Missing paradoxes and the evidential nature of things; Material objects in a cross-cultural perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5617/nm.3725Abstract
«[The] Father brought salt with him, he poured it on the hands and [the village people] tasted it. He gave them rice, and they thought it was ants' eggs. He gave them soap, and they cooked it. When they took it out [of the pot) it was melting. And he gave them boots, and they thought it was mermaid's' legs, so they cooked it. After cooking, they took it out to eat it, but it was really hard [so) they said: «the mermaid's leg is too hard to eat!»
This story is about the first white missionaries in the Mekeo village Eboa in lowland Papua New Guinea. I heard it told by the clan chief Opu Ame in 1991. As always when this story was told, it caused great amusement among those listening. It describes how the grandparents of today's villagers had their first inexperienced encounter with the white peoples things at the turn ofthe century.
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