THE BIG AND THE SMALL

There were two brothers, the big one and the small. They lived with the king and lounged in a corner of his court. The king had many huts and many fields, many coconut mats and containers, many strings of beautiful shells, but he was not happy.

The great and the little worked, but had nothing, and probably did not know how to save it. At the king's house, food circulated a lot, but did not always reach them so much, so that the Great, who was always hungry, was unhappy.

The king's meals were prepared by many villages in turn. When a village cooked for the king, the aroma of cooking would spread throughout the land, then with songs the people carried the food to the king.

The perfume and the songs hit the noses and ears of the two brothers.

“Go and meet them” said the big one to his brother. Take the food from their hands, and let your legs carry it before the king. The king will have many good things to eat and much fragrance, and his stomach will be very full, so he will give you a piece, this piece you will share, and the largest piece you will give to your big brother. 

The little One went and sat down on the stone steps of the king's house. He waited for the food to arrive.

People wondered why the he was sitting there. The king ordered that the little One be called.

“Why are you sitting on my steps?” asked the king.

“ I am little and I am hungry, and my brother is very hungry. I am waiting for someone to come from the village with your meal, I will bring you the food and I will receive a piece from you for my brother. ” replied the little one.

The king said to the servants: “Give him a piece” .

They gave him a piece, and the king said: “Take it to your brother ” .

The little one went to his brother, and said “We have to search for another work my brother”. 

They built a raft and went to an island. There were a lot of coconuts on the raft, but the sea had been carrying the raft for many days already. The big one had already eaten all his coconuts, now the little one was giving his nuts to his brother. Soon there was only one nut left on the raft. The great lay on the raft, and his strength was failing.

He said to the little one: “Rejoice your heart, brother. Our raft will only sail for one day and one night, then we will approach a new island. Rejoice your heart, for you will not die in a strange village, but you will die where we were born”.

He lay down on the raft, and his eyes looked at the sun. Then he fell asleep. The little one sang a song, and in his head passed the songs and the smells that he had shared with his brother. Then he cracked the last nut, and the raft, after a day and a night, landed on a shore. The little one dismounted, but all his strength had left his head, his body and his legs. He wanted to sleep, to sleep for a long time.

Along the shore a man and a woman were walking. They passed over the little one's legs. They thought they were stepping on a tree. They leaned down and saw that they were not two branches, but legs. They said: “Where do you come from, treeman? ».

The little one got up and went with them to their cabin. They gave him a mat to sleep on and some food. He ate with them, he worked with them. When the strength returned to his arms and legs, and his head was clearer, he said to the man and woman: “I want to travel across your island and see new things and a new country ”.

The man and the woman let him go, but they said to him, “You will come to a place where two rocks stand. You have to pass between them. But the rocks don't stay still, they jump against each other constantly. Only the quick footed one passes between them alive; he who is slow of foot, they crush his head like a walnut ”.