The Professor knew that it was too soon to start manning the old look-out tower. Gilligan and Mary Ann had just set out the day before. Nonetheless, there was a very slight chance that they'd been seen by a plane flying overhead, or a ship sailing off course, and already sent someone back for the rest of the castaways. In any case, there was no harm in looking.

To his surprise, he thought he saw a boat. He refocused the binoculars in case it was the rising sun reflecting off the water. No, it was a boat. In fact, it was a canoe! For a moment he thought it was Gilligan and Mary Ann coming back, but as the canoe drew closer he could see that there two men inside, both with dark skin.

Natives from the neighboring islands! Perhaps they came in peace but you could never be sure. He saw another canoe approaching, so he scrambled down from the look-out tower to greet them. The Skipper knew some South Seas languages, but not as many as the Professor did. And the Howells and Ginger knew none of course.

By the time he got to the lagoon, the Professor saw the Skipper trying to communicate with the two men, as the other canoe was just coming into sight.

"Professor, thank goodness you're here! They keep pointing at my belly! I think they want to eat me!"

The Professor knew better than to laugh. The natives weren't necessarily cannibals, but if they were, the Skipper would definitely make the best meal of the castaways.

One of the natives, who seemed to be wearing a chief's headdress, addressed the Professor. Luckily it was a dialect of a language he knew, from the Wasabi tribe.

"Hello, can you understand me?"

"Yes, I can. What do you want with my friend?"

"It's not what I want. It's what they want."

The man pointed at the other canoe. The Professor could now distinguish that there were three beautiful native girls inside.

"What do they want with him?"

"We have heard tales from other islands that a fat man lived here. And we see now that the tales are true."

The Professor tried not to smile, especially since there was still the possibility of cannibalism.

"My friend is stout, but why does this concern you? Or the young ladies?"

"On our island, fatness is a sign of virility.* We hope to take him back with us, so that he may be husband to my daughters, the princesses."

The Professor could see that this man was himself plump. He wondered if this would mean that the Skipper would be the chief's successor. He wondered how the Skipper would feel about that.

"Professor, what is he saying about me?" the Skipper asked nervously.

The Professor hesitated before relaying the conversation. He didn't want to offend the Skipper by calling him fat, even if it was secondhand. "This man, whom I believe to be the chief, wants you as his son-in-law."

"Yeah?" The Skipper smiled at the three lovely native girls, whose canoe was now reaching the shore. "Which one would I marry?"

"Uh, well, all three."
"All three?!"

"Unless I misunderstood." The Professor cleared his throat.

"Just to be clear. Are these maidens your daughters and do you wish him to marry all three?"

"Yes, of course."

"Well?"

"It's all three."

"Good. I would hate to have to choose!"

The Professor felt that he needed to speak to both the chief and the Skipper at greater length. This was too sudden, as sudden as Gilligan and Mary Ann's marriage a couple days before. He wanted to ask the chief if they had any interaction with civilization. He also wanted to know what exactly the terms were for this marriage. And he wanted to make sure this was something that the Skipper really wanted. Yes, the princesses were gorgeous, but the Skipper knew nothing about them. It would've been like if the Professor had married Ginger on the three-hour cruise and then found out that she was vain and spoiled, like most actresses.

Ginger arrived, as if she sensed he was thinking about her, although fortunately she'd never had that ability before. (The "sunflower seeds" of ESP aside of course, when he'd done his best to convince her that 36-22-36 did not mean what she assumed.) "I'm guessing this is not the rescue party Gilligan and Mary Ann have sent back."

The Professor quickly explained.

Ginger laughed. "Another wedding! Mrs. Howell will be pleased, although I don't know if the chief will let her do much of the planning."

"What chief? What wedding?" Mrs. Howell, complete with parasol, had appeared.

The Professor explained yet again.

"What, all three of them? Impossible! I can't allow that!"

"Now wait just a doggone minute, Mrs. Howell," the Skipper said indignantly. "It's one thing to push around a boy like Gilligan, but I'm a grown man and I can decide who I get married to!"

"Oh, really? And are you going to take your three wives back to the United States? Because I think you'll find that polygamy is still frowned upon in civilized nations."

She had a point and the look of surprise on the Skipper's face showed that he hadn't considered that.

"Why is the woman in the funny blue hat upset?"

"It is not our custom to marry more than one person at a time."

"Oh, we're not asking that."

"You're not?"

"No, first there is a ceremony where he marries the firstborn. And then there is a ceremony where he marries the second princess. And last he will marry my youngest daughter."

The Professor's three friends demanded to know what he and the chief were saying. He sighed and said, "I think we should discuss this over breakfast. Ginger, I hope you made enough for five guests."

"Oh, I'm not cooking today. Mr. Howell wanted to try his hand at it."

"Mr. Howell?"

"Yes, Thurston has some recipes he's been dying to test."
"Wonderful," the Professor muttered.

.

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*The word literally meant "man-stuff."