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OtTiOlK'l

Sarbart Collrgr litcar;

W.X OuU,- i^.

HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

A COLLECTION
OF NATIVE LEGENDS

COUPILBD BY

THOS. G. THRUM

H SIXTEEN ILLUSntATlONS FROU
PHOTOGRAPHS

CHICAGO

A. C. HcCLURG ft CO.

1907

Oc iGo^. 0-1.3

A. C. McClurg & Co.

Entered at Stationers' Hall, I^ndon, England
Published March i, 1907

«s.

OCT 6 .9]

C|t l4iitifitit 9nM

B. R. DOMWRLLXY h. BOMS OOICPANT
CHICAGO

PREFACE

TT is becoming more and more a matter of regret
that a larger amount of systematic efFort was not
established in early years for the gathering and preser-
vation of the folk-lore of the Hawaiians. The world
is under lasting obligations to the late Judge Fornander,
and to Dr. Rae before him, for their painstaking efForts
to gather the history of this people and trace their
origin and migrations ; but Fornander's work only has
seen the light, Dr. Rae's manuscript having been acci-
dentally destroyed by fire.

The early attempts of Dibble and Pogue to gather
history from Hawaiians themselves have preserved to
native and foreign readers much that would probably
otherwise have been lost. To the late Judge Andrews
we are indebted for a very full grammar and dictionary
of the language, as also for a valuable manuscript col-
lection of m€Us and antiquarian literature that passed
to the custody of the Board of Education.

There were native historians in those days; the
newspaper articles of S. M. Kamakau, the earlier
writings of David Malo, and the later contributions
of G. W. Pilipo and others are but samples of a wealth
of material, most of which has been lost forever to the
world* From time to time Prof. W. D. Alexander,

VI PREFACE

as also C. J. Lyons, has furnished interesting extracts
from these and other hakus.

The Rev. A. O. Forbes devoted some time and
thought to the collecting of island folj^-lore : and King
Kalakaua took some pains in this line also, as evidenced
by his volume of "Legends and Myths of Hawaii,"
edited by R. M. Daggett, though there is much therein
that is wholly foreign to ancient Hawaiian customs
and thought. No one of late years had a better oppor-
tunity than Kalakaua toward collecting the meles^ kaaoSy
and traditions of his race ; and for purposes looking
to this end there was established by law a Board of
Genealogy, which had an existence of some four years,
but nothing of permanent value resulted therefrom.

Fornander's manuscript collection of meleSy legends,
and genealogies in the vernacular has fortunately be-
come, by purchase, the property of the Hon. C. R.
Bishop, which insures for posterity the result of one
devoted scholar's efforts to rescue the ancient traditions
that are gradually slipping away ; for the haku meles
(bards) of Hawaii are gone. This fact, as also the
Hawaiian Historical Society's desire to aid and stimu-
late research into the history and traditions of this
people, strengthens the hope that some one may yet
arise to give us further insight into the legendary
folk-lore of this interesting race.

T. G. T.
Honolulu, January i, 1907.

NOTE

TN response to repeated requests, the compiler now
presents in book form the series of legends that have
been made a feature of ^^The Hawaiian Annual" for
a number of years past. The series has been enriched
by the addition of several tales, the famous shark legend
having been furnished fbr this purpose from the papers
of the Hawaiian Historical Society.

The collection embraces contributions by the Rev.
A. O. Forbes, Dr. N. B. Emerson, J. S. Emerson,
Mrs. E. M. Nakuina, W. M. Gibson, Dr. C. M.
Hyde, and others, all of whom are recognized author-
ities.

T. G. T.
Honolulu, January i, 1907.

CONTENTS

II.

III.
IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.
X.

Legends Resembling Old Testament History
Rtu. C. M. Hydi^ D.D.

Exploits of Maui. Rev. A. O. Forbes.
I. Snaring the Sun.
II. The Origin of Fire .

Pele and the Deluge. Rev, A. O. Forbes

Pele and Kahawali. Frm Ellis's ^^Tour of
Hawaii** .....

Hiku and Kawelu. y, S. Emerson
Location of the Lua o Milu

Lonopuha ; or. Origin of the Art of Healing
in Hawaii. Translated by Thos. G. Thrum

A Visit to the Spirit Land ; or. The Strange
Experience of a Woman in Koha, Hawaii
Mrs. E. N. Haley ....

Kapeepeekauila ; or. The Rocks of Kana
Rev. A. O. Forbes ....

Kalelealuaka. Dr. N. B. Emers§n

Stories of the Menehunes : Hawaii the Original
Home of the Brownies. Thos. G. Thrum
Moke Manu's Account
Pi*s Watercourse
Laka*s Adventure .
Kekupua's Canoe .
As Heiau Builders .

XI.

Kahalaopuna, Princess of Manoa. Mrs. E. M.
Nakuina ....

PAOB

3»
33

43
48

107
109
no
III
114
116

118

CONTENTS

XII. The Punahou Spring. Mrs. E. M. Nakuina.

XIII. Oahunui. Mrs. E. M. Nakuina

XIV. Abuula : A Legend of Kanikaniaula and the

First Feather Cloak. Mrs, E. M, Nakuina.

XV. Kaala and Kaaialii : A Legend of Lanai. W.
M. Gibson ......

XVI. The Tomb of Puupehe : A Legend of Lanai.
From " The Hawaiian Gazette "

XVII. Ai Kanaka : A Legend of Molokai. Rev. A.
O. Forbes ......

XVIII. Kaliuwaa. Scene of the Demigod Kama-

puaa's Escape from Olopana. From " The
Hawaiian Spectator " . . . .

XIX. Battle of the Owls. Jos. M. Poepoe .

XX. This Land is the Sea's. Traditional Ac-
count of an Ancient Hawaiian Prophecy.
Translated from Moke Manu by Thos. G.
Thrum .......

XXI. Ku-ula, the Fish God of Hawaii. Translated
from Moke Manu by M. K. Nakuina

XXII. Aiai, Son of Ku-ula. Part II of the Legend
of Ku-ula, the Fish God of Hawaii. Trans^
latedfrom Moke Manu hy M. K. Nakuina.

XXIII. Kaneaukai : A Legend of Waialua. Thos,

G. Thrum ......

XXIV. The Shark-man, Nanaue. Mrs, E. M. Nak-

uina .......

XXV. Fish Stories and Superstitions. Translated by
M. K. Nakuina .....

'33

139

H7
156

181

186

193

200

203

215

230

250

255

269

GLOSSARY 277

ILLUSTRATIONS

Hawaiian Gi&l of the Old RIgime

A Lava Cascade .....

View in Wainiha Valley, Kauai

Scene in Olokele Gulch, Makaweu, Kauai

''The Deep Blue Palis of Koolau" .

Scene from the Road over Nuuanu Pau

View at the Head of Manoa Valley, Oahu

The Favorite Sport of Surf- Riding

Hawauan Arrayed in Feather Cloak and Heuiet

The Ceremony of the Hula

The Hula Dance

Kuumana, the Rain God of Kau

A Grass House of the Olden Time

Making Ready the Feast

Hawauan Fisherman Using the Throw-Net .

Coast Surf Scene .....

PAGB

Frontispiece

40
66

104

112

120

130

ISO
158
162
196
210
228
246
262

HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

LEGENDS RESEMBLING OLD TESTA^

MENT HISTORY

REV. C. M. HYDE, D. D.

TN the first volume of Judge Pomander's elaborate
work on "The Polynesian Race" he has given
some old Hawaiian legends which closely resemble
the Old Testament history. How shall we account
for such coincidences?

Take, for instance, the Hawaiian account of the
Creation. The Kane, Ku, and Lono: or, Sunlight, Sub-
stance, and Sound, — these constituted a triad named
Ku-Kaua-Kahi, or the Pundamental Supreme Unity.
In worship the reverence due was expressed by such
epithets as Hi-ka-po-loa, Oi-Cy Most Excellent, etc
"These gods existed from eternity, from and before
chaos, or, as the Hawaiian term expressed it, ^maika
po mia* (from the time of night, darkness, chaos).
By an act of their will these g6ds dissipated or broke
into pieces the existing, surrounding, all-containing ^0,
night, or chaos. By this act light entered into space.
They then created the heavens, three in number, as a
place to dwell in; and the earth to be their footstool,
he kiihina honua a Kane. Next they created the sun,

i6 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

moon, stars, and a host of angels, or spirits — / kini
akua — to minister to them. Last of all they created
man as the model, or in the likeness of Kane. The
body of the first man was made of red earth — lepo ula,
or alaea — and the spittle of the gods — wai nao. His
head was made of a whitish clay — palolo — which was
brought from the four ends of the world by Lono.
When the earth-image of Kane was ready, the three
gods breathed into its nose, and called on it to rise,
and it became a living being. Afterwards the first
woman was created from one of the ribs* — lalo
puhaka — of the man while asleep, and these two were
the progenitors of all mankind. They are called in
the chants and in various legends by a large number
of different names ; but the most common for the man
was Kumuhonua, and for the woman Keolakuhonua
[or La/ahonua] .

" Of the creation of animals these chants are silent;
but from the pure tradition it may be inferred that the
earth at the time of its creation or emergence from the
watery chaos was stocked with vegetable and animal.
The animals specially mentioned in the tradition as
having been created by Kane were hogs (j>uaa)y dogs
(i/w), lizards or reptiles {moo).

"Another legend of the series, that of Wela-ahi'laniy
states that after Kane had destroyed the world by fire,
on account of the wickedness of the people then liv-
ing, he organized it as it now is, and created the first
man and the first woman, with the assistance of Ku
and Lono, nearly in the same manner as narrated in
the former legend of Kumuhonua. In this legend the

LEGENDS AND HISTORY 17

man is called Wela-ahi-Iani, and the woman is called
Owe."

Of the primeval home, the original ancestral seat of
mankind, Hawaiian traditions speak in highest praise.
''It had a number of names of various meanings,
though the most generally occurring, and said to be
the oldest, was Kalana-i-hau-ola (Kalana with the
life-giving dew). It was situated in a large country,
or continent, variously called in the legends Kahiki-
honua-kele, Kahiki-ku, Kapa-kapa-ua-a-Kane, Molo-
lani. Among other names for the primary homestead,
or paradise, are Pali-uli (the blue mountain),
jtina-i'ka-kaupO'O-'KaHe (the land in the heart of
Kane), Aina-wai-akua-a-Kane (the land of the divine
water of Kane). The tradition says of Pali-uli, that it
was a sacred, tabooed land ; that a man must be right-
eous to attain it; if faulty or sinful he will not get
there; if he looks behind he will not get there; if
he prefers his family he will not enter Pali-uli."
''Among other adornments of the Polynesian Para-
dise, the Kalana-i-hau-ola, there grew the Ulu kapu a
Kane, the breadfruit tabooed for Kane, and the ohia
hemoUUy the sacred apple-tree. The priests of the
olden time are said to have held that the tabooed
fruits of these trees were in some manner connected
with the trouble and death of Kumuhonua and Lala-
honua, the first man and the first woman. Hence in
the ancient chants he is called Kane-laa-uli, Kumuu/if
Kulu-ipOy the fallen chief, he who fell on account of the
tree, or names of similar import."

According to those legends of Kumuhonua and

1 8 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

Wela-ahi-lani, " at the time when the gods created the
stars, they also created a multitude of angels, or spirits
(J kini akua), who were not created like men, but
made from the spittle of the gods {i kufiaia)y to be
their servants or messengers. These spirits, or a num-
ber of them, disobeyed and revolted, because they
were denied the awa; which means that they were not
permitted to be worshipped, awa being a sacrificial
offering and sign of worship. These evil spirits did
not prevail, however, but were conquered by Kane,
and thrust down into uttermost darkness {ilalo loa i
kapo). The chief of these spirits was called by some
Kanaloa, by others Milu, the ruler of Po; Akua ino;
Kupu ino, the evil spirit. Other legends, however,
state that the veritable and primordial lord of the
Hawdian inferno was called Manua. The inferno
itself bore a number of names, such as Po-pau-ole,
Po-kua-kini, Po-kini-kini, Po-papa-ia-owa, Po-ia-milu.
Milu, according to those other legends, was a chief of
superior wickedness on earth who was thrust down into
Po but who was really both inferior and posterior to
Manua. This inferno, this Po, with many names,
one of which remarkably enough was Ke-pchlua-ahi, the
pit of fire, was not an entirely dark place. There was
light of some kind and there was fire. The legends fur-
ther tell us that when Kane, Ku, and Lono were creating
the first man from the earth, Kanaloa was present, and
in imitation of Kane, attempted to make another man
out of the earth. When his clay model was ready, he
called to it to become alive, but no life came to it.
Then Kanaloa became very angry, and said to Kane,

LEGENDS AND HISTORY 19

*I will take your man, and he shall die/ and so it
happened. Hence the first man got his other name
KumU'uliy which means a fallen chief, he *lii kahulu
• • • With the Hawaiians, Kanaloa is the personi-
fied spirit of evil, the origin of death, the prince of
P09 or chaos, and yet a revolted, disobedient spirit,
who was conquered and punished by Kane. The in-
troduction and worship of Kanaloa, as one of the
great gods in the Hawaiian group, can be traced back
only to the time of the immigration from the southern
groups, some eight hundred years ago. In the more
andent chants he is never mentioned in conjunction
with Kane, Ku, and Lono, and even in later Hawaiian
mythology he never took precedence of Kane. The
Hawaiian legend states that the oldest son of Kumu-
honua, the first man, was called Laka, and that the
next was called Ahu, and that Laka was a bad man;
he killed his brother Ahu.

'^ There are these different Hawaiian genealogies,
going back with more or less agreement among them-
selves to the first created man. The genealogy of
Kumuhonua gives thirteen generations inclusive to
Nuu, or Kahinalii, or the line of Laka, the oldest
son of Kumuhonua. (The line of Seth from Adam
to Noah counts ten generations.) The second gene-
alogy, called that of Kumu-uli, was of greatest au-
thority among the highest chiefs down to the latest
times, and it was taboo to teach it to the common peo-
ple. This genealogy counts fourteen generations from
Huli-houni, the first man, to Nuu, or Nana-nuu, but
inclustve, on the line of Laka. The third genealogy.

ao HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

which, properly speaking, is that of Paao, the high-
priest who came with Pili from Tahiti, about twenty-
five generations ago, and was a reformer of the Hawaiian
priesthood, and among whose descendants it has been
preserved, counts only twelve generations from Ku-
muhonua to Nuu, on the line of Kapili, youngest son
of Kumuhonua.'*

"In the Hawaiian group there are several l^nds
of the Flood. One legend relates that in the time of
Nuu, or Nana-nuu (also pronounced lana^ that is,
floating), the flood, Kaiakahinalii^ came upon the
earth, and destroyed all living beings; that Nuu, by
command of his god, built a large vessel with a house
on top of it, which was called and is referred to in
chants as ' He waa halau AUi o ka Moku^ the royal
vessel, in which he and his family, consisting of his
wife, Lilinoe, his three sons and their wives, were
saved. When the flood subsided, Kane, Ku, and
Lono entered the waa halau of Nuu, and told him to
go out. He did so, and found himself on the top of
Mauna Kea (the highest mountain on the island of
Hawaii). He called a cave there after the name of his
wife, and the cave remains there to this day — as the
legend says in testimony of the fact. Other versions
of the legend say that Nuu landed and dwelt in
Kahiki-honua-kele, a large and extensive country.*'
..." Nuu left the vessel in the evening of the day
and took with him a pig, cocoanuts, and awa as an
offering to the god Kane. As he looked up he saw
the moon in the sky. He thought it was the god,
saying to himself, * You are Kane, no doubt, though

LEGENDS AND HISTORY ai

you hive transformed yourself to my sight*' So he
worshipped the moon, and offered his offerings.
Then Kane descended on the rainbow and spoke
reprovingly to Nuu, but on account of the mistake
Nuu escaped punishment, having asked pardon of
Kane." . . . "Nuu*s three sons were Nalu-akea,
Nalu-hoo-hua, and Nalu-mana-mana. In the tenth
generation from Nuu arose Lua-nuu, or the second
Nuu, known also in the legend as Kane-hoa-lani,
Kupule, and other names. The legend adds that by
command of his god he was the first to introduce cir-
cumcision to be practised among his descendants. He
left his native home and moved a long way off* until
he reached a land called Honua-ilalo, ' the southern
country.* Hence he got the name Lalo-kona, and
his wife was called Honua-po-ilalo. He was the
father of Ku-nawao by his slave-woman Ahu (O-ahu)
and of Kalani-menehune by his wife, Mee-hewa. An-
other says that the god Kane ordered Lua-nuu to go
up on a mountain and perform a sacrifice there. Lua-
nuu looked among the mountains of Kahiki-ku, but
none of them appeared suitable for the purpose. Then
Lua-nuu inquired of God where he might find a
proper place. God replied to him : 'Go travel to the
eastward, and where you find a sharp-peaked hill pro-
jecting precipitously into the ocean, that is the hill for
the sacrifice.' Then Lua-nuu and his son, Kupulu-
pulu-a-Nuu, and his servant, Pili-lua-nuu, started off
in their boat to the eastward. In remembrance of this
event the Hawaiians called the back of Kualoa Ko(h
Uut ; Oahu (after one of Lua-nuu's names), Kani-haa-

22 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

lani; and the smaller hills in front of it were named
Kupu-pulu and Pili'lua-nuu. Lua-nuu is the tenth
descendant from Nuu by both the oldest and the
youngest of Nuu's sons. This oldest son is repre-
sented to have been the progenitor of the Kanaka-
m^ioliy the people living on the mainland of Kane
{Jina kumupHaa a Kane): the youngest was the progen-
itor of the white people {ka poekeo keo maoli). This
Lutt-nuu (like Abraham, the tenth from Noah, also
like Abrfthftm)» through his grandson, Kini-lau-a-
nmno, became the ancestor of the twelve children of
the hitter, and the original founder of the Menehunc
people, from whom this legend makes the Polynesian
family descend/*

The Rev. Sheldon Dibble, in his history of the
Sandwich Islands, published at Lahainaluna, in 1843,
gives a tradition which very much resembles the his-
tory of Joseph. " Waikelenuiaiku was one of ten
brethren who had one sister. They were all the
children of one father, whose name was Waiku. Wai-
kelenuiaiku was much beloved by his father, but his
brethren hated him. On account of their hatred they
carried him and cast him into a pit belonging to Hol-
onaeole. The oldest brother had pity on him, and
gave charge to Holonaeole to take good care of him.
Waikelenuiaiku escaped and fled to a country over
which reigned a king whose name was Kamohoalii.
There he was thrown into a dark place, a pit under
ground, in which many persons were confined for
various crimes. Whilst confined in this dark place
he told his companions to dream dreams and tell

LEGENDS AND HISTORY 23

them to him. The night following four of the pris-
onen hmd dremms. The first dreamed that he saw a
ripe §Ais (native iipple), and his spirit ate it; the second
dreamed that he saw a ripe banana^ and his spirit ate
it; the third dreamed that he saw a hog, and his spirit
ate it; and the fourth dreamed that he saw awa,
pressed out the juice, and his spirit drank it. The
first three dreams, pertaining to food, Wailcelenuiaiku
interpreted un&vorably, and told the dreamers they
must prepare to die. The fourth dream, pertaining
to drink, he interpreted to signify deliverance and life.
The first three dreamers were slain according to the
interpretation, and the fourth was delivered and saved.
Afterward this last dreamer told Kamohoalii, the
king of the land, how wonderful was the skill of Wai-
kelenuiaiku in interpreting dreams, and the king licnt
and delivered him from prison and made him a prin-
cipal chief in his kingdom/'

Judge Fomander alludes to this legend, giving the
name, however, Aukelenui-a-Iku^ and adding to it
the account of the hero's journey to the place where
the water of life was kept {ka-wat'ola-loa-a-Kane)^ his
obtaining it and therewith resuscitating his brothers,
who had been killed by drowning some years before
Another striking similarity is that furnished to Jud^e
Fomander in the legend of Ke-alii-wahanui : "He
was king of the country called Honua-i-lalo. He
oppressed the Menehune people. Their god Kane
sent Kane-apua and Kaneloa, his elder brother, to
bring the people away, and take them to the land
which Kane had given them, and which was called

24 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

Ka aina m^mana s Ktou^ or Ka 9ne Umena m Kane^
and also Ka aina i ka haafo a Kame. The people
were then told to observe the four Ku days in the
beginning of the month as Kapm-koamo (sacred or holy
days), in remembrance of this event, because they
thus arose {Ku) to depart from that land. Their offer-
ings on the occasion were swine and goats/* The nar-
rator of the legend explains that formerly there were
goats without horns, called malailuay on the slopes
of Mauna Loa on Hawaii, and that they were found
there up to the time of Kamehameha I. The
l^nd further relates that after leaving the land
of Honualalo, the people came to the Kat-ula-a-KoMe
(the Red Sea of Kane); that they were pursued by
Ke-alii-waha-nui ; that Kane-apua and Kanaloa prayed
to Lono, and finally reached the Aina lauena a
Kane.

"In the famous Hawaiian legend of Hiiaka-i-ka-
poli-o-PeUy it is said that when Hiiaka went to the
island of Kauai to recover and restore to life the body
of Lohiau, the lover of her sister, Pele, she arrived at
the foot of the Kalalau Mountain shortly before sun-
set. Being told by her friends at Haena that there
would not be daylight sufficient to climb the pali
(precipice) and get the body out of the cave in which
it was hidden, she prayed to her gods to keep the sun
stationary (i ka muli o Hed) over the brook Hea, until
she had accomplished her object. The prayer was
heard, the mountain was climbed, the guardians of the
cave vanquished, and the body recovered."

A story of retarding the sun and making the day

LEGENDS AND HISTORY 25

longer to accomplish his p m pose is told cf Mas}-4-
kalana, according to Dibble's historr.

Judge Fornander alludes to one other legend vidi
incidents similar to the Old Testament hktorr vhecaa
''Na-ula-a-Mainea,an Oahu prophet, left Oafaa fot
Kauai, was upset in his canoe, was swalloved bf a
whale, and thrown up alive on the bcadb at Waalya,
Kauai/'

Judge Fornander sajs that, when he first heard tiie
legend of the two brother prophets de&rexisg tfbe
Menehune people, ^he was inriinrd to doo^ rs
genuineness and to con»der it as a paraphnse or adap-
tation of the Biblical account br some scmS-csriBzed
or semi-Christianized Hawaiian, after the dssccnrerr of
the group bv Captain Cook. But a larger and hc:zsT
acquaintance with Hawaiian folk-lore has shovs ihaz
though the detaik of the legend, as inztrpmed hj t^
Christian Hawaiian from whom it was rccefred, aar
possibly in some degree, and uncomooosJT to hfn,
perhaps, have received a BiUical cojonng, ret tre r-^*
facts of the legend, with the idcntica] casca k4 ysrwA'A
and places, are re feired to more or le» i^^rjctlj :-
other legends of undoubted antiquhr,'* Azti t>>e Rrr,
Mr. Dibble, in his historr, tars of tixK Hr^t.jzr.
legends, that-"theT were told to die c:»ccr.ar>rf -ervr*
the Bible was translated into t2>e Hawarar: t/>Mr>r xr>r.
before the people knew much of lacrsd •it-vyrr, 7 -^
native who acted as assistant in traaslar:.-:^ rr^ r..tr.v 1
of Joseph was fordbiv strode wrrh its tisi.jarri ♦/> •Tj^t
ancient tradition. Neither is there the ieatr f w?r. fcf
supposing that the sonss referred to are rtter*t %t.y^^

26 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

dons. They can all be traced back for generations^
and are known by various persons residing on different
islands who have had no communication with each
other. Some of them have their date in the reign
of some ancient king, and others have existed time
out of mind. It may also be added, that both their
narrations and songs are known the best by the very
oldest of the people, and those who never learned to
read; whose education and training were under the
ancient system of heathenism."

"Two hypotheses," says Judge Fornander, "may
with some plausibility be suggested to account for this
remarkable resemblance of folk-lore. One is, that
during the time of the Spanish galleon trade, in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, between the
Spanish Main and Manila, some shipwrecked people,
Spaniards and Portuguese, had obtained sufficient
influence to introduce these scraps of Bible history into
the legendary lore of this people. . . . On this
fact hypothesis I remark that, if the shipwrecked
foreigners were educated men, or only possessed of such
Scriptural knowledge as was then imparted to the com-
monality of laymen, it is morally impossible to conceive
that a Spaniard of the sixteenth century should confine
his instruction to some of the leading events of the
Old Testament, and be totally silent upon the Chris-
tian dispensation, and the cruciolatry, mariolatry, and
hagiolatry of that day. And it is equally impossible
to conceive that the Hawaiian listeners, chiefs, priests,
or commoners, should have retained and incorporated
so much of the former in their own folk-lore, and yet

LEGENDS AND HISTORY ay

have utterly fofgotten evety item bearing upon the
latter.

''The other hypothesis is, that at some remote
period either a body of the scattered Israelites had
arrived at these islands direct, or in Malaysia, before
the exodus of 'the Polynesian &mily/ and thus im-
parted a knowledge of their doctrines, of the early life
of their ancestors, and of some of their peculiar cus-
toms, and that having been absorbed by the people
among whom they found a refuge, this is all that remains
to attest their presence — intellectual tombstones over a
lost and forgotten race, yet sufficient after twenty-six
centuries of silence to solve in some measure the ethnic
puzzle of the lost tribes of Israel. In regard to this
second hypothesis, it is certainly more plausible and
cannot be so curtly disposed of as the Spanish theory.
... So far from being copied one from the other,
they are in fact independent and original versions
of a once common legend, or series of legends, held
alike by Cushite, Semite, Turanian, and Aryan, up to
a certun time, when the divergencies of national life
and other causes brought other subjects peculiar to
each other prominently in the foreground ; and that
as these divergencies hardened into system and creed,
that grand old heirloom of a common past became
overlaid and colored by the peculiar social and religious
atmosphere through which it has passed up to the
sur&ce of the present time. But besides this general
reason for refusing to adopt the Israelitish theory, that
the Polynesian legends were introduced by fugitive or
emigrant Hebrews from the subverted kingdoms of

28 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

Israel or Judah, there is the more special reason to be
added that the organization and splendor of Solo-
mon's empire, his temple, and his wisdom became pro-
verbial among the nations of the East subsequent
to his time ; on all these, the Polynesian legends are
absolutely silent."

In commenting on the legend of Hiiaka-i-ka-poli'tH
PeUy Judge Fornander says : " If the Hebrew legend
of Joshua or a Cushite version give rise to it, it only
brings down the community of legends a little later in
time. And so would the legend of Naulu-a-MaheUy
. . . unless the legend of Jonah, with which it corre-
sponds in a measure, as well as the previous legend of
Joshua and the sun, were Hebrew anachronisms com-
piled and adapted in later times from long antecedent
materials, of which the Polynesian references are but
broken and distorted echoes, bits of legendary mosaics,
displaced from their original surroundings and made
to fit with later associations."

In regard to the account of the Creation, he remarks
that " the Hebrew legend infers that the god Elohim
existed contemporaneously with and apart from the
chaos. The Hawaiian legend makes the three great
gods, Kane, Ku, and Lono, evolve themselves out of
chaos. . . . The order of creation, according to Hawaiian
folk-lore, was that after Heaven and earth had been
separated, and the ocean had been stocked with its ani-
mals, the stars were created, then the moon, then the
sun." Alluding to the fact that the account in Gene-
sis is truer to nature. Judge Fornander nevertheless
propounds the inquiry whether this fiict may not

LEGENDS AND HISTORY 29

'indicate that the Hebrew text is a later emendation
of an older but once common tradition'' ?

Highest antiquity is claimed for Hawaiian tradi-
tions in r^rd to events subsequent to the creation of
man. '^In one of the sacrificial hymns of the Mar-
quesans, when human victims were offered, frequent
allusions were made to 'the red apples eaten in Naoau/
. . . and to the 'tabooed apples of Atea,* as the cause
of death, wars, pestilence, famine, and other calamities,
only to be averted or atoned for by the sacrifice of
human victims. The close connection between the
Hawaiian and the Marquesan legends indicates a
common origin, and that origin can be no other than
that from which the Chaldean and Hebrew legends of
sacred trees, disobedience, and fall also sprang." In
comparison of ''the Hawaiian myth of Kanaloa as a
fallen angel antagonistic to the great gods, as the
spirit of evil and death in the world, the Hebrew
l^nds are more vague and indefinite as to the exist-
ence of an evil principle. The serpent of Genesis,
the Satan of Job, the Hillel of Isaiah, the dragon of
the Apocalypse — all point, however, to the same
underlying idea that the first cause of sin, death, evil,
and calamities, was to be found in disobedience and
revolt from God. They appear as disconnected scenes
of a once grand drama that in olden times riveted the
attention of mankind, and of which, strange to say,
the clearest synopsis and the most coherent recollec-
tion are, so far, to be found in Polynesian traditions.
It is probably in vain to inquire with whom the legend
of an evil spirit and his operations in Heaven and on

30 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

earth hid its origin. Notwithstanding the apparent
unity of design and remarkable coincidence in many
points, yet the differences in coloring, detail, and
presentation are too great to suppose the legend bor-
rowed by one from either of the others. It probably
descended to the Chaldeans, Polynesians, and He-
brews alike, from a source or people anterior to them-
selves, of whom history now is silent."

