Message in a Bottle
for children and grown-ups, and the island of people
a beautiful island
pongso no tao island of people
Where the black tides wake up the sun, there is a beautiful island. It is called Pongso no tao.
kagling goats
The island of people is also an island of goats. Every day, they walk from the east to the west, and from the north to the south. When the sun shines, they play paper, scissors, stones on the cliffs. When the sky is grey, they do jigsaw puzzles in deserted houses.
kasowlian taro field
The island of goats is also an island of taros. Accompanied by the sea breeze, they sway in a dance of green. Little taros grow in the watery fields. Day by day, they grow stronger to withstand typhoons.
among fish
Sand, lifted by the currents, colors the sea. Amid the many shades of blue, fish come in all sizes and shapes. Some are flashy, some are shy. Some are brilliant, some are dull. Together with people, goats and taros, they share the island as friends.
somaliwaiamie talaka nen a contented life
Everyone was living a simple and contented life, until one day——
a tide of bottles
na ouch
Little taro is curious. Rising from the watery field, it looks in wonder at ants passing by, and salty crystals glittering on the leaves. One day, popping up as usual, it hits something hard.
oakai sweet potato
“Ouch!� Right in front of little taro, at the edge of the taro field, there is a strange-looking thing. It looks a little like a sweet potato, but is transparent. Something bubbly is trapped inside.
vaklit PET bottle
Ant passes by and dives into the thing. Very soon, it comes out with a frown. “How’s the sweet potato?” asks little taro. “Sweet potato? It’s a bottle!” “Bottle?” “Don’t you know?”
aypiar oh my god
Ant forgets that little taro does not have a view to the sea. It has no idea that a tide of bottles has almost surrounded the island. Many poor fish, bumping into the plastic invasion, are bruised all over. Two little mermaids, while playing happily
among
the
reefs,
were
accidentally trapped inside a soda bottle and only managed to escape when a sea anemone helped them out. But during the rescue they choked on the old soda, and were sick for half a day. On the shore, a myopic hermit crab mistook a bottle cap for a shell. It moved in, and suffered a bad heat stroke. To make matters worse, a bottle cap wasn’t a safe shelter. The unlucky crab was almost eaten up by a predator!
agegei pearl barley
“Is everybody alright?� Little taro wishes to go to the sea and see for itself. It has only learnt about the ocean from pearl barley, who sometimes sing this song at night: mata no angit eyes of the sky talinga no wawa ears of the sea na livonen no ryos o ma a taw currents drift around the island a nowod no ahahep, do karawan a serenade of a million years
mikalakala let’s find a way
With a tide of bottles hitting the island, the million-year-old serenade would surely be disrupted! The sea would have to cover its ears, and the eyes of the sky could not close for a restful night... The sun is setting. Ant shakes its head, and says it has to go. Little taro says goodbye. Seeing the worried ant off, it thinks, let’s find a way.
let’s find a way
kagagan friends
The flickering morning light greets the mountains and the sea, and brightens up the taro fields. Little taro has a warm feeling in its heart. “There must be other friends who care about this!� So it finds a way: friends.
ponai dragonfly
Little taro feels a tap on its shoulder. Ah, there's a ripple——it’s dragonfly! What luck! To sort out the problem, little taro needs data, but it does not have legs and cannot make it to the sea. Little taro tells dragonfly about the situation. Dragonfly is worried too, but it has no clue what it can do as an insect with two pairs of wings and three pairs of legs. Little taro says, “Why don’t you count the number of bottles?” You might be wondering——how can a little dragonfly count the countless bottles around the whole island?
livonen around
You
should
never
underestimate
determination. This is the method: 1. Scan, through compound eyes, the number of bottles in a certain area, say a taro field; 2. Measure the time needed to fly across this area; 3. Fly around the whole island and record the total flying time. Divide this by the flying time across the measured unit. You can then tell the total size of the island in terms of taro fields. 4. Multiply (with four wings and six legs as a decimal calculator) the number of bottles in each unit with the total number of taro fields.
kalang crab
When dragonfly completes its mission, it is almost noon. “There’s a lot, really——like the bubbles maran* crab blows when he drinks!” Dragonfly perches on a taro leaf. Concerned about the island and its friends, little taro is undaunted, “Let's
clean
up
the
floating
bottles!” But how can they handle such a big quantity? At dusk, m a r a n crab passes by to grab a beer from 7-Eleven. Dragonfly counts. Maran crab has four pairs of legs and two big claws! Can he lend a claw to help?
