From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 18, no. 2, August 2003.

A new illustrated book featuring Tongan and English translations of a German fairytale, was presented to HM King Taufa‘ahau Tupou IV on the schools day, at Teufaiva Stadium, during the Kings’s 85th birthday celebrations this year.

Visiting Tonga for the occasion was the author and illustrator, Dr Michael Schirmer, who has dedicated his tale to the King.

Called Ko e ‘Ofa ‘a e Ki‘i Hoositahi, A Little Seahorse in Love, the 48 page hard cover book has 14 watercolour illustrations by Dr Schirmer.

Primary Schools

The book will be available in the Primary Schools throughout Tonga through the funding of a gift of over 3,000 books by the Tongan Consulate in Australia, and its Consul General, along with the Internationaler Hilfsfond e.V. from Germany.

Louise Raedler-Waterhouse, Tonga Honorary Consul in Sydney, said her German mother-in-law had come across the book published in German, but dedicated to the Friendly Islands.

“We thought how wonderful it would be to bring this book to the Tongan people,“ she said.

The Tongan-English edition, “acknowledges the king’s enormous contribution towards education, achieving 98.5% literacy in the Kingdom—one of the highest in the world”.

The Tongan translation was done by Veiongo Mafi in Australia.

While the book is not the first illustrated work to be published in Tongan and English, it has been a number of years since the last bilingual titles were published.