More About Septcephalic Snakes
p. 73 · Read in the full issue
From DIANA NIZETTE in Lae “PIM” of January tells of a reported seven-headed snake seen in Fiji. Here is a story about another.
In early 1954 my husband and I took our three children for a short holiday in a village up the Sigotoka Valley. Our house-girl, Valetina, took us home with her, and no one, anywhere, ever had a warmer welcome.
On our first night in the “koro”, after the “yaqona” ceremony, an old man reputed to be the son of a cannibal and called “Rogou nive megi megi” (the coconut fibre who tells a story ) kept us enthralled with tales of the old days and some fascinating legends. One such story con cerned a seven-headed snake.
We were told that some 15 years previously, it had been reported that a priest, looking through a telescope, had seen the seven heads of the serpent writhing and rearing in the early morning sun. The snake was supposed to live in one of the many caves in the nearby mountains.
Legend has it that the body of the snake has never been seen—only the heads, and that in each of the heads there is a diamond; also that wherever the snake has passed, gold will be found. Should a concerted effort be made to find the snake, the gold will disappear.
We were also told that, on occasions, an old Fijian had been seen feeding the snake.
The night wore on with tales of talking bones, cave entrances pass able only to virgins, and other equally fascinating subjects. . . .
Over the years these tales had slipped my mind, but now Vm wonder ing if any other seven-headed snakes have been sighted in Fiji besides the one in Sigatoka in 1939 that we heard about and that in Ba in 1967 described in January “PIM”.