* “Maran” is a salutation for elder men in the Tao language. “Kaminan” is for elder women. When you meet uncles and aunties on the island, you can say, “maran-kong” and “kaminan-kong”——“Good day, uncle!” “Good day, auntie!”
pilimang broadcast
“Of course!” M a r a n
crab has no
hesitation, “Let’s also get big crab, medium crab and little crab!” Immediately, maran crab takes out a microphone: “Brother crabs, your attention please: to tackle the tide of bottles, please come out and help...” As he calls for other crabs, maran crab marches sideways to the coast.
jimakanet not enough
More and more crabs join up along the road. They form a chain, and send waves of bottles ashore. But there are toooooooooooooooooooooo many bottles! Even though the crabs have big claws, they are still shorthanded.
karay net
When everybody feels swamped, little taro remembers the kaminan who takes care of them. She always harvests with a basket, so even though she only has one pair of hands, she can carry a lot of taros on her own. Where to find a basket big enough for so many bottles? “Seaweed!” Little mermaid, previously trapped in a bottle, emerges from a sea anemone: “They always make a trampoline by holding hands!” Everybody
is
confused.
Little
mermaid does not quite know how to explain. She asks seaweed for a quick demonstration. In the blink of an eye, they form a net.
misamsam clear the trash
Seaweed
join
hands
with
the
crabs, and efficiently gather a loooooooooooooooot
of
floating
bottles. Dragonfly does quick math, “Ten, twenty, forty, eighty... two hundred and forty... two hundred and forty times five, ten, fifteen, twenty... three. Five thousand five hundred and twenty!!” Little taro looks at the heaps of bottles. “What should we do next?”
mangpeh so vak vaklit recycling
Inspiration is a magical thing. It always comes when it is needed: goat chews up a bunch of grass, and drops five pieces of dung. Everybody knows that manure fertilizes. If trash is treated in the right way, can it become useful? There is a thing called “recycling”: it gives trash a second life. For instance, after a delicious meal, leftover taro leaves and sweet potato skins can feed the pigs; used paper can be shredded for a second round of pulp. Plastic bottles can also be recycled——to become new bottles, rubber duckies, swimming floaties, or even bathing suits! “Let’s recycle!”
kasaong neighbor
There is no recycling factory on Pongso no tao, so they have to send the collected bottles over to Taiwan. Before that, they have to compress the bottles into rectangular blocks. Little taro thinks of the goats next door. Can they help? “But it’s summertime!” says businessminded papa goat. “All that plastic trash might frighten the tourists away!” Mama goat is concerned about the tsunami-like tide of bottles. She would rather see her children playing merrily, instead of gathering dirty bottles on the shore.
kakteh do ti na i brothers and sisters
But then, big sister goat number one volunteers: “Goats number one, two, three and four can help!” Goat number two, impulsive but always helpful, echoes: “If we do nothing, our island will become a trash mountain!” “In any case, we walk all over the island every day,” says goat number three reasonably, “It would be nice if we contribute some of our hoof power to the cause.”
iia liman accident
The team finds an empty house where they can compress the bottles into plastic blocks. Goats number one, two, three and four, together with the crabs, push the bottles in——
POW! Something exploded! What happened? “It’s air pressure!” explains goat number four, the scientist, “We have to slash the bottles first to release the air.”
mo ga raw a ka rawan a vakvaklit a green future
So project bottle slashing begins. The crabs team up with some sea urchins, but the job is easier said than done. Some bottles are rock hard, and hurt their claws and spikes. Sometimes, jets of horrid liquids spurt out, and hit them in the face... It is dirty work, especially for sea creatures used to the refreshing Pacific. But everybody is willing to do it for Pongso no tao. One by one, bottles are picked up, packed, slashed and compressed. Little taro asks its neighbors to make room in their field, so that there is more space for the recyclable plastic blocks. Taro leaves nod in the breeze, wishing for a green future.
typhoon
The waves crash. Goat climbs onto the cliffs, looks out at the sea, and decides to eat more grass. A big wave hits the reef. The splash surges and dissipates, like misty clouds on a mountain peak. As the typhoon nears, those of us who care about little taro and its friends might be alarmed. To ease your worries, let me explain: In Chinese, there is an expression: “frightening swells and terrifying waves.� This is foreign to Pongso no tao, because here big waves are not threatening. Typhoons remove debris and reset the coast. They are good friends.
Can little taro and friends leave the bottles to the typhoon? They try to imagine what will possibly happen: the typhoon will definitely wash away a whole lot of bottles from the coast. But plastic bottles are different from driftwood. They will give the ocean a stomach ache. So, they decide to: 1. Try their best, and pick up as many bottles as they can. 2. Trust nature, and leave the rest to the typhoon.
