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Once there was a youth of Peleliu and a maiden of Arkabesang who fell in love with each other and decided to hold a tryst on Ngemelis Island, which lies somewhere between the two islands. According to their promise, they met on Ngemelis on the night of the new moon. They discussed plans for their future late into the night. When the maiden awoke the next morning, she found that her skirt had disappeared. She searched over the whole island with the aid of her lover, but she could not find the skirt. Alongside the place where she had been sleeping, however, could be seen the marks that the turtle’s flipper made in the sand during the night. The maiden was finally forced into gathering leaves of the coconut palms for another skirt. After remaking the garb, she bid farewell to her lover with the promise of meeting on the island again during the full moon. On the appointed evening, the youth was on the island to await the arrival of the maiden. She had not forgotten her promise and she came sailing over the lagoon under the light of the full moon. After the first embrace, they were sitting on he beach when they saw a turtle crawling towards them. Taking a closer look, they were surprised to see that one of its fins was dragging a skirt that had become entangled in its flipper. It was the very skirt that the maiden had lost on the night of the new moon. That was how the people of Palau learned of the egg laying cycle of the turtle.
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