Number 49

Phileas was staying in a beautiful hut on the beach and everyday he was greeted by a gorgeous sunshine, the fresh smell of the sea and the melodious songs from the birds. The hut was made out of the wood from the coconut tree and the roof was also thatched from the leaves of the tree. Phileas was also very lucky to be living next to a local man who every morning climbed the coconut tree to pick fresh coconuts and give them to Phileas for his breakfast. Phileas thought to himself about how useful the coconut tree was and there must be hundreds of different things that can be made from the very resourceful tree. "Excuse me sir, the coconut tree is such a wonderful tree. Please could you tell me how this tree came to be." Said Phileas to the local man. "Well Mr Fogg, that's funny you should say that, because it is this very tree that was the first to grow on this island. As legend goes, this tree was once a man." Said the local man, "once a man! How fascinating, please tell me more." Said Phileas, "okay Mr Fogg, let me tell you the story of the coconut tree." So the man asked Phileas to join him in his hut, so he could tell him this famous story.

The Story Of The Coconut Tree

Once upon a time there lived an old man, he was so old that people used to say that he was even a thousand years old and he has lived on the island from the beginning. He was also one of wisest people on the island and he knew more things than you could imagine. The old man lived in a cave near the sea which he rarely left, so when people wanted his advice or help they would have to go to him. 

One day, a young man from a rural village on the island came to seek advice from the old man. "O wise father," said the young man, "I want to be useful to people, and not only people who live on the island, I want to be useful to everyone. I want people to be able to make as much use out of me as possible. I want to serve them for my whole life. Please tell me, how can I do this?" "That is very good of you, I can tell that you have a kind and generous heart," said the old man, "and because of this I will give you this magic box. Do not open it until you reach home. If you open it before then, something will happen to you." "Thank you wise father," said the young man. 

After he thanked the old man he picked up the magic box, left the cave and headed back to his village. When the young man was far enough away from the cave, he stopped and had a look around to make sure that nobody was around. "I wonder what really can be inside this box?" He said to himself. "The anticipation is too much, I can't wait until I get home I need to check what is inside now. I'm sure the old man was just trying to scare me, I don't think anything is really going to happen to me." The young man slowly opened the lid of the box, his heart was beating and his hands were trembling with fright, he had absolutely no idea what was going to happen. Sure enough, as the old man said something did happen because just as the young man had nearly opened the lid a bright light shone from the box and roots started to shoot from the bottom of his feet and giant green leaves started to grow from his eyes, ears and mouth. The young man tried to shut the lid of the box but just as he was about to do it he shot up into the sky and his body grew hard and strong. 

The young man should have listened to the wise words of the old man, because now he stood 30 metres tall and swayed in the blue sky as a coconut tree. This was his punishment for disobeying the old man. 

This story would have a sad ending if it ended here, but it doesn't, because although the young man spent the rest of his life as a coconut tree he was the first of his kind and if you remember rightly, the young man requested that he wanted to be useful to everyone. The coconut tree is known as the tree of life because of it's wide variety of uses and they can be used to make things such as: clothing, mats, baskets, roofs, food, medicine and many more. People on the island say that the old man predicted this would happen and that is why he gave the young man the magic box because he knew that in years to come people would be grateful for the coconut tree and remember how kind and generous the young man was.