Book excerpt: Sina and her Tuna ( Sina ma lana Tuna ) is a story of a love affair between the beautiful Samoan maiden Sina and Tuna. Tuna is actually Sinas pet eel and as Sina cares for him, he falls in love with Sina. This frightens Sina and she runs away to find shelter in a distant village. The village chiefs come to Sinas aid and Tuna is killed. It turns out that Tuna is actually a Fijian Prince who is under a spell and is unable to regain his human form. Before he dies, Tuna asks Sina to bury his head near her house. A few months later, a very special tree grows from where the head was buried. The tree is a coconut tree, one of the most important trees found in the islands of the Pacific, for its life giving fruits, leaves and fronds from which homes are thatched and other important traditional building materials and utensils are made.