years.

One sample of local hilarity may be found in this rendition of the tale:

The story of Thomas Baker

He was the first missionary to come to Fiji, in 1835, he went to Nabutautau in the Sigatoka River Valley. The chief of the village saw him combing his hair and asked if he could see the comb and he put it in his afro and when Baker was getting ready to leave he just took the comb from the chiefs head without asking permission, in Fiji the head of a chiefly person is sacred and shouldn�t be touched unless you are part of the Tauvu. The people fromt he village got angry about this show of disrespect and ate him and his boots to. That is why they say the slang about the Navosa area �This is Navosa we eat the flesh and eat the boot, Thank you�.

Of course, the did not actually eat the boots. Hilarious!

Posted by Ghost of a flea at October 21, 2003 08:21 AM

Comments

Posted by: Paul Jané at October 21, 2003 08:51 AM