After their sleep protected from the shimmering sun by the shade of the sago thatched shelter, they walked to the coast.

The sea was calm. Birds flew high above, calling at them.

Nuu could not wait. He dragged the canoe from its place, loaded it with food to present to their friends and began paddling.

They paddled and sang as their island moved further from them every time they looked back.

In the distance, their friends’ island had white clouds above it but came closer to greet them.

They reached their friends’ beach tired and weak.

‘Oh, our distant relatives,’ the chief of Nila said to Nuu and Kaipa. ‘We have waited for you so long and often we wondered about you. You took so many hours of sleep to return after your last visit many sleeps ago. We missed you and so thank you for this timely visit.’  

Nuu and Kaipa spent many hours on the island. They fished in the calm seas; they hunted in the jungles; they travelled about; and they partook in the feasts and dances on all the villages.

They visited many villages and made many new friends.

They were now left with one period of sleep before they paddled back to their home—that they saw in the distance only as massive mountains and clouds.

‘Nuu and Kaipa, I have to tell you something,’ the great chief of the island said to them, sadly. ‘You were so good to people on this island. We are all happy to your services to this island and people, so we will give you a mysterious gift from the gods of the sea.’

Nuu was excited. ‘My great chief,’ he said, ‘just give it to us.’

‘Many periods of sleep ago my ancestor found a basket drifting at sea,’ the chief continued. ‘He picked it and was about to open it when a mysterious sea creature told him not to. The creature told him that if he should open it he would to get lost and die at sea.’

Nuu and Kaipa listened carefully.

The old man added, ‘So the old man paddled home and told his children and died soon after. We have feared this basket since, my friends.’

‘Oh, my chief,’ Nuu said, ‘If you fear it just give it to us. We live in the big land you see across the sea up north. If it hurts when we open it we will flee through the great land we live on and hide.’

Nuu was handed the mysterious basket and he and Kaipa paddled home.

As they reached the shore of their homeland, Nuu rushed to the beach and began opening the basket. Kaipa was hesitant.

‘Nuu,’ Kaipa warned, ‘we do not know that basket and what it will do to us. Let’s reach our home and you can open it then.’

‘Okay, my coward brother,’ Nuu said, restlessly and set off ahead of Kaipa.

They walked and walked through the jungle with Nuu complaining of Kaipa’s fear of the basket.

‘Kaipa, I am the owner of this basket,’ Nuu complained. ‘I should open it for it is hurting me carrying it. The chief may have lied to us and we could be wasting our time carrying it around.’

Kaipa was frustrated and ordered Nuu to open the gift as they sat to rest haft way through their walk home.

Nuu opened the basket and the whole world got dark.

The pair could not see each other. They could not see the track. No birds cried in the trees; all was silent and strange. Their ears heard mysterious new sounds everywhere.

Nuu stood up and roamed around. He kept bumping into tree trunks and hurting his body. He shouted for Kaipa to help him but Kaipa said he was also struggling to find the track in this mysterious darkness.

Nuu staggered on and fell down a cliff and broke his nose. When he stood up his whole nose was changed. He felt his nose had grown so heavy.

Kaipa at his end struggled. He bumped into trees and fell and stood up. He tested all his body parts to navigate his way to safety. But nothing happened.

Suddenly light appeared and he made his way home without the careless Nuu.

The two friends were now separated and lived their lives separately. Nuu the beetle had to rest in the night caring for his massively deformed nose and Kaipa the firefly had to travel in the night for he had light to show him the way.

Nuu and Kaipa never met again after they opened the basket of night given to them by the chief of Nila.