I got this one today -- That's Ina on the shark. Ina was the love of Tinirau, the god of the ocean who lived on a floating island. One day Ina jumped into the sea in search of Tinirau, but since the sea was so big, she was continually tossed back to shore by its gigantic waves. She enlisted in some fish to help her swim, but they were too small to carry her, so in her frustration, she beat them with a stick, permanently marking their bodies. This is how the angelfish got their black stripes. Eventually a shark agreed to carry her on his back. For the journey she took some coconuts with her, for food and drink. After some time, Ina became thirsty, so the shark raised his dorsal fin so that she could crack a coconut and partake of its milk. This she did and it satisfied her thirst. She then relieved herself on the shark, who wasn't too happy about that and warned her not to do this again. This is why islanders complain that the shark meat smells of urine. Again Ina became thirsty and this time she cracked the coconut on the shark's head. One version of the story says that this is how the hammerhead shark came about. Another story says that this is why there is a bump on a shark's head, which is to this day called Ina's bump. Reeling from the pain, the shark tossed Ina off his back dived below the waters, leaving her to flounder in the sea (one version says he ate her, but that isn't the nicest end to the story). Finally Tekea the Great, the king of all sharks rose from the bottom of the sea and rescued Ina, He then carried her to Tinirau's island where they were finally reunited.
A neat note, and a curious little side note here, when the Cook Islands called in all their currency and exchanged it for NZ dollars a few years ago the $3 was the only denomination that was allowed to continue circulating.
That was interesting and the note was cool too. Not being a collector of notes or foreigns how would I go about finding one of these $3 notes so i could share this story with the kids in the family? Do you know of other notes with stories as well? Thanks Kent
I did a quick serach for you, and here is a site with a couple for sale. It took me only a few seconds to find that site, so i am sure many other sites will have them too (if they carry world notes). As for stories.... I dont know of a central source for notes with stories like the one assosiated with this note. I think it would come down to knowing folks from the country the note is from and hearing the story/legend from them.
How about the Treasurers for the Series 1969 Federal Reserve Notes? http://www.panix.com/~clay/currency/1969-signatures.html I especially like the story of Romana Acosta Bañuelos. Almost every world note has a story if you do a little research and try to figure out what you're looking at! For example, I got a note from the Kingdom of Bhutan and on the reverse side of the note, "TAKTSANG" is printed at the lower right of the center image. It turns out the Taktsang Monastery is the most famous Bhutanese monastery located in the Paro valley, western Bhutan. Perched on a cliff 900 meters above the valley, the Taktsang monastery is a must see sight while traveling in Bhutan. It is also known as "Tiger's Nest" because Guru Rimpoche is said to have flown on the back of a tigress in the 8th century. He then meditated in a cave here for three months where the monastery was later built. The cave is said to be the origin of Bhuddism in Bhutan. Look at the absolutely breath-taking picture of the monastery!
This is fascinating. I can't believe I have lived this long and can still learn so much in a matter of minutes. I appreciate this information and have now decided to branch out my collecting. If you have other stories like these you can PM me if you don't want to continue the post, but I feel others will be equally fascinated by this, surely I am not the only one in the dark. Thanks Kent
That's a great idea, but I didn't want to hijack this thread any more than I already did -- I started a new thread for Stories About Notes.
you cant hijack your own thread... and since you started the thread with a cool story about a note.. it would still be fitting to have the stories here lol either way .. i too think it wouild be cool to hear all the stoies about the notes from around the world! And yes... the view from that monestary is absolutely STUNNING!!!!