EXPLOITS OF MAUI

REV. A. O. FORBES

L— SNARING THE SUN

1^1^ AU I was the son of Hina-lau-ae and Hina, and
they dwelt at a place called Makalia, above
Kahakuloa, on West Maui. Now, his mother Hina
made kapas. And as she spread them out to dry,
the days were so short that she was put to great
trouble and labor in hanging them out and taking
them in day after day until they were dry. Maui,
seeing this, was filled with pity for her, for the days
were so short that, no sooner had she got her kapas
all spread out to dry, than the Sun went down, and
she had to take them in again. So he determined to
make the Sun go slower. He first went to Wailohi,
in Hamakua, on East Maui, to observe the motions
of the Sun. There he saw that it rose toward Hana.
He then went up on Haleakala, and saw that the Sun
in its course came directly over that mountain. He
then went home again, and after a few days went to a
place called Paeloko, at Waihee. There he cut down
all the cocoanut-trees, and gathered the fibre of the
cocoanut husks in great quantity. This he manu-
factured into strong cord. One Moemoe, seeing this,

32 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

said tauntingly to him: "Thou wilt never catch the
Sun. Thou art an idle nobody."

Maui answered: " When I conquer my enemy, and
my desire is attained, I will be your death." So he
went up Haleakala again, taking his cord with him.
And when the Sun arose above where he was sta-
tioned, he prepared a noose of the cord and, casting
it, snared one of the Sun's larger beams and broke it
off. And thus he snared and broke off, one after
another, all the strong rays of the Sun.

Then shouted he exultingly: "Thou art my cap-
tive, and now I will kill thee for thy going so swiftly."

And the Sun said: "Let me live, and thou shalt see
me go more slowly hereafter. Behold, hast thou not
broken off all my strong legs, and left me only the
weak ones?"

So the agreement was made, and Maui permitted
the Sun to pursue its course, and from that time on it
went more slowly; and that is the reason why the
days are longer at one season of the year than at
another. It was this that gave the name to that
mountain, which should properly be called Alehe-ka-la
(sun snarer), and not Haleakala.

When Maui returned from this exploit, he went to
find Moemoe, who had reviled him. But that individ-
ual was not at home. He went on in his pursuit till
he came upon him at a place called Kawaiopilopilo,
on the shore to the eastward of the black rock called
Kekaa, north of Lahaina. Moemoe dodged him up
hill and down, until at last Maui, growing wroth,
leaped upon and slew the fugitive. And the dead

EXPLOITS OF MAUI 33

body was transformed into a long rock, which is there
to this day, by the side of the road.

II.— THE ORIGIN OF FIRE

Maui and Hina dwelt together, and to them were
born four sons, whose names were Maui-mua, Maui-
hope, Maui-kiikii, and Maui-o-ka-lana. These four
were fishermen. One morning, just as the edge
of the Sun lifted itself up, Maui-mua roused his
brethren to go fishing. So they launched their canoe
from the beach at Kaupo, on the island of Maui,
where they were dwelling, and proceeded to the fish-
ing ground. Having arrived there, they were begin-
ning to fish, when Maui-o-ka-lana saw the light of a
fire on the shore they had left, and said to his breth-
ren : ** Behold, there is a fire burning. Whose can
this fire be?''

And they answered: ^^ Whose, indeed? Let us
return to the shore, that we may get our food cooked;
but first let us get some fish."

So, after they had obtained some fish, they turned
toward the shore; and when the canoe touched the
beach Maui-mua leaped ashore and ran toward the spot
where the fire had been burning. Now, the curly-
tailed alM (mud-hens) were the keepers of the fire;
and when they saw him coming they scratched the fire
out and flew away. Maui-mua was defeated, and
returned to the house to his brethren.

Then said they to him: "How about the fire?"

"How, indeed ? " he answered. " When I got there,
behold, there was no fire; it was out. I supposed

34 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

some man had the fire, and behold, it was not so ; the
alae are the proprietors of the fire, and our bananas
are all stolen."

When they heard that, they were filled with anger,
and decided not to go fishing again, but to wait for
the next appearance of the fire. But after many days
had passed without their seeing the fire, they went fish-
ing again, and behold, there was the fire 1 And so they
were continually tantalized. Only when they were out
fishing would the fire appear, and when they returned
they could not find it.

This was the way of it. The curly-tailed alae knew
that Maui and Hina had only these four sons, and if
any of them stayed on shore to watch the fire while
the others were out in the canoe the alae knew it by
counting those in the canoe, and would not light the
fire. Only when they could count four men in the
canoe would they light the fire. So Maui-mua thought
it over, and said to his brethren : " To-morrow morning
do you go fishing, and I will stay ashore. But do you
take the calabash and dress it in kapa, and put it in my
place in the canoe, and then go out to fish.''

They did so, and when they went out to fish the next
morning, the alae counted and saw four figures in the
canoe, and then they lit the fire and put the bananas
on to roast. Before they were fully baked one of the
alae cried out : ^^Our dish is cooked ! Behold, Hina
has a smart son."

And with that, Maui-mua, who had stolen close to
them unperceived, leaped forward, seized the curly-
tailed alae and exclaimed : ^^ Now I will kill you, you

EXPLOITS OF MAUI 35

scamp of an alae! Behold, it is you who are keeping
the fire from us. I will be the death of you for this."
Then answered the alae : " If you kill me the secret
dies with me, and you won't get the fire." As Maui-
mua b^an to wring its neck, the alae again spoke, and
said: ^^Let me live, and you shall have the fire."
So Maui-mua said: "Tell me, where is the fire?"
The alae replied: "It is in the leaf of the a-pe
plant " ( Alocasia macrorrhiza).

So, by the direction of the alae, Maui-mua began to
rub the leaf-stalk of the ape-plant with a piece of stick,
but the fire would not come. Again he asked:
"Where is this fire that you are hiding from me?"
The alae answered : "In a green stick."
And he rubbed a green stick, but got no fire. So
it went on, until finally the alae told him he would
find it in a dry stick ; and so, indeed, he did. But
Maui-mua, in revenge for the conduct of the alae, after
he had got the fire from the dry stick, said : " Now,
there is one thing more to try." And he rubbed the
top of the alae's head till it was red with blood, and
the red spot remains there to this day.

Ill

PELE AND THE DELUGE

REV. A. O. FORBES

A LL volcanic phenomena are associated in Hawai-
•^ ^ ian legendary lore with the goddess Pele ; and it
is a somewhat curious fact that to the same celebrated
personage is also attributed a great flood that occurred
in ancient times. The legends of this flood are vari-
ous, but mainly connected with the doings of Pele in
this part of the Pacific Ocean. The story runs thus :
Kahinalii was the mother of Pele ; Kanehoalani was
her father ; and her two brothers were Kamohoalii and
Kahuilaokalani. Pele was born in the land of Hapa-
kuela, a far-distant land at the edge of the sky, toward
the southwest. There she lived with her parents
until she was grown up, when she married Wahialoa;
and to these were born a daughter named Laka, and a
son named Menehune. But after a time Pele's hus-
band, Wahialoa, was enticed away from her by Pele-
kumulani. The deserted Pele, being much displeased
and troubled in mind on account of her husband,
started on her travels in search of him, and came in
the direction of the Hawaiian Islands. Now, at that
time these islands were a vast waste. There was no
sea, nor was there any fresh water. When Pele set

PELE AND THE DELUGE 37

out on her journey, her parents gave her the sea to go
with her and bear her canoes onward. So she sailed
forward, flood-borne by the sea, until she reached the
land of Pakuela, and thence onward to the land of
Kanaloa. From her head she poured forth the sea as
she went, and her brothers composed the celebrated
ancient mele :

O the tea, the great tea!
Forth bunts the tea:
Behold, it bursts on Kanaloa!

But the waters of the sea continued to rise until only
the highest points of the great mountsuns, Haleakala,
Maunakea, and Maunaloa, were visible ; all else was
covered. Afterward the sea receded until it reached
its present level. This event is called the Kai a Kahi-
nalii (Sea of Kahinalaa), because it was from Kahi-
naiii, her mother, that Pele received the gift of the sea,
and she herself only brought it to Hawaii.

And from that time to this, Pele and all her family
forsook their former land of Hapakuela and have
dwelt in Hawaii-nei, Pele coming first and the rest
following at a later time.

On her first arrival at Hawaii-nei, Pele dwelt on the
island of Kauai. From there she went to Kalaupapa,*
on the island of Molokai, and dwelt in the crater of
Kauhako at that place ; thence she departed to Puu-
laina,' near Lahainaluna, where she dug out that cra-
ter. Afterward she moved still further to Haleakala,

> How the Leper Scakmeot.

'Tk« hiU vkibk Irom the Lahaiiu aoclionfc to the north of IjhainiluM School,

38 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

where she stayed until she hollowed out that great
crater; and finally she settled at Kilauea, on the island
of Hawaii, where she has remained ever since.

^ It 18 not a little remarlcable that the progress of Pele, as stated in this tradition,
agrees with geological observation in locating the earliest volcanic action in this group,
on the island of Kauai, and the latest, on the island of Hawaii. — Trantlaior,

IV
PELE AND KAHAWALI

FROM EUJS'S "TOUR OF HAWAII

TN the reign of Kealiikukii, an ancient king of
Hawaii, Kahawali, chief of Puna, and one of his
favorite companions went one day to amuse them-
selves with the holua (sled), on the sloping side of a
hill, which is still called ka holua ana o Kahawali
(Kahawali's sliding-place). Vast numbers of the
people gathered at the bottom of the hill to witness
the game, and a company of musicians and dancers
repaired thither to add to the amusement of the
spectators. The performers began their dance, and
amidst the sound of drums and the songs of the
musicians the sledding of Kahawali and his companion
commenced. The hilarity of the occasion attracted
the attention of Pele, the goddess of the volcano,
who came down from Kilauea to witness the sport.
Standing on the summit of the hill in the form of a
woman, she challenged Kahawali to slide with her.
He accepted the offer, and they set off together down
the hill. Pele, less acquainted with the art of balanc-
ing herself on the narrow sled than her rival, was
beaten, and Kahawali was applauded by the spectators
as he returned up the side of the hill.

40 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

Before starting again, Pele asked him to give her
his papa holua^ but he, supposing from her appearance
that she was no more than a native woman, said:
^^Aolel (no!) Are you my wife, that you should obtain
my sled?" And, as if impatient at being delayed, he
adjusted his papa, ran a few yards to take a spring,
and then, with this momentum and all his strength
he threw himself upon it and shot down the hill.

Pele, incensed at his answer, stamped her foot on
the ground and an earthquake followed, which rent the
hill in sunder. She called, and fire and liquid lava
arose, and, assuming her supernatural form, with these
irresistible ministers of vengeance, she followed down
the hill. When Kahawali reached the bottom, he
arose, and on looking behind saw Pele, accompanied
by thunder and lightning, earthquake, and streams
of burning lava, closely pursuing him. He took up
his broad spear which he had stuck in the ground
at the beginning of the game, and, accompanied by his
friend, fled for his life. The musicians, dancers, and
crowds of spectators were instantly overwhelmed by
the fiery torrent, which, bearing on its foremost wave
the enraged goddess, continued to pursue Kahawali
and his companion. They ran till they came to an
eminence called Puukea. Here Kahawali threw
oflF his cloak of netted ki leaves and proceeded toward
his house, which stood near the shore. He met his
favorite pig and saluted it by touching noses, then ran
to the house of his mother, who lived at Kukii,
saluted her by touching noses, and said : ^^ Aloha ino oe^
eta ihonei paha oe e make aiy ke at matnei Pele** (Com-

PELE AND KAHAWALI 41

passion great to you! Close here, perhaps, is your
death ; Peie comes devouring.) Leaving her, he met
his wife, Kanakawahine, and saluted her. The burning
torrent approached, and she said: '^ Stay with me here,
and let us die together." He said: "No; I go, I go."
He then saluted his two children, Poupoulu and
Kaohe, and said, ^^Ke ue net au ia olua^ (I grieve for
you two.) The lava rolled near, and he ran till
a deep chasm arrested his progress. He laid down
his spear and walked over on it in safety. His fnend
called out for his help ; he held out his spear over the
chasm ; his companion took hold of it and he drew
him securely over. By this time Pele was coming
down the chasm with accelerated motion. He ran till
he reached Kula. Here he met his sister, Koai, but
had only time to say, ^^ Aloha oe!** (Alas for you!) and
then ran on to the shore. His younger brother
had just landed from his fishing-canoe, and had
hastened to his house to provide for the safety of his
family, when Kahawali arrived. He and his friend
leaped into the canoe, and with his broad spear pad-
dled out to sea. Pele, perceiving his escape, ran to
the shore and hurled after him, with prodigious force,
great stones and fragments of rock, which fell thick!y
around but did not strike his canoe. When he had
paddled a short distance from the shore the kumukahi
(east wind) sprung up. He fixed his broad spear
upright in the canoe, that it might answer the double
purpose of mast and sail, and by its aid he soon
reached the island of Maui, where they rested one
night and then proceeded to Lanai. The day follow-

42 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

ing they moved on to Molokai, thence to Oahu, the
abode of Kolonohailaau, his father, and Kanewa-
hinekeaho, his sister, to whom he related his disastrous
perils, and with whom he took up his perma-
nent abode.

HIKU AND KAWELU

J. S. EMERSON

NOT hr from the summit of Hualalai, on the
island of Hawaii, in the cave on the southern
side of the ridge, lived Hina and her son, the kupua^
or demigod, Hiku. All his life long as a child and
a youth, Hiku had lived alone with his mother on
this mountain summit, and had never once been
permitted to descend to the plains below to see the
abodes of men and to learn of their ways. From time
to time, his quick ear had caught the sound of the dis-
tant hula (drum) and the voices of the gay merrymakers.
Often had he wished to see the fair forms of those who
danced and sang in those &r-ofF cocoanut groves. But
his mother, more experienced in the ways of the world,
had never given her consent. Now, at length, he felt
that he was a man, and as the sounds of mirth arose
on his ears, again he asked his mother to let him go
for himself and mingle with the people on the shore.
His mother, seeing that his mind was made up to go,
reluctantly gave her consent and warned him not to
stay too long, but to return in good time. So, taking
in his hand his fidthful arrow, Pua Ne^ which he
always carried, he started off.

44 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

This arrow was a sort of talisman, possessed of mar-
vellous powers, among which were the ability to answer
his call and by its flight to direct his journey.

Thus he descended over the rough clinker lava and
through the groves of koa that cover the southwestern
flank of the mountain, until, nearing its base, he stood
on a distant hill; and consulting his arrow, he shot it
far into the air, watching its bird-like flight until it
struck on a distant hill above Kailua. To this hill he
rapidly directed his steps, and, picking up his arrow in
due time, he again shot it into the air. The second
flight landed the arrow near the coast of Holualoa,
some six or eight miles south of Kailua. It struck on a
barren waste oipahoehoe, or lava rock, beside the water-
hole of Waikalaiy known also as the Wai a Hiku
(Water of Hiku), where to this day all the people
of that vicinity go to get their water for man and
beast.

Here he quenched his thirst, and nearing the village
of Holualoa, again shot the arrow, which, instinct with
life, entered the courtyard of the j/iV, or chief, of Kona,
and from among the women who were there singled
out the fair princess Kawelu, and landed at her feet.
Seeing the noble bearing of Hiku as he approached to
claim his arrow, she stealthily hid it and challenged him
to find it. Then Hiku called to the arrow, ^^Pua ne!
Pua ne!** and the arrow replied, "iV>/" thus revealing
its hiding-place.

This exploit with the arrow and the remarkable
grace and personal beauty of the young man quite won
the heart of the princess, and she was soon possessed

HIKU AND KAWELU 45

by a strong passion for him, and determined to make
him her husband.

With her wily arts she detained him for several days
at her home, and when at last he was about to start for
the mountain, she shut him up in the house and thus
detained him by force. But the words of his mother,
warning him not to remain too long, came to his mind,
and he determined to break away from his prison.
So he climbed up to the roof, and removing a portion
of the thatch, made his escape.

When his flight was discovered by Kawelu, the in-
fatuated girl was distracted with grief. Refusing to be
comforted, she tasted no food, and ere many days had
passed was quite dead. Messengers were despatched
who brought back the unhappy Hiku, author of all
this sorrow. Bitterly he wept over the corpse of his
beloved, but it was now too late; the spirit had
departed to the nether world, ruled over by Milu. And
now, stung by the reproaches of her kindred and friends
for his desertion, and urged on by his real love for the fair
one, he resolved to attempt the perilous descent into the
nether world and, if possible, to bring her spirit back.

With the assistance of her friends, he collected from
the mountain slope a great quantity of the kowali, or
convolvulus vine. He also prepared a hollow cocoa-
nut shell, splitting it into two closely fitting parts.
Then anointing himself with a mixture of rancid cocoa-
nut and kukui oil, which gave him a very strong
corpse-like odor, he started with his companions in
the well-loaded canoes for a point in the sea where
the sky comes down to meet the water.

46 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

Arrived at the spot, he directed his comrades to
lower him into the abyss called by the Hawaiians the
Lua Milu, Taking with him his cocoanut-shell and
seating himself astride of the cross-stick of the swing,
or kowali, he was quickly lowered down by the long
rope of kowali vines held by his friends in the canoe
above.

Soon he entered the great cavern where the shades
of the departed were gathered together. As he came
among them, their curiosity was aroused to learn who
he was. And he heard many remarks, such as "Whew!
what an odor this corpse emits!" "He must have
been long dead." He had rather overdone the matter
of the rancid oil. Even Milu himself, as he sat on the
bank watching the crowd, was completely deceived by
the stratagem, for otherwise he never would have
permitted this bold descent of a living man into his
gloomy abode.

The Hawaiian swing, it should be remarked, unlike
ours, has but one rope supporting the cross-stick on
which the person is seated. Hiku and his swing
attracted considerable attention from the lookers-on.
One shade in particular watched him most intently; it
was his sweetheart, Kawelu. A mutual recognition
took place, and with the permission of Milu she darted
up to him and swung with him on the kowali. But
even she had to avert her face on account of his corpse-
like odor. As they were enjoying together this favor-
ite Hawaiian pastime of lele kowali^ by a preconcerted
signal the friends above were informed of the success
of his ruse and were now rapidly drawing them up.

HIKU AND KAWELU 47

At first she was too much absorbed in the sport to
notice this. When at length her attention was aroused
by seeing the great distance of those beneath her, like
a butterfly she was about to flit away, when the crafty
Hiku, who was ever on the alert, clapped the cocoanut-
shells together, imprisoning her within them, and was
then quickly drawn up to the canoes above.

With their precious burden, they returned to the
shores of Holualoa, where Hiku landed and at once
repaired to the house where still lay the body of his
beloved. Kneeling by its side, he made a hole in the
great toe of the left foot, into which with great difli-
culty he forced the reluctant spirit, and in spite of its
desperate struggles he tied up the wound so that it
could not escape from the cold, clammy flesh in which
it was now imprisoned. Then he began to lomilomiy
or rub and chafe the foot, working the spirit further
and further up the limb.

Gradually, as the heart was reached, the blood began
once more to flow through the body, the chest began
gently to heave with the breath of life, and soon the
spirit gazed out through the eyes. Kawelu was now
restored to consciousness, and seeing her beloved
Hiku bending tenderly over her, she opened her
lips and said: '^How could you be so cruel as to
leave me?"

All remembrance of the Lua o Milu and of her
meeting him there had disappeared, and she took up
the thread of consciousness just where she had left it a
few days before at death. Great joy filled the hearts
of the people of Holualoa as they welcomed back to

48 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

their midst the fair Kawelu and the hero, Hiku, from
whom she was no more to be separated.

LOCATION OF THE LUA O MILU

In the myth of Hiku and Kawelu, the entrance to
the Lua o Milu is placed out to sea opposite Holua-
loa and a few miles south of Kailua. But the more
usual account of the natives is, that it was situated at
the mouth of the great valley of Waipio, in a place
called Keoni, where the sands have long since covered
up and concealed from view this passage from the
upper to the nether world.

Every year, so it is told, the procession of ghosts
called by the natives O/V?, marches in solemn state
down the Mahiki road, and at this point enters the
Lua o Milu. A man, recently living in Waimea, of
the best reputation for veracity, stated that about
thirty or more years ago, he actually saw this ghostly
company. He was walking up this road in the eve-
ning, when he saw at a distance the Oio appear, and
knowing that should they encounter him his death
would be inevitable, he discreetly hid himself behind
a tree and, trembling with fear, gazed in silence at the
dread spectacle. There was Kamehameha, the con-
queror, with all his chiefs and warriors in military
array, thousands of heroes who had won renown in
the olden time. Though all were silent as the grave,
they kept perfect step as they marched along, and
passing through the woods down to Waipio, disap-
peared from his view.

HIKU AND KAWELU 49

In connection with the foregoing. Professor W. D.
Alexander kindly contributes the following:

"The valley of Waipio is a place frequently cele-
brated in the songs and traditions of Hawaii, as hav-
ing been the abode of Akea and Milu, the first kings
of the island. . . .

"Some said that the souls of the departed went to
the Po (place of night), and were annihilated or eaten
by the gods there. Others said that some went to the
regions of Akea and Milu. Akea (Wakea), they said, '
was the first king of Hawaii. At the expiration of
his reign, which terminated with his life at Waipio,
where we then were, he descended to a region far
below, called Kapapahanaumoku (the island bearing
rock or stratum), and founded a kingdom there.
Milu, who was his successor, and reigned in Hama-
kua, descended, when he died, to Akea and shared
the government of the place with him. Their land is
a place of darkness; their food lizards and butterflies.
There are several streams of water, of which they
drink,* and some said that there were large kahilis
and wide-spreading kou trees, beneath which they
reclined."'

"They had some very indistinct notion of a future
state of happiness and of misery. They said that,
after death, the ghost went first to the region of
Wakea, the name of their first reputed progenitor,
and if it had observed the religious rites and cere-
monies, was entertained and allowed to remain there.
That was a place of houses, comforts, and pleasures.

lEUi't •^Pdyooun RcMsrcbo/' pf. 365-7.

50 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

If the soul had failed to be religious, it found no one
there to entertain it, and was forced to take a desper-
ate leap into a place of misery below, called Milu.

"There were several precipices, from the verge of
which the unhappy ghosts were supposed to take the
leap into the region of woe; three in particular, one at
the northern extremity of Hawaii, one at the western
termination of Maui, and the third at the northern
point of Qahu."^

Near the northwest point of Oahu is a rock called
Leina Kauhane, where the souls of the dead descended
into Hades. In New Zealand the same term,"Reinga"
(the leaping place), is applied to the North Cape. The
Marquesans have a similar belief in regard to the north-
ermost island of their group, and apply the same term,
" Reinga," to their Avernus.

^ Dibble's History, p. 99.

LONOPUHA; OR, ORIGIN OF THE ART
OF HEALING IN HAWAII

TRANSLATED BY THOS. G. THRUM

TOURING the rime that Milu was residing at
Waipio, Hawaii, the year of which is unknown,
there came to these shores a number of people, with
their wives, from that vague foreign land, Kahiki.
But they were all of godly kind {ano akua nae)^ it is
said, and drew attenrion as they journeyed from place
to place. They arrived first at Niihau, and from
there they travelled through all the islands. At
Hawaii they landed at the south side, thence to Puna,
Hilo, and settled at Kukuihaele, Hamakua, just
abpve Waipio.

On every island they visited there appeared various
diseases, and many deaths resulted, so that it was said
this was their doings, among the chiefs and people.
The diseases that followed in their train were chills,
fevers, headache, paniy and so on.

These are the names of some of these people:
Kaalaenuiahina, Kahuilaokalani, Kaneikaulanaula, be-
sides others. They brought death, but one Kama-
kanuiahailono followed after them with healing powers.
This was perhaps the origin of sickness and the art of
healing with medicines in Hawaii.

5«

52 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

As has been said, diseases settled on the different
islands like an epidemic, and the practice of medicine
ensued, for Kamakanuiahailono followed them in their
journeyings. He arrived at Kau, stopping at Kiolakaa,
on the west side of Waiohinu, where a great multitude
of people were residing, and Lono was their chief.
The stranger sat on a certain hill, where many of the
people visited him, for the reason that he was a new-
comer, a custom that is continued to this day. While
there he noticed the redness of skin of a certain one
of them, and remarked, "Oh, the redness of skin of
that man ! "

The people replied, "Oh, that is Lono, the chief
of this land, and he is a farmer."

He again spoke, asserting that his sickness was very
great; for through the redness of the skin he knew him
to be a sick man.

They again replied that he was a healthy man, "but
you consider him very sick." He then left the resi-
dents and set out on his journey.

Some of those who heard his remarks ran and told
the chief the strange words, "that he was a very sick
man." On hearing this, Lono raised up his oo (dig-
ger) and said, "Here I am, without any sign of disease,
and yet I am sick." And as he brought down his oo
with considerable force, it struck his foot and pierced
it through, causing the blood to flow freely, so that he
fell and fainted away. At this, one of the men seized
a pig and ran after the stranger, who, hearing the pig
squealing, looked behind him and saw the man run-
ning with it; and as he neared him he dropped it

ORIGIN OF ART OF HEALING 53

before him, and told him of Lono's misfortune. Kama-
kanuiahailono then returned, gathering on the way the
young popolo seeds and its tender leaves in his garment
{kihei). When he arrived at the place where the
wounded man was lying he asked for some salt, which
he took and pounded together with the popolo and
placed it with a cocoanut covering on the wound.
From then till night the flowing of the blood ceased.
After two or three weeks had elapsed he again took
his departure.

While he was leisurely journeying, some one breath-
ing heavily approached him in the rear, and, turning
around, there was the chief, and he asked him : '^ What
is it, Lono, and where are you going ? "

Lono replied, '* You healed me ; therefore, as soon
as you had departed I immediately consulted with my
successors, and have resigned my offices to them, so
that they will have control over all. As for myself,
I followed after you, that you might teach me the art
of healing."

The kahuna lapaau (medical priest) then said, " Open
your mouth." When Lono opened his mouth, the
kahuna spat into it,^ by which he would become pro-
ficient in the calling he had chosen, and in which he
eventually became, in fact, very skilful.

As they travelled, he instructed Lono (on account
of the accident to his foot he was called Lonopuha) in
the various diseases, and the different medicines for the
proper treatment of each. They journeyed through
Kau, Puna, and Hilo, thence onward to Hamakua as

* Aa iniciitory act, at in the prietchood.

54 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

far as Kukuihaele. Prior to their arrival there, Kama-
kanuiahailono said to Lonopuha, ''It is better that we
reside apart, lest your healing practice do not succeed;
but you settle elsewhere, so as to gain recognition from
your own skill."

For this reason, Lonopuha went on farther and
located in Waimanu, and there practised the art of
healing. On account of his labors here, he became
famous as a skilful healer, which fame Kamakanuia-
hailono and others heard of at Kukuihaele; but he
never revealed to Kaalaenuiabina ma (company) of his
teaching of Lonopuha, througli which he became cele-
brated. It so happened that Kaalaenuiabina ma were
seeking an occasion to cause Milu's death, and he was
becoming sickly through their evil efforts.

When Milu heard of the fame of Lonopuha as a
skilful healer, because of those who were afflicted with
disease and would have died but for his treatment, he
sent his messenger after him. On arriving at Milu's
house, Lonopuha examined and felt of him, and then
said, " You will have no sickness, provided you be
obedient to my teachings." He then exercised his
art, and under his medical treatment Milu recovered.

Lonopuha then said to him: "I have treated you,
and you are well of the internal ailments you suffered
under, and only that from without remains. Now, you
must build a house of leaves and dwell therein in
quietness for a few weeks, to recuperate." These
houses are called pipipiy such being the place to which
invalids are moved for convalescent treatment unless
something unforeseen should occur.

ORIGIN OF ART OF HEALING 55

Upon Milu's removal thereto, Lonopuha advised
him as follows: ^'O King! you are to dwell in this
house according to the length of time directed, in per-
fect quietness; and should the excitement of sports with
attendant loud cheering prevail here, I warn you against
these as omens of evil for your death; and I advise you
not to loosen the /i leaves of your house to peep out
to see the cause, for on the very day you do so, that
day you will perish."

Some two weeks had scarcely passed since the King
had been confined in accordance with the kahuna's
instructions, when noises from various directions in
proximity to the King's dwelling were heard, but he
regarded the advice of the priest all that day. The
cause of the commotion was the appearance of two
birds playing in the air, which so excited the people
that they kept cheering them all that day.

Three weeks had almost passed when loud cheering
was again heard in Waipio, caused by a large bird
decorated with very beautiful feathers, which flew out
fi^m the clouds and soared proudly over the palis
(precipices) of Koaekea and Kaholokuaiwa, and poised
gracefully over the people; therefore, they cheered as
they pursued it here and there. Milu was much wor-
ried thereby, and became so impatient that he could no
longer regard the priest's caution; so he lifted some of
the ti leaves of his house to look out at the bird, when
instantly it made a thrust at him, striking him under
the armpit, whereby his life was taken and he was dead
{lib ai kona ola a make iho la).

The priest saw the bird flying with the liver of Milu;

56 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

therefore, he followed after it. When it saw that it was
pursued, it immediately entered into a sunken rock
just above the base of the precipice of Koaekea. As
he reached the place, the blood was spattered around
where the bird had entered. Taking a piece of gar-
ment {pahoold)y he soaked it with the blood and returned
and placed it in the opening in the body of the dead
King and poured healing medicine on the wound,
whereby Milu recovered. And the place where the
bird entered with Milu's liver has ever since been
called Keakeomilu (the liver of Milu).