Little taro and friends try their best to clean up as many bottles as possible. Maran crab turns up the volume on the microphone, hoping to bring in more helping hands. Many species respond to his call, including ratfish and bird. Do you know why ratfish looks like a rat? Because it used to be one! Once upon a time, rat and bird were best friends. One day, they went fishing together. At noon, rat was hungry, “Shall we have wutuwan*?” The wind was howling over the sea. Bird did not hear rat’s tummy rumbling, “Let’s fish first, and eat later!” * When Tao men go on long fishing trips, the food they bring along is called “wutuwan”.
ko man ka soma vaw shall we have wutuwan?
Rat was disappointed. “If you don’t let me have wutuwan right now, I will eat the boat.” But bird was totally absorbed in fishing. Rat started biting the hull. The boat leaked and sank. Bird flew up. Rat fell into the water, and turned into ratfish. Sometimes ratfish thinks, “Perhaps I shouldn’t have eaten the boat!” But what has happened has happened. Looking back can’t change anything. Still, every day ratfish looks up at the sky, wondering whether bird will pass by. If it does, what should ratfish say?
In the sky, bird feels the same. It rarely flies over the ocean. If it sees ratfish from above, should it apologize? It also worries that it might catch its best friend by mistake. The wind grows stronger. Little taro recalls another song: omazowazobbub ori wind
siyatuan
those treasures
piyata
vinatovokadan
fortunately use stones to encircle dano vatolalaw izaig by
stones
secured
Oh yes——better to get some stones to secure the bottles! But stones are good anchors because they do not move. Where to find a stone that can come to help? An enthusiastic little stone on the levee raises its voice, “Get my cousin!” Little stone’s cousin is the legendary wrestling stone. A long time ago, its human friends sold it and its brother for gold. They bought an air-conditioner with the money. But soon they regretted it. They tried to buy back the wrestling stones by selling the air conditioner, but the money they got was only enough for
mikala somi ra kep pa sovato anizpi New Taiwanese Dollar looks for wrestling stones
the younger wrestling brother. So big wrestling stone now has to live in the Window of China Theme Park in Taiwan, where it performs landslide stunts. Little stone returned to Pongso no tao. Without his brother, it has no one to wrestle with. The human family, having sold the airconditioner, sometimes finds it really hot. They then go down to the seaside pavilion, and spend the warm nights chatting together. Little wresting stone hears its cousin’s call and immediately rolls over. It is more than happy to lend its weight to the cause. As soon as it arrives on the scene, the bottles are safely secured.
At exactly that same moment, up in the sky bird is holding a corner of a seaweed net. Down in the sea, ratfish is holding the other. Parted by sea and sky, the best friends can’t see other. But each knows the other is there. Their old argument over the wutuwan does not matter anymore.
The sky rumbles. Lightning splits the sky. Rain comes crashing down. Amid towering waves, the sea turns ultramarine. Ratfish and little mermaid ask jellyfish to shine a light, so that the sea creatures would not be hit by bottles in the dark. When some little shrimps get caught inside a bottle, a giant trevally, with seven fishing hooks stuck in its jaws, comes to their rescue. Little taro, dragonfly, crabs, seaweed, goats, bird and stones courageously hold onto the bottle blocks.
At night, the roaring wind breaks a door. Up on the hill, an old tapa tree hears the noise and worries about little taro and its friends. It lifts up its centuries-old roots and walks downhill to provide shelter for them. Looking up, lights flicker between the fluttering leaves. They twinkle, like eyes of the sky.
afterwards
After the typhoon, are the bottle blocks sheltered under the tapa safe and sound? Did the sea have a stomach ache? Modern
development
has
brought
many changes. Typhoons are still good friends, but while resetting the coast, they also draw in more plastic bottles——from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong... places that share the same ocean with Pongso no tao. Little taro, dragonfly, crabs, little mermaid, seaweed, goats, ratfish, bird, little wrestling stone, giant trevally and tapa have a big mission to complete.
Many people think that trash on an island like Pongso no tao should be handled by the government. If they want to push for effective action, they can write letters to district governors, leverage the media, or solicit help from corporations or foundations. They should aim for quantifiable impact. I
have
no
objection
to
these
approaches. However, little taro and friends have more faith in their own endeavors. When filthy water spills out from a slashed bottle, they do not bother with who is to blame. They simply get together, and do as much as they can to make things better.
