One Foot Island

This is a story that my mum told me. This story tells us that parents make great sacrifices for their children. Still today they sacrifice for their children.

This is a story about one of the motus of Aitutaki enua, which is one foot island. A lot of people thought that the island was named One Foot Island after its shape, but that is false. The island was named after a legend.

One day a father and his son decided to go fishing. As they were fishing, they spotted that their village was being attacked by some warriors, so they tried to escape as fast as they could without being seen. Unfortunately, they were spotted by some of the warriors who were attacking the village. The warriors turned to chase the father and the son.

As the father and the son reached the nearest island, the father had to find a way to save his son, because he knew that they would not survive. So, he sent his son to run inland to find the highest tree and the father traced his sons footsteps by stepping over each footstep to show only one foot. The father told his son to climb up the tree, and whatever happens to the father, never come down. The father cleaned the footsteps heading to the tree and directed them away from the tree to another path.

As the warriors approached the island they were confused to see only one foot, as they believed they were certain they saw two people on the boat. They followed the trace of the footsteps, found the father, and killed him. Then, the warriors left the island thinking that they have killed every survivor from the village. The son was saved by his father’s footstep showing only one foot, which is how the island was named ONE FOOT ISLAND.