A long while afterward, when this death of the King
was as nothing {i mea ole)y and he recovered as for-
merly, the priest refrained not from warning him, say-
ing: "You have escaped from this death; there remains
for you one other."

After Milu became convalescent from his recent
serious experience, a few months perhaps had elapsed,
when the surf at Waipio became very high and was
breaking heavily on the beach. This naturally caused
much commotion and excitement among the people,
as the numerous surf-riders, participating in the sport,
would land upon the beach on their surf-boards. Con-
tinuous cheering prevailed, and the hilarity rendered
Milu so impatient at the restraint put upon him by the
priest that he forsook his wise counsel and joined in
the exhilarating sport.

Seizing a surf-board he swam out some distance to
the selected spot for suitable surfs. Here he let the
first and second combers pass him ; but watching his
opportunity he started with the momentum of the

ORIGIN OF ART OF HEALING 57

heavier third comber, catching the crest just right.
Quartering on the rear of his board, he rode in with
majestic swiftness, and landed nicely on the beach
amid the cheers and shouts of the people. He then
repeated the venture and was riding in as successfully,
when, in a moment of careless abandon, at the place
where the surfs finish as they break on the beach, he
was thrust under and suddenly disappeared, while the
surf-board flew from under and was thrown violently
upon the shore. The people in amazement beheld
the event, and wildly exclaimed : ''Alas ! Milu is dead!
Milu is dead!" With sad wonderment they searched
and watched in vain for his body. Thus was seen the
result of repeated disobedience.

VII

A VISIT TO THE SPIRIT LAND; OR, THE

STRANGE EXPERIENCE OF A

WOMAN IN KONA, HAWAII

MRS. £. N. HALEY

IZ'ALIMA had been sick for many weeks, and at last
•■■^ died. Her friends gathered around her with loud
cries of grief, and with many expressions of affection
and sorrow at their loss they prepared her body for its
burial.

The grave was dug, and when everything was ready
for the last rites and sad act, husband and friends came
to take a final look at the rigid form and ashen face
before it was laid away forever in the ground. The
old mother sat on the mat-covered ground beside her
child, brushing away the intrusive flies with a piece of
cocoanut-leaf, and wiping away the tears that slowly
rolled down her cheeks. Now and then she would
break into a low, heart-rending wail, and tell in a sob-
choked, broken voice, how good this her child had
always been to her, how her husband loved her, and
how her children would never have any one to take her
place. "Oh, why," she cried, "did the gods leave
me? I am old and heavy with years; my back is bent
and my eyes are getting dark. I cannot work, and am
too old and weak to enjoy fishing in the sea, or danc-

A VISIT TO THE SPIRIT LAND 59

ing and feasting under the trees. But this my child
loved all these things, and was so happy. Why is she
taken and I, so useless, left?" And again that mourn-
ful, sob-choked wail broke on the still air, and was
borne out to the friends gathered under the trees
before the door, and was taken up and repeated until
the hardest heart would have softened and melted at
the sound. As they sat around on the mats looking
at their dead and listening to the old mother, suddenly
Kalima moved, took a long breath, and opened her
eyes. They were frightened at the miracle, but so
happy to have her back again among them.

The old mother raised her hands and eyes to
heaven and, with rapt faith on her brown, wrinkled
face, exclaimed: ^'The gods have let her come back!
How they must love her!"

Mother, husband, and friends gathered around
and rubbed her hands and feet, and did what they
could for her comfort. In a few minutes she revived
enough to say, ^'I have something strange to tell
you."

Several days passed before she was strong enough
to say more; then calling her relatives and friends
about her, she told them the following weird and
strange story :

** I died, as you know. I seemed to leave my body
and stand beside it, looking down on what was me.
The me that was standing there looked like the form
I was looking at, only, I was alive and the other was
dead. I gazed at my body for a few minutes, then
turned and walked away. I left the house and village.

6o HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

and walked on and on to the next village, and there I
found crowds of people, — Oh, so many people! The
place which I knew as a small village of a few houses
was a very large place, with hundreds of houses and
thousands of men, women, and children. Some of
them I knew and they spoke to me, — although that
seemed strange, for I knew they were dead, — but
nearly all were strangers. They were all so happy!
They seemed not to have a care ; nothing to trouble
them. Joy was in every face, and happy laughter
and bright, loving words were on every tongue.

"I left that village and walked on to the next. I
was not tired, for it seemed no trouble to walk. It
was the same there ; thousands of people, and every
one so joyous and happy. Some of these I knew.
I spoke to a few people, then went on again. I
seemed to be on my way to the volcano, — to Pele's
pit, — and could not stop, much as I wanted to do so.

"All along the road were houses and people, where
I had never known any one to live. Every bit
of good ground had many houses, and many, many
happy people on it. I felt so full of joy, too, that
my heart sang within me, and I was glad to be
dead.

"In time I came to South Point, and there, too,
was a great crowd of people. The barren point was a
great village. I was greeted with happy alohaSy then
passed on. All through Kau it was the same, and I
felt happier every minute. At last I reached the vol-
cano. There were some people there, but not so
many as at other places. They, too, were happy like

A VISIT TO THE SPIRIT LAND 6i

the others, but they said, 'You must go back to
your body. You are not to die yet.'

'^I did not want to go back. I begged and
prayed to be allowed to stay with them, but they said,
' No, you must go back ; and if you do not go will-
ingly, we will make you go.'

"I cried and tried to stay, but they drove me
back, even beating me when I stopped and would not
go on. So I was driven over the road I had come,
back through all those happy people. They were
still joyous and happy, but when they saw that I was
not allowed to stay, they turned on me and helped
drive me, too.

"Over the sixty miles I went, weeping, followed
by those cruel people, till I reached my home and
stood by my body again. I looked at it and hated
it. Was that my body? What a horrid, loathsome
thing it was to me now, since I had seen so many
beautiful, happy creatures! Must I go and live in
that thing again? No, I would not go into it; I re-
belled and cried for mercy.

"'You must go into it; we will make you!* said
my tormentors. They took me and pushed me head
foremost into the big toe.

"I struggled and fought, but could not help my-
self. They pushed and beat me again, when I tried
for the last time to escape. When I passed the waist,
I seemed to know it was of no use to struggle any
more, so went the rest of the way myself. Then my
body came to life again, and I opened my eyes.

" But I wish I could have stayed with those happy

62 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

people. It was cruel to make me come back. My
other body was so beautiful, and I was so happy, so
happy ! '*

VIII

KAPEEPEEKAUILA; OR, THE ROCKS

OF KANA

REV. A. O. FORBES

/^N the northern side of the island of Molokai,
^^ commencing at the eastern end and stretching
along a distance of about twenty miles, the coast is a
sheer precipice of black rock varying in height from
eight hundred to two thousand feet. The only interrup-
tions to the continuity of this vast sea wall are formed
by the four romantic valleys of Pelekunu, Puaahaunui,
Wailau, and Waikolu. Between the valleys of Pele-
kunu and Waikolu, juts out the bold, sharp headland
of Haupu, forming the dividing ridge between them,
and reminding one somewhat of an axe-head turned
edge upward. Directly in a line with this headland,
thirty or forty rods out in the ocean, arise abruptly
from the deep blue waters the rocks of Haupu, three
or four sharp, needle-like points of rock varying from
twenty to one hundred feet in height. This is the
spot associated with the legend of Kapeepeekauila, and
these rocks stand like grim sentinels on duty at the
eastern limit of what is now known as the settlement
of Kalawao. The legend runs as follows :

Keahole was the father, Hiiaka-noholae was the

64 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

mother, and Kapeepeekauila was the son. This
Kapeepeekauila was a hairy man, and dwelt on the
ridge of Haupu.

Once on a time Hakalanileo and his wife Hina,
the mother of Kana, came and dwelt in the valley of
Pelekunu, on the eastern side of the ridge of Haupu.

Kapeepeekauila, hearing of the arrival of Hina,
the beautiful daughter of Kalahiki, sent his children
to fetch her. They went and said to Hina, " Our
royal father desires you as his wife, and we have come
for you."

"Desires me for what?" said she.

"Desires you for a wife," said they.

This announcement pleased the beautiful daughter
of Kalahiki^ and she replied, " Return to your royal
father and tell him he shall be the husband and I will
be the wife."

When this message was delivered to Kapeepeekau-
ila, he immediately sent a messenger to the other side
of the island to summon all the people from Keone-
kuina to Kalamaula ; for we have already seen that he
was a hairy man, and it was necessary that this blem-
ish should be removed. Accordingly, when the peo-
ple had all arrived, Kapeepeekauila laid himself down
and they fell to work uiltil the hairs were all plucked
out. He then took Hina to wife, and they two dwelt
together on the top of Haupu.

Poor Hakalanileo, the husband of Hina, mourned
the loss of his companion of the long nights of winter
and the shower-sprinkled nights of summer. Neither
could he regain possession of her, for the ridge of

KAPEEPEEKAUILA 65

Haupu gfew rill it reached the heavens. He mourned
and rolled himself in the dust in agony, and crossed
his hands behind his back. He went from place to
place in search of some powerful person who should
be able to restore to him his wife. In his wanderings,
the first person to whom he applied was Kamalala-
walu, celebrated for strength and courage. This man,
seeing his doleful plight, asked, " Why these tears, O
my fiither?"

Hakalanileo replied, " Thy mother is lost."

"Lost to whom?"

" Lost to Kapeepce."

"What Kapeepee?"

" Kapeepee-kauila."

"What Kauila?"

" Kauila, the dauntless, of Haupu."

•*Then, O father, thou wilt not recover thy wife.
Our stick may strike; it will but hit the dust at his
feet. His srick, when it strikes back, will hit the
head. Behold, measureless is the height of Haupu."

Now, this Kamalalawalu was celebrated for his
strength in throwing stones. Of himself, one side was
stone, and the other flesh. As a test he seized
a large stone and threw it upwards. It rose till it hit
the sky and then fell back to earth again. As it
came down, he turned his stony side toward it, and
the collision made his side rattle. Hakalanileo looked
on and sadly said, " Not strong enough."

On he went, beating his breast in his grief, till he
came to the celebrated Niuloihiki. Question and
answer passed between them, as in the former case, but

66 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

Niuloihiki replied, *Mt is hopeless; behold, measure-
less is the height of Haupu/'

Again he prosecuted his search till he met the third
man of fame, whose name was Kaulu. Question and
answer passed, as before, and Kaulu, to show his
strength, seized a river and held it fast in its course.
But Hakalanileo mournfully said, ''Not strong
enough."

Pursuing his way with streaming eyes, he came to
the fourth hero, Lonokaeho by name. As in the
former cases, so in this, he received no satis&c-
tion. These four were all he knew of who were fore-
most in prowess, and all four had failed him. It was
the end, and he turned sadly toward the mountain
forest, to return to his home.

Meantime, the rumor had reached the ears of
Niheu, surnamed ''the Rogue." Some one told him
a father had passed along searching for some one able
to recover him his wife.

Where is this father of mine?" inquired Niheu.
He has gone inland," was the reply.

"I'll overtake him; he won't escape me," said
Niheu. So he went after the old man, kicking over
the trees that came in his way. The old man had
gone on till he was tired and faint, when Niheu over-
took him and brought him back to his house. Then
Niheu asked him, "What made you go on without
coming to the house of Niheu ? "

"What, indeed," answered the old man; "as though
I were not seeking to recover thy- mother, who is
lost ! "

KAPEEPEEKAUILA 67

Then came question and answer, as in former cases,
and Niheu said, " I fear thou wilt not recover thy
wife, O my fether. But let us go inland to the foster
son of Uli/' So they went. But Niheu ran on ahead
and told Kana, the foster son of Uli: " Behold, here
comes Hakalanileo, bereft of his wife. We are all
beat."

" Where is he ? ** inquired Kana.

" Here he is, just arrived."

Kana looked forth, and Hakalanileo recoiled with
fear at the blazing of his eyes.

Then spoke Niheu: "Why could you not wait
before looking at our father ? Behold, you have fright-
ened him, and he has run back.'*

On this, Kana, remaining yet in the house, stretched
forth his hand, and, grasping the old man in the
distance, brought him back and sat him on his lap.
Then Kana wept. And the impudent Niheu said,
" Now you are crying; look out for the old man, or he
will get water-soaked. '*

But Kana ordered Niheu to bestir himself and light
a fire, for the tears of Kana were as the big dropping
rains of winter, soaking the plain. And Kana said to
the old man, " Now, dry yourself by the fire, and when
you are warm, tell your story."

The old man obeyed, and when he was warm
enough, told the story of his grief. Then said Kana,
"Almost spent are my years; I am only waiting for
death, and behold I have at last found a foeman
worthy of my prowess."

Kana immediately espoused the cause of Hakalani-

68 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

leo, and ordered his younger brother, Niheu, to con-
struct a canoe for the voyage. Poor Niheu worked
and toiled without success until, in despair, he ex-
claimed, upbraidingly , " Thy work is not work ; it is
slavery. There thou dwellest at thy ease in thy retreat,
while with thy foot thou destroyest my canoe."

Upon this, Kana pointed out to Niheu a bush, and
said, "Can you pull up that bush?"

"Yes," replied Niheu, for it was but a small bush,
and he doubted not his ability to root it up ; so he
pulled and tugged away, but could not loosen it.

Kana looking on, said, tauntingly, "Your foeman
will not be overcome by you."

Then Kana stretched forth his hands, scratching
among the forests, and soon had a canoe in one hand;
a little more and another canoe appeared in the other
hand. The twin canoes were named Kaumueli. He
lifted them down to the shore, provided them with
paddles, and then appointed fourteen rowers. Kana
embarked with his magic rod called fVaka-i^lani.
Thus they set forth to wage war upon Kapeepeekauila.
They went on until the canoes grounded on a hard
ledge.

. Niheu called out, "Behold, thou sleepest, O Kana,
while we all perish."

Kana replied, "What is there to destroy us? Are
not these the reefs of Haupu? Away with the ledges,
the rock points, and the yawning chasms! Smite
with fVaka-i'laniy thy rod."

Niheu smote, the rocks crumbled to pieces, and the
canoes were freed. They pursued their course again

KAPEEPEEKAUILA 69

until Niheu, being on the watch, cried out, "Why
sleepcst thou, O Kana? Here we perish, again. Thy
like for sleeping I never saw!"
Wherefore perish?" said Kana.
Behold," replied Niheu, '^the fearful wall of water.
If we attempt to pass it, it will topple over and destroy
us all."

Then said Kana : '^ Behold, behind us the reefs of
Haupu. That is the destruction passed. As for the
destruction before us, smite with thy rod."

Niheu smote, the wall of water divided, and the
canoes passed safely through. Then they went on
their course again, as before. After a time, Niheu
again called out, '^Alas, again we perish. Here
comes a great monster. If he falls upon us, we are
all dead men."

And Kana said, '^ Look sharp, now, and when the
pointed snout crosses our bow, smite with thy rod."

And he did so, and behold, this great thing was a
monster fish» and when brought on board it became
food for them all. So wonderfully great was this fish
that its wdght brought the rim of the canoes down to
the water's edge.

They continued on their way, and next saw the open
mouth of the sharp-toothed shark — another of the
outer defences of Haupu — awaiting them.

"Smite with thy rod," ordered Kana.

Niheu smote, and the shark died.

Next they came upon the great turtle, another
defence of Haupu. Again the sleepy Kana is aroused
by the cry of the watchful Niheu, and the turtle is

70 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

slain by the stroke of the magic rod. All this was
during the night. At last, just as the edge of the
morning lifted itself from the deep, their mast became
entangled in the branches of the trees. Niheu flung
upward a stone. It struck. The branches came rat-
tling down, and the mast was free. On they went till
the canoes gently stood still. On this, Niheu cried
out, ^^Here you are, asleep again, O Kana, and the
canoes are aground ! "

Kana felt beneath ; there was no ground. He felt
above ; the mast was entangled in weeds. He pulled,
and the weeds and earth came down together. The
smell of the fresh-torn weeds was wafted up to Hale-
huki, the house where Kapeepeekauila lived. His
people, on the top of Haupu, looked down on the
canoes floating at the foot. "Wondrous is the size
of the canoes!" they cried. "Ah! it is a load of opibis
(shell-fish) from Hawaii for Hina," for that was a
favorite dish with her.

Meantime, Kana despatched Niheu after his mother.
"Go in friendly fashion," said the former.

Niheu leaped ashore, but slipped and fell on the
smooth rocks. Back he went to the canoes.

"What sort of a coming back is this?" demanded
Kana.

"I slipped and fell, and just escaped with my life,"
answered Niheu.

"Back with you!" thundered Kana.

Again the luckless Niheu sprang ashore, but the
long-eyed sand-crabs {phiki-makaloa) made the sand fly
with their scratching till his eyes were filled. Back to

KAPEEPEEKAUILA 71

the canoes again he went. ''Got it all in my eyes!'*
said he, and he washed them out with sea-water.

"You fool!" shouted Kana; "what were you look-
ing down for? The sand-crabs are not birds. If you
had been looking up, as you ought, you would not
have got the sand in your eyes. Go again!'*

This time he succeeded, and climbed to the top of
Haupu. Arriving at the house, Hale-huki, where
Hina dwelt, he entered at once. Being asked "Why
enterest thou this forbidden door?" he replied:

"Because I saw thee entering by this door. Hadst
thou entered some other way, I should not have come
in at the door." And behold, Kapeepeekauila and Hina
sat before him. Then Niheu seized the hand of Hina
and said, " Let us two go." And she arose and went.

When they had gone about half-way to the brink of
the precipice, Kapeepeekauila exclaimed, "What is
this? Is the woman gone?"

Mo-i, the sister of Kana, answered and said, "If you
wish the woman, now is the time ; you and I fight."

Great was the love of Kapeepeekauila for Hina, and
he said, "No war dare touch Haupu; behold, it is a
hill, growing even to the heavens." And he sent the
koUa (plover) squad to desecrate the sacred locks of
Niheu; for the locks of Niheu were kapu^ and if they
should be touched, he would relinquish Hina for very
shame. So the kolea company sailed along in the air
till they brushed against the sacred locks of Niheu,
and for very shame he let go his mother and struck at
the koleas with his rod and hit their tail feathers and
knocked them all out, so that they remain tailless to

72 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

this day. And he returned to the edge of the shore,
while the koleas bore off Hina in triumph.

When Niheu reached the shore, he beat his forehead
with stones till the blood flowed; a trick which Kana
perceived from on board the canoes. And when Niheu
went on board he said, "See ! we fought and I got my
head hurt."

But Kana replied, "There was no fight; you did it
yourself, out of shame at your defeat."

And Niheu replied, "What, then, shall we fight?'*

"Yes," said Kana, and he stood up.

Now, one of his legs was named Keauea and the
other Kaipanea, and as he stood upon the canoes, he
began to lengthen himself upward until the dwellers on
top of Haupu exclaimed in terror, "We are all dead
men! Behold, here is a great giant towering above us."

And Kapeepeekauila, seeing this, hastened to prune
the branches of the kamani tree {Calophyllum inophyU
lurn)^ so that the bluflF should grow upward. And the
bluff rose, and Kana grew. Thus they strove, the
bluff rising higher and Kana growing taller, until he
became as the stalk of a banana leaf, and gradually
spun himself out till he was no thicker than a strand
of a spider's web, and at last he yielded the victory to
Kapeepeekauila.

Niheu, seeing the defeat of Kana, called out, "Lay
yourself along to Kona, on Hawaii, to your grand-
mother, Uli."

And he laid himself along with his body in Kona,
while his feet rested on Molokai. His grandmother
in Kona fed him until he became plump and fat again.

KAPEEPEEKAUILA 73

Meanwhile, poor Niheu, watching at his feet on Mo-
lokai, saw their sides fill out with flesh while he was
almost starved with hunger. '^ So, then/' quoth he,
^^you are eating and growing fat while I die with
hunger." And he cut off one of Kana's feet for
revenge.

The sensation crept along up to his body, which lay
in Kona, and Kana said t6 his grandmother, Uli, ^^I
seem to feel a numbness creeping over me."

And she answered, and said, ^'Thy younger brother
is hungry with watching, and seeing thy feet grow
plump, he has cut off one of them; therefore this
numbness."

Kana, having at last grown strong and fat, prepared
to wage war again upon Kapeepeekauila. Food was
collected in abundance from Waipio, and when it was
prepared, they embarked again in their canoes and
came back to Haupu, on Molokai. But his grand-
mother, Uli, had previously instructed him to first
destroy all the branches of the kamani tree of Haupu.
Then he showed himself, and began again to stretch
upward and tower above the bluff. Kapeepeekauila
hastened again to trim the branches of the kamani,
that the bluff might grow as before ; but behold, they
were all gone! It was the end; Kapeepeekauila was at
last vanquished. The victorious Kana recovered his
sister, Mo-i, restored to poor Hakalanileo his wife,
Hina, and then, tearing down the bluff of Haupu,
kicked off large portions of it into the sea, where they
stand to this day, and are called ^^The Rocks of Kana."

KALELEALUAKA

DR. N. B. EMERSON
PART I

jT'AOPELE was born in Waipio, Hawaii. When
born he did not breathe, and his parents were
greatly troubled ; but they washed his body clean, and
having arrayed it in good clothes, they watched
anxiously over the body for several days, and then,
concluding it to be dead, placed it in a small cave in
the face of the cliff. There the body remained from
the summer month of Ikiki (July or August) to the
winter month oUkua (December or January), a period
of six months.

At this time they were startled by a violent storm
of thunder and lightning, and the rumbling of an
earthquake. At the same time appeared the marvel-
lous phenomenon of eight rainbows arching over the
mouth of the cave. Above the din of the storm
the parents heard the voice of the awakened child
calling to them :

** Let your love rest upon me,
O my parents, who have thrust me forth.
Who have left me in the cavernous clifF,
Who have heartlessly placed me in the
ClifF frequented by the tropic bird!

KALELEALUAKA 75

O Waiaalaity my mother!
O Waimanu, my father!
Come and take me!'*

The yearning love of the mother earnestly besought
the father to go in quest of the infant ; but he pro-
tested that search was useless, as the child was long
since dead. But, unable longer to endure a woman's
teasing, which is the same in all ages, he finally set
forth in high dudgeon, vowing that in case of feilure
he would punish her on his return.

On reaching the place where the babe had been
deposited, its body was not to be found. But lifting
up his eyes and looking about, he espied the child
perched on a tree, braiding a wreath from the scarlet
flowers of the Ubua (^Metrosideros polymorpbd). "I
have come to take you home with me," said the
father. But the infant made no answer. The mother
received the child to her arms with demonstrations
of the liveliest affection. At her suggestion they
named the boy Kaopele, from the name of their
goddess, Pele.

Six months after this, on the first day {Hilo) of the
new moon, in the month of Ikiki, they returned home
from working in the fields and found the child lying
without breath, apparently dead. After venting their
grief for their darling in loud lamentations, they
erected a frame to receive its dead body.

Time healed the wounds of their affection, and
after the lapse of six moons they had ceased to
mourn, when suddenly they were affrighted by a storm
of thunder and lightning, with a quaking of the earth.

^6 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

in the midst of which they distinguished the cry of
their child, **Oh, come; come and take me!"

They, overjoyed at this second restoration of their
child to them, and deeming it to be a miracle worked by
their goddess, made up their minds that if it again fell
into a trance they would not be anxious, since their god-
dess would awake their child and bring it to life again.

But afterward the child informed them of their
mistake, saying: "This marvel that you see in me is
a trance ; when I pass into my deep sleep my spirit
at once floats away in the upper air with the goddess,
Poliahu. We are a numerous band of spirits, but I
excel them in the distance of my flights. In one day
I can compass this island of Hawaii, as well as Maui,
Oahu, and Kauai, and return again. In my flights
I have seen that Kauai is the richest of all the islands,
for it is well supplied with food and fish, and it is
abundantly watered. I intend to remain with you
until I am grown ; then I shall journey to Kauai and
there spend the rest of my life." Thus Kaopele lived
with his parents until he was grown, but his habit
of trance still clung to him.

Then one day he filled them with grief by saying:
"I am going, aloha,"

They sealed their love for each other with tears and
kisses, and he slept and was gone. He alighted at
Kula, on Maui. There he engaged in cultivating
food. When his crops were nearly ripe and ready to
be eaten he again fell into his customary deep sleep,
and when he awoke he found that the people of the
land had eaten up all his crops.

KALELEALUAKA 77

Then he flew away to a place called Kapapakolea,
in Moanalua, on Oahu, where he set out a new plan-
tation. Here the same fortune befell him, and his
time for sleep came upon him before his crops were
fit for eating. When he awoke, his plantation had
gone to waste.

Again he moves on, and this time settles in Lihue,
Oahu, where for the third time he sets out a plan-
tation of food, but is prevented from eating it by
another interval of sleep. Awakening, he finds his
crops overripe and wasted by neglect and decay.

His restless ambition now carries him to Lahuimalo,
still on the island of Oahu, where his industry plants
another crop of food. Six months pass, and he is
about to eat of the fruits of his labor, when one day,
on plunging into the river to bathe, he falls into his
customary trance, and his lifeless body is floated
by the stream out into the ocean and finally cast up
by the waters on the sands of Maeaea, a place in
Waialua, Oahu.

At the same time there arrived a man from Kauai
in search of a human body to oflfer as a sacrifice at
the temple of Kahikihaunaka at Wailua, on Kauai,
and having seen the corpse of Kaopele on the beach,
he asks and obtains permission of the feudal lord
(Konobiki) of Waialua to take it. Thus it happens
that Kaopele is taken by canoe to the island of Kauai
and placed, along with the corpse of another man, on
the altar of the temple at Wailua.

There he lay until the bones of his fellow corpse
had begun to fall apart. When six moons had

78 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

been accomplished, at midnight there came a burst
of thunder and an earthquake. Kaopele came to life,
descended from the altar, and directed his steps toward
a light which he saw shining through some chinks
in a neighboring house. He was received by the
occupants of the house with that instant and hearty
hospitality which marks the Hawaiian race, and bid-
den to enter ("«i^i, komo mat**).

Food was set before him, with which he refreshed
himself. The old man who seemed to be the head
of the household was so much pleased and impressed
with the bearing and appearance of our hero that
he forthwith sought to secure him to be the husband
of his granddaughter, a beautiful girl named Maka-
lani. Without further ado, he persuaded him to be a
suitor for the hand of the girl, and while it was yet
night, started off to obtain the girl's consent and
to bring her back with him.

The young woman was awakened from her slum-
bers in the night to hear the proposition of her
grandfather, who painted to her in glowing colors the
manly attractions of her suitor. The suit found favor
in the eyes of the girl's parents and she herself was
nothing loath ; but with commendable maidenly pro-
priety she insisted that her suitor should be brought
and presented to her, and that she should not first
seek him.

The sun had hardly begun to lift the dew from the
grass when our young hero, accompanied by the two
matchmakers, was brought into the presence of his
future wife. They found favor in each other's eyes,

KALELEALUAKA 79

and an ardent attachment sprang up on the instant
Matters sped apace. A separate house was assigned
as the residence of the young couple, and their mar-
ried life b^an felicitously.

But the instincts of a farmer were even stronger
in the breast of Kaopele than the bonds of matri-
mony. In the middle of the night he arose, and,
leaving the sleeping form of his bride, passed out into
the darkness. He went mauka until he came upon
an extensive upland plain, where he set to work clear-
ing and making ready for planting. This done,
he collected from various quarters shoots and roots
of potato {kalo\ banana {waoke)^ away and other
plants, and before day the whole plain was a planta-
tion. After his departure his wife awoke with a start
and found her husband was gone. She went into the
next house, where her parents were sleeping, and,
waking them, made known her loss; but they knew
nothing of his whereabouts. Much perplexed, they
were still debating the cause of his departure, when
he suddenly returned, and to his wife's questioning,
answered that he had been at work.

She gently reproved him for interrupting their bridal
night with agriculture, and told him there would be
time enough for that when they had lived together a
while and had completed their honeymoon. *^And
besides," said she, 'Mf you wish to turn your hand to
agriculture, here is the plat of ground at hand in which
my fiither works, and you need not go up to that plain
where only wild hogs roam."

To this he replied: ''My hand constrains me to

8o HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

plant ; I crave work ; does idleness bring in anything?
There is profit only when a man turns the palm. of his
hand to the soil: that brings in food for family and
friends. If one were indeed the son of a king he could
sleep until the sun was high in the heavens, and then
rise and find the bundles of cooked food ready for him.
But for a plain man, the only thing to do is to cultivate
the soil and plant, and when he returns from his work
let him light his oven, and when the food is cooked
let the husband and the wife crouch about the hearth
and eat together."

Again, very eariy on the following morning, while
his wife slept, Kaopele rose, and going to the house of
a neighbor, borrowed a fishhook with it6 tackle. Then,
supplying himself with bait, he went a-fishing in the
ocean and took an enormous quantity of fish. On his
way home he stopped at the house where he had bor-
rowed the tackle and returned it, giving the man also
half of the fish. Arrived at home, he threw the load of
fish onto the ground with a thud which waked his wife
and parents.

" So you have been a-fishing/' said his wife. "Think-
ing you had again gone to work in the field, I went up
there, but you were not there. But what an immense
plantation you have set out! Why, the whole plain
is covered."

His father-in-law said, "A fine lot of fish, my
boy."

Thus went life with them until the crops were ripe,
when one day Kaopele said to his wife, who was now
evidently with child, ."If the child to be born is a boy.

KALELEALUAKA 8i

name it Kalelealuaka ; but if it be a girl, name it as
you will, from your side of the family."

