There are numerous stories regarding origin of coconut tree in India. This particular story of coconut tree origin is associated with a young fisherman from Kerala.
There was a young fisherman who did not know how to catch fishes from the sea. He was unable to do the job which came easily to the other members of his community. The young man was ridiculed by his community members. Fed up with his sorry state of life, the young man decided to learn magic and employ it in catching fish.
He went to a teacher of magic and learnt the art of removing head from the body and placing it back again.
He went back to his fishing village and when the beach was deserted at night, he ventured out. Using the magic trick, he took off his head from his body and dived into the water.
Fishes that had never seen such a strange living being were attracted to it. Small fish entered his body through his neck. The young man would then swim ashore; take out the fish caught in his body out and put back his head.
He would the go back to his village and show the villagers all the fish that he had caught.
The villagers grew suspicious about the young man as they never saw him with a net or during the daytime on a boat in the sea.
One day, a little boy followed the young man to the secluded area on the beach. He saw the young man taking off his head and venturing into the sea. The little boy took the head and ran away. But a few steps later he found it heavy to carry the head and therefore hid it in a bush.
The young man came out of the water and could not find his head. When his search turned futile, he went back into the sea and turned into a huge fish.
The little boy came back with the villagers to show the head of the young man. But when they reached the bush they found no head instead there was a strange looking tall slender tree with nuts on it. Each nut had the young man’s face on it and thus the coconut tree was created.