- Abaia
Abaia is a huge, magical
eel inMelanesian mythology .According to Melanesian mythology the Abaia is a type of large
eel which dwells at the bottom of freshwater lakes in theFiji , Solomon andVanuatu Islands . The Abaia is said to consider all creatures in the lake its children and protects them furiously against anyone who would harm or disturb them. It is said that those who are foolish enough to try and catch the fish from a lake containing the Abaia are immediately overwhelmed by atidal wave caused by the thrashing of the Abaia’s powerful tail.Another version of the legend states that if someone where to harm a creature living in the Abaia’s home, the Abaia would cause a great rain storm flooding the land and drowning those who had caused the harm. One example of this ability is illustrated in the following story:
One day a man discovered a
lake in which were manyfish , and at the bottom of the lake lived a magic eel, but the man knew it not. He caught many fish and returned the next day with the people of hisvillage whom he had told of his discovery, and they also were very successful, while one woman even laid hold of the great eel, Abaia, who dwelt in the depths of the lake, though he escaped her.Now Abaia was
angry that his fish had been caught and that he himself had been seized, so he caused a great rain to fall that night, and the waters of the lake also rose, and all the people were drowned except an old woman who had not eaten of the fish and who saved herself in a tree.Although it would seem that the
magical powers of the Abaia are the byproduct of human imagination and itsfear of the unknown, it has been suggested that Abaia legend may have stemmed from encounters with an actual undiscovered species of giant eel living at the bottom of these remote lakes.References
*Jobes, Gertrude. "Dictionary of Mythology Folklore and Symbols". New York:The Scarecrow Press, 1962.
*Rose, Carol. "Giants, Monsters, and Dragons". Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2000. ISBN 0-87436-988-6.External Links
* http://www.unknownexplorers.com/abaia.php
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