From his manner she felt uneasy and suspicious of
him, and said, "Alas! do you intend to desert me?"

Then Kaopele explained to his wife that he was not
really going to leave her, as men are wont to forsake
their wives, but he foresaw that that was soon to hap-
pen which was habitual to him, and he felt that on the
night of the morrow a deep sleep would fall upon him
{punt ka hiamoe)j which would last for six months.
Therefore, she was not to fear.

"Do not cast me out nor bury me in the ground,"
said he. Then he explained to her how he happened
to be taken from Oahu to Kauai and how he came to
be her husband, and he commanded her to listen
attentively to him and to obey him implicitly. Then
they pledged their love to each other, talking and not
sleeping all that night.

On the following day all the friends and neighbors
assembled, and as they sat about, remarks were made
among them in an undertone, like this, " So this is the
man who was placed on the altar of the heiau at
Wailua." And as evening fell he bade them all alohjy
and said that he should be separated from them for
six months, but that his body would remain with them
if they obeyed his commands. And, having kissed his
wife, he fell into the dreamful, sacred sleep of Niolo-
kapu.

On the sixth day the father-in-law said : " Let us
bury your husband, lest he stink. I thought it was to
be only a natural sleep, but it is ordinary death.

82 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

Look, his body is rigid, his flesh is cold, and he does
not breathe; these are the signs of death/*

But Makalani protested, "I will not let him be
buried ; let him lie here, and I will watch over him as
he commanded ; you also heard his words." But in
spite of the wife's earnest protests, the hard-hearted
father-in-law gathered strong vines of the koali ( con-
volvulus), tied them about Kaopele's feet, and attaching
to them heavy stones, caused his body to be conveyed
in a canoe and sunk in the dark waters of the ocean
midway between Kauai and Oahu.

Makalani lived in sorrow for her husband until the
birth of her child, and as it was a boy, she called his
name Kalelealuaka.

PART II

When the child was about two months old the sky
became overcast and there came up a mighty storm,
with lightning and an earthquake. Kaopeic awoke
in his dark, watery couch, unbound the cords that
held his feet, and by three powerful strokes raised
himself to the surface of the water. He looked toward
Kauai and Oahu, but love for his wife and child pre-
vailed and drew him to Kauai.

In the darkness of night he stood by his wife's bed
and, feeling for her, touched her forehead with his
clammy hand. She awoke with a start, and on his
making himself known she screamed with fright,
"Ghost of Kaopele!" and ran to her parents. Not
until a candle was lighted would she believe it to be
her husband. The step-parents, in fear and shame at

KALELEALUAKA 83

their heartless conduct, fled away, and never returned.
From this time forth Kaopele was never again visited
by a trance ; his virtue had gone out from him to the
boy Kalelealuaka.

When Kalelealuaka was ten years old Kaopele began
to train the lad in athletic sports and to teach him all
the arts of war and combat practised throughout the
islands, until he had attained great proficiency in them.
He also taught him the arts of running and jumping,
so that he could jump either up or down a high paliy
or run, like a waterfowl on the surface of the water.
After this, one day Kalelealuaka went over to Wailua,
where he witnessed the games of the chiefs. The
youth spoke contemptuously of their performances as
mere child's play ; and when his remark was reported
to the King he challenged the young man to meet him
in a boxing encounter. When Kalelealuaka came into
the presence of the King his royal adversary asked
him what wager he brought. As the youth had noth-
ing with him, he seriously proposed that each one
should wager his own body against that of the other
one. The proposal was readily accepted. The herald
sounded the signal of attack, and both contestants
rushed at each other. Kalelealuaka warily avoided the
attack by the King, and hastened to deliver a blow
which left his opponent at his mercy ; and thereupon,
using his privilege, he robbed the King of his life, and
to the astonishment of all, carried away the body to lay
as a sacrifice on the altar of the temple, hitherto uncon*
secrated by human sacrifice, which he and his hthtt
Kaopele had recently built in honor of their deity.

84 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

After a time there reached the ear of Kalelealuaka
a report of the great strength of a certain chief who
lived in Hanalei. Accordingly, without saying any-
thing about his intention, he went over to the valley
of Hanalei. He found the men engaged in the game
of throwing heavy spears at the trunk of a cocoanut-
trec. As on the previous occasion, he invited a chal-
lenge by belittling their exploits, and when challenged
by the chief, fearlessly proposed, as a wager, the life
of one against the other. This was accepted, and the
chief had the first trial. His spear hit the stem of
the huge tree and made its lofty crest nod in response
to the blow. It was now the turn of Kalelealuaka to
hurl the spear. In anticipation of the failure of the
youth and his own success, the chief took the precau-
tion to station his guards about Kalelealuaka, to be
ready to seize him on the instant. In a tone of com-
mand our hero bade the guards fall back, and brand-
ishing his spear, stroked and polished it with his hands
from end to end; then he poised and hurled it, and to
the astonishment of all, lo! the tree was shivered to
pieces. On this the people raised a shout of admira-
tion at the prowess of the youth, and declared he must
be the same hero who had slain the chief at Wailua.
In this way Kalelealuaka obtained a second royal
sacrifice with which to grace the altar of his temple.

One clear, calm evening, as Kalelealuaka looked
out to sea, he descried the island of Oahu, which is
often clearly visible from Kauai, and asked his father
what land that was that stood out against them.
Kaopele told the youth it was Oahu; that the cape

KALELEALUAKA 85

that swam out into the ocean like a waterfowl was
Kaena; that the retreating contour of the coast beyond
was Waianae. Thus he described the land to his son.
The result was that the adventurous spirit of Kalelea-
luaka was fired to explore this new island for himself,
and he expressed this wish to his father. Everything
that Kalelealuaka said or did was good in the eye of
his &ther, Kaopele. Accordingly, he immediately set
to work and soon had a canoe completely fitted out,
in which Kalelealuaka might start on his travels.
Kalelealuaka took with him, as travelling companion,
a mere lad named Kaluhe, and embarked in his canoe.
With two strokes of the paddle his prow grated on the
sands of Waianae.

Before leaving Kauai his father had imparted to
Kalelealuaka something of the topography of Oahu,
and had described to him the site of his former plan-
tation at Keahumoe. At Waianae the two travellers
were treated affably by the people of the district. In
reply to the questions put them, they said they were
going sight-seeing. As they went along they met a
party of boys amusing themselves with darting arrows;
one of them asked permission to join their party.
This was given, and the three turned inland and jour-
neyed till they reached a plain of soft, whitish rock,
where they all refreshed themselves with food. Then
they kept on ascending, until Keahumoe lay before
them, dripping with hoary moisture from the mist of
the mountain, yet as if smiling through its tears.
Here were standing bananas with ripened, yellow fruit,
upland kalo, and sugar cane, rusty and crooked with

86 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

age, while the sweet potatoes had crawled out of the
earth and were cracked and dry. It was the very
place where Kaopele, the father of Kalelealuaka, had
years before set out the plants from which these were
descended.

"This is our food, and a good place, perhaps, for
us to settle down," said Kalelealuaka ; "but before we
make up our minds to stay here let me dart an arrow;
and if it drops soon we shall stay, but if it flies afar
we shall not tarry here." Kalelealuaka darted his
arrow, while his companions looked on intently. The
arrow flew along, passing over many a hill and valley,
and finally rested beyond Kekuapoi, while they fol-
lowed the direction of its wonderful flight. Kalelea-
luaka sent his companions on to find the arrow, telling
them at the same time to go to the villages and get
some awa roots for drink, while he would remain there
and put up a shelter for them.

On their way the two companions of Kalelealuaka
encountered a number of women washing kalo in a
stream, and on asking them if they had seen their
arrow flying that way they received an impertinent
answer; whereupon they called out the name of the
arrow, "Pua-ne, Pua-ne," and it came to their hands
at once. At this the women ran away, frightened at
the marvel.

The two boys then set to gathering awa roots, as
they had been bidden. Seeing them picking up
worthless fragments, a kind-hearted old man, who
turned out to be the konohiki of the land, sent by his
servants an abundance of good food to Kalelealuaka.

KALELEALUAKA 87

On their return the boys found, to their astonishment,
that during their absence Kalelealuaka had put up a
fine, large house, which was all complete but the mats
to cover the floors. The kind-hearted konohili
remarked this, and immediately sent her servants to
fetch mats for the floors and sets of kapa for bedding,
adding the command, ^^And with them bring along
%omt malos** (girdles used by the males). Soon all
their wants were supplied, and the three youths were
set up in housekeeping. To these services the kono-
hiki, through his attendants, added still others; some
chewed and strained the awa, while others cooked and
spread for them a bountiful repast. The three youths
ate and drank, and under the drowsy influence of the
awa they slept until the little birds that peopled the
wilderness about them waked them with their morning
songs; then they roused and found the sun already
climbing the heavens.

Now, Kalelealuaka called to his comrades, and said,
"Rouse up and let us go to cultivating." To this they
agreed, and each one set to work in his own way, work-
ing his own piece of ground. The ground prepared by
Kalelealuaka was a strip of great length, reaching from
the mountain down toward the ocean. This he cleared
and planted the same day. His two companions, how-
ever, spent several days in clearing their ground, and
then several days more in planting it. While these
youths occupied their mountain home, the people of
that region were well supplied with food. The only
lack of Kalelealuaka and his comrades was animal food
(literally, fish), but they supplied its place as well as

88 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

they could with such herbs as the tender leaves of the
popolo, which they cooked like spinach, and with
inamona made from the roasted nuts of the kukui tree
{Aleurites molluccana).

One day, as they were eking out their frugal meal
with a mess of popolo cooked by the lad from Wai-
anae, Kalelealuaka was greatly disgusted at seeing a
worm in that portion that the youth was eating, and
thereupon nicknamed him Keinohoomanawanui (sloven,
or more literally, the persistently unclean). The name
ever after stuck to him. This same fellow had the
misfortune, one evening, to injure one of his eyes by
the explosion of a kukui nut which he was roasting on
the fire. As a result, that member was afflicted with
soreness, and finally became blinded. But their life
agreed with them, and the youths throve and increased
in stature, and grew to be stout and lusty young men.

Now, it happened that ever since their stay at their
mountain house, Lelepua (arrow flight), they had kept
a torch burning all night, which was seen by Kaku-
hihewa, the King of Oahu, and had caused him
uneasiness.

One fine evening, when they had eaten their fill
and had gone to bed, Kalelealuaka called to Keinohoo-
manawanui and said, "Halloo there! are you asleep?"

And he replied, "No; have I drunk awa? I am
restless. My eyes will not close."

"Well," said Kalelealuaka, "when you arc restless at
night, what does your mind find to do?"
Nothing," said the Sloven.
I find something to think about," said Kalelealuaka.

KALELEALUAKA 89

"What is that?" said the Sloven.

"Let us wish" {kukoy literally, to lust), said Kalelea-
luaka.

"What shall we wish?" said the Sloven.

"Whatever our hearts most earnestly desire," said
Kalelealuaka. Thereupon they both wished. The
Sloven, in accordance with his nature, wished for
things to cat, — the eels, from the fish-pond of Hana-
loa (in the district of Ewa), to be cooked in an oven
together with sweet potatoes, and a bowl of awa.

Pshaw, what a beggarly wish!" said Kalelealuaka.
I thought you had a real wish. I have a genuine
wish. Listen: The beautiful daughters of Kakuhi-
hewa to be my wives; his fatted pigs and dogs to be
baked for us; his choice kalo, sugar cane, and bananas
to be served up for us; that Kakuhihewa himself send
and get timber and build a house for us; that he pull
the famous awa of Kahauone; that the King send and
fetch us to him; that he chew the awa for us in his
own mouth, strain and pour it for us, and give us to
drink until we are happy, and then take us to our
house."

Trembling with fear at the audacious ambition of
his concupiscent companion, the Sloven replied, "If
your wish should come to the ears of the King, we
shall die; indeed, we should die."

In truth, as they were talking together and uttering
their wishes, Kakuhihewa had arrived, and was all the
time listening to their conversation from the outside
of their house. When the King had heard their con-
versation he thrust his spear into the ground outside

go HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

the inclosure about Kalelealuaka's house, and by the
spear placed his stone hatchet {pahoa)y and immedi-
ately returned to his residence at Puuloa. Upon his
arrival at home that night King Kakuhihewa com-
manded his stewards to prepare a feast, and then sum-
moned his chiefs and table companions and said, '^ Let
us sup." When all was ready and they had seated them-
selves, the King said, " Shall we eat, or shall we talk ? "

One of them replied : " If it please the King, perhaps
it were better for him to speak first ; it may be what
he has to say touches a matter of life and death ; there-
fore, let him speak and we will listen."

Then Kakuhihewa told them the whole story of the
light seen in the mountains, and of the wishes of Kale-
lealuaka and the Sloven.

Then up spoke the soldiers, and said : " Death !
This man is worthy to be put to death ; but as for the
other one, let him live."

"Hold," said the King, "not so fast! Before con-
demning him to death, I will call together the wise
men, priests, wizards, and soothsayers ; perchance they
will find that this is the man to overcome Kualii in
battle." Thereupon all the wise men, priests, wizards,
and soothsayers were immediately summoned, and after
the King had explained the whole story to them they
agreed with the opinion of the soldiers. Again the
King interposed delay, and said, "Wait until my wise
kahuna Napuaikamao comes; if his opinion agrees
with yours, then, indeed, let the man be put to death ;
but if he is wiser than you, the man shall live. But
you will have eaten this food in vain."

KALELEALUAKA 91

So the King sent one of his fleetest runners to go
and fetch Napuaikamao. To him the King said, ^4
have sent for you to decide what is just and right in
the case of these two men who lived up in the region
of Waipio." Then he went on to state the whole case
to this wise man.

"In regard to Keinohoomanawanui's wish/' said the
wise man, ''that is an innocent wish, but it is profitless
and will bring no blessing." At the narration of Kale-
lealuaka's wish he inclined his head, as if in thought ;
then lifting his head, he looked at the King and said:
''O King, as for this man's wish, it is an ambition which
will bring victory to the government. Now, then, send
all your people and fetch house-timber and awa."

As soon as the wise man had given this opinion, the
King commanded his chief marshal, Maliuhaaino, to
set every one to work to carry out the directions of
this counsellor. This was done, and before break
of day every man, woman, and child in the district
of Ewa, a great multitude, was on the move.

Now, when the Sloven awoke in the morning and
went out of doors, he found the stone hatchet (pahoa)
of the King, with his spear, standing outside of the
house. On seeing this he rushed back into the house
and exclaimed to his comrades, "Alas! our wishes have
been overheard by the King; here are his hatchet
and his spear. I said that if the King heard us we
should die, and he has indeed heard us. But yours
was the fatal ambition; mine was onlv an innocent
wish."

Even while they were talking, the babble of the

92 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

multitude drew near, and the Sloven exclaimed, "Our
death approaches!"

Kalelealuaka replied, " That is not for our death ; it
is the people coming to get timber for our houses."
But the fear of the Sloven would not be quieted.

The multitude pressed on, and by the time the last
of them had reached the mountain the foremost Tiad
returned to the sea-coast and had begun to prepare the
foundations for the houses, to dig the holes for the
posts, to bind on the rafters and the small poles on
which they tied the thatch, until the houses were done.

Meantime, some were busy baking the pigs and the
poi-fed dogs in ovens; some in bringing the eels of
Kanaloa and cooking them with potatoes in an oven
by themselves.

The houses are completed, everything is ready, the
grand marshal, Maliuhaaino, has just arrived in front
of the house of the ambitious youth Kalelealuaka, and
calls out '* Keinohoomanawanui, come out!" and he
comes out, trembling. "Kalelealuaka, come out!" and
he first sends out the boy Kaluhe and then comes forth
himself and stands outside, a splendid youth. The
marshal stands gazing at him in bewilderment and
admiration. When he has regained his equanimity
he says to him, "Mount on my back and let us go
down."

"No," said Kalelealuaka, "I will go by myself, and
do you walk ahead. I will follow after; but do not
look behind you, lest you die."

As soon as they had started down, Kalelealuaka was
transported to Kuaikua, in Helemano. There he

KALELEALUAKA 93

plunged into the water and bathed all over ; this done,
he called on his ancestral shades (^Aumakua)y who
came and performed on him the rite of circumcision
while lightning flashed, thunder sounded, and the
earth quaked.

Kaopele, on Kauai, heard the commotion and
exclaimed, "Ah! my son has received the purifying
rite — the offspring of the gods goes to meet the sov-
ereign of the land" (Alii aimoku).

Meanwhile, the party led by Maliuhaaino was mov-
ing slowly down toward the coast, because the marshal
himself was lame. Returning from his purification,
Kalelealuaka alighted just to the rear of the party, who
had not noticed his absence, and becoming impatien
at the tedious slowness of the journey, — for the day
was waning, and the declining sun was already stand-
ing over a peak of the Waianae Mountains called
Puukuua, — this marvellous fellow caught up the lame
marshal in one hand and his two comrades in the other,
and, flying with them, set them down at Puuloa. But
the great marvel was, that they knew nothing about
being transported, yet they had been carried and set
down as from a sheet.

On their arrival at the coast all was ready, and the
people were waiting for them. A voice called out,
''Here is you house, Keinohoomanawanui!" and the
Sloven entered with alacrity and found bundles of his
wished-for eels and potatoes already cooked and await-
ing his disposal.

But Kalelealuaka proudly declined to enter the
house prepared for himself when the invitation came

94 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

to him, "Come in! this is your house," all because his
little friend Kaluhe, whose eyes had often been filled
with smoke while cooking luau and roasting kukui
nuts for him, had not been included in the invitation,
and he saw that no provision had been made for him.
When this was satisfactorily arranged Kalelealuaka
and his little friend entered and sat down to eat. The
King, with his own hand, poured out awa for Kalelea-
luaka, brought him a gourd of water to rinse his
mouth, offered him food, and waited upon him till he
had supplied all his wants.

Now, when Kalelealuaka had well drunken, and was
beginning to feel drowsy from< the awa, the lame
marshal came in and led him to the two daughters of
Kakuhihewa, and from that time these two lovely girls
were his wives.

PART III

Thus they lived for perhaps thirty days (^he mau
anahulu\ when a messenger arrived, announcing that
Kualii was making war at Moanalua. The soldiers
of Kakuhihewa quickly made themselves ready, and
among them Keinohoomanawanui went out to battle.
The lame marshal had started for the scene the night
before.

On the morning of the day of battle, Kalelealuaka
said to his wives that he had a great hankering for
some shrimps and moss, which must be gathered in a
particular way, and that nothing else would please his
appetite. Thereupon, they dutifully set out to obtain
these things for him. As soon as they had gone from

KALELEALUAKA 95

the house Kalelealuaka flew to Waianae and arrayed
himself with wreaths of the fine-leaved tnaile (^Maile
lauHi)^ which is peculiar to that region. Thence he
flew to Napeha, where the lame marshal, Maliuhaaino,
was painfully climbing the hill on his way to battle.
Kalelealuaka cheerily greeted him, and the following
dialogue occurred :

K. "Whither are you trudging, Maliuhaaino?"

M. "What! don't you know about the war?"

K. " Let me carry you."

M. "How fast you travel ! Where are you from?"

K. " From Waianae."

M. "So I see from your wreaths. Yes, carry me,
and Waianae shall be yours."

At the word Kalelealuaka picked up the cripple and
set him down on an eminence tnauka of the battle-
field, saying, " Remain you here and watch me. If I
am killed in the fight, you return by the same way we
came and report to the King."

Kalelealuaka then addressed himself to the battle,
but before attacking the enemy he revenged himself on
those who had mocked and jeered at him for not join-
ing the forces of Kakuhihewa. This done, he turned
his hand against the enemy, who at the time were
advancing and inflicting severe loss in the King's
army.

To what shall we compare the prowess of our hero?
A man was plucked and torn in his hand as if he were
but a leaf. The commotion in the ranks of the
enemy was as when a powerful waterfowl lashes the
water with his wings (O haehae ka manu^ Ke ale net ka

96 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

wai). Kalelealuaka moved forward in his work of
destruction until he had slain the captain who stood
beside the rebel chief, Kualii. From the fallen cap-
tain he took his feather cloak and helmet and cut
off his right ear and the little finger of his right hand.
Thus ended the slaughter that day.

The enthusiasm of the cripple was roused to the
highest pitch on witnessing the achievements of Kale-
lealuaka, and he determined to return and report that
he had never seen his equal on the battlefield.

Kalelealuaka returned to Puuloa and hid the feather
cloak and helmet under the mats of his bed, and hav-
ing fastened the dead captain's ear and little finger to
the side of the house, lay down and slept.

After a while, when the two women, his wives,
returned with the moss and shrimps, he complained
that the moss was not gathered as he had directed,
and that they had been gone such a long time that his
appetite had entirely left him, and he would not eat
of what they had brought. At this the elder sister
said nothing, but the younger one muttered a few
words to herself; and as they were all very tired they
soon went to sleep.

They had slept a long while when the tramp of t1ie
soldiers of Kakuhihewa was heard, returning from the
battle. The King immediately asked how the battle
had gone. The soldiers answered that the battle had
gone well, but that Keinohoomanawanui alone had
greatly distinguished himself. To this the King replied
he did not believe that the Sloven was a great warrior,
but when the cripple returned he would learn the truth.

KALELEALUAKA 97

About midnight the footsteps of the lame marshal
were heard outside of the King's house. Kakuhihewa
called to him, "Come, how went the battle?"

"Can't you have patience and let me take breath?"
ssud the marshal. Then when he had rested himself
he answered, " They fought, but there was one man
who excelled all the warriors in the land. He was
from Waianae. I gave Waianae to him as a reward
for carrying me."

It shall be his," said the King.
He tore a man to pieces," said the cripple, "as he
would tear a banana-leaf. The champion of Kualii's
army he killed, and plundered him of his feather cloak
and helmet."

"The soldiers say that Kcinohoomanawanui was the
hero of the day," said the King.

"What!" said the cripple. "He did nothing. He
merely strutted about. But this man — I never saw
his equal ; he had no spear, his only weapons were his
hands; if a spear was hurled at him, he warded it off
with his hair. His hair and features, by the way,
greatly resemble those of your son-in-law."

Thus they conversed till daybreak.

After a few days, again came a messenger announc-
ing that the rebel Kualii was making war on the plains
of Kulaokahua. On hearing this Kakuhihewa imme-
diately collected his soldiers. As usual, the lame mar-
shal set out in advance the evening before the battle.

In the morning, after the army had gone, Kalclea-
luaka said to his wives, "I am thirsting for some
water taken with the snout of the calabash held down-

98 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

ward. I shall not relish it if it is taken with the
snout turned up." Now, Kalelealuaka knew that they
could not fill the calabash if held this way, but he
resorted to this artifice to prevent the two young
women from knowing of his miraculous flight to the
battle. As soon as the young women had got out
of sight he hastened to Waialua and arrayed himself
in the rough and shaggy wreaths of uki from the
lagoons of Ukoa and of hinahina from Kealia. Thus
arrayed, he alighted behind the lame marshal as he
climbed the hill at Napeha, slapped him on the back,
exchanged greetings with him, and received a compli-
ment on his speed; and when asked whence he came, he
answered from Waialua. The shrewd, observant crip-
ple recognized the wreaths as being those of Waialua,
but he did not recognize the man, for the wreaths
with which Kalelealuaka had decorated himself were
of such a color — brownish gray — as to give him the
appearance of a man of middle age. He lifted the
cripple as before, and set him down on the brow of
Puowaina (Punch Bowl Hill), and received from the
grateful cripple, as a reward for his service, all the
land of Waialua for his own.

This done, Kalelealuaka repeated the performances
of the previous battle. The enemy melted away
before him, whichever way he turned. He stayed
his hand only when he had slain the captain of the
host and stripped him of his feather cloak and hel-
met, taking also his right ear and little finger. The
speed with which Kalelealuaka returned to his home
at Puuloa was like the flight of a bird. The

KALELEALUAKA 99

spoils and trophies of this battle he disposed of as
before.

The two young women, Kalelealuaka's wives, turned
the nozzle of the water-gourd downward, as they were
bidden, and continued to press it into the water, in
the vain hope that it might rise and fill their con-
tainer, until the noonday sun began to pour his rays
directly upon their heads; but no water entered their
calabash. Then the younger sister proposed to the
elder to fill the calabash in the usual way, saying that
Kalelealuaica would not know the difference. This
they did, and returned home.

Kalelealuaka would not drink of the water, declaring
that it had been dipped up. At this the younger wife
laughed furtively; the elder broke forth and said: "It
is due to the slowness of the way you told us to
employ in getting the water. We are not accustomed
to the menial office of fetching water; our father treated
us delicately, and a man always fetched water for us,
and vrt always used to see him pour the water into
the gourd with the nozzle turned up, but you trickily
ordered us to turn the nozzle down. Your exactions
are heartless."

Thus the women kept complaining until, by and
by, the tramp of the returning soldiers was heard, who
were boasting of the great deeds of Keinohoomana-
wanui. The King, however, said: " I do not believe
a word of your talk; when my cripple comes he will
tell me the truth. I do not believe that Keinohoo-
manawanui is an athlete. Such is the opinion I have
formed of him. But there is a powerful man. Kale-

lOO HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

lealuaka, — if he were to go into battle I am confident
he would perform wonders. Such is the opinion I
have formed of him, after careful study."

So the King waited for the return of the cripple
until night, and all night until nearly dawn. When
finally the lame marshal arrived, the King prudently
abstained from questioning him until he had rested
a while and taken breath; then he obtained from him
the whole story of this new hero from Waialua,
whose name he did not know, but who, he declared,
resembled the King's son-in-law, Kalelealuaka.

Again, on a certain day, came the report of an attack
by Kualii at Kulaokahua, and the battle was to be on
the morrow. The cripple, as usual, started off the
evening before. In the morning, Kalelealuaka called
to his wives, and said: ** Where are you? Wake up.
I wish you to bake a fowl for me. Do it thus: Pluck
it; do not cut it open, but remove the inwards through
the opening behind ; then stuff it with luau from the
same end, and bake it; by no means cut it open, lest
you spoil the taste of it."

As soon as they had left the house he flew to
Kahuku and adorned his neck with wreaths of the
pandanus fruit and his head with the flowers of the
sugar cane, thus entirely changing his appearance and
making him look like a gray-haired old man. As on
previous days, he paused behind the cripple and
greeted him with a friendly slap on the back. Then
he kindly lifted the lame man and set him down at
Puowaina. In return for this act of kindness the
cripple gave him the district of Koolau.

KALELEALUAKA loi

In this battle he first slew those soldiers in Kalcu-
hihewa's army who had spoken ill of him. Then he
turned his hand against the warriors of Kualii, smiting
them as with the stroke of lightning, and displaying
miraculous powers. When he had reached the cap-
tain of Kualii's force, he killed him and despoiled his
body of his feather cloak and helmet, taking also
a little finger and toe. With these he flew to the
cripple, whom he lifted and bore in his flight as far as
Waipio, and there dropped him at a point just below
where the water bursts forth at Waipahu.

Arrived at his house, Kalelealuaka, after disposing
of his spoils, lay down and slept. After he had slept
several hours, his wives came along in none too
pleased a mood and awoke him, saying his meat was
cooked. Kalelealuaka merely answered that it was so
late his appetite had gone, and he did not care to
eat.

At this slight his wives said: "Well, now, do you
think we are accustomed to work? We ought to live
without work, like a king's daughters, and when
the men have prepared the food then we should
go and eat it."

The women were still muttering over their griev-
ance, when along came the soldiers, boasting of the
powers of Keinohoomanawanui, and as they passed
Kalelealuaka's door they said it were well if the two
wives of this fellow, who lounges at home in time
of war, were given to such a brave and noble warrior
as Keinohoomanawanui.

The sun was just sinking below the ocean when

I02 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

the footsteps of the cripple were heard at the King's
door, which he entered, sitting down within. After
a short time the King asked him about the battle.
"The valor and prowess of this third man were even
greater than those of the previous ones; yet all three
resemble each other. This day, however, he first
avenged himself by slaying those who had spoken ill
of him. He killed the captain of Kualii's army and
took his feather cloak and helmet. On my return
he lifted me as far as Waipahu."

In a few days again came a report that Kualii had
an army at a place called Kahapaakai, in Nuuanu.
Maliuhaaino immediately marshalled his forces and
started for the scene of battle the same evening.

Early the next morning Kalelealuaka awakened his
wives, and said to them: "Let us breakfast, but do
you two eat quietly in your own house, and I in my
house with the dogs; and do not come until I call
you." So they did, and the two women went and
breakfasted by themselves. At his own house Kale-
lealuaka ordered Kaluhe to stir up the dogs and keep
them barking until his return. Then he sprang away
and lighted at Kapakakolea, where he overtook the
cripple, whom, after the usual interchange of greetings,
he lifted, and set down at a place called Waolani.

On this day his first action was to smite and slay
those who had reviled him at his own door. That
done, he made a great slaughter among the soldiers
of Kualii; then, turning, he seized Keinohoomana-
wanui, threw him down and asked him how he became
blinded in one eye.

KALELEALUAKA 103

**It was lost," said the Sloven, "from the thrust
of a spear, in a combat with Olopana."

"Yes, to be sure," said Kalelealuaka, "while you
and I were living together at Wailuku, you being on
one side of the stream and I on the other, a kukui
nut burst in the fire, and that was the spear that put
out your eye."

