Nasara, the daughter of the elephants islands king, fled from her much older husband. He wanted her to stay in the house all day. She longed for the sunlight and the wild and juicy nature of her island. She ran through the thick jungle and before she knew it, she fell down a cliff and landed in a pond. It was a beautiful pond, with a giant waterfall on one side, leading into a second, smaller waterfall.
Never before had she jumped off a cliff. With her wet black hair clinging to her face she rose to the surface. Quite to the surprise of a lone warrior, who was bathing in the same pond far up in the mountains. He had been sure he wouldn’t meet anyone there. First they looked puzzled then their faces cracked into wide smiles.
So when he saddled the horse she hopped on to it and they rode a narrow and stony path down to the ocean. Giant spiders hang in huge webs from the branches near their heads and the timeworn stones of the path were slippery and wet. Takato had ordered a sailboat a few days earlier to pick him up at the coconut beach near the southern tip of the island.
After they boarded they knew they would have to wait quite a while. The ship was slow as the wind was weak. She looked sternly into his eyes and asked herself “Where is this man taking me?”
It started to rain quite heavily and they took shelter below the deck. In his mind he was writing a poem for her. He forged words into sentences, eager to win the love of this beautiful woman. He began reciting the verses, but she had something different in mind. She looked at his nose and started pinching it. Some dirty pores had caught her eyes and she started pressing his nose tip to clean it.
His eyes watered because the pinching hurt, but after a few seconds they broke into laughter. It was like they had always meant to be together.
Follow @oliverwood