Message in a Bottle was inspired by my encounters with the islanders of Lanyu, known in English as “Orchid Island,� off the east coast of Taiwan. The characters of little taro and friends are based on Awen, an indigenous resident of the Tao tribe, and his team, who have taken the initiative to tackle the problem of solid waste on the island. The context of the story is Lanyu in the midst of economic development. Every day, tourism and capitalism come knocking on the door: for how much would you sell your wrestling stones? Those who are making a fortune and those who are conscious about the costs are in disagreement, like ratfish and bird.
In
the
library
of
the
Lanan
Foundation on the island, there is a book on indigenous plants. This is where I learned the Tao name of the White Banyan tree: tapa, which means a wide crown. When a new house is built, tribesmen place a branch in the main house, in hopes that the family will flourish like the magnificent tree. At the same time, the shade under a tapa, unlike the refuge I imagine for the story, is traditionally feared as the devil’s domain. In the process of development, how can one tell whether the fast growing tree is a protective shelter or an evil trap? On the island, I
think this question is similar to the one about 7-Eleven, which does not really need outsiders’ opinions. Nonetheless, we can all ask ourselves, where is our own Pongso no tao? On hills or plains, in highrises or underground, how do little taros respond to all sorts of polluting tides? When the towering waves were not threatening, I remembered a friend once said: There is a kind of will that keeps you safe even at the edge of a cliff Thank you, friends from Lanyu.
PS. If you think that the lesson of a story should be more concrete, here are some suggestions: 1. R e d u c e
waste.
frequently
On
sees
Lanyu, this
one
sign:
“Resources on the island have come a long way.� Be mindful with consumption. Think about what will happen after you throw something into the bin. Very likely, you will produce less waste. 2. Avoid using disposable items. Bring your own bottle, cutlery and shopping bag. You can help reduce tides of bottles, wooden chopsticks, plastic bags, etc.
3. If you are not into quantitative measures and believe in the good work of people like Awen and his team, please support them. In 2015, when I first wrote the Chinese version of this story, Awen was hoping to build a small recycling hub, where he could process plastic bottles and promote greater environmental consciousness. There visitors would be able to make upcycled art, join eco tours, and contribute to a greener future for the children of Lanyu.
Now three years later, in 2018, Awen’s little green hub HAS BEEN BUILT! He has decided to focus on education, and hopes more people will be inspired to share his cause. For details, please visit: www.facebook.com/dontwastelanyu
Notes
Besides
drawing
inspiration
from
Awen’s
recycling project, this story also references the following: * I have drawn on many terms from the indigenous Tao language. Awen kindly assisted with the translation of these terms. Tao is a spoken language and does not have written words. Here English romanization is used to represent the sounds. Dialects differ from tribe to tribe. The story of little taro is based in the village of Ivalino, where Awen lives. So we are speaking his dialect of Tao here.
* Previously, the Japanese and Han Chinese called the Tao tribe the “Yami”. “Tao” is what the tribe calls itself in its own language. The word means “human”. * The Tao tribe categorizes fish in an interesting way: “women’s fish,” “men’s fish,” and “elders’ fish.” Traditionally, “women’s fish” is for women and children only. Adult men can eat both men’s and women’s fish. Elders can eat anything. Fishing is the job of Tao men. Because they have to take care of everybody in the family, they cannot only hunt for men’s fish (which are usually dumb and
easier to catch). As fishermen have to spend more time on catching women’s fish (which are brilliant and agile), men’s fish have more chance to breed. The tradition is instrumental to the preservation of marine biodiversity. See Yu Guang-hong 余 光 弘 , “An Introduction to the Yami Society,” in https:// travel.lanyu.info/tao-culture/ 人 類 學 觀 點 . * Besides fish, taro and sweet potato make up the Tao diet. For those who have the privilege to order Shanghai stir-fry and Hawaiian Pizza any time, these might not sound very appetizing. However, these root vegetables are resilient to typhoons and are reliable sources of food.
* While men in the Tao tribe are responsible for fishing, women take care of farm work. They are all highly capable. Nevertheless, if you see a maran returning with a big catch, or a kaminan harvesting a big yield, you should never say, “Maran! You are such a great fisherman!” or “Kaminan! What a wonderful harvest!” Humbleness is an important virtue for the tribe. Therefore, Awen and his team appear humbly in this story as little taro, dragonfly, crabs, etc.
* I learned about the plight of the hermit crab from Awen’s teammate Xiong-ye. One day, we were picking up bottles on the beach. Carefully surveying the reefs, he collected materials for the planned eco tours. * Necklaces made of pearl barley are frequently seen
in
souvenir
shops
on
Lanyu.
These
teardrop-like beads, gathered from barley growing
by
the
taro
fields,
are
popular
ornaments among the modest Tao women. I wished to bring home a few. Mara Oz brought me to his aunt. Kaminan got me a big bunch from her fields.
* “Mata no angit,” literally “eyes of the sky,” is the Tao word for stars. Ancestors’ spirits, having ascended to the sky, keep an eye on their descendants and blink in the starry night. I learnt about this beautiful word from the Tao writer Syaman Rapongan 夏 曼 ・ 藍 波 安 . See his novel Eyes of the Sky, published in Chinese as 天 空 的 眼 睛 , (Taipei: Linking Books, 2012). * I came across little ear conches in Awen’s shop. The delicate white shells have an opening like an ear. If you place it by yours, you will hear sounds of the ocean.
* “Brother, your attention please” was broadcast on a day when a typhoon was nearing the island. At Imorod, tribesmen volunteered to bring the tatala (canoes) ashore. * Syaman Rapongan told me typhoons were “good friends.” I was planning to visit him when the weather news alerted people to stay indoors. Not sure whether we should call off the meeting, I gave him a ring. “It’s not coming yet,” he told me. I trusted that his grasp of nature was more accurate than the news. Catherine then drove me there on her little scooter. We dashed through the wind and glided past towering waves.
* “Securing taro treasures in the wind with stones” is taken from a song published in Lanyu Music Revels
蘭 嶼 音 樂 夜 宴 , edited by
Lu Yu-hsiu 呂 鈺 秀 and Shaman Fengayan 郭 健 平 , (Taipei: SMC Publishing , 2 0 0 7 ) . O n s p e c i a l occasions, or on a breezy summer night, members of the tribe gather for a “clapping song party.” Songs are passed on from generation to generation as everybody claps and sings along. The song “Taro treasures,” quoted in this story, was recalled by Syaman Kalayin, and is numbered 0609 in Lanyu Music Revels. From the word-for-word translation, you can see that the language has a unique syntax. The earlier song about night currents is my invention.
* The anecdotes about “ratfish and bird” and “the wrestling stones” are based on legends from the Tao oral tradition. See Chung Feng-di
鍾 鳳 娣 , ed.,
Stories of Yami Culture 雅 美 文 化 故 事 (Taidong: Lanyu Junior High School Workstation of Social Studies, 1986); Syaman Rapongan, Kavavatanen no ta-u jimasik (Legends of Kavavatanen), in Chinese as
published
八 代 灣 的 神 話 , (Taipei: Linking
Books, 2011). I read these stories as metaphors of development.
* The giant trevally with seven fishing hooks stuck in its jaws also comes from Syaman Rapongan’s Eyes of the Sky. A giant trevally is a very powerful fish. Catching it is an exceptional achievement. With seven hooks in its jaws, this particular trevally must have survived a good number of fierce battles. At the end of Rapongan’s novel, an old fisherman who once owned one of the hooks meets the big fish again. They gaze, with unspeakable feelings, at each other for one minute. I can almost see the way they looked each other in the eye. In this story, I invite the giant trevally to give typhoon-struck little taro a helping hand.
* Goats doing jigsaw puzzles in deserted houses, reflections on the watery fields, a chicken roosting on Fafa the sleepy pig, little mermaids in shallow water, dragonflies after the rain, crabs crossing the road, stars under a tapa... and goats number one, two, three and four, are all true stories.
I would like to thank the patrons of the Angela Gill Johnson Memorial Award, which supported this Lanyu sojourn during my residency at the Bamboo Curtain Studio, in the summer when Typhoon Goni swept through Taiwan. The original Chinese version of this little fable was published with their generous sponsorship.
My
gratitude
also
goes
to
the
following friends for bringing me the most unforgettable memories (in order of our first encounter): Elise Tsang, Awen, Mara Oz, Catherine Hsu, Si Gapen, Si Mangtamak, Si Mababo, Si Jiayod, Si Ngamawog, Syaman Rapongan, Yin-rong, Candice Hung, Da-cheng, Da-guang, Xiong-ye, Ah-li, Xiao-yu, Hei-mi, Xiang-jiao, Le-tin Last but not least, thank you, MaD Team, for backing up every adventure. Thank you for being there : )
Message in a Bottle Text + illustration: Stephanie Cheung Tao translation: Awen Copyediting: Valerie C. Doran Proofreading: Ada Li, Helen Fan Publisher:
No. 39, Ln. 88, Sec. 2, Zhongzheng East Road, Danshui District, New Taipei City 251, Taiwan +886 (02) 8890-3809 www.bambooculture.com English edition: July 2018 ISBN 978-986-92680-2-8
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Online version: http://bit.ly/message_in_a_bottle_lanyu_eng