When the Sloven heard this, he hung his head.
Then Kalelealuaka seized him to put him to death,
when the spear of the Sloven pierced the fleshy part
of Kalelealuaka's left arm, and in plucking it out the
spear-head remained in the wound.

Kalelealuaka killed Keinohoomanawanui and be-
headed him, and, running to the cripple, laid the
trophy at his feet with the words : " I present you,
Maliuhaaino, with the head of Keinohoomanawanui."
This done, he returned to the battle, and went on
slaying until he had advanced to the captain of
Kualii's forces, whom he killed and spoiled of his
feather cloak and helmet.

When Kualii saw that his chief captain, the bulwark
of his power, was slain, he retreated and fled up
Nuuanu Valley, pursued by Kalelealuaka, who over-
took him at the head of the valley. Here Kualii
surrendered himself, saying: "Spare my life. The
land shall all go to Kakuhihewa, and I will dwell on
it as a loyal subject under him and create no disturb-
ance as long as I live."

To this the hero replied: "Well said! I spare
your life on these terms. But if you at any time
foment a rebellion, I will take your life! So, then.

I04 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

return, and live quietly at home and do not stir up
any war in Koolau." Thus warned, Kaulii set out to
return to the "deep blue palis of Koolau.*'

While the lame marshal was trudging homeward,
bearing the head of the Sloven, Kalelealuaka alighted
from his flight at his house, and having disposed in
his usual manner of his spoils, immediately called
to his wives to rejoin him at his own house.

The next morning, after the sun was warm, the
cripple arrived at the house of the King in a state
of great excitement, and was immediately questioned
by him as to the issue of the battle. "The battle
was altogether successful," said the marshal, "but
Keinohoomanawanui was killed. I brought his head
along with me and placed it on the altar tnauka
of Kalawao. But I would advise you to send at once
your fleetest runners through Kona and Koolau, com-
manding everybody to assemble in one place, that I
may review them and pick out and vaunt as the
bravest that one whom I shall recognize by certain
marks — for I have noted him well: he is wounded
in the left arm."

Now, Kakuhihewa's two swiftest runners {kukini)
were Keakealani and Kuhelemoana. They were so
fleet that they could compass Oahu six times in a
forenoon, or twelve times in a whole day. These two
were sent to call together all the men of the King's
domain. The men of Waianae came that same
day and stood in review on the sandy plains of
Puuloa. But among them all was not one who bore
the marks sought for. Then came the men of Kona,

KALELEALUAKA 105

of Waialua^ and of Koolau, but the man was not
found.

Then the lame marshal came and stood before the
King and said: ^^Your bones shall rest in peace,
Kalani. You had better send now and summon your
son-in-law to come and stand before me; for he is the
man." Then Kakuhihewa arose and went himself to
the house of his son-in-law, and called to his daugh-
ters that he had come to get their husband to go and
stand before Maliuhaaino.

Then Kalelealuaka lifted up the mats of his bed and
took out the feather cloaks and the helmets and
arrayed his two wives, and Kaluhe, and himself Put-
ting them in line, he stationed the elder of his wives
first, next to her the younger, and third Kaluhe, and
placing himself at the rear of the file, he gave the
order to march, and thus accompanied he went forth
to obey the King's command.

The lame marshal saw them coming, and in ecstasy
he prostrated himself and rolled over in the dust.
"The feather cloak and the helmet on your elder
daughter are the ones taken from the captain of Kualii's
army in the first day's fight; those on your second
daughter from the captain of the second day's fight;
while those on Kalelealuaka himself are from the cap-
tain killed in the battle on the fourth day. You will
live, but perhaps I shall die, since he is weary of
carrying me."

The lame marshal went on praising and eulogizing
Kalelealuaka as he drew near. Then addressing the
hero, he said: ^M recognize you, having met you

io6 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

before. Now show your left arm to the King and to
this whole assembly, that they may see where you
were wounded by the spear."

Then Kalelealuaka bared his left arm and displayed
his wound to the astonished multitude. Thereupon
Kakuhihewa said: ^^Kalelealuaka and my daughters,
do you take charge of the kingdom, and I will pass
into the ranks of the common people under you."

After this a new arrangement of the lands was made,
and the country had peace until the death of Kakuhi-
hewa; Kalelealuaka also lived peacefully until death
took him.

STORIES OF THE MENEHUNES

HAWAII THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE BROWNIES

THOS. O. THRUM

QTU DENTS of Hawaiian folk-lore find much of
^ coincident interest with traditional or more historic
beliefs of other and older lands. The same applies,
in a measure, to some of the ancient customs of
the people. This is difficult to account for, more
especially since the Hawaiians possessed no written
language by which such knowledge could be preserved
or transmitted. Fornander and others discovered in
the legends of this people traces of the story of the
Flood, the standing still of the sun, and other narra-
tives of Bible history, which some savants accept as
evidence of their Aryan origin. This claim we are
not disposed to dispute, but desire to present another
line of tradition that has been neglected hitherto, yet
has promise of much interest.

It will doubtless interest some readers to learn that
Hawaii is the real home of the Brownies, or was; and
that this adventurous nomadic tribe were known to the
Hawaiians long before Swift's satirical mind con-
ceived his Lilliputians.

It would be unreasonable to expect so great a range

107

io8 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

of nationalities and peculiar characteristics among the
pygmies of Hawaii as among the Brownies of story.
Tradition naturally represents them as of one race,
and all nimble workers; not a gentleman dude, or
policeman in the whole lot. Unlike the inquisitive
and mischievous athletes of present fame, the original
and genuine Brownies, known as the Menehunes, are
referred to as an industrious race. In fact, it was their
alleged power to perform a marvellous amount of
labor in a short space of time that has fixed them in
the minds of Hawaiians, many of whom point to cer-
tain traces of their work in various parts of the islands
to substantiate the traditional claim of their existence.

Meeting thus with occasional references to this
active race, but mostly in a vague way, it has been a
matter of interesting inquiry among Hawaiians, some
of whom were noted kaaoy or legend-bearers, for
further knowledge on the subject. Very naturally
their ideas differ respecting the Menehunes. Some
treat the subject with gravity and respect, and express
the belief that they were the original inhabitants of
these islands, but gradually gave way to the heavier-
bodied ancestors of the present race ; others consider
that the history of the race has been forgotten through
the lapse of ages ; while the more intelligent and better
educated look upon the Menehunes as a mythical class
of gnomes or dwarfs, and the account of their exploits
as having been handed down by tradition for social
entertainment, as other peoples relate fairy stories.

In the Hawaiian legend of Kumuhonua, Fornander
states that the Polynesians were designated as "the

STORIES OF THE MENEHUNES 109

people, descendants from Menehune, son of Lua
Nuu, etc. It disappeared as a national name so long
ago, however, that subsequent legends have changed
it to a term of reproach, representing them at times as
a separate race, and sometimes as a race of dwarfs,
skilful laborers, but artful and cunning."

In the following account and selection of stories
gathered from various native sources, as literal a ren-
dition as possible has been observed by the translators
for the better insight it gives of Hawaiian thought
and character.

MOKE MANU'S ACCOUNT

The Menehunes were supposed to have been a won-
derful people, small of stature and of great activity.
They were always united in doing any service required
of them. It was their rule that any work undertaken
must be completed in one night, otherwise it would be
left unfinished, as they did not labor twice on the same
work ; hence the origin of the saying : " He po hookahi^
a ao ua pauj' — in one night, and by dawn it is fin-
ished.

There is no reliable history of the Menehunes. No
one knows whence they came, though tradition says
they were the original people of the Hawaiian Islands.
They are thought to have been supernatural beings^
governed by some one higher in rank than themselves,
whom they recognized as having power and authority
over them, that assigned them to the mountains and
hills where they lived permanently. They were said
to be the only inhabitants of the islands up to the time

no HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

of Papa and Wakca, and were invisible to every one
but their own descendants, or those connected with
them in some way. Many persons could hear the
noise and hum of their voices, but the gift of see-
ing them with the naked eye was denied to those
not akin to them. They were always willing to do
the bidding of their descendants, and their super-
natural powers enabled them to perform some won-
derful works.

PPS WATERCOURSE

Pi was an ordinary man living in Waimea, Kauai,
who wanted to construct a mano, or dam, across
the Waimea River and a watercourse therefrom to a
point near Kikiaola. Having settled upon the best
locations for his proposed work, he went up to the
mountains and ordered all the Menehunes that were
living near Puukapele to prepare stones for the dam
and watercourse. The Menehunes were portioned off
for the work; some to gather stones, and others to cut
them. All the material was ready in no time {mana-
wa ole)y and Pi settled upon the night when the work
was to be done. When the time came he went to the
point where the dam was to be built, and waited. At
the dead of night he heard the noise and hum of the
voices of the Menehunes on their way to Kikiaola,
each of whom was carrying a stone. The dam was
duly constructed, every stone fitting in its proper
place, and the stone auwaiy or watercourse, also laid
around the bend of Kikiaola. Before the break of
day the work was completed, and the water of the

STORIES OF THE MENEHUNES iii

Waimea River was turned by the dam into the water-
course on the flat lands of Waimea.

When the work was finished Pi served out food for
the Menehunes, which consisted of shrimps {ppae)^ this
being the only kind to be had in sufficient quantity to
supply each with a fish to himself. They were well
supplied and satisfied, and at dawn returned to the
mountains of Puukapele rejoicing, and the hum of
their voices gave rise to the saying, ^^fVawa ka Mene-
hune I Puukapelcy ma Kauai, puobo ka manu o ka loko o
Kawainui ma Koo/aupoko, Oabu** — the hum of the
voices of the Menehunes at Puukapele, Kauai, startled
the birds of the pond of Kawainui, at Koolaupoko,
Oahu.

The auwaiy or watercourse, of Pi is still to be seen
at Kikiaola.

At one time Pi also told the Menehunes to wall in
a fish-pond at the bend of the Huleia River. They
commenced work toward midnight, but at dawn the
walls of the pond were not sufficiently finished to
meet, so it was left incomplete, and has remained so
to this day.

LAKA'S ADVENTURE

Wahieloa, a chief, lived at Kalaikoi, Kipahulu,
Maui. He took to him a wife named Hinahawea.
In due time a boy was born to them, whom
Hinahowana, the mother of Hinahawea, brought up
under her own care at Alaenui. She called him
Laka-a- wahieloa. He was greatly petted by his
parents. One day his father went to Hawaii in search

Ill HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

of the A^Kaauai a Kjou mr a mv for his son, landmg
at Ptznalam Kan, Hawaii, where he was killed in a
cnre called KeanaHir-Kaiialehii.

Atter a long abaencc Laka asked fer his father, and
his mother let e ii e d him va his grandmother^ who,
on bein^ questioned, told him that his &thcr went to
Hawan, and was soppoaed to be dead. Laka then
asked tor means br which he could search for kis
liither.

His grandmother replied: ^Go to die mountains
and look for the tree that has Icares shaped Eke the
moon on the n^ht of Hilo, or Hoaka; such ts the
tree for a canoe."*

Laka followed this adrk^ and went to the moun-
tains to find the tree for his canoe. Finding a suit-
able one, he commenced to cut in the morning, and
by sundown be had felled it to the ground. This
accomplished, he went home. Returning the next
day, to his surprise he could not find his fallen tree,
so he cut down another, with the same result. Laka
was thus tricked for several days, and in his perplexity
consulted again with his grandmother, who sent him
oflF with the same advice as before, to look for the
crescent-shaped leaf.

He went to the mountains again and found the
desired tree, but before cutting it he dug a big hole on
the side where the Kalala-Kamahele would fall. Upon
cutting the tree it fell right into the hole or trench, as
designed; then he jumped into it and lay in waiting
for the person or persons who were reerecting the
trees he had cut down for his canoe.

STORIES OF THE MENEHUNES 113

While thus waiting, he heard some one talking about
raising the tree and returning it to its former position,
followed by someone chanting as follows:

E ka man9 o he Akua,

Ke kini o ke Akua,

Ka Ubu 9 ke Akua,

Ka Ulani Akua,

Ka pukui Akua!

E na Akua o ke kuabitoi net,

I ka mauna,

I ke kualono,

I ka manowai la-e,

E'ibo! »

When this appeal ended there was a hum and noise,
and in a short time (jnanawa ole) the place was filled
with a band of people, who endeavored to lift the tree;
but it would not move. Laka then jumped out from
his place of hiding and caught hold of two of the men,
Mokuhalii and Kapaaikee, and threatened to kill them
for raising again the trees he had cut for his canoe.
Mokuhalii then told Laka that if they were killed,
nobody would be able to make a canoe for him, nor
would anybody pull it to the beach, but if they were
spared they would willingly do it for him, provided
Laka would first build a big and long shed (Jialau) of
sufficient size to hold the canoe, and prepare sufficient
food for the men. Laka gladly consenting, released
them and returned to his home and built a shed on

' O the four thousand fod«, O g idi of thrse woods,

The fetty thouund giidt. Of the mitunrjin,

The four hunirc-J tlwunnd gods, And the knoll.

The file of gud>. At the watrr-dam.

The asiembi) of god« \ Oh, come !

114 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

the level ground of Puhikau. Then he went up to
the woods and saw the canoe, ready and complete.
The Menehunes told Laka that it would be brought
to the halau that night. At the dead of night the hum
of the voices of the Menehunes was heard; this was
the commencement of the lifting of the canoe. It
was not dragged, but held up by hand. The second
hum of voices brought the canoe to Haloamekiei, at
Pueo. And at the third hum the canoe was carefully
laid down in the halau. Food and fish were there
spread out for the workers, the ba of the taro for food,
and the opae and oopu for fish. At dawn the Mene-
hunes returned to their home. Kuahalau was the
name of the halau, the remains of the foundation of
which were to be seen a few years ago, but now it is
ploughed over. The hole dug by Laka still exists.

KEKUPUA'S CANOE

Kakae, a chief, lived at Wahiawa, Kukaniloko, Wai-
alua, Oahu. One day his wife told him that she de-
sired to go in search of her brother, Kahanaiakeakua,
who was supposed to be living at Tahiti. Kakae
thereupon ordered his man Kekupua to go into the
woods and find a suitable tree and make a canoe for
his wife for this foreign voyage. Kekupua, with a
number of men under him, searched in the forest belt
of Wahiawa, Helemano, and Waoala, as also through
the woods of Koolau, without success. From Kahana
they made a search through the mountains till they
came to Kilohana, in Kalihi Valley, and from there
to Waolani, in Nuuanu, where they slept in a cave.

STORIES OF THE MENEHUNES 115

In the dead of night they heard the hum as of human
voices, but were unable to discern any person, though
the voices sounded close to them. At dawn silence
reigned again, and when the sun arose, lo, and behold!
there stood a large mound of stones, the setting of
which resembled that of a heiauy or temple, the remains
of which are said to be noticeable to this day.

Kekupua and his men returned to their chief and
reported their unsuccessful search for a suitable koa
{Acacia koa) tree for the desired canoe, and related also
the incident at Waolani. Kakae, being a descendant
of the Menehunes, knew immediately the authors of
the strange occurrence. He therefore instructed
Kekupua to proceed to Makaho and Kamakela and to
stay there till the night of Kane, then go up to Puunui
and wait till hearing the hum and noise of the Mene-
hunes, which would be the signal of their finishing the
canoe. And thus it was; the Menehunes, havingfinished
the canoe, were ready to pull it to the sea. He directed
them to look sharp, and two men would be noticed
holding the ropes at t\it pu (or head) of the canoe.
One of them would leap from one side to the other;
he was the director of the work and was called pale.
There would be some men farther behind, holding the
kawelewelcy or guiding-ropes. They were the kahunas
that superintended the construction of the canoe. He
reminded them to remember these directions, and
when they saw these men, to give them orders and
show them the course to take in pulling the canoe to
the sea.

Kekupua followed all these instructions faithfully.

ii6 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

He waited at Puunui till dusk, when he heard a hum
as of many voices, and proceeding ferther up near the
slope of Alewa he saw these wonderful people. They
were like ordinary human beings but diminutive. He
directed them to pull the canoe along the nae^ or
farther side of the Puunui stream. By this course
the canoe was brought down as far as Kaalaa, near
Waikahalulu, where, when daylight came, they left
their burden and returned to Waolani. The canoe
was left in the ditch, where it remained for many
generations, and was called Kawa-a-Kekupua (Keku-
pua's canoe), in honor of the servant of the chief
Kakae.

Thus, even with the help of the Menehunes, the
wife of Kakae was not satisfied in her desire.

AS HEIAU BUILDERS

The Menehunes are credited with the construction
of numerous heiaus (ancient temples) in various parts
of the islands.

The heiau of Mookini, near Honoipu, Kohala, is
pointed out as an instance of their marvellous work.
The place selected for the site of the temple was on
a grassy plain. The stones in the ijearest neighbor-
hood were for some reason not deemed suitable for
the work, so those of Pololu Valley, distant some
twelve miles, were selected. Tradition says the
Menehunes were placed in a line covering the entire
distance from Pololu to Honoipu, whereby the stones
were passed from hand to hand for the entire work.
Work was begun at the quiet of night, and at cock-

STORIES OF THE MENEHUNES 117

crow in the morning it was finished. Thus in one
night the heiau of Mookini was built.

Another temple of their erection was at Pepeekeo,
Hilo, the peculiarity of the work being that the stones
had been brought together by the residents of that part
of the district, by direction of the chief, but that in one
night, the Menchunes gathered together and built it.
The chief and his people were surprised on coming
the next morning to resume their labors, to find the
heiau completed.

There stands on the pali of Waikolu, near Kalau-
papa, Molokai, a heiau that Hawaiians believe to have
been constructed by no one else than the Menehunes.
It is on the top of a ledge in the face of a perpendicular
cliflF, with a continuous inaccessible cliflF behind it
reaching hundreds of feet above. No one has ever
been able to reach it either from above or from below;
and the marvel is how the material, which appears to
be seashore stones, was put in place.

KAHALAOPUNA, PRINCESS OF MANOA

MRS. £. M. NAKUINA

A KAAKA (laughter) is a projecting spur of the
^ ^ mountain range at the head of Manoa Valley,
forming the ridge running back to and above Waiake-
akua, ^^the water of the gods." Akaaka was united in
marriage to Nalehuaakaaka, still represented by some
lehua {Metrosideros polymorpha) bushes on the very
brow of the spur or ridge. They had two children,
twins, Kahaukani, a boy, and Kauakuahine, a girl.
These children were adopted at birth by a chief,
Kolowahi, and chieftainess, Pohakukala, who were
brother and sister, and cousins of Akaaka. The brother
took charge of the boy, Kahaukani, a synonyme for the
Manoa wind; and Pohakukala the girl, Kauakuahine,
meaning the famous Manoa rain. When the children
were grown up, the foster parents determined that
they should be united; and the children, having been
brought up separately and in ignorance of their rela-
tionship, made no objections. They were accordingly
married and a girl was born to them, who was called
Kahalaopuna. Thus Kolowahi and Pohakukala, by
conspiring to unite the twin brother and sister, made
permanent the union of rain and wind for which

ii8

KAHALAOPUNA 119

Manoa Valley is noted; and the fruit of such a union
was the most beautiful woman of her time. So the
Manoa girls, foster children of the Manoa rains and
winds, have generally been supposed to have inherited
the beauty of Kahalaopuna.

A house was built for Kahalaopuna at Kahaiamano
on the road to Waiakekua, where she lived with a few
attendants. The house was surrounded by a fence of
auki {dracdtna), and a puloulou (sign of kapu) was
placed on each side of the gate, indicative of forbid-
den ground. The puloulou were short, stout poles,
each surmounted by a ball of white kapa cloth, and
indicated that the person or persons inhabiting the
premises so defined were of the highest rank, and

sacred.

Kahalaopuna was very beautiful from her earliest

childhood. Her cheeks were so red and her face so

bright that a glow emanated therefrom which shone

through the thatch of her house when she was in ; a

rosy light seemed to envelop the house, and bright

rays seemed to play over it constantly. When she

went to bathe in the spring below her house, the rays

of light surrounded her like a halo. The natives

maintain that this bright light is still occasionally seen

at Kahaiamano, indicating that the spiritof Kahalaopuna

is revisiting her old home.

She was betrothed in childhood to Kauhi, the

young chief of Kailua, in Koolau, whose parents were

so sensible of the honor of the contemplated union of

their son with the Princess of Manoa, who was

deemed of a semi-supernatural descent, that they

I20 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

always sent the poi of Kailua and the fish of Kawai-
nui for the girl's table. She was thus, as it were,
brought up entirely on the food of her prospective
husband.

When she was grown to young womanhood, she
was so exquisitely beautiful that the people of the
valley would make visits to the outer puloulou at the
sacred precinct of Luaalea, the land adjoining Kahaia-
mano, just to get a glimpse of the beauty as she went
to and from the spring. In this way the fame of her
surpassing loveliness was spread all over the valley,
and came to the ears of two men, Kumauna and Kea-
waa, both of whom were disfigured by a contraction of
the lower eyelids, and were known as makahelei
(drawn eyes). Neither of these men had e^er seen
Kahalaopuna, but they fell in love with her from hear-
say, and not daring to present themselves to her
as suitors on account of their disfigurement, they
would weave and deck themselves lets (wreaths) of
maile {Alyxia olivaformis\ ginger, and ferns and go to
Waikiki for surf-bathing. While there they would
indulge in boasting of their conquest of the famous
beauty, representing the leis with which they were
decked as love-gifts from Kahalaopuna. Now, when
the surf of Kalehuawehe at Waikiki was in proper
condition, it would attract people from all parts of the
island to enjoy the delightful sport. Kauhi, the
betrothed of Kahalaopuna, was one of these. The
time set for his marriage to Kahalaopuna was drawing
near, and as yet he had not seen her, when the asser-
tions of the two makahelei men came to his ears.

KAHALAOPUNA 121

These were repeated so frequently that Kauhi finally
came to believe them, and they so filled him with
jealous rage of his betrothed that he determined to
kill her. He started for Manoa at dawn, and pro-
ceeded as far as Mahinauli, in mid-valley, where
he rested under a hala {Pandanus odoratissimus) tree
that grew in the grove of wiliwili (Erythrina mono-
sperma). He sat there some time, brooding over the
fancied injury to himself, and nursing his wrath.
Upon resuming his walk he broke off and carried
along with him a bunch of hala nuts. It was quite
noon when he reached Kahaiamano and presented
himself before the house of Kahalaopuna. The latter
had just awakened from a sleep, and was lying on
a pile of mats facing the door, thinking of going to
the spring, her usual bathing-place, when she per-
ceived a stranger at the door.

She looked at him some time and, recognizing him
from oft repeated descriptions, asked him to enter;
but Kauhi refused, and asked her to come outside. The
young girl had been so accustomed from early child-
hood to consider herself as belonging to Kauhi, and of
being indebted to him, as it were, for her daily food,
that she obeyed him unhesitatingly.

He perhaps intended to kill her then, but the girl's
unhesitating obedience as well as her extreme loveli-
ness made him hesitate for a while ; and after looking
intently at her for some time he told her to go and
bathe and then prepare herself to accompany him in a
ramble about the woods.

While Kahalaopuna was bathing, Kauhi remained

122 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

fnoodily seated where she had left him, and watched
the bright glow, like rainbow rays, playing above the
spring. He was alternately filled with jealousy, regret,
and longing for the great beauty of the girl; but that
did not make him relent in his dreadful purpose. He
seemed to resent his bctrothed's supposed infidelity
the more because she had thrown herself away on such
unworthy persons, who were, besides, ugly and disfig-
ured, while he, Kauhi, was not only a person of rank
and distinction, but possessed also of considerable manly
beauty.

When she was ready he motioned her to follow him,
and turned to go without a word. They went across
Kumakaha to Hualea, when the girl said, "Why don't
you stay and have something to eat before we go?''

He answered rather surlily, "I don't care to eat; I
have no appetite."

He looked so sternly at her as he said this that
she cried out to him, "Are you annoyed with me?
Have I displeased you in any way?"

He only said, "Why, what have you done that
would displease me?"

He kept on his way, she following, till they came
to a large stone in Aihualama, when he turned abruptly
and, facing the young girl, looked at her with an
expression of mingled longing and hate. At last,
with a deep sigh, he said, "You are beautiful, my
betrothed, but, as you have been false, you must die."

The young girl looked up in surprise at these
strange words, but saw only hatred and a deadly
purpose in Kauhi's eyes; so she said: "If I have to die.

KAHALAOPUNA 123

why did you not kill me at home, so that my people
could have buried my bones; but you brought me to
the wild woods, and who will bury me? If you think
I have been false to you, why not seek proof before
believing it?"

But Kauhi would not listen to her appeal. Per-
haps it only served to remind him of what he consid-
ered was his great loss. He struck her across the
temple with the heavy bunch of hala nuts he had broken
off at Mahinauli, and which he had been holding all
the time. The blow killed the girl instantly, and
Kauhi hastily dug a hole under the side of the rock
and buried her; then he started down the valley
toward Waikiki.

As soon as he was gone, a large owl, who was a god,
and a relative of Kahalaopuna, and had followed her
from home, immediately set to digging the body out;
which done, it brushed the dirt carefully off with its
wings and, breathing into the girl's nostrils, restored
her to life. It rubbed its face against the bruise on
the temple, and healed it immediately. Kauhi had
not advanced very far on his way when he heard the
voice of Kahalaopuna singing a lament for his unkind-
ness, and beseeching him to believe her, or, at least,
prove his accusation.

Hearing her voice, Kauhi returned, and, seeing the
owl flying above her, recognized the means of her
resurrection; and, going up to the girl, ordered her to
follow him. They went up the side of the ridge
which divides Manoa Valley from Nuuanu. It was
hard work for the tenderly nurtured maiden to climb

124 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

the steep mountain ridge, at one time through a
thorny tangle of underbrush, and at another clinging
against the bare face of the rocks, holding on to swing-
ing vines for support. Kauhi never offered to assist
her, but kept on ahead, only looking back occasion-
ally to 5ee that she followed. When they arrived at
the summit of the divide she was all scratched and
bruised, and htr pa-u (skirt) in tatters. Seating herself
on a stone to regain her breath, she asked Kauhi where
they were going. He never answered, but struck her
again with the hala branch, killing her instantly, as
before. He then dug a hole near where she lay,
and buried her, and started for Waikiki by way of the
Kakea ridge. He was no sooner out of sight than the
owl again scratched the dirt away and restored the
girl, as before. Again she followed and sang a song
of love and regret for her lover's anger, and pleaded
with him to lay aside his unjust suspicions. On hear-
ing her voice again, Kauhi returned and ordered her to
follow him. They descended into Nuuanu Valley, at
Kaniakapupu, and crossed over to Waolani ridge,
where he again killed and buried the faithful girl, who
was again restored by the owl. When he was on his
way back, as before, she sang a song, describing the
perils and difficulties of the way traversed by them, and
ended by pleading for pardon for the unknown fault.
The wretched man, on hearing her voice again, was
very angry; and his repeated acts of cruelty and the
suffering endured by the girl, far from softening his
heart, only served to render him more brutal, and to
extinguish what little spark of kindly feeling he might

KAHALAOPUNA 125

have had originally. His only thought was to kill
her for good, and thus obtain some satisfaction for his
wasted poi and (ish. He returned to her and ordered
her, as before, to follow him, and started for Kilohana,
at the head of Kalihi Valley, where he again killed her.
She was again restored by the owl, and made her
resurrection known by singing to her cruel lover.
He this time took her across gulches, ravines, and
plains, until they arrived at Pohakea, on the Ewa slope
of the Kaala Mountains, where he killed her and bur-
ied her under a large koa {Acacia koa). The faithful
owl tried to scrape the dirt away, so as to get at the
body of the girl, but his claws became entangled in the
numerous roots and rootlets which Kauhi had been
careful not to cut away. The more the owl scratched,
the more deeply tangled he got, and, finally, with
bruised claws and ruffled feathers, he had to give up
the idea of rescuing the girl; and perhaps he thought
it useless, as she would be sure to make her resurrec-
tion known to Kauhi. So the owl left, and followed
Kauhi on his return to Waikiki.

There had been another witness to Kauhi*s cruel-
ties, and that was Elepaio (^Chasiempis sandwichensis)^
a little green bird, a cousin to Kahalaopuna. As soon
as this bird saw that the owl had deserted the body of
Kahalaopuna,it flew straight to Kahaukani and Kauakua-
hine, and told them of all that had happened. The
girl had been missed, but, as some of the servants had
recognized Kauhi, and had seen them leave together
for what they supposed was a ramble in the adjoining
woods, no great anxiety had been felt, as yet. But

126 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

when the little bird told his tale, there was great con-
sternation, and even positive disbelief; for, how could
any one in his senses, they argued, be guilty of such
cruelty to such a lovely, innocent being, and one, too,
belonging entirely to himself.

In the meantime, the spirit of the murdered girl
discovered itself to a party who were passing by; and
one of them, a young man, moved with compassion,
went to the tree indicated by the spirit, and, removing
the dirt and roots, found the body, still warm. He
wrapped it in his kihei (shoulder scarf), and then cov-
ered it entirely with maile, ferns, and ginger, and,
making a haawe^ or back-load, of it, carried it to his
home at Kamoiliili. There, he submitted the body
to his elder brother, who called upon two spirit sisters
of theirs, with whose aid they finally succeeded in
restoring it to life. In the course of the treatment she
was frequently taken to an underground water-cave,
called Mauokii for the Kakelekele (hydropathic cure).
The water-cave has ever since been known as the
"Water of Kahalaopuna."

