Tongan language week Pourquoi story

Long ago, before it had been discovered by European settlers, Tonga was a far, unknown and distant land.

In a kingdom on the edge of the ocean, in a forest just behind the beach, lived a Tongan king named Lepote. But he was no normal king, for he was obsessed with perfection and cleanliness. Every tapa had to be straight to the nanometre, and if even one speck of dirt was found, the servant responsible for cleaning was whipped mercilessly by Lepote himself until screams of pain could be heard from miles away (This had happened numerous times, and almost half of his servants had been whipped).

The servants had begun to resent him, but with his mighty army of two thousand guards he soon put an end to any rebellion that might spring up. The servants began to lose spirit and the will to persevere. Many soon abandoned Lepote in search of a more kind and fair king and soon only Lepotes Head servant and five other servants remained, mainly because of the servant that had returned the night before bleeding heavily, saying there were bandits and they had killed the servants before him, dying twelve minutes later. With no other choice, the servants were forced to stay and attend to their wild tempered and perfection-seeking king.

The day soon came where Lepote had become bored, and he decided to hold an event. He announced, to his remaining six servants: “I have decided to make a challenge, where you may tell me to do anything. The person who gives me the hardest challenge which I cannot complete will become the new king.”

Except for the head servant, all of the servants thought this would be easy, but it was not, for Lepote was a fierce and formidable warrior. One by one, they challenged him to slay magical beasts plaguing Tonga, but one by one, he slew them. By slaying them though, he gained magical trophies like an unbreakable sword, a shield that always reflects light, even in darkness, a bow that could not miss, and many more artefacts. These even helped him to slay the beasts, making the battles easier every time instead of harder.

The servants were all confident when they swaggered up to Lepote with their challenge, only to see him return confidently and very much alive, and slink slowly away. But the head servant was more confident, and he chose more cautiously. He pondered on the challenge for three days and two nights, and finally, he knew the answer and what would make him king. When the sun rose and the sky turned the colour of candy floss, signifying a new day, he approached Lepote and said. “Mighty king, I have pondered on your challenge and have carefully thought about my challenge in turn, finally coming up with an answer. King, I ask you, can you swim in the ocean?” Lepote laughed at the head servants request. “Hahaha! Easy! I will show you, servant, and I will remain as king!” The head servant smiled, knowing the outcome already.

As the Lepote waded in the ocean, getting ready to swim, he saw how murky the water was. “What is this? Aagh! So dirty!” Lepote then proceeded to collect the dirt and put it in his endless bag, a artifact from his adventures, only to find that more dirt came in with every wave. He continued cleaning then, slowly, almost sloth-like, gaining nanometer by nanometer on the dirt, only to have the head servant point out some dirt in the water, which would make him turn around and grab at that patch, trying to get rid of it. He continued on at this for days, and for some reason, maybe Tonga wanted him to continue at this task and make it cleaner, allowed him to become immortal, making him Tongas immortal water janitor.

The servant returned to the kingdom, happy that his plan had succeeded, and the king learnt that cleanliness is a want, not a need, and the joy and comfort of your people should come first before the cleanliness of your home and the work amount of your subjects. This is how the sea around Tonga remains clean.

This is my story that I wrote for Tongan language week. It is about a Tongan king named Pote who is very cruel to his subjects and loves cleanliness. The moral of it is that you should be kind to people who work for you.