# Last edited on 2014-05-02 23:25:40 by stolfilocal

[Cover]
The Island of the Tuti-Boni

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In the warm and cozy Island of the Tuti-Boni, there was only one village, where 10 families of Tuti-Boni lived happily.

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The Tuti-Boni were happy because they all knew how to fish, plant taro, and climb up the coconut trees.  They made themselves their comfy huts, clothes, and everything that they needed.

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On the Island there lived also a Royal Family, with the King of the Tuti-Boni, the Queen, and two Princes and two Princesses.

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The Royal Family did not know how to fish, plant taro, or climb up the coconut trees.  But the villagers were fond of their King and Queen, because they always looked great leading the parade on Tuti-Boni Day. So the villagers built a Royal Hut for the Royal Family, gladly shared their food with them, and made everything else they needed.  And so the Royal Family lived happily too.

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Now, the Island of the Tuti-Boni was is a rather out-of-the-way corner of the sea, so almost no ship stopped there ever.

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But one day a large merchant ship came to the Island, because the Captain had a terrible problem, and needed the Tuti-Boni's help.

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The Captain told the Tuti-Boni that the ship's freezer had broken down, their food had all spoiled, and him and all the sailors were quite hungry already.  He asked if the Tuti-Boni could give them some food so that they could eat and continue their trip.

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The ship had come to the right island, because the Tuti-Boni were always quite hospitable and generous.  Every family fished a few more fish, harvested some more taro, and picked a few more coconuts; and soon they had enough food for the Captain and all the sailors to keep sailing.

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The Captain was very happy and wished to reward the Tuti-Boni for their help.  But he saw that the Tuti-Boni did not know money, and had no use for it.  So he instead gave them 10 of the cars that the ship was carrying.

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And they were very good cars: they consumed only sunlight instead of gasoline, did not make noise or smoke, were easy to drve, did not run too fast, would never break or need new tires --- and came in 10 different very nice colors.

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The Tuti-Boni liked the Captain's presents very much.  They used the cars to get to the taro fields, to carry fish and coconuts to the village, and to go to the soccer game every Sunday morning.  So the Tuti-Boni kept on living on their island even happier than before.

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But the King and the Queen no longer happy.  Since the Royal family did not know how to fish, plant taro, or climb up the coconut trees, they could not help the sailors, and stayed in their Royal Hut the whole time.  And so the Captain did not give any car to them.

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But then the King noticed one thing.  He saw that the villagers were mostly happy with their cars, but often unhappy with their colors.  No one thought of that at first, when they got the cars; but now many families wished that they had picked a car with a color that matched their favorite clothes.

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The Poca family, who got the yellow car, for example, wanted to have a blue one instead, to match their blue dresses.  By luck, the Roba family, who had the blue car wanted a yellow one. So one day the two families got together, and swapped their cars; and each family went back home even happier than before.

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But sometimes things were not that simple.  The Sapa family with the red car wanted a brown one, but the Nazo family with the brown car wanted either a black car or a white car. The Figo family with the black car wanted a green one or a yellow one, and the Goto family with the white car wanted the purple one.  Two families, the Buzo and the Roca, wanted a red car; but the Buso, who had the orange car, would be just as happy if it had the green one, while the Roca, with a black car, would be happy with any color but black or white.  So no one could figure out how to swap cars to make people happier.

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Then the King had a great idea.  He went back to the Royal Hut, and carved 20 neat wooden tokens, all alike. On one side of each token he drew a car and wrote under it "ONE CAR".  On the other side he drew a rather good portrait of himself, and wrote under it "TRUST THE KING".

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The King then took 10 of the tokens to the village, leaving the other 10 tokens in the Royal Hut.  He gave one token to each villager family, telling them that to have one of those Royal tokens was just as good as to have one more car, of any color -- word of the King.

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The villagers did not quite understand that, but they trusted their King and did not want to displease him, so they pretended to believe that having one of those Royal tokens was indeed as good as having a car.

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That evening the Sapa family, who had the red car but wanted a brown one, took their Royal token and went to see the Nazo family, who had the brown car. The Sapa said to the Nazo: "We know that you don't want out red car, but the King told us that this token is as good as a car of any color. Would you take this token and give us your car?".

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The Nazo family thought a bit, but since they too trusted the King, they took the Sapa's token, and gave them the brown car.

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So now the Sapa family did not have any tokens, but was happy because, besides the red car, they also had a brown car, as they always wanted. And the Nazo were not unhappy either, because they had now two tokens, which were as good as a token and a car, but of any color.

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The next morning the Nazo's papa stood in the the middle of the village and asked loud, "who wants to exchange one of these tokens for a black car, or for a white car?".

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Hearing this, the Roca's papa came out of their hut, gave their black car to the Nazo, and took one of their tokens.

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So the Nazo family was totally happy now, because they had the black car they liked; and the Roca were not unhappy either because they had two tokens, which -- you guessed it -- were as good as a token and a car, but of any color. 

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Meanwhile the Sapa family was bothered that they had one brown car, that they liked and used, and one red car, that they did not use and did not like at all.  So they went to the Buzo family, who had a white car but wanted a red one.  The Sapa gave their red car to the Buzo, who gave them their token.

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Now the Sapa were still happy, because they still had the brown car, and one token.  And the Buzo were happier because they had the red car that they wanted, besides a white one.

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And so it went on and on, the Tuti-Boni kept exchanging tokens for cars, and cars for tokens.  Sometimes a family had two cars and no token, sometimes it had had two tokens and a car, and sometimes it had one of each.  But they did not care much for that, since they all had learned now that one Royal token was indeed as good as a car.

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And each time there was an exchange, one family got happier because they got a car that they liked more than their old one. And the other family did not get too unhappy because they got a token that they knew they could exchange for a car if they wanted to.  And everbody could see that things were getting better because there were more people smiling every day.

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Then, after three days, when all the Tuti-Boni believed already in the tokens, the King and Queen took those 10 tokens that the King had made for himself, and went down to the village.

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The King offered one of the tokens to the Bizo family, who were happy to give him their purple car that they did not like much.

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The Queen offered another token to the Sapa family. The Sapa were already a bit tired of their brown car, and thought that with that token they could later get an orange car, that they now thought looked better than brown.  So they gave their brown car to the Queen.

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And the King and Queen then gave tokens to the Bizo family, and to the Goto family, and to the Roba family, and to the Nazo family, to get one car for each of the two Princes and two Princesses

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An then he gave one more token to the Rapa family, in exchange for their lemon green car; which the King needed to drive to the golf course every Wednesday, to match his lemon green golf shirt.

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After that, the Tuti-Boni noticed that there was something wrong with their cars.  Many villagers complained that felt more tired, had to wake up earlier, had less time for playing after work, and were often late for the soccer game on Sunday morning.  And all could see that there were not as many smiling faces as before.  But the Tuti-Boni could not figure out what was wrong: because they counted and recounted, and every one of them still had two cars, or one car and one token, or two tokens; and, of course, having one token was as good as having a car, of any color.

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But the Royal Family seemed now happier than ever, and the Tuti-Boni admired them even more than before.  Because they knew that the Royal Family did not know how to fish, or plant taro, or climb up the coconut trees; and yet they had somehow got seven cars all in nice different colors.  And they also had three Royal tokens, that were as good as three more cars, of any colors.

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THE END