The young man who had rescued her from the
grave naturally wanted her to become his bride; but
the girl refused, saying that as long as Kauhi lived
she was his, and none other's, as her very body was,
as it were, nourished on his food, and was as much his
property as the food had been.

The elder brother then counselled the younger to
seek, in some way, the death of Kauhi. To this end
they conspired with the parents of Kahalaopuna to
keep her last resurrection secret. The young man

KAHALAOPUNA 127

then set to work to learn all the meles Kahalaopuna
had sung to her lover during that fatal journey. When
he knew these songs well, he sought the kilu (play,
or game) houses of the King and high chiefs, where
Kauhi was sure to be found.

One day, when Kauhi was playing, this young man
placed himself on the opposite side, and as Kauhi
ceased, took up the kilu and chanted the first of
Kahalaopuna's meles.

Kauhi was very much surprised, and contrary to
the etiquette of the game of kilu, stopped him in his
play to ask him where he had learned that song.
The young man answered he had learned it from
Kahalaopuna, the famous Manoa beauty, who was
a friend of his sister's and who was now on a visit at
their house. Kauhi, knowing the owl had deserted
the body of the girl, felt certain that she was really
dead, and accused the other of telling a lie. This led
to an angry and stormy scene, when the antagonists
were parted by orders of the King.

The next night found them both at the kilu house,
when the second of Kahalaopuna's songs was sung,
and another angry discussion took place. Again they
were separated by others. On the third night, the
third song having been sung, the dispute between
the young men became so violent that Kauhi told the
young man that the Kahalaopuna he knew must be
an impostor, as the real person of that name was dead,
to his certain knowledge. He dared him to produce
the young woman whom he had been representing as
Kahalaopuna; and should she not prove to be the

128 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

genuine one then his life should be the forfeit, and on
the other hand, if it should be the real one, then he,
Kauhi, should be declared the liar and pay for his
insults to the other with his life.

This was just what the young man had been
scheming to compass, and he quickly assented to the
challenge, calling on the King and chiefs to take
notice of the terms of agreement, and to see that they
were enforced.

On the appointed day Kahalaopuna went to
Waikiki, attended by her parents, relatives, servants,
and the two spirit sisters, who had assumed human
form for that day so as to accompany their friend and
advise her in case of necessity. Akaaka, the grand-
father, who had been residing in Waikiki some little
time previous to the dispute between the young men,
was appointed one of the judges at the approach-
ing trial.

Kauhi had consulted the priests and sorcerers of his
family as to the possibility of the murdered girl hav-
ing assumed human shape for the purpose of working
him some injury. Kaea, a famous priest and seer
of his family, told him to have the large leaves of the
a-pe {Calladium costatum) spread where Kahalaopuna
and party were to be seated. If she was a spirit,
she would not be able to tear the a-pe leaf on which
she would be seated, but if human, the leaf or leaves
would be torn. With the permission of the King,
this was done. The latter, surrounded by the highest
chiefs and a vast assemblage from all parts of the
island, was there to witness the test.

KAHALAOPUNA 119

When Kahalaopuna and party were on the road
to the scene of the test, her spirit friends informed her
of the a-pe leaves, and advised her to trample on them
so as to tear them as much as possible, as they, being
spirits, would be unable to tear the leaves on which
they should be seated, and if any one's attention were
drawn to them, they would be found out and killed
by the poe po-i ubane (spirit catchers).

The ybung girl faithfully performed what was
required of her. Kaea, on seeing the torn leaves,
remarked that she was evidently human, but that he
felt the presence of spirits, and would watch for them,
feeling sure they were in some way connected with
the girl. Akaaka then told him to look in a calabash
of water, when he would in all probability see the
spirits. The seer, in his eagerness to unravel the
mystery, forgot his usual caution and ordered a vessel
of water to be brought, and, looking in, he saw only
his own reflection. Akaaka at that moment caught
the reflection of the seer (which was his spirit), and
crushed it between his palms, and at that moment
the seer dropped down dead. Akaaka now turned
around and opened his arms "and embraced Kahalao-
puna, thus acknowledging her as his own beloved
granddaughter.

The King now demanded of the girl and of Kauhi
an account of all that had happened between them,
and of the reported death of the maiden. They both
told their stories, Kauhi ascribing his anger to hearing
the assertions of the two disfigured men, Kumauna
and Keawaa. These two, on being confronted with

I30 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

the girl, acknowledged never having seen her before,
and that all their words had been idle boastings. The
King then said : "As your fan has cost this innocent
girl so much sufFering, it is my will that you two and
Kauhi suffer death at once, as a matter of justice;
and if your gods are powerfal enough to restore you,
so much the better for you."

Two large imus (ground ovens) had been heated by
the followers of the young men, in anticipation of the
possible fate of either, and Kauhi, with the two
mischief-makers and such of their respective followers
and retainers as preferred to die with their chiefs, were
baked therein.

The greater number of Kauhi's people were so
incensed with his cruelty to the lovely young girl that
they transferred their allegiance to her, offering them-
selves for her vassals as restitution, in a measure, for
the undeserved sufferings borne by her at the hands
of their cruel chief.

The King gave her for a bride to the young man
who had not only saved her, but had been the means
of avenging her wrongs.

The imus in which Kauhi and his companions were
baked were on the side of the stream of Apuakehau,
in the famous Ulukou grove, and very near the sea.
The night following, a great tidal wave, sent in by
a powerfal old shark god, a relative of Kauhi's, swept
over the site of the two ovens, and in the morning
it was seen that their contents had disappeared. The
bones had been taken by the old shark into the sea.
The chiefs, Kumauna and Keawaa, were, through the

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71

KAHALAOPUNA 131

power of their family gods, transformed into the two
mountain peaks on the eastern corner of Manoa
Valley, while Kauhi and his followers were turned
into sharks.

Kahalaopuna lived happily with her husband for
about two years. Her grandfather, knowing of Kauhi's
transformation, and aware of his vindictive nature,
strictly forbade her from ever going into the sea. She
remembered and heeded the warning during those
years, but one day, her husband and all their men
having gone to Manoa to cultivate kalo {Colocasia
antiquorum)y she was left alone with her maid servants.

The surf on that day was in fine sporting condi-
tion, and a number of young women were surf-riding,
and Kahalaopuna longed to be with them. Forgetting
the warning, as soon as her mother fell asleep she
slipped out with one of her maids and swam out on a
surf-board. This was Kauhi's opportunity, and as
soon as she was fairly outside the reef he bit her
in two and held the upper half of the body up out
of the water, so that all the surf-bathers would sec
and know that he had at last obtained his revenge.

Immediately on her death the spirit of the young
woman went back and told her sleeping mother
of what had befallen her. The latter woke up, and,
missing her, gave the alarm. This was soon con-
firmed by the terrified surf-bathers, who had all fled
ashore at seeing the terrible fate of Kahalaopuna.
Canoes were launched and manned, and chase given
to the shark and his prey, which could be easily
tracked by the blood.

132 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

He swam just far enough below the surface of the
water to be visible, and yet too far to be reached with
eiFect by the fishing-spears of the pursuers. He led
them a long chase to Waianae; then, in a sandy open-
ing in the bottom of the sea, where everything was
visible to the pursuers, he ate up the young woman,
so that she could never again be restored to this life.

Her parents, on hearing of her end, retired to Manoa
Valley, and gave up their human life, resolving them-
selves into their supernatural elements. Kahaukani,
the father, is known as the Manoa wind, but his usual
and visible form is the grove of ha-u (^hibiscus)
trees, below Kahaiamano. Kauakuahine, the mother,
assumed her rain form, and is very often to be met
with about the former home of her beloved child.

The grandparents also gave up their human forms,
and returned, the one to his mountain form, and the
other into the lehua bushes still to be met with on the
very brow of the hill, where they keep watch over
the old home of their petted and adored grandchild.

XII
THE PUNAHOU SPRING

MRS. £. M. NAKUINA

TpHERE formerly lived on the Kaala Mountains
a chief by the name of Kahaakea. He had two
children, a boy and a girl, twins, whose mother had
died at their birth. The brother was called Kauawaa-
hila (Waahila Rain), and the girl Kauakiowao (Mountain
Mist). Kahaakea was very tenderly attached to his
motherless children, and after a while took to himself
a wife, thinking thus to provide his children with a
mother's care and love. This wife was called Hawea
and had a boy by her former husband. This boy was
deformed and ugly, while the twins were very beau-
tiful. The stepmother was jealous of their beauty, and
resented the universal admiration expressed for them,
while no one noticed her boy except with looks of
aversion. She was very considerate toward the twins
when their father was present, but hated and detested
them most violently. When they were about ten years
old their father had occasion to go to Hawaii, and had
to remain away a long time. He felt perfectly safe in
leaving his children with his wife, as she had always
feigned great love for them, and had successfully con-
cealed from him her real feelings in regard to them.

134 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

But as soon as he was fairly away she commenced a
series of petty persecutions of the poor children.

It seems the mother of the children had been ^^uhae
ia'* at her death. That is, certain prayers, invoca-
tions, fasting, and humiliation had been performed by
certain relatives of the deceased, and quantities of pre-
pared awa, black, unblemished pig, red fish, and all
the customary food of the gods, had been prepared and
offered with the object of strengthening the spirit of
the departed and of attracting it strongly, as well as
giving it a sort of power and control over mundane
afl^rs and events. So when Hawea began to persecute
her stepchildren, the spirit of their own mother would
assist and protect them.

The persecutions of the stepmother at last became
unendurable to the twins. She not only deprived
them of food, clothing, and water, but subjected them
besides to all sorts of indignities and humiliations.
Driven to desperation, they fled to Konahuanui, the
mountain peak above the Pali of Nuuanu; but were
soon discovered and driven away from there by the
cruel Hawea. They then went to the head of Manoa
Valley. The stepmother was not at all pleased at
their getting out of the way of her daily persecutions,
and searched for them everywhere. She finally tracked
them by the constant appearance of rainbows at the
head of Manoa Valley, those unfailing attendants of
rain and mist. The children were again driven away
and told to return to Kaala, where they would be
constantly under her eye; but they ran and hid them-
selves in a small cave on the side of the hill of Kukaoo,

THE PUNAHOU SPRING 135

whose top is crowned by the temple of the Mene-
hunes. Here they lived some time and cultivated a
patch of sweet potatoes, their food at this time being
grasshoppers and greens. The greens were the leaves
and the tender shoots of the popolo, aheahea, palcai,
laulele and potato vines, cooked by rolling hot stones
around and among them in a covered gourd. This is
called the puholoho/o.

When their potato tubers were fit to be eaten, the
brother (Waahila Rain) made a double imu (oven),
having a kapUj or sacred side, for his food and a noa, or
free side, for his sister. The little cave that was their
dwelling was also divided in two, a sacred and a free
part, respectively, for brother and sister. The cave can
still be seen, and the wall of stone dividing it in two
was still intact a few years ago, as also was the double
imu. In olden times it was tabooed to females to
appear at any eating-place of the males.

When their crops were feirly ripe, the stepmother
found them again, and drove them away fi-om their
cave, she appropriating the fruit of their labors. The
children fled to the rocky hills just back of Punahou,
where they found two small caves, which the brother
and sister occupied, respectively, as dwellings. The
rolling plains and small ravines of the surrounding
country, and of what was later known as the Punahou
pasture, were not then covered with manienie grass,
but with the indigenous shrubs and bushes, tall limas,
aheaheas, popolo, etc., making close thickets, with
here and there open spaces covered with manienie'
akiakij the valuable medicinal grass of the olden times.

136 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

These shrubs and bushes either bore edible fruit or
flowers, or the leaves and tender shoots made nourishing
and satisfying food when cooked in the way previously
described. The poor children lived on these and
grasshoppers, and sometimes wild fowl.

One day the sister, Kauakiowao, told her brother
that she wanted to bathe, and complained of their
having taken up their residence in a place where no
water could be found. Her brother hushed her com-
plaint by telling her that it was a safe place, and one
where their stepmother would not be likely to look
for them, but he would try to get her some water. In
his trips around the neighborhood for fruit and greens
he had noticed a large rain-water pond to the east of
the hill on which they dwelt. This pond was called
Kanawai. Here he sometimes came to snare wild
ducks. He also had met and knew the Kakea water
god, a moo, who had charge of and controlled all the
water sources of Manoa and Makiki Valleys. This
god was one of the ancestors of the children on the
mother's side, and was on the best of terms with
Waahila rain. The boy paid him a visit, and asked
him to assist him to open a watercourse from the pond
of Kanawai to a place he indicated in front of
and below the caves inhabited by himself and his
sister. The old water god not only consented to help
his young relative, but promised to divide the water
supply of the neighboring Wailele spring, and let it
run into the watercourse that the boy would make,
thus insuring its permanence.

Waahila Rain then went to the pond of Kanawai and

THE PUNAHOU SPRING 137

dived under, the water god causing a passage to open
underground to the spot indicated, and swam through
the water underground till he came out at the place
now known as the Punahou Spring. The force of the
rushing waters as they burst through the ground soon
sufficed to make a small basin, which the boy proceeded
to bank and wall up, leaving a narrow outlet for the sur-
plus waters. With the invisible help of the old water
god, he immediately set to work to excavate a good-
sized pond for his sister to swim in, and when she
awoke from a noonday nap, she was astonished to
behold a lovely sheet of water where, in the morning,
was only dry land. Her brother was swimming and
splashing about in it, and gayly called to his sister to
come and try her bathing-place.

Kauawaahila afterward made some kalo patches,
and people, attracted by the water and consequent fer-
tility of the place, came and settled about, voluntarily
offering themselves as vassals to the twins. More and
more kalo patches were excavated, and the place became
a thriving settlement. The spring became known as
Ka Punahou (the new spring), and gave its name to the
surrounding place.

About this time Kahaakea returned, and hearing of
the persecutions to which his beloved children had been
subjected, killed Hawea and then himself. Rocky Hill,
the home of the children, was called after him, and is
known by that name to the present day. Hawea has
ever since then been a synonyme in the Hawaiian mind
for a cruel stepmother.

The Mountain Mist and Waahila Rain afterward

138 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

returned to the home of their infancy, Kaala, where they
would stay a while, occasionally visiting Konahuanui
and upper Manoa Valley, and may be met with in
these places at the present day.

They also occasionally visited Punahou, which was
under their especial care and protection; but when the
land and spring passed into the hands of foreigners,
who did not pay homage to the twins, and who allowed
the springs to be defiled by the washing of unclean
articles and by the bathing of unclean persons, the twins
indignantly left the place, and retired to the head of
Manoa Valley.

They sometimes pass swiftly over their old home
on their way to Kaala, or Konahuanui, and on such
occasions will sometimes linger sorrowfully for a few
minutes about Rocky Hill. The rain-water pond of
Kanawai is now always dry, as the shrubs and bushes
which supplied the food of the twins favored of the
gods have disappeared. Old natives say that there is
now no inducement for the gentle rain of the Uakiowao
and Uawaahila to visit those bare hills and plains, as
they would find no food there.

XIII
OAHUNUI

MRS. E. M. NAKUINA

/^N the plateau lying between Ewa and Waialua, on
^^ the island of Oahu, and about a mile off, and
mauka of the Kaukonahua bridge, is the historical
place called Kukaniloko. This was the ancient birth-
place of the Oahu kings and rulers. It was incumbent
on all women of the royal line to retire to this place
when about to give birth to a child, on pain of for-
feiting the rank, privileges, and prerogatives of her
expected offspring, should that event happen in a less
sacred place.

The stones were still standing some years ago, and
perhaps are yet undisturbed, where the royal accouche-
ments took place. In ancient times this locality was
taboo ground, for here the high priest of the island had
his headquarters. Himself descended from the chief
families, and being, in many instances, an uncle or
younger brother of the reigning king, or connected by
marriage with those of the royal line, and being also
at the head of a numerous, well organized, and power-
ful priesthood, his influence was hardly second to that
of the king, and in some matters his authority was
paramount*

^39

I40 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

A few miles mauka of Kukaniloko, toward the Wai-
mea Mountains, is Helemano, where the last of the
cannibal chiefs from the South Seas finally settled when
driven from the plains of Mokuleia and Waialua by
the inhabitants of those districts; for the people had
been exasperated by the frequent requisitions on the
kamaainas (original inhabitants) by the stranger chiefs
to furnish material for their cannibal feasts.

To the east of Helemano, and about the same dis-
tance from Kukaniloko, is Oahunui (Greater Oahu),
another historical place. This was the residence of the
kings of the island. Tradition has it that previous to
the advent of the cannibal strangers the place was
known by another name.

When the Lo Aikanaka, as the last of the man-
eating chiefs ^re called, were constrained to take up
their residence in upper Helemano, a district just out-
side of the boundaries of those reserved for the royal
and priestly residences, a young man called Oahunui was
king. An elder sister named Kilikiliula, who had been
as a mother to him, was supposed to share equally
with him the royal power and prerogative. This sister
was married to a chief named Lehuanui, of the priestly
line, but one not otherwise directly connected with
royalty, and was the mother of three children; the two
eldest being boys and the youngest a girl. They all
lived together in the royal enclosure, but in separate
houses, according to ancient custom.

Now, the Lo Aikanaka, on establishing themselves
in upper Helemano, had at first behaved very well.
They had been circumspect and prudent in their inter-

OAHUNUI 141

course with the royal retainers^ and had visited the
young King to render their homage with every appear-
ance of humility.

Oahunui was quite captivated by the plausible^ suave
manners of the ingratiating southern chief and those of
his immediate retainers, and he invited them to a feast.

This civility was reciprocated, and the King dined
with the strangers. Here it was strongly suspected
that the dish of honor placed before the King was
human flesh, served under the guise of pork.

The King found the dish very much to his liking,
and intimated to the Lo Ailcanaka chief that his aipuu-
puu (chief cook or steward) understood the preparation
and cooking of pork better than the royal cook did.

The Lo Aikanaka took the hint, and the young
King became a very frequent guest at the Southerner's
board — or rather, mat table. Some excuse or other
would be given to invite the royal guest, such as a
challenge to the King to a game of konane (a game
like checkers); or a contest of skill in the different
athletic and warlike sports would be arranged, and
Oahunui would be asked to be the judge, or simply
invited to view them. As a matter of course, it would
be expected that the King would remain after the sports
and partake of food when on friendly visits of this
nature. Thus with one excuse or another he spent a
great deal of his time with his new subjects and friends.

To supply the particular dainty craved by the royal
visitor, the Lo Aikanaka had to send out warriors to
the passes leading to Waianae from Lihue and Kalena,
and also to the lonely pathway leading up to Kalakini,

142 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

on the Wdmea side, there to He in ambush for any
lone traveller, or belated person after la-i, aaho, or
ferns. Such a one would fall an easy prey to the Lo
Ailcanalca stalwarts, skilful in the art of the lua (to kill
by breaking the bones).

This went on for some time, until the unaccountable
disappearance of so many people began to be connected
with the frequent entertainments by the southern chief.
Oahunui's subjects began to hint that their young King
had acquired the taste for human flesh at these feasts,
and that it was to gratify his unnatural appetite for the
horrid dish that he paid his frequent visits to those
who were his inferiors, contrary to all royal precedent.

The people's disapproval of the intimacy of Oahu-
nui with his new friends was expressed more and more
openly, and the murmurs of discontent grew loud and
deep. His chiefs and high priest became alarmed, and
begged him to discontinue his visits, or they would
not be answerable for the consequences. The King
was thereby forced to heed their admonitions and
promised to keep away from Lo's, and did so for quite
a while.

Now, all the male members of the royal family ate
their meals with the King when he was at home.
This included, among others, Lehuanui, his sister's
husband, and their two sons — healthy, chubby little
lads of about eight and six years of age. One day
after breakfast, as the roar of the surf at Waialua could
be distinctly heard, the King remarked that the fish of
Ukoa pond at Waialua must be pressing on to the
makaha (floodgates) and he would like some aholehole.

OAHUNUI 143

This observation really meant a command to his
brother-in-law to go and get the fish, as he was the
highest chief present except his two royal nephews^ too
small to assume such duties.

Lehuanui, Kililciliula's husband, accordingly went
to Waialua with a few of his own family retainers and
a number of those belonging to the King. They
found the fish packed thick at the makaha, and were
soon busily engaged in scooping out, cleaning, and
salting them. It was quite late at night when Lehua-
nui, fatigued with the labors of the day, lay down to
rest. He had been asleep but a short time when he
seemed to see his two sons standing by his head. The
eldest spoke to him: "Why do you sleep, my father?
While you are down here we are being eaten by your
brother-in-law, the King. We were cooked and eaten
up, and our skulls are now hanging in a net from a
branch of the lehua-tree you are called after, and the
rest of our bones are tied in a bundle and buried under
the tree by the big root running to the setting sun."

Then they seemed to fade away, and Lehuanui
started up, shivering with fear. He hardly knew
whether he had been dreaming or had actually seen
an apparition of his little sons. He had no doubt
they were dead, and as he remembered all the talk and
innuendoes about the King's supposed reasons for
visiting the strangers and the enforced cessation of
those visits at the urgent request of the high priest
and the chiefs, he came to the conclusion that the
King had expressed a desire for fish in his presence
only to send him out of the way. He reasoned that

144 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

no doubt the King had noticed the chubby forms and
rounded limbs of the little lads, and being debarred a
chance of partaking surreptitiously of human flesh,
had compelled his servants to kill, cook, and serve up
his own nephews. In satisfying his depraved appe-
tite, he had also got rid of two who might become
formidable rivals ; for it was quite within the possibili-
ties that the priests and chiefs in the near future,
should he be suspected of a desire for a further indul-
gence in cannibal diet, might depose him, and proclaim
either one of the young nephews his successor.

The father was so troubled that he aroused his
immediate body servant, and the two left Waialua for
home shortly after midnight. They arrived at the
royal enclosure at dawn, and went first to the lehua-
tree spoken of by the apparition of the child, and on
looking up amid the branches, sure enough there
dangled two little skulls in a large-meshed fishing-net.
Lehuanui then stooped down and scraped away the
leaves and loose dirt from the root indicated, and out
rolled a bundle of tapa, which on being opened was
found to contain the bones of two children. The
father reached up for the net containing the skulls, and
putting the bundle of tapa in it, tied the net around
his neck. The servant stood by, a silent and grieved
spectator of a scene whose meaning he fully under-
stood.

The father procured a stone adze and went to the
King's sleeping-house, the servant still following.
Here every one but an old woman tending the kukui-
nut candle was asleep. Oahunui was stretched out on

OAHUNUI 145

a pile of soft mats covered with his paiuluj the royal red
kapa of old. The cruel wretch had eaten to excess of
the hateful dish he craved, and having accompanied it
with copious draughts of awa juice, was in a heavy,
drunken sleep.

Lehuanui stood over him, adze in hand, and called,
"O King, where are my children?" The stupefied
King only stirred uneasily, and would not, or could
not, awake. Lehuanui called him three times, and
the sight of the drunken brute, gorged with his flesh
and blood, so enraged the father that he struck at
Oahunui's neck with his stone adze, and severed the
head from the body at one blow.

The father and husband then strode to his own
sleeping-house, where his wife lay asleep with their
youngest child in her arms. He aroused her and
asked for his boys. The mother could only weep,
without answering. He upbraided her for her devo-
tion to her brother, and for having tamely surrendered
her children to satisfy the appetite of the inhuman
monster. He reminded her that she had equal power
with her brother, and that the latter was very un-
popular, and had she chosen to resist his demands and
called on the retainers to defend her children, the
King would have been killed and her children saved.

He then informed her that, as she had given up his
children to be killed for her brother, he had killed him
in retaliation, and, saying, " You have preferred your
brother to me and mine, so you will see no more of me
and mine," he tore the sleeping child from her arms
and turned to leave the house.

146 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

The poor wife and mother followed, and, flinging
herself on her husband, attempted to detain him
by clinging to his knees ; but the father, crazed by his
loss and the thought of her greater affection for a
cruel, inhuman brother than for her own children,
struck at her with all his might, exclaiming, " Well,
then, follow your brother," and rushed away, followed
by all his retainers.

Kilikiliula fell on the side of the stream opposite to
where the lehua-tree stood, and is said to have turned
to stone. The stone is pointed out to this day, bal-
anced on the hillside of the ravine formed by the
stream, and is one of the objects for the Hawaiian
sightseer.

The headless body of Oahunui lay where he was
killed, abandoned by every one. The story runs that
in process of time it also turned to stone, as a witness
to the anger of the gods and their detestation of his
horrible crime. All the servants who had in any way
been concerned, in obedience to royal mandate, in
killing and cooking the young princes were, at the
death of Kilikiliula, likewise turned to stone, just as
they were, in the various positions of crouching, kneel-
ing, or sitting. All the rest of the royal retainers, with
the lesser chiefs and guards, fled in fear and disgust from
the place, and thus the once sacred royal home of the
Oahuan chiefs was abandoned and deserted.

The great god Kane's curse, it is believed, still
hangs over the desolate spot, in proof of which it is
asserted that, although all this happened hundreds of
years ago, no one has ever lived there since.

XIV
AHUULA

A LEGEND OF KANIKANIAULA AND THE FIRST

FEATHER CLOAK

MRS. E. M. NAKUINA

17LEIO was a kukini (trained runner) in the service
'^^ of Kakaalaneo, King of Maui, several runners
being always kept by each king or a/ii of consequence.
These kukinis, when sent on any errand, always took
a direct line for their destination, climbing hills with
the agility of goats, jumping over rocks and streams,
and leaping from precipices. They were so fleet of
foot that the common illustration of the fact among
thenatives was the saying that when a kukini was sent on
an errand that would ordinarily take a day and a night,
fish wrapped in ki leaves (known as lawalu)^ if put on
the fire on his starting, would not be cooked suffi-
ciently to be turned before he would be back. Being
so serviceable to the aliis, kukinis always enjoyed a
high degree of consideration, freedom, and immunity
from the strict etiquette and unwritten laws of a
Hawaiian court. There was hardly anything so
valuable in their master's possession that they could
not have it if they wished.

Eleio was sent to Hana to fetch awa for the King,

147

148 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

and was expected to be back in time for the King's
supper. Kakaalaneo was then living at Lahaina.
Now, Eleio was not only a kukini, but he was also a
kahuna, and had been initiated in the ceremonies and
observances by which he was enabled to see spirits or
wraiths, and was skilled in medicines, charms, etc.,
and could return a wandering spirit to its body unless
decomposition had set in.

Soon after leaving Olowalu, and as he commenced
the ascent of Aalaloloa, he saw a beautiful young
woman ahead of him. He naturally hastened his steps,
intending to overtake such a charming fellow-traveller;
but, do what he would, she kept always just so far
ahead of him. Being the fleetest and most renowned
kukini of his time, it roused his professional pride to
be outrun by a woman, even if only for a short dis-
tance ; so he was determined to catch her, and he gave
himself entirely to that effort. The young woman led'
him a weary chase over rocks, hills, mountains, deep
ravines, precipices, and dark streams, till they came to
the Lae (cape) of Hanamanuloa at Kahikinui, beyond
Kaupo, when he caught her just at the entrance to
a puoa. A puoa was a kind of tower, generally of
bamboo, with a platform half-way up, on which the
dead bodies of persons of distinction belonging to
certain families or classes were exposed to the ele-
ments.

When Eleio caught the young woman she turned
to him and cried: "Let me live! I am not human,
but a spirit, and inside this inclosure is my dwelling."

He answered: "I have been aware for some time

AHUULA 149

of your being a spirit. No human being could have

so outrun me."

She then said: ^'Let us be fiiends. In yonder
house live my parents and relatives. Go to them and
ask for a hog^ kapas, some fine mats, and a feather
cloak. Describe me to them and tell them that I give
all those things to you. The feather cloak is unfin-
ished. It is now only a fathom and a half square,
and was intended to be two fathoms. There are
enough feathers and netting in the house to finish it.
Tell them to finish it for you." The spirit then dis-
appeared.

Eleio entered the puoa, climbed on to the platform,
and saw the dead body of the girl. She was in every
way as beautiful as the spirit had appeared to him, and
apparently decomposition had not yet set in. He left
the puoa and hurried to the house pointed out by the
spirit as that of her fiiends, and saw a woman wailing,
whom, from the resemblance, he at once knew to be
the mother of the girl; so he saluted her with an
aloha. He then said: 'M am a stranger here, but I
had a travelling companion who guided me to yonder
puoa and then disappeared." At these strange words
the woman stopped wailing and called to her husband,
to whom she repeated what the stranger had said.
The latter then asked : ''Does this house belong to
you?

Husband and wife, wondering, answered at once:
" It does."

"Then," said Eleio, "my message is to you. My
travelling companion has a hog a &thom in length in

I50 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

your care; also a pile of fine kapas of Paiula and
others of fine quality; also a pile of mats and an
unfinished feather cloak, now a fethom and a half in
length, which you are to finish, the materials being in
the house. All these things she has given to me, and
sent me to you for them." Then he began to describe
the young woman. Both parents recognized the
truthfulness of the description, and willingly agreed to
give up the things which their beloved daughter must
have herself given away. But when they spoke of
killing the hog and making an ahaaina (feast) for him,
whom they had immediately resolved to adopt as a
son, he said: "Wait a little and let me ask: Are all
these people I see around this place your friends?"

They both answered: "They are our relatives —
uncles, aunts, and cousins to the spirit, who seems to
have adopted you either as husband or brother."

"Will they do your bidding in everything?" he
asked.

