Sisior

In a story from the island of Yap, there was a woman from Maki named Sisior. She went to bathe next to her house, and her tattoos were visible as she undressed. A demon in the form of an eel saw this and fell in love with her. When it approached her, she panicked and ran away. In her dreams, she saw a handsome man who asked why she ran away when he approached her in the water. She was confused until the man explained he appeared in the form of an eel. She explained she did see him but was afraid of the eel, so he asked her to go there again and not run away when he approached. She went to bathe the next day, and the eel approached again and touched her, which scared her into running away again. He saw her again in her dreams and asked her to bathe again and not run away if she loved him. She bathed again, and when the eel approached, she shut her eyes until he left. He entered her dreams again and thanked her for staying, then asked if she loved him. She said yes, but only in his human form. He accepts this and says he will only see her at night when he can take human form. He then asked to marry her, and later they had a son together, also named Sisior. He was a normal boy, except his back had skin like an eel. The people of Maki would bring leaves, which at that time served instead of betel. Once, the boy Sisior went with them, and he lagged behind since he had no friends. A woman took him in and traded him two coconuts for the leaves. The next time he went to the woman, another woman asked if he could trade her a turtle shell, but unfortunately, he had none. When he went home, his mother said they were mocking him because of his eel back. He cried because he wanted to know where his dad was, and his mom refused to tell him. The next day, the eel asked why his son was so sad. When his mother explained, the eel asked why his son wasn’t sent to him. The next day, the boy is instructed to go to the bath and bring two beams. He was told to find an eel with its mouth wide open. When the eel’s mouth opened as wide as possible, he was told to enter it and put the beams in it. He entered the eel’s mouth and saw a shark swimming towards him, then climbed into the shark’s mouth. He got to a sandy beach covered in turtle shells and filled the shark’s mouth with them. He came home and sought out the woman who asked for the turtle shell. The woman was given a shell, and the rest were divided among the chiefs. Sisior kept one shell for himself and returned to the eel. Later, Sisior got married and had a daughter, whom he gave a turtle shell bracelet. People saw the incredible bracelet and accused Sisior of not giving the best turtle shell to the chiefs. Despite bringing the turtle shells, Sisior was killed for not giving the best to the chiefs. Some of the turtle shell pieces went to Mogemeg, where a fish hook was made that was used to pull the island of Feis from the bottom of the sea.

Citations:

Frazer, James George. The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead: The belief among the Micronesiana. United Kingdom, Macmillan, 1913.