On an unknown island in the middle of the ocean, there was a small village. A village so small, that nobody knew of it aside from the people who lived there. Everyone in this village enjoyed their simple life of fishing and farming. However, many years ago a boy was born here. As this boy grew, his sense for adventure and finding treasure also grew with him. It grew so much, that he eventually became so bored with this small and uneventful village, he had to find some way to leave. So he began to make a canoe from the wood of trees that grew on his island, and when he was finished he left without even saying good bye to anyone. His boat was too small to cross the ocean, so went to other islands and found new villages and new people. And eventually came into contact with people who owned a large ship capable of crossing the ocean. Upon seeing the large boat, he immediately abandoned his small canoe and snuck aboard. He traveled the world on this boat collecting many treasures and seeing many new things. Until he grew too old and tired, he decided it was time to return his small island village.
Thirty years after he left, he found his way back to home. It was almost the same as he left it all those years ago. He had been gone so long that no body recognized him at first glance. But after he showed everyone all the treasures he had found and told them all the stories of his journey, he quickly became the town hero. He brought treasure such as a model of a peaceful looking house with some trees, A dark and slender statue of a woman from Africa, a wooden instrument used for measuring units that did not exist here, a decorative plate, a leather wallet filled with coins from a foreign land, a stamp from china, a jar made of glass, and large drum. The drum was his favorite, he used it to play beats for the people every night. Even the forest and water spirits that helped the town harvest food were impressed with him. Before long he had found a wife and fathered a son, a son who was very proud of him. But eventually the spirits came to think he might have been lying about his own adventures, so they spoke with some wind spirits who witnessed his traveled, and indeed he was lying. Not only was he lying, but all the treasures he had acquired were stolen.
Angered, the spirits returned to the small village. The forest spirit appeared before the village as a large wooden statue of a human head. She informed the village of his dishonest ways and banished him from ever returning. Despite being banished, the water spirit had noticed most of the town still looked to him as a hero, so he cursed all treasures he had brought home. He told them they will catch no fish and no crops will grow if these treasures are not in your village. And upon cursing them he hid them on different nearby islands. He then told them that this is only the fault of your hero, in hopes that they would no longer hope to be like him someday.
His son was very depressed by the actions of his father, in fact everyone began to distrust him just as much. They began to blame their starving him and his father. Deeply saddened how they could all turn on him, the only way he could think of to regain their trust was to go out and retrieve the treasures the spirits had hidden. He went into his mother's kitchen and looked for anything that could useful for his objective, but all he could find was a small table cloth and some flint. He grabbed them and went down to the beach and took a canoe, very similar to the one his father made when he was his age. He rowed to nearby islands and searched everywhere he could see, but he only found trees and water and rivers. No treasures were to be found.
Just as he was about to give up, he came across a large stone statue of a man sitting down with closed eyes and look of discomfort on its face. Confused why such a statue would be out here where men seldom are, he thought maybe this is test. He studied the statue very closely and came to the conclusion that it must be very cold out here all alone. So he gather twigs and wood from fallen trees and lit a fire in front of the statue with the flint he grabbed from his mother's kitchen. As the fire got a little bit bigger, he noticed the eyes of the statue begin to open. They opened but that was all, it still looked very sad. He then decided if it was cold, then it might also be hungry. So he went out into the forest once again and gathered some chestnuts. He roasted them on the fire and placed them next to the statue. The statue raised its head, but this was still not enough for it. He sat down next to the statue and thought very hard what else it might need. He then laughed as it became obvious to him, if it can be cold and hungry, it must also be lonely. So he sat and told it many of the stories his father once told him. Just as he was talking the arms of the statue unfolded and from it fell all the missing treasures. He then thanked the spirits, scooped them up and wrapped them up in his table cloth and ran home as quickly as he could.
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