They answered that they could be relied upon. He
directed them to build a large lanaiy or arbor, to be
entirely covered with ferns, ginger, maile, and ieie —
the sweet and odorous foliage greens of the islands.
An altar was to be erected at one end of the lanai and
appropriately decorated. The order was willingly
carried out, men, women, and children working with a
will, so that the whole structure was finished in a
couple of hours.

Eleio now directed the hog to be cooked. He also
ordered cooked red and white fish, red, white, and
black cocks, and bananas of the lele and maoli varie-

AHUULA 151

tics, to be placed on the altar. He ordered all women
and children to enter their houses and to assist him
with their prayers ; all pigs, chickens, and dogs to be
tied in dark huts to keep them quiet, and that the
most profound silence should be kept. The men at
work were asked to remember their gods, and to
invoke their assistance for Eleio. He then started for
Hana, pulled up a couple of bushes of awa of Kaeleku,
famous for its medicinal properties, and was back again
before the hog was cooked. The awa was prepared,
and when the preparations for the feast were complete
and set out, he offered everything to his gods and
begged assistance in what he was about to perform.

It seems the spirit of the girl had been lingering
near him all the time, seeming to be attached to him,
but of course invisible to every one. When Flleio
had finished his invocation he turned and caught the
spirit, and, holding his breath and invoking the gods,
he hurried to the puoa, followed by the parents, who
now began to understand that he was going to try the
kapuku (or restoration to life of the dead) on their
daughter. Arriving at the puoa, he placed the spirit
against the insteps of the girl and pressed it firmly in,
meanwhile continuing his invocation. The spirit
entered its former tenement kindly enough until it
came to the knees, when it refused to go any further,
as from there it could perceive that the stomach was
beginning to decompose, and it did not want to be
exposed to the pollution of decaying matter. But
Eleio, by the strength of his prayers, was enabled to
push the spirit up past the knees till it came to the

152 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

thigh bones, when the refractory spirit again refused to
proceed. He had to put additional fervor into his
prayers to overcome the spirit's resistance, and it pro-
ceeded up to the throat, when there was some further
check ; by this time the father, mother, and male rela-
tives were all grouped around anxiously watching the
operation, and they all added the strength of their
petitions to those of Eleio, which enabled him to push
the spirit past the neck, when the girl gave a sort of
crow. There was now every hope of success, and all
the company renewed their prayers with redoubled
vigor. The spirit made a last feeble resistance at the
elbows and wrists, which was triumphantly overborne
by the strength of the united prayers. Then it quietly
submitted, took complete possession of the body, and
the girl came to life. She was submitted to the usual
ceremonies of purification by the local priest, after
which she was led to the prepared lanai, when kahuna,
maid, parents, and relatives had a joyous reunion. Then
they feasted on the food prepared for the gods, who
were only supposed to absorb the spiritual essence of
things, leaving the grosser material parts to their
devotees, who, for the time being, are considered their
guests.

After the feast the feather cloak, kapas, and fine
mats were brought and displayed to Eleio; and the
father said to him: "Take the woman thou hast
restored and have her for wife, and remain here with
us; you will be our son and will share equally in the
love we have for her."

But our hero, with great self-denial and fidelity.

AHUULA 153

said: ''No, I accept her as a charge, but for wife, she
is worthy to be one for a higher than I. If you will
trust her to me, I will take her to my master, for by
her beauty and charms she is worthy to be the queen
of our lovely island."

The &ther answered: ^^She is yours to do with as
you will. It is as if you had created her, for without
you, where would she be now? We only ask this,
that you always remember that you have parents and
relatives here, and a home whenever you choose.*'

Eleio then asked that the feather cloak be finished
for him before he returned to his master. All who
could work at feathers set about it at once, including
the fair girl restored to life ; and he now learned that
she was called Kanikaniaula.

When it was completed he set out on his return to
Lahaina accompanied by the girl, and taking the
feather cloak and the remaining awa he had not used
In his incantations. They travelled slowly according
to the strength of Kanikaniaula, who now in the body
could not equal the speed she had displayed as a
spirit.

Arriving at Launiupoko, Eleio turned to her and
said: '^You wait and hide here in the bushes while I
go on alone. If by sundown I do not return, I shall
be dead. You know the road by which we came;
then return to your people. But if all goes well with
me I shall be back in a little while.'*

He then went on alone, and when he reached
Makila, on the confines of Lahaina, he saw a number
of people heating an imu, or underground oven. On

154 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

perceiving him they started to bind and roast him
alive, such being the orders of the King, but he
ordered them away with the request, "Let me die at
the feet of my master," And thus he passed success-
fully the imu heated for him.

When he finally stood before Kakaalaneo, the latter
said to him: "How is this? Why are you not
cooked alive, as I ordered? How came you to pass
my lunas?"

The kukini answered: "It was the wish of the slave
to die at the feet of his master, if die he must; but if
so, it would be an irreparable loss to you, my master, for
I have that with me that will cause your name to be
renowned and handed down to posterity,"

"And what is that?" questioned the King.

Eleio then unrolled his bundle and displayed to the
astonished gaze of the King and courtiers the glories
of a feather cloak, before then unheard of on the
islands. Needless to say, he was immediately par-
doned and restored to royal favor, and the awa he had
brought from Hana was reserved for the King's spe-
cial use in his offerings to the gods that evening.

When the King heard the whole story of Eleio's
absence, and that the fair original owner was but a
short way off, he ordered her to be immediately
brought before him that he might express his grati-
tude for the wonderful garment. When she arrived,
he was so struck with her beauty and modest deport-
ment that he ask her to become his Queen. Thus,
some of the highest chiefs of the land traced their
descent from Kakaalaneo and Kanikaniaula,

AHUULA 155

The original feather cloak, known as the ^^Ahu
KakaalaneOj' is said to be in the possession of the
Pauahi Bishop Museum. At one time it was used on
state occasions as zpa-u^ or skirt, by Princess Nahie-
naena, own sister of the second and third Kamehame-
has.

The ahuulas of the ancient Hawaiians were of fine
netting, entirely covered, with feathers woven in. These
were either of one color and kind or two or three dif-
ferent colors outlining patterns. The feathers were
knotted by twos or threes with twisted strands of the
olona, the process being called uo. They were then
woven into the foundation netting previously made
the exact shape and size wanted. The whole process
of feather cloak making was laborious and intricate,
and the making of a cloak took a great many years.
And as to durability, let the cloak of Kalaalaneo, now
several centuries old, attest.

XV
KAALA AND KAAIALII

A LEGEND OF LANAI

W. M. GIBSON

IDORDERING upon the land of Kealia, on the
^^^ southwest coast of Lanai, where was ^pahonua, or
place of refuge, are the remains of Kaunolu, an ancient
heiaUi or temple. Its ruins lie within the mouth of a
deep ravine, whose extending banks run out into the sea
and form a bold, bluff-bound bay. On the top of the
western bank there is a stone-paved platform, called
the kuaha. Outside of this, and separated by a narrow
alley-way, there runs a broad high wall, which quite
encircles the kuaha. Other walls and structures lead
down the bank, and the slope is terraced and paved
down to the tide-worn stones of the shore.

At the beach there is a break; a great block of the
bluff has been rent away by some convulsion of
nature, and stands out like a lone tower, divided from
the main by a gulf of the sea. Its high walls beetle
from their tops, upon which neither man nor goat can
climb. But you can behold on the flat summit of this
islet bluff, portions of ancient work, of altars and
walls, and no doubt part of the mainland temple, to
which this fragment once was joined. But man can

i5«

KAALA AND KAAIALII 157

visit this lone tower's top no more, and his feet can
never climb its overhanging walls.

Inland from the temple there are many remains
of the huts of the people of the past. The stone
foundations, the inclosures for swine, the round earth
ovens, and other traces of a throng of people cover
many acres of beach and hillside. This was a town
famed as an abode of gods and a refuge for those who
fled for their lives; but it drew its people mainly
through the fame of its fishing-ground, which swarmed
with the varied life of the Hawaiian seas.

To this famed fishing-ground came the great hero
of Hawaii to tax the deep, when he had subdued this
and the other isles. He came with his fleets of war
canoes; with his faithful koas^ or fighting men, with
his chiefs, and priests, and women, and their trains.
He had a house here. Upon the craggy bluff that
forms the eastern bank of the bay there is a lonely pa^
or wall, and stones of an ancient fort, overlooking the
temple, town, and bay.

Kamehameha came to Kealia for sport rather than
for worship. Who so loved to throw the maika ball, or
hurl the spear, or thrust aside the many javelins flung
at his naked chest, as the chief of Kohala? He rode
gladly on the crest of the surf waves. He delighted
to drive his canoe alone out into the storm. He
fought with the monsters of the deep, as well as with
men. He captured the great shark that abounds in
the bay, and he would clutch in the fearful grip of his
hands the deadly eel or snake of these seas, the terror
of fishes and men.

158 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

When this warrior king came to Kaunolu, the
islanders thronged to the shore to pay homage to the
great chief, and to lay at the feet of their sovereign, as
was their wont, the products of the isle: the taro, the
yam, the hala, the cocoanut, ohelo, banana, and sweet
potato. They piled up a mound of food before the
door of the King's pakui, along with a clamorous
multitude of fat poi-fed dogs, and of fathom-long
swine.

Besides this tribute of the men, the workers of the
land, the women filled the air with the sweet odors of
their floral offerings. The maidens were twined from
head to waist with leis or wreaths of the na-Uy which is
Lanai's own lovely jessamine — a rare gardenia, whose
sweet aroma loads the breeze, and leads you to the
bush when seeking it afar off. These garlands were
&stened to the plaited pili thatch of the King's pakui;
they were placed on the necks of the young warriors,
who stood around the chief; and around his royal
brows they twined an odorous crown of maile.

The brightest of the girlish throng who stood before
the dread Lord of the Isles was Kaala, or Sweet
Scented, whose fifteen suns had just burnished her
sweet brown face with a soft golden gloss; and her
large, round, tender eyes knew yet no wilting fires.
Her neck and arms, and all of her young body not
covered by the leafy pa-u, was tinted with a soft sheen
like unto a rising moon. Her skin glowed with the
glory of youth, and mingled its delicate odor of health
with the blooms of the groves, so that the perfume of
her presence received fittingly the name of Fragrance.

KAALA AND KAAIALII 159

In those rude days the island race was sound and
clean. The supple round limbs were made bright
and strong by the constant bath and the temperate
breeze. They were not cumbered with clothing; they
wore no long, sweating gowns, but their smooth, shin-
ing skins reflected back their sun, which gave them
such a rich and dusky charm.

Perhaps such a race cannot long wear all our gear
and live. They are best clothed with sea foam, or
with the garlands of their groves. How sweetly blend
the brown and green; and when young, soft, amber-
tinted cheeks, glowing with the crimson tide beneath,
are wreathed with the odorous evergreens of the isles,
you see the poesy of our kind, and the sweet, wild
grace that dwelt in the Eden Paradise.

The sweet Kaala stood mindless of harm, as the
playful breeze rustled the long blades of the la-i {dra-
cmd) leaves, hanging like a bundle of green swords
from her waist; and as they twirled and fluttered in
the air, revealed the soft, rounded form, whose charm
filled the eye and heart of one who stood among the
braves of the great chief — the heart of the stout young
warrior Kaaialii.

This youth had fought in the battle of Maunalei,
Lanai's last bloody fight. With his long-reaching
spear, wielded with sinewy arms, he urged the flying
foe to the top of a fearful cliff, and mocking the cries
of a huddled crowd of panic-scared men, drove them
with thrusts and shouts till they leaped like frightened
sheep into the jaws of the deep, dark chasm, and their
torn corses strewed the jagged stones below.

i6o HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

Kaaialii, like many a butcher of his kind, was
cbmely to see. With the lion's heart, he had the
lion's tawny hue. A swart grace beamed beneath his
curling brows. He had the small, firm hand to
throttle or caress, and eyes full of fire for hate or love;
and love's flame now lit the fece of the hero of the
bloody leap, and to his great chief he said, "O King
of all the isles, let this sweet flower be mine, rather
than the valley thou gavest me for my domain."

Said Kamehameha: ''You shall plant the Lanai
jessamine in the valley I gave you in Kohala. But
there is another who claims our daughter, who is the
stout bone-breaker, the scarred Mailou. My spear-
man of Maunalei can have no fear; and you shall
wrestle with him; and let the one whose arms can
clasp the girl after the fight carry her to his house,
where one kapa shall cover the two."

The poor maid, the careless gift of savage power,
held up her clasped hands with a frightened gesture
at the dread name of the breaker of bones ; for she
had heard how he had sucked the breath of many a
dainty bloom like her, then crunched the wilted blos-
som with sinews of hate, and flung it to the sharks.

And the Lanai maiden loved the young chief of
Hawaii. He had indeed pierced her people, but only
the tender darts of his eyes had wounded her. Turn-
ing to him, she looked her savage, quick, young love,
and said, "O Kaaialii, may thy grip be as sure as thy
thrust. Save me from the bloody virgin-eater, and I
will catch the squid and beat the kapa for thee all
my days."

KAALA AND KAAIALII i6i

The time of contest approached. The King sat
under the shade of a leafy kouy the royal tree of the
olden time, which has faded away with the chiefs it
once did shelter. On the smooth shell floor, covered
with the hala mat, stood the bare-limbed braves,
stripped to the malo, who with hot eyes of hate shot
out their rage of lust and blood, and stretched out
their strangling arms. They stood, beating with
heavy fists their broad, glossy chests of bronze, and
grinning face to face, they glowered their savage wish
to Icill. Then, with right foot advanced, and right
arm uplifted, they pause to shout their gage of battle,
and tell to each how they would maim and tear, and
kill, and give each other's flesh for food to some
beastly maw.

And now, each drawing near to each, with arms
uplifted, and outspread palms with sinewy play, like
nervy claws trying to clutch or grip, they seek a chance
for a deadly clinch. And swift the scarred xrhild-
strangler has sprung with his right to the young spear-
man's throat, who as quickly hooks the lunging arm
within the crook of his, and with quick, sledge-like
blow breaks the shoulder arm-bone.

With fury the baffled bone-breaker grips with the
uncrippled hand; but now two stout young arms,
tense with rage, soon twist and break the one unaided
limb. Then with limp arms the beaten brute turns to
flee; but swift hate is upon him, and clutches him by
the throat; and pressing him down, the hero of Kaala
holds his knee to the hapless wretch's back, and with
knee bored into the backward bended spine, he strains

i62 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

and jerks till the jointed bones snap and break, and
the dread throttler of girls and babes lies prone on the
mat, a broken and bloody corse.

"GoodI" cried the King. "Our son has the strength
of Kanekoa. Now let our daughter soothe the limbs
of her lover. Let her stroke his skin, press his joints,
and knead his back with the loving grip and touch of
the lomilomi. We will have a great bake, with the
hula and song; and when the feast is over, then shall
they be one."

A line of women squat down. They crone their
wild refrain, praising the one who wins in strife and
love. They seize in their right hand the hula gourd,
clattering with pebbles inside. They whirl it aloft,
they shake, they swing, they strike their palms, they
thump the mat; and now with supple joints they twirl
their loins, and with heave and twist, and with swing
and song, the savage dance goes on.

Kaala stood up with the maiden throng, the tender,
guarded gifts of kings. They twined their wreaths,
they swayed, and posed their shining arms; and flap-
ping with their hands their leafy skirts, revealed their
rounded limbs. This fires the gaze of men, and the
hero of the day with flaming eyes, springs and clasps
his love, crying as he bears her away: "Thou shalt
dance in my hut in Kohala for me alone, forever!"

At this, a stout yet grizzled man of the isle lifts up
his voice and wails: "Kaala, my child, is gone. Who
shall soothe my limbs when I return from spearing
the ohua? And who shall feed me with taro and
bread-fruit like the chief of Olowalu, when I have no

rtn

KAALA AND KAAIALII 163

daughter to give away? I must hide from the chief or
I die." And thus wailed out Opunui, the father of
Kaala.

But a fierce hate stirred the heart of Opunui. His
friend was driven over the cliff at Maunalei, and he
himself had lived only by crawling at the feet of the
slayer. He hid his hate, and planned to save his girl
and balk the killer of his people. He said in his
heart, "I will hide her in the sea, and none but the
fish gods and I shall know where the ever-sounding
surf surges over Kaala."

Now, in the morn, when the girl with ruddy brown
cheeks, and glowing with the brightening dawn of love,
stood in the doorway of the lodge of her lord, and her
face was sparkling with the sheen from the sun, her
sire in humble guise stood forth and said, '^My child,
your mother at Mahana is dying. Pray you, my lord,
your love, that you may see her once more before his
canoe shall bear you to his great land."

"Alas!" said the tender child, "since when is Kalani
ill? I shall carry to her this large sweet fish speared
by my lord; and when I have rubbed her aching
limbs, she will be well again with the love touch of
her child. Yes, my lord will let me go. Will you
not, O Kaaialii; will you not let me go to give my
mother a last embrace, and I shall be back again
before the moon has twice spanned the bay?"

The hero clasped his young love with one stout
twining arm, and gazing into her eyes, he with a
caressing hand put back from her brow her shining
hair, and thus to his heart's life he spoke: "O my

i64 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

sweet flower, how shall I live without thcc, even for
this day's march of the sun? For thou art my very
breath, and I shall pant and die like a stranded fish
without thee. But no, let me not say so. Kaaialii is
a chief who has fought men and sharks; and he must
not speak like a girl. He too loves his mother, who
looks for him in the valley of Kohala; and shall he
deny thy mother, to look her last upon the sweet face
and the tender limbs that she fed and reared for him?
Go, my Kaala. But thy chief will sit and watch with
a hungering heart, till thou come back to his arms
again."

And the pretty jessamine twined her arms around
his neck, and laying her cheek upon his breast said,
with upturned tender glances, "O my chief, who gavest
me life and sweet joy; thy breath is my breath; thy
eyes are my sweetest sight; thy breast is my only
resting-place; and when I go away, 1 shall all the way
look back to thee, and go slowly with a backward
turned heart; but when I return to thee, I shall have
wings to bear me to my lord."

"Yes, my own bird," said Kaaialii, "thou must fly,
but fly swiftly in thy going as well as in thy coming;
for both ways thou fliest to me. When thou art gone
I shall spear the tender ohua fish, I shall bake the
yam and banana, and I will fill the calabash with sweet
water, to feed thee, my heart, when thou shalt come;
and thou shalt feed me with thy loving eyes.

"Here, Opunui! take thy child. Thou gavest life
to her, but now she gives life to me. Bring her back
all well, ere the sun has twice risen. If she come not

KAALA AND KAAIALII 165

soon, I shall die; but I should slay thee before I die;
therefore, O Opunui, hasten thy going and thy com-
ing, and bring back my life and love to me."

And now the stern hero unclasped the weeping girl.
His eye was calm, but his shut lips showed the work
within of a strong and tender heart of love. He felt
the ache of a larger woe than this short parting.
He pressed the little head between his palms; he
kissed the sobbing lips again and again; he gave one
strong clasp, heart to heart, and then quickly strode
away.

As Kaala tripped along the stony up-hill path, she
glanced backward on her way, to get glimpses of him
she loved, and she beheld her chief standing on the
topmost rock of the great bluff overhanging the sea.
And still as she went and looked, still there he stood;
and when on the top of the ridge and about to descend
into the great valley, she turned to look her last, still
she saw her loving lord looking up to her.

The silent sire and the weeping child soon trod the
round, green vale of Palawai. She heeded not now
to pluck, as was her wont, the flowers in her path;
but thought how she should stop a while, as she came
back, to twine a wreath for her dear lord's neck. And
thus this sad young love tripped along with innocent
hope by the moody Opunui's side.

They passed through the groves of Kalulu and
Kumoku, and then the man swerved from the path
leading to Mahana and turned his face again seaward.
At this the sad and silent child looked up into the
face of her grim and sullen sire and said: ''O father.

i66 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

we shall not find mother on this path, but we. shall
lose our way and come to the sea once more/*

"And thy mother is by the sea, by the bay of
Kaumalapau. There she gathers limpets on the rocks.
She has dried a large squid for thee. She has pounded
some taro and filled her calabash with poi, and would
feed thee once more. She is not sick; but had I said
she was well, thy lord would not have let thee go; but
now thou art on the way to sleep with thy mother by
the sea."

The poor weary girl now trudged on with a doubt-
ing heart. She glanced sadly at her dread sire's
moody eye. Silent and sore she trod the stony path
leading down to the shore, and when she came to the
beach with naught in view but the rocks and sea, she
said with a bursting heart, "O my father, is the shark
to be my mother, and I to never see my dear chief
any more?"

"Hear the truth," cried Opunui. "Thy home for
a time is indeed in the sea, and the shark shall be thy
mate, but he shall not harm thee. Thou goest down
where the sea god lives, and he shall tell thee that the
accursed chief of the bloody leap shall not carry away
any daughter of Lanai. When Kaaialii has sailed fol-
Kohala then shall the chief of Olowalu come and bring
thee to earth again."

As the fierce sire spoke, he seized the hand of Kaala,
and unheeding her sobs and cries, led her along the
rugged shore to a point eastward of the bay, where
the beating sea makes the rocky shore tremble beneath
the feet. Here was a boiling gulf, a fret and foam of

KAALA AND KAAIALII 167

the sea, a roar of waters, and a mighty jet of brine and
spray from a spouting cave whose mouth lay deep
beneath the battling tide.

See yon advancing billow! The south wind sends it
surging along. It rears its combing, whitening crest,
and with mighty, swift-rushing volume of angry green
sea, it strikes the mouth of the cave; it drives and
packs the pent-up air within, and now the tightened
wind rebounds, and driving back the ramming sea,
bursts forth with a roar as the huge spout of sea leaps
upward to the sky, and then comes curving down in
gentle silver spray.

The fearful child now clasped the knees of her sav-
age sire. *'Not there, O father," she sobbed and
wailed. "The sea snake (the puhi) has his home in
the cave, and he will bite and tear me, and ere I die,
the crawling crabs will creep over me and pick out my
weeping eyes. Alas, O father, better give me to the
shark, and then my cry and moan will not hurt thine

ear.

Opunui clasped the slender girl with one sinewy
arm, and with a bound he leaped into the frothed and
fretted pool below. Downward with a dolphin's ease
he moved, and with his free arm beating back the
brine, moved along the ocean bed into the sea cavers
jagged jaws; and then stemming with stiffened sinew
the wind-driven tide, he swam onward till he struck a
sunless beach and then stood inside the cave, whose
mouth is beneath the sea.

Here was a broad, dry space with a lofty, salt-icicled
roof. The green, translucent sea, as it rolled back and

f68 HAWAIIAN FOLK TAl

forth at their feet, gave to tbcir hnmn frees a gk^^
t^hite glare. The scarcnger crabs acnmbkd away
over the dank and dripping stones umI die loathsome
hiring eel, slowly reached out its wdl-toodied, wide-
f^aping jaw to tear the tender feet that roused it from
if% horrid lair, where the dread sea god dwelt.

7'hc poor hapless girl sank down upon dus gloomy
fthore and cried, clinging to the kanaka's knee: *'0
faf her, heat out my bnuns with this jagged stone, and
do not let the eel twine around mv nedt, and tndl
wirh a loathsome, slimy, creeping crawl over my body
hrtforc f die. Oh! the crabs will pick and tear me
heforc my breath is gone."

** LiHtcn/' said Opunui. ''Thou shalt go bai^ with
tnt fri the warm sunny air. Thou shalt trcui agun the
(iwecM-ftmclling flowery vale of Palawu, aiid twine
tliy neck with wreaths of scented jessamine, if thou
wilt ^n^^ with me to the house of the chief of Olowalu
Hrid there let thy bloody lord behold thee wanton with
thy love in another chiefs arms."

" Never," shouted the lover of Kaaialii, "never will
I incet any clasp of love but that of my own chief.
If I cannot lay my head again upon his breast, I will
lay it in death upon these cold stones. If his arm
shall never again draw me to his heart, then let the eel
twine my neck and let him tear away my cheeks rather
than that another beside my dear lord shall press my
face."

" Then let the eel be thy mate," cried Opunui, as
he roughly unclasped the tender arms twined around
his knees; "until the chief of Olowalu comes to seize

KAALA AND KAAIALII 169

thee, and carry thee to his house in the hills of Maui.
Seek not to leave the cave. Thou knowest that with
thy weak arms, thou wilt tear thyself agunst the
jagged rocks in trying to swim through the swift flow-
ing channel. Stay till I send for thee, and live.**
Then dashing out into the foaming gulf with mighty
buffeting arms he soon reached the upper air.

And Kaaialii stood upon the bluff, looking up to
the hillside path by which his love had gone, long
after her form was lost to view in the interior vales.
And after slight sleep upon his mat, and walking by
the shore that night, he came at dawn and climbed the
bluff again to watch his love come down the hill.
And as he gazed he saw a leafy skirt flutter in the
wind, and his heart fluttered to clasp his little girl;
but as a curly brow drew near, his soul sank to see it
was not his love, but her friend Ua (rain) with some
sad news upon her face.

With hot haste and eager asking eyes does the
love-lorn chief meet the maiden messenger, and cries,
"Why does Kaala delay in the valley? Has she
twined wreaths for another's neck for me to break?
Has a wild hog torn her? Or has the anaana prayer of
death struck her heart, and does she lie cold on the
sod of Mahana? Speak quickly, for thy face kills
me, O Ua!"

"Not thus, my lord," said the weeping girl, as the
soft shower fell from Ua's sweet eyes. "Thy love is
not in the valley: and she has not reached the hut of
her mother Kalani. But kanakas saw from the hills
of Kalulu her father lead her through the forest of

Hi'AAlIAN FOLX TALES

dnr is to thwart thy

■ •Ill.i .vt.' T^jt b'jXfC Of ay hcut is gone!"
Ht T^r^-i: " zr,zT^ Tx 5cra drief, hoc with haffled
:.'tv.:,'.. :— k*s —ii^T" *: ^c x^-, azid dishes ftway,
'-iv-ari ur -i't ^zzzT hill; «-^-^ cprad with his stout
;0.r.^ *ivi.gc ir.t«K he bo^isis alox^ without halt or
\[ir,'c <.: sr-ttd rll he reaches the valley's rim, then

He courvts over :3 brigb: green plains. He sees
ir. tht d-sr.' path sose prlss that must he those of
u.'z c*:^r ftt: ht follows now. His heart feels a fresh
bound; ht fttls neither smdn of limh nor scantness
of hrtath, and, searching as he runs, he descries before
him in the plain the decrlrtul sire alone.

**Opunui," he cries, "give me Kaala, or thy life!"
'I Kt s*o-t, gray kanaka looks to see the face of flame
ar.'i f'ti'z oj*stretched arms, and stops not to try the
';U':rjgth of his own limbs, or to stay for any parley,
l>'it flics across the valley, along the very path by which
the fierce lover came; and with fear to spur him on,
he keeps well before his well blown foe.

iJijt Kaaialii is now a god; he runs with new strung
lirnbs, and j)resses hard this fresh-footed runner of
riKiny a race. They are within two spears' length of
«';i(l) fjthcr's grip upon the rim of the vale; and hot
wiih h.Tite the one, and with fear the other, they dash
alon^f the rugged path of Kealia, and rush downward
to the sea. They bound o'er the fearful path of
clinkers. Their torn feet heed not the pointed stones.

KAALA AND KAAIALII 171

The elder seeks the shelter of the taboo; and now,
both roused by the outcries of a crowd that swarm on
the bluflfs around, they put forth their remaining
strength and strive who shall gain first the entrance to
the sacred wall of refuge.

For this the hunted sire strains his fast failing nerve;
and the youth with a shout quickens his still tense
limbs. He is within a spear's length; he stretches
out his arms. Ha, old man! he has thy throat within
his grip. But no, the greased neck slips the grasp;
the wretch leaps for his dear life, he gains the sacred
wall, he bounds inside, and the furious foe is stopped
by the staves of priests.

I'he baffled chief lies prone in the dust, and curses
the gods and the sacred taboo. After a time he is led
away to his hut by friends; and then the soothing
hands of Ua rub and knead the soreness out of his
limbs. And when she has set the calabash of poi
before him along with the relishing dry squid, and he
has filled himself and is strong again, he will not heed
any entreaty of chief or friends; not even the caressing
lures of Ua, who loves him; but he says, "I will go
and seek Kaala; and if I find her not, I die."

Again the love-lorn chief seeks the inland. He
shouts the name of his lost love in the groves of
Kumoku, and throughout the forest of Mahana.
Then he roams through the cloud-canopied valley of
Palawai; he searches among the wooded canyons of
Kalulu, and he wakes the echoes with the name
of Kaala in the gorge of the great ravine of Maunalei.
He follows this high walled barranca over its richly

I" HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

fsTsaTT-r fiocr; md also along by die
T^ mil be readies its souroe, an abmpt

o: scDne. ox himired ieer log^ and fionning the

o: -Tit rrrirtt. Frtns lie tooe of dus steep, tow-

^ £rues a svcet, dear nin, a thousand

-ock-£lzred aai a leaping from points

of ftm 2^d r^ossy and £I2i2g cp an ice cold pool below,
zz v'zLzh OCT wearr chSef guadly skked lus tlunt. The
hero nQT cla=:Sers d^e steep wmlls of die gorge, impass-
able to the 5t?ps of cea in diese day?; bat he climbs
«:th toes thmst In crazmies, or resxii^ on short juts
and po:nts of rock: a::d he polls himself upward by
grasping at out-cropping boshes and strong tufts of
fern. And thus with stout snew and bold nerve the
fearless spearman reaches the upper land from whence
he had, in his day of devouring rage, hurled and
driven headlong the panic-stricken foe.

And now he runs on over the lands of Paomsu,
through the wooded dells of the gorge of Kaiholena,
and onward across Kaunolu and Kalulu, undl he
reaches the head spring of sacred Kealia called Wua-
kckua; and here he gathered bananas and ohelo ber-
ries; and as he stayed his hunger with the pleasant
wild fruit, he beheld a white-haired priest of Kaunolu,
hearing a calabash of water.

The aged priest feared the stalwart chief, because he
was not upon his own sacred ground, under the safe
wing of the taboo; and therefore he bowed low and
clasped the stout knees, and offered the water to slake
the thirst of the sorrowing chief. But Kaaialii cried
out: "! thirst not for water, but for the sight of my

KAALA AND KAAIALII 173

love. Tell me where she is hid, and I will bring thee
hogs and men for the gods." And to this the glad
priest replied:

'^Son of the stout spear! I know thou seekest the
sweet Flower of Palawai; and no man but her sire has
seen her resting-place; but I know that thou seekest
in vain in the groves, and in the ravines, and in this
mountain. Opunui is a great diver and has his dens
in the sea. He leaves the shore when no one fol-
lows, and he sleeps with the fish gods, and thou wilt
find thy love in some cave of the rock-bound southern
shore."

The chief quickly turns his face again seaward. He
descends the deep shaded pathway of the ravine of
Kaunolu. He winds his way through shaded thickets
of ohia, sandalwood, the yellow mamani, the shrub
violet, and the fragrant na-u. He halted not as he
reached the plain of Palawai, though the ever over-
hanging canopy of cloud that shades this valley of the
mountain cooled his weary feet. These upper lands
were still, and no voice was heard by the pili grass
huts, and the maika balls and the wickets of the bowl-
ing alley of Palawai stood untouched, because all the
people were with the great chief by the shore of
Kaunolu; and Kaaialii thought that he trod the flow-
cry pathway of the still valley alone.

But there was one who, in soothing his strained
limbs after he fell by the gateway of the temple, had
planted strong love in her own heart; and she, Ua,
with her lithe young limbs, had followed this sorrow-
ing lord through all his weary tramp, even through

174 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

the gorges, and over the ramparts of the hills, and she
was near the sad, wayworn chief when he reached the
southern shore.

The weary hero only stayed his steps when he
reached the brow of the great bluff of Palikaholo.
The sea broke many hundred feet below where he
stood. The gulls and screaming boatswain birds
sailed in mid- air between his perch and the green
waves. He looked up the coast to his right, and saw
the lofty, wondrous sea columns of Honopu. He
looked to the left, and beheld the crags of Kalulu, but
nowhere could he see any sign which should tell him
where his love was hid away.

His strong, wild nature was touched by the distant
sob and moan of the surf. It sang a song for his sad,
savage soul. It roused up before his eyes other eyes,
and lips, and cheeks, and clasps of tender arms. His
own sinewy ones he now stretched out wildly in the
mocking air. He groaned, and sobbed, and beat his
breast as he cried out, "Kaala! O Kaala! Where art
thou? Dost thou sleep with the fish gods, or must I
go to join thee in the great shark's maw?"

As the sad hero thought of this dread devourer of
many a tender child of the isles, he hid his face with
his hands, — looking with self-torture upon the image
of his soft young love, crunched, bloody and shriek-
ing, in the jaws of the horrid god of the Hawaiian seas;
and as he thought and waked up in his heart the
memories of his love, he felt that he must seek her
even in her gory grave in the sea.

Then he looks forth again, and as he gazes down

KAALA AND KAAIALII 175

by the shore his eyes rest upon the spray of the blow-
ing cave near Kaumalapau. It leaps high with the
swell which the south wind sends. The white mist
gleams in the sun. Shifting forms and shades are
seen in the varied play of the up-leaping cloud. And
as with fevered soul he glances, he sees a form spring
up in the ever bounding spray.

He sees with his burning eyes the lines of the sweet
form that twines with tender touch around his soul.
He sees the waving hair, that mingles on his neck
with his own swart curls. He sees, — he thinks he
sees, — in the leap and play of sun-tinted spray, his love,
his lost Kaala; and with hot foot he rushes downward
to the shore.

He stands upon the point of rock whence Opunui
sprang. He feels the throb beneath his feet of the
beating, bounding tide. He sees the fret and foam
of the surging gulf below the leaping spray, and is
wetted by the shore-driven mist. He sees all of this
wild, working water, but he docs not see Kaala.

And yet he peers into this mad surf for her he
seeks. The form that he has seen still leads him on.
He will brave the sea god's wrath; and he fain would
cool his brow of flame in the briny bath. He thinks
he hears a voice sounding down within his soul; and
cries, "Where art thou, O Kaala? 1 come, I come!"
And as he cries, he springs into the white, foaming
surge of this ever fretted sea.

And one was near as the hero sprang; even Ua, with
the clustering curls. She loved the chief; she did
hope that when his steps were stayed by the sea, and

176 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

he had mingled his moan with the wild waters' wail,
that he would turn once more to the inland groves,
where she would twine him wreaths, and soothe his
limbs, and rest his head upon her knees; but he has
leaped for death, he comes up no more. And Ua
wailed for Kaaialii ; and as the chief rose no more from
out the lashed and lathered sea, she cried out, ^^Auwe
ka make!'* (Alas, he is dead!) And thus wailing and
crying out, and tearing her hair, she ran back over the
bluffs, and down the shore to the tabooed ground of
Kealia, and wailing ever, flung herself at the feet of
Kamehameha.

The King was grieved to hear from Ua of the loss
of his young chief. But the priest Papalua standing
near, said: "O Chief of Heaven, and of all the isles;
there where Kaaialii has leaped is the sea den of
Opunui, and as thy brave spearman can follow the
turtle to his deep sea nest, he will see the mouth of
the cave, and in it, I think, he will find his lost love,
Kaala, the flower of Palawai."

At this Ua roused up. She called to her brother
Keawe, and laying hold on him, pulled him toward
the shore, crying out, "To thy canoe, quick! I will
help thee to paddle to Kaumalapau." For thus she
could reach the cave sooner than by the way of the
bluflTs. And the great chief also following, sprang
into his swiftest canoe, and helping as was his wont,
plunged his blade deep into the swelling tide, and
bounded along by the frowning shore of Kumoku.

When Kaaialii plunged beneath the surging waters,
he became at once the searching diver of the Hawaiian

KAALA AND KAAIALII 177

seasf and as his keen eye peered throughout the
depths, he saw the portals of the ocean cave into
which poured the charging main. He then, stemming
with easy play of his well-knit limbs the suck and rush
of the sea, shot through the current of the gorge; and
soon stood up upon the sunless strand.

At first he saw not, but his ears took in at once a
sad and piteous moan, — a sweet, sad moan for his
hungry ear, of the voice of her he sought. And
there upon the cold, dank, dismal floor he could dimly
see his bleeding, dying love. Quickly clasping and
soothing her, he lifted her up to bear her to the upper
air; but the moans of his poor weak Kaala told him
she would be strangled in passing through the sea.

And as he sat down, and held her in his arms, she
feebly spoke: "O my chief, I can die now! I feared
that the fish gods would take me, and I should never
see thee more. The eel bit me, and the crabs crawled
over me, and when I dared the sea to go and seek
thee, my weak arms could not fight the tide; I was
torn against the jaws of the cave, and this and the fear
of the gods have so hurt me, that I must die."

''Not so, my love," said the sad and tearful chief.
"I am with thee now. I give thee the warmth of my
heart. Feel my life in thine. Live, O my Kaala, for
me. Come, rest and be calm, and when thou canst
hold thy breath I will take thee to the sweet air again,
and to thy valley, where thou shalt twine wreaths for
me." And thus with fond words and caresses he
sought to soothe his love.

But the poor girl still bled as she moaned; and with

178. HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

fainter voice she said, ''No, my chief, I shall never
twine a wreath, but only my arms once more around
thy neck." And feebly clasping him, she said in sad,
sobbing, fainting tones, ''Aloha, my sweet lord! Lay
me among the flowers by Waiakeakua, and do not
slay my father."

Then, breathing moans and murmurs of love, she
lay for a time weak and fainting upon her lover's
breast, with her arms drooping by her side. But all
at once she clasps his neck, and with cheek to cheek,
she clings, she moans, she gasps her last throbs of love
and passes away; and her poor torn corse lies limp
within the arms of the love-lorn chief.

As he cries out in his woe there are other voices in
the cave. First he hears the voice of Ua speaking to
him in soothing tones as she stoops to the body of her
friend; and then in a little while he hears the voice of
his great leader calling to him and bidding him stay his
grief. "O King of all the Seas," said Kaaialii, stand-
ing up and leaving Kaala to the arms of Ua, " I have
lost the flower thou gavest me; it is broken and dead,
and I have no more joy in life."

"What!" said Kamehameha, "art thou a chief, and
wouldst cast away life for a girl? Here is Ua, who
loves thee; she is young and tender like Kaala. Thou
shalt have her, and more, if thou dost want. Thou shalt
have, besides the land I gave thee in Kohala, all
that thou shalt ask of Lanai. Its great valley of
Palawai shall be thine; and thou shalt watch my fishing
grounds of Kaunolu, and be the Lord of Lanai."

"Hear, O King," said Kaaialii. "I gave to Kaala

KAALA AND KAAIALII 179

more of my life in loving her, and of my strength in
seeking for her than ever I gave for thee in battle. I
gave to her more of love than I ever gave to my
mother, and more of my thought than I ever gave to
my own life. She was my very breath, and my life,
and how shall 1 live without her? Her face, since first
I saw her, has been ever before me; and her warm
breasts were my joy and repose ; and now that they are
cold to me, I must go where her voice and love have
gone. -If 1 shut my eyes now I see her best; therefore
let me shut my eyes forevermore/* And as he spoke,
he stooped to clasp his love, said a tender word of adieu
to Ua, and then with a swift, strong blow, crushed in
brow and brain with a stone.

The dead chief lay by the side of his love, and Ua
wailed over both. Then the King ordered that the
two lovers should lie side by side on a ledge of the
cave; and that they should be wrapped in tapas which
should be brought down through the sea in tight bam-
boos. Then there was great wailing for the chief and
the maid who lay in the cave; and thus wailed Ua:

"Where art thou, O brive chief?
Where art thou, O fond girl?
Will ye ileep by the sound of the sea?
And will ye dream of the godi of the deep?
O lire, where now ii thy child?
O mother, where now is thy ion?
Hie lands of Kohala shall mourn.
And valleys of Lanai shall lament.
The spear of the chief shall rot in the cave.
And the tapa of the maid is left undone.
The wreaths for his neck, they shall fade.

iSg hawail\n folk tales

Thcr shaQ &de wmj on the hQIib
O kadaiiU who aliaa spar the dn ?
O Kok, win AaSL gidMr the ns-a f
Hnre ve fOBC tD cne •**"'** or Kflfaikiy
To die land of onr ftdBcr^ Wnkoi?
Will ve feed an die moa of die aivc^
And cne uinpets of die mf-bcBBBB inowr
O duef, O fiicnd, I wonU feed je.
O chiefs O firiend, I wonld cot ye.
Te loved* like die sn md die flower^
Te lived like die fiih md tbe wmve.
And BQvr like die seedi in s ifaellp
X e sieep in joar owe hy cfae flcu
Aks! Odiief. ain! Omjfiknd,
WHI Te sleep in die cave evcnnare?"

And thus Ua wailed, and then was borne away by
her brother to the sorrowful shore of Kannolu, where
there was loud wailing for the chief and the maid; and
many were the chants of lamentation for the two lovers,
who sleep side by side in the Spouting Cave of Kaala.

XVI
THE TOMB OF PUUPEHE

A LEGEND OP LANAI

FROM "THE HAWAIIAN OAZETTE**

/^NE of the interesting localities of tradition, famed
^^ in Hawaiian song and story of ancient days, is
situate at the southwestern point of the island of
Lanai, and known as the Kupapau o Puupehe^ or
Tomb of Puupehe. At the point indicated, on the
leeward coast of the island, may be seen a huge block
of red lava about eighty feet high and some sixty feet
in diameter, standing out in the sea, and detached
from the mainland some fifty fathoms, around which
centres the following legend.

Observed from the overhanging bluff that overlooks
Puupehe, upon the summit of this block or elevated
islet, would be noticed a small inclosure formed by a
low stone wall. This is said to be the last resting-
place of a Hawaiian girl whose body was buried there
by her lover Makakehau, a warrior of Lanai.

Puupehe was the daughter of Uaua, a petty chief,

one of the dependents of the king of Maui, and she

was won by young Makakehau as the joint prize of

love and war. These two are described in the Kami-

kau, or Lamentation, of Puupehe, as mutually captive,

i8i

1 82 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

the one to the other. The maiden was a sweet flower
of Hawaiian beauty. Her glossy brown, spotless body
^^ shone like the clear sun rising out of Haleakala/'
Her flowing, curly hair, bound by a wreath of lehua
blossoms, streamed forth as she ran ''like the surf
crests scudding before the wind.'* And the starry
eyes of the beautiful daughter of Uaua blinded the
young warrior, so that he was called Makakehau, or
Misty Eyes.

The Hawaiian brave feared that the comeliness of
his dear captive would cause her to be coveted by the
chiefs of the land. His soul yearned to keep her all
to himself. He said: ''Let us go to the clear waters
of Kalulu. There we will fish together for the kala
and the aku, and there I will spear the turtle. I will
hide you, my beloved, forever in the rave of Malauea.
Or, we will dwell together in the great ravine of Pala-
wai, where we will eat the young of the uwau bird, and
we will bake them in ki leaf with the sweet pala fern
root. The ohelo berries of the mountains will refresh
my love. We will drink of the cool waters of Mauna-
lei. I will thatch a hut in the thicket of Kaohai for

our resting-place, and we shall love on till the stars

d»>
le.

The meles tell of their love in the Pulou ravine,
where they caught the bright iiwi birds, and the scarlet
apapani. Ah, what sweet joys in the banana groves
of Waiakeakua, where the lovers saw naught so beau-
tiful as themselves! But the "misty eyes" were soon
to be made dim by weeping, and dimmer, till the
drowning brine should close them forevermore.

THE TOMB OF PUUPEHE 183

Makakehau left his love one day in the cave of
Malauea while he went to the mountain spring to fill
the water-gourds with sweet water. This cavern yawns
at the base of the overhanging bluff that overtops the
rock of Puupehe. The sea surges far within, but there
is an inner space which the expert swimmer can reach,
and where Puupehe had often rested and baked the
hanUf or sea turtle, for her absent lover.

This was the season for the kona^ the terrific storm
that comes up from the equator and hurls the ocean
in increased volume upon the southern shores of the
Hawaiian Islands. Makakehau beheld from the rock
springs of Pulou the vanguard of a great kona, — scuds
of rain and thick mist, rushing with a howling wind,
across the valley of Palawai. He knew the storm
would fill the cave with the sea and kill his love. He
flung aside his calabashes of water and ran down the
steep, then across the great valley and beyond its
rim he rushed, through the buffetings of the storm,
with an agonized heart, down the hill slope to the
shore.

The sea was up indeed. The yeasty foam of mad
surging waves whitened the shore. The thundering
buffet of the charging billows chorused with the howl
of the tempest. Ah! where should Misty Eyes find
his love in this blinding stormP A rushing mountain
of sea filled the mouth of Malauea, and the pent-up
air hurled back the invading torrent with bubbling
roar, blowing forth great streams of spray. This was
a war of matter, a battle of the elements to thrill with
pleasure the hearts of strong men. But with one's

1 84 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

love in the seething gulf of the whirlpool, what would
be to him the sublime cataract? What, to see amid
the boiling foam the upturned face, and the dear^ ten-
der body of one's own and only poor dear love, all
mangled? Tou might agonize on the brink; but Maka-
kehau sprang into the dreadful pool and snatched his
murdered bride from the jaws of an ocean grave.

The next day, fishermen heard the lamentation of
Makakehau, and the women of the valley came down
and wailed over Puupehe. They wrapped her in
bright new kapa. They placed upon her garlands of
the fragrant na-u (gardenia). They prepared her for
burial, and were about to place her in the burial ground
of Manele, but Makakehau prayed that he might be
left alone one night more with his lost love. And he
was left as he desired.

The next day no corpse nor weeping lover were to be
found, till after some search Makakehau was seen at
work piling up stones on the top of the lone sea tower.
The wondering people of Lanai looked on from the
neighboring bluff, and some sailed around the base of
the columnar rock in their canoes, still wondering,
because they could see no way for him to ascend, for
every face of the rock is perpendicular or overhanging.
The old belief was, that some akua^ kanekoay or keawe-
manhili (deities), came at the cry of Makakehau and
helped him with the dead girl to the top.

When Makakehau had finished his labors of placing
his lost love in her grave and placed the last stone
upon it, he stretched out his arms and wailed for
Puupehe, thus:

THE TOMB OF PUUPEHE 185

"Where are 70U O Puupehe?
Are you in the cave of Malauea?
Shall I bring you tweet water.
The water of the mountain?
Shall I bring the uwau.
The pala» and the ohelo?
Are 70U baking the honu
And the red tweet hala?
Shall I pound the kalo of Maui?
Shall we dip in the gourd together?
The bird and the fish are bitter.
And the mounuin water b tour.
I thall drink it no more ;
I thall drink with Aipuhi,
The great thark of Manele/*

Ceasing his sad wail, Makakehau leaped from the
rock into the boiling surge at its base, where his body
was crushed in the breakers. The people who beheld
the sad scene secured the mangled corpse and buried
it with respect in the kupapau of Manele.

XVII

AI KANAKA

A LEGEND OF MOLOKAI

REV. A. O. FORBES

/^N the leeward side of the island of Molokai, a
^^ little to the east of Kaluaaha lies the beautiful
valley of Mapulehu, at the mouth of which is located
the heiaUy or temple, of Iliiliopae, which was erected
by direction of Ku-pa, the Moi, to look directly out
upon the harbor of Ai- Kanaka, now known as Pukoo.
At the time of its construction, centuries ago^ Kupa
was the Moiy or sovereign, of the district embracing
the AhupuaaSy or land divisions, of Mapulehu and
Kaluaaha, and he had his residence in this heiau which
was built by him and famed as the largest throughout
the whole Hawaiian group.

Kupa had a priest named Kamalo, who resided at
Kaluaaha. This priest had two boys, embodiments of
mischief, who one day while the King was absent on a
fishing expedition, took the opportunity to visit his
house at the heiau. Finding there the pahu kaeke^

'A ipeciet of drum made out of a hollowed section of the trunk of a cocoannt tree
and covered over one end with iharkskin. It wat generally uted in pain, one Ui^or
than the other, somewhat after the idea of the bast and tenor drums of dTilixed natiosia.
One of these drums was placed on either side of the performer, and the drammiog wat
performed with both hands by tapping with the fingers. By peculiar ▼uiatkxia of die

i86

AI KANAKA 187

belonging to the temple, they commenced drumming
on it.

Some evil-minded persons heard Kamalo's boys
drumming on the Kaeke and immediately went and
told Kupa that the priest's children were reviling him
in the grossest manner on his own drum. This so
enraged the King that he ordered his servants to put
them to death. Forthwith they were seized and mur-
dered; whereupon Kamalo, their father, set about to
secure revenge on the King.

Talcing with him a black pig as a present, he started
forth to enlist the sympathy and services of the cele-
brated seer, or wizard, Lanikaula, living some twelve
miles distant at the eastern end of Molokai. On
the way thither, at the village of Honouli, Kamalo
met a man the lower half of whose body had been bit-
ten off by a shark, and who promised to avenge him
provided he would slay some man and bring him the
lower half of his body to replace his own. But Kam-
alo, putting no credence in such an offer, pressed on
to the sacred grove of Lanikaula. Upon arrival there
Lanikaula listened to his grievances but could do
nothing for him. He directed him, however, to an-
other prophet, named Kaneakama, at the west end of
the island, forty miles distant. Poor Kamalo picked
up his pig and travelled back again, past his own home,
down the coast to Palaau. Meeting with Kaneakama
the prophet directed him to the heiau of Puukahi, at
the foot of the pali^ or precipice, of Kalaupapa, on the

dnuniiung, known only to the mitbcrd, the peif u r m er could dnim out whAtrver ht
wiihed to expreis in luch a way, it ii allefrd, at Co be intellifiblc to initiated IiMcavi
wicho«f( uctcfinf a itngle lyllablc with the voice.

188 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

windward side of the island, where he would find the
priest Kahiwakaapuu, who was a kahu^ or steward, of
KauhuhUj the shark god. Once more the poor man
shouldered his pig, wended his way up the long ascent
of the hills of Kalae to the pali of Kalaupapa, descend-
ing which he presented himself before Kahiwakaapuu,
and pleaded his cause. He was again directed to go
still farther along the windward side of the island till
he should come to the Anapuhi (eel's cave), a singular
cavern at sea level in the bold cliffs between the val-
leys of Waikolu and Pelekunu, where Kauhuhu, the
shark god, dwelt, and to him he must apply. Upon
this away went Kamalo and his pig. Arriving at the
cave, he found there Waka and Moo, two kahus of
the shark god. "Keep off! Keep off!*' they shouted.
"This place is kapu. No man can enter here, on pen-
alty of death."

"Death or life," answered he, "it is all the same
to me if I can only gain my revenge for my poor boys
who have been killed.*' He then related his story,
and his wanderings, adding that he had come to make
his appeal to Kauhuhu and cared not for his own life.

^^Well," said they to him, "Kauhuhu is away now
fishing, but if he finds you here when he returns, our
lives as well as yours will pay the forfeit. However,
we will see what we can do to help you. We must
hide you hereabouts, somewhere, and when he returns
trust to circumstances to accomplish your purpose.**

But they could find no place to hide him where he
would be secure from the search of the god, except the
rubbish pile where the ofl?al and scrapings of taro were

AI KANAKA 189

thrown. They therefore thrust him and his pig into
the rubbish heap and covered them over with the taro
peelings, enjoining him to keep perfectly still, and
watch till he should see eight heavy breakers roll in
successively from the sea. He then would know that
Kauhuhu was returning from his fishing expedition.

Accordingly, after waiting a while, the eight heavy
rollers appeared, breaking successively against the
rocks; and sure enough, as the eighth dissolved into
foam, the great shark god came ashore. Immediately
assuming human form, he began snuffing about the
place, and addressing Waka and Moo, his kahus, said
to them, "There is a man here." They strenuously
denied the charge and protested against the possibility
of their allowing such a desecration of the premises.
But he was not satisfied. He insisted that there was
a man somewhere about, saying, " I smell him, and if
I find him you are dead men; if not, you escape." He
examined the premises over and over again, never
suspecting the rubbish heap, and was about giving up
the search when, unfortunately, Kamalo's pig sent
forth a squeal which revealed the poor fellow's hiding-
place.

Now came the dread moment. The enraged Kau-
huhu seized Kamalo with both hands and, lifting him
up with the intention of swallowing him, according to
his shark instinct, had already inserted the victim's head
and shoulders into his mouth before he could speak.

"O Kauhuhu, before you eat me, hear my petition;
then do as you like."

"Well for you that you spoke as you did,"

I90 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

answered Kauhuhu, setting him down again on the
ground. ''Now, what have you to say? Be quick
about it."

Kamalo then rehearsed his grievances and his travels
in search for revenge, and presented his pig to the god.

Compassion arose in the breast of Kauhuhu, and
he said, "Had you come for any other purpose I
would have eaten you, but as your cause is a sacred one
I espouse it, and will revenge it on Kupa the King.
You must, however, do all that I tell you. Return to
the heiau of Puukahi, at the foot of the pali, and take
the priest Kahiwakaapuu on your back, and carry him
up the pali over to the other side of the island, all the
way to your home at Kaluaaha. Erect a sacred fence
all around your dwelling-place, and surround it with
the sacred flags of white kapa. Collect black hogs by
the lau (four hundred), red fish by the lau, white fowls
by the lau, and bide my coming. Wait and watch till
you see a small cloud the size of a man's hand arise,
white as snow, over the island of Lanai. That cloud
will enlarge as it makes its way across the channel
against the wind until it rests on the mountdn peaks
of Molokai back of Mapulehu Valley. Then a rain-
bow will span the valley from side to side, whereby
you will know that I am there, and that your time of
revenge has come. Go now, and remember that you
are the only man who ever ventured into the sacred
precincts of the great Kauhuhu and returned alive."

Kamalo returned with a joyful heart and performed
all that had been commanded him. He built the
sacred fence around his dwelling; surrounded the

AI KANAKA 191

indosure with sacred flags of white kapa; gathered
together black hogs, red fish, and white fowls, each
by the lau, as directed, with other articles sacred
to the gods, such as cocoanuts and white kapas, and
then sat himself down to watch for the promised signs
of his revenge. Day after day passed until they
multiplied into weeks, and the weeks began to run into
months.

Finally, one day, the promised sign appeared. The
snow white speck of cloud, no bigger than a man's
hand, arose over the mountains of Lanai and made its
way across the stormy channel in the face of the
opposing gale, increasing as it came, until it settled in
a majestic mass on the mountains at the head of
Mapulehu Valley. Then appeared a splendid rainbow,
proudly overarching the valley, its ends resting on
the high lands on either side. The wind began to
blow; the rain began to pour, and shortly a furious
storm came down the doomed valley, filling its bed
from side to side with a mad rushing torrent, which,
sweeping everything before it, spread out upon the belt
of lowlands at the mouth of the valley, overwhelming
Kupa and all his people in one common ruin, and wash-
ing them all into the sea, where they were devoured by
the sharks. All were destroyed except Kamalo and
his family, who were safe within their sacred inclosure,
which the flood dared not touch, though it spread
terror and ruin on every side of them. Wherefore
the harbor of Pukoo, where this terrible event occur-
red, was long known as At Kanaka (man eater), and it
has passed into a proverb among the inhabitants of

192 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

that region that ^'when the rainbow spans Mapulehu
Valley, then look out for the Waiakoloaj* — a furious
storm of rain and wind which sometimes comes sud-
denly down that valley.

XVIII

KALIUWAA

SCENE OF THE DEMIGOD KAMAPUAA'S ESCAPE

FROM OLOPANA

FROM "THE HAWAIIAN SPECTATOR"

A FEW miles cast of Laic, on the windward side
'^ of the island of Oahu, are situated the valley and
falls of Kaliuwaa, noted as one of the most beautiful
and romantic spots of the island, and famed in tradi-
tion as possessing more than local interest.

The valley runs back some two miles, terminating
abruptly at the foot of the precipitous chain of moun-
tains which runs nearly the whole length of the wind-
ward side of Oahu, except for a narrow gorge which
affords a channel for a fine brook that descends with con-
siderable regularity to a level with the sea. Leaving
his horse at the termination of the valley and entering
this narrow pass of not over fifty or sixty feet in width,
the traveller winds his way along, crossing and recross-
ing the stream several times, till he seems to be enter-
ing into the very mountain. The walls on each side
are of solid rock, from two hundred to three hundred,
and in some places four hundred feet high, directly
overhead, leaving but a narrow strip of sky visible.
Following up the stream for about a quarter of a

«93

194 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

mile, one's attention is directed by the giude to a curi-
osity called by the natiires a was (canoe). Turning
to the rights one follows up a dry channel of what
once must have been a considerable stream, to the
distance of fifty yards from the present stream. Here
one is stopped by a wall of solid rock rittng perpen-
dicularly before one to the height of some two hundred
feet, and down which the whole stream must have
descended in a beautiful fall. This perpendicular
wall is worn in by the former action of the water in
the shape of a gouge, and in the most perfect manner;
and as one looks upon it^in all its grandeur, but with-
out the presence of the cause by which it was formed,
he can scarcely divest his mind of the impression that
he is gazing upon some stupendous work of art.

Returning to the present brook, we again pursued
our way toward the fall, but had not advanced far
before we arrived at another, on the left hand side of
the brook, similar in many respects, but much larger
and higher than the one above mentioned. The form-
ing agent cannot be mistaken, when a careful survey
is made of either of these stupendous perpendicular
troughs. The span is considerably wider at the bot-
tom than at the top, this result being produced by the
spreading of the sheet of water as it was precipitated
from the dizzy height above. The breadth of this
one is about twenty feet at the bottom, and its depth
about fourteen feet. But its depth and span gradually
diminish from the bottom to the top, and the rock is
worn as smooth as if chiselled by the hand of an artist.
Moss and small plants have sprung out from the little

KALIUWAA 195

soil that has accumulated in the crevices, but not
enough to conceal the rock from observation. It
would be an object worth the toil to discover what has
turned the stream from its original channel.

Leaving this singular curiosity, we pursued our way
a few yards farther, when we arrived at the fall. This
Is from eighty to one hundred feet high, and the water
is compressed into a very narrow space just where it
breaks forth from the rock above. It is quite a pretty
sheet of water when the stream is high. We learned
from the natives that there are two falls above this,
both of which are shut out from the view from below,
by a sudden turn in the course of the stream. The
perpendicular height of each is said to be much greater
than of the one we saw. The upper one is visible
from the road on the seashore, which is more than
two miles distant, and, judging from information
obtained, must be between two and three hundred feet
high. The impossibility of climbing the perpendicu-
lar banks from below deprived us of the pleasure of
farther ascending the stream toward its source. This
can be done only by commencing at the plain and fol-
lowing up one of the lateral ridges. This would itself
be a laborious and fatiguing task, as the way would be
obstructed by a thick growth