Lojele

A long time ago, there was a boy named Lojele. He grew up with his grandfather on Wodmej island in the Wotje Atoll. He was the first man who discovered how to make a canoe. During that time, he was eighteen years old and all the people of Wodmej were scared of him. One day, he went to the ocean side and sat near a coconut tree. He spent a long time observing the ocean and the lagoon. Lojele’s grandpa told him, “What are you doing? You need

to help the people work. What are you thinking of?” He ignored his grandfather and went to bed. When he slept,

he saw something that he had never seen before – how to make a canoe. He saw it all. He was sure he could do it.

The next day, he thought about what he needed to build his canoe. He brought every thing he needed. After he got everything, he gathered them together. Every day, he worked on his canoe. People didn’t know his plan. No one helped him. His grandpa laughed at him, but he never gave up.

Two months later, the canoe was finished. And now it was ready. All the people of the Island came to see what Lojele had done. His grandpa cried because he had always made fun of his grandson. They made lots of food to celebrate the canoe that Lojele had made. The people of Wodmej started to get to know him. People from all over the Wotje Atoll came to Wodmej to see the canoe and what it looked like.

Finally, Lojele sailed on his canoe around the Wotje Atoll, returning all the people who came from other islands to see his canoe. They had never seen a canoe before and they were excited on their trip home. From Lojele, people of Wotje Atoll never had to walk between the islands at low tide ever again. Now, they call their island “Wodmej uses canoe.”