General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, joke
• Language: Marshallese
• Country of Origin: Marshall Islands
• Informant: Lester Lanki
• Date Collected: 10-30-18

Informant Data:

• Lester Lanki is a male in his late 30’s. He is married to Jako Zedkaia and together they have four children. Lester was born in the Marshall islands on the Jaluit Atoll. He moved to the United States in 2004 and now resides in Cleburne, TX. He works at a steel factory in Texas, but back in the islands he spent the majority of his time fishing.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: The Marshall Islands is a series of Atolls in the Pacific Ocean.
  The islands are separated by hundreds of miles of water. The islands were formerly ruled by a monarchy where the king had absolute rule. Often, the king of the islands would execute/reward those under his rule.
• Social Context: This is a joke that Lester grew up hearing in his youth. It was a joke that was especially popular among the younger generation. Competition, especially in the form of Basketball, is a big part of Lester’s life and he mentioned it was often competitive events where this joke was told.

Item:

• This is a joke about the king of the island inviting all the men on the islands to take part in a competition. The competition involved swimming to a small island far away. The water between the islands was treacherous and therefore the winner would be granted a great reward. Lekkeke, a local fisherman, was pushed into the water and by coincidence swam to the exact island the king described. He was offered a great reward, but all he really wanted was to know who pushed him into the water.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

• “Juon raan. Kiin eo ioon ilon ko aera karuwannene aelepin armej ro naan komin juon men. Men eo ej al naan juon jiddik ilon eo. Im eaar karuawannene aeolepin emman ro naan kommun e. Ak al eo ear ped buijin men in mor ko im men in tainae. Lekkeke juan emman ear jutak im kajion im kepuket ek ko. Innem Jack ear wotlok Lakkeke ilo al eo. Lakkeke eaar kajion im ewoj naan al eo im eaar pad ion lan eo. Kiin eo eaar ba nan e, jerraman nan kue lakkeke, kwar komon men ko iaar karuwinene aelopin men naan komon e. Ta kwo kanaan? Kwo kanann ke aelop men in aibujujuj ko au? Lakkeke eaar ba ‘eeeeehhh’ I jab kanan. Kin eo eaar bar kajitok, kwo kanan ke juon mutton aelop ilon ko au? Lakkeke eaar ba “eeeeeehhh’ I jab kanan. Kwo kanana ke marre ajiri eo neju? “eeeehhh’ I jab kanan. Ta kwo kanan? Lekkeke eaar ba “eeeehh’ I kanan jele won eo ear wotlok eu.”

Informant’s Comments:

• “This is one of my favorite jokes. It’s about Lekkeke and the king… I always tell this story to my kids.”

Collector’s Comments:

• I loved hearing this story. Lester has a big personality and loves making jokes. In my experience with the Marshallese people I know how much they love telling jokes. It’s often common for them to tell long winded stories (or “bwebwenato”) like this.

Collector’s Name: Anders Peterson

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Joke
• Marshallese
• King/Water/Fishing