Tough, reclusive, secretive, arrogant, domineering, stealthy and deceptive.
The palm tree is a short stocky relative of the coconut tree; if you think the palm is arrogant because it is sturdy, close to the ground, hugs the ground and every space around it with it strong roots, as though it main aim is to take hold of and possess everything in it’s path, the coconut tree is the opposite in height, tall and proud, wants always to dominate, wants to always look down from above and dominate, it’s fruit, if you can call it fruit, is hard and rock solid, to the ordinary eye it appears useless, and hard to to reach even when you are holding it in your hands.
Since it is atop a tall thin tree, hard to reach since it is enclosed in a dry, hard nettle, hard to reach since when you take off its clothes of nettle all you see is a brown hard shell and while you are wondering ‘of what possible good this could be you shake it, you note that there is liquid in it’, though no valve or entry point is apparent, Now your conundrum is how to crack it open, you then go on an excursion to find a hammer, or a carpenters saw, or a machete, a mallet, even a huge grinding stone;…since you are determined to find what liquid is in it, you finally succeed, and find out the coconut juice is ‘cool, sweet water, if you are thirsty, your thirst is quenched, but the mystery is far from over.
Its a mystery, since the water it contains is almost always less than a cup. So its got water which you don’t know it’s source, but if you thought you would find something soft or brown inside, you were wrong, it is white, solid and sweet. You had your thirst quenched, if you have a slice of bread along with the white stuff inside a coconut shell well there is your lunch. If you have a barbecue pit, you may roast the cocoanut in slices or in whole and the result is such flamboyant party in your palate as you never experienced.
You may shred the cocoanut without roasting and garnish your salad with it,. You may grind and puree the coconut and boil your beef, goat chicken, rice yam, or breadfruit in it, and you would have brought a different dimension to your taste buds. Yes indeed. The cocoanut is reclusive, stealthy, and sneaky and by all means arrogant.
