Sina and Her Tuna: Sina Ma Lana Tuna

By Filemoni Setu Lofipo and Pemerika L. Tauiliili

Sina and her Tuna ( Sina ma lana Tuna ) is a story of a love affair between the beautiful Samoan maiden Sina and Tuna. Tuna is actually Sinas pet eel and as Sina cares for him, he falls in love with Sina. This frightens Sina and she runs away to find shelter in a distant village. The village chiefs come to Sinas aid and Tuna is killed. It turns out that Tuna is actually a Fijian Prince who is under a spell and is unable to regain his human form. Before he dies, Tuna asks Sina to bury his head near her house. A few months later, a very special tree grows from where the head was buried. The tree is a coconut tree, one of the most important trees found in the islands of the Pacific, for its life giving fruits, leaves and fronds from which homes are thatched and other important traditional building materials and utensils are made.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491824863

Filemoni Setu Lofipo

The author is interested in telling children’s stories based on traditional Samoan legends and fables. Many of these stories were told by family elders and are the author’s treasured memories. Committing these memories to print is a gift from the author to future generations who may not have the privilege of listening to the same stories growing up. The author has written other books: The Rat and the Bat, Anoafale Vol. One, Anoafale Vol. Two, and Le Tu Manu ae Tu Logologo. The author writes in both English and Samoan. The author holds three chiefly titles Tauiliili, Leiataua and Taulapapa, and bachelor and masters degrees in Agriculture and Education.

Book preview

Sina and her Tuna

Sina ma lana Tuna

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Written by

Pemerika L. Tauiliili

Illustrated by

Filemoni Setu Lofipo

AuthorHouse™ LLC

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2013, 2014 Pemerika L. Tauiliili. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/13/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-5440-4 (hc)

           978-1-4918-2485-6 (sc)

           978-1-4918-2486-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013918059

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Dedications and Thanks

I would like to dedicate this book to my children, grand and great-grand children. You have given grandma and I joy and so much happiness in our old age. May the good Lord richly bless all of you.

Many thanks to daughter Ruta Tauiliili-Mahuka and wife Sylvia Mary Tauiliili for editing the English part of this book.

Contributors

Many people have contributed by providing valuable information for this work and to them a big thank you. Special thanks and appreciation to Afioga Lilomaiava Andrew Faasau of Moata’a and Radio 2AP for important information about the environment in which Sina lived. Thanks also to Lilomaiava for letting me adapt valuable information from a recording by his mother Fiapalagi Alofao’o Faasau. Fiapalagi was a teacher at the Teacher Training College of Samoa and later was responsible for media programs for the Department of Education. One of Fiapalagi’s recordings was the inspiration for Tala ia Sina ma lana Tuna.

About the story.

Sina and Tuna is a beautifully told story that explains the origins of the first coconut tree.Across the Pacific there are many stories of the most beautiful maiden in the islands. In this story, she befriends a small eel or Tuna and takes him home