There is a channel most of the way around Kosrae that is used today for many purposes such as traveling. People from around the island used this channel when they have a feast or a party for the kings. Kosraean men used this channel to tow logs used for houses. It was belived that a large snake formed the channel when she was looking for her daughter who's been taken by the king.
One day the king of the island went to visit his granddaughter who lived on the other side of Kosrae. As he came to the harbor of Okat, he saw a beautiful girl swimming nearby. He ordered his servants to capture the girl and take her with them. They picked her out of the water and sailed to the king's palace. After awhile, the mother snake became worried about her daughter. The girl has been gone for more than two days now, so the snake left her home and crawl south but the daugther was not there, nor was she to the north or to the east east. During her search she formed a big channel in her wake. The channel can be seen today which went around the island.
When the snake entered Lelu Harbor, she crawled up beside a rock under a boathouse to rest. The next morning one of the king's servants was throwing garbage when he saw the big snake leaning her head on a rock. He went back to the Lelu Ruin to tell about the snake and the first person he met was the girl. The servant told her about the snake. She knew it was her mother and so she begged the servant not to tell about the snake, and the servant agree. That night, the girl went to her mother and told her to crawl to the king's palace and hide herself in the rafters. By morning, after working all night, the mother snake was well hidden in the rafters.
One day a servant was walking beside the king's court when he heard a strange noise. He looked around but could not find where the noise had come from. He started to walk away when he heard the unfamiliar noise at the top of the house. When he looked up he spotted the snake. He could hardly believe his eyes. He then quickly ran off to report to the king what he had seen.
The king suspected that the snake was the lovely girl's mother and that she would take her away when she could. So he ordered women to go to the Innem River to wash clothes. While the women were away, he ordered his men to surround the house where the snake was hiding and burned down the place. As the house burns, ashes from the fire was carried away by the wind and landed down on the girl's lab. When she saw the ashes, she knew what was happening and hurried back to the king's palace. By the time the girl arrived at the palace, her mother had been burned t death. As the girl cried, she leaped into the fire to die with her mother, and she too was burned to death.
The only thing left as a reminder of this sad story is the irregular channel formed by the mother snake while searching for her beautiful daughter. And that was the end of the story.......