Pacific Myths and legends                 

Retold by A.W. Reed
Illustrated by Jenny Cooper
Oratia (2026)
Moana Oceania series
Picture book, Retellings
120 pages, Paperback
ISBN 978 1 99 004284 3

 

‘When a big storm comes to the island of Nauru, the people who live there say to each other, “Oh dear, Young Spider has stolen the fire again!”’

 Pacific Myths and Legends is a collection of A.W. [Andrew Wyclif] Reed’s retellings of Polynesian, Micronesian and Melanesian folktales and legends. This collection has a long history. It was first published as Fairy Tales from the Pacific Islands in 1969, with a second edition being retitled as Myths and Legends of the Pacific (2000). In the 21^st Century, new printing technology made possible the handsome third edition, Illustrated Myths and Legends of the Pacific (2007) with magnificent full-colour pictures and decorations by Jenny Cooper. (That edition has her alarming Chatham Islands sea monster on the cover.)

It is this edition which has now been re-issued with a different cover and the same words and pictures (although it is minus three stories; one from Tahiti and two from New Guinea.) To avoid confusion with those previous editions, the title has now become Pacific Myths and Legends. (This edition has Jenny Cooper’s equally alarming shark on the cover.)

 All that is bibliographic history, of course. What the reader wants to know is whether the retelling has dated over the last five decades. A.W. Reed’s 1969 text has actually worn very well. His style is an easy, storytelling voice, with a strong emphasis on the character of the people (and creatures) described. The stories are long, ranging from 4 to 7 pages in length, so the designer, Cheryl Smith, has done well to fit them into 120 pages.

 ‘Many years ago, thousands of menehune, or little elves, lived in the islands of Hawai’i. You would not expect to see them in a great city like Honolulu but sometimes, they say, you can see a little man out the corner of your eye. He has red cheeks and a big smile. If you turn to look at him, he disappears, but you know that he was there a moment ago.’

 

The re-told stories come from the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Hawai’i, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Caroline Islands, Fiji, New Britain, Palau, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. As well as favourites such as ‘Hinemoa and Tūtānekai’, there are many less familiar stories about the peoples, gods and animals of the Pacific region.

 An enjoyable aspect of some of these legends is the gentle mocking of foolish or unwise people. Although a wise old man advises his chief, ‘This I have heard from my father who heard it from his father’s father,’ many of the stories sound as though they were passed from mother to mother. A Solomon Islands legend explaining ‘Why the Moon Has a Dirty face’ presents a chief who wants to use a fishing line to hook the moon, so it can be a permanent night-light in his house. His folly is matched by ‘The Foolish Canoe Paddlers’ who forget to raise their anchor and the ‘Six Men Who Tried to Catch a Sunbeam.’

From New Britain, in Papua New Guinea, comes the aptly titled ‘The Wise Brother and the Foolish Brother,’ with its subtle humour about a man who failed at housebuilding and fishing: ‘Kabinana was the foolish brother. He thought he was much cleverer than Karvuvu, so whatever Karvuvu did, Kabinana did it differently.’

Jennifer Cooper’s colour illustrations represent her best work, capturing the symbolic power and human interest of each of the legends. Her magnificent watercolour paintings of the stories’ Pacific Island people are complemented by the traditional Pacific patterns and symbols which help make this such a striking book.

 esigner Cheryl Smith has helpfully included each story’s title and place of origin in small type at the bottom of each page. There is also a handy map to show the location of the island territories represented.

 Trevor Agnew

2 Oct 2026  [Review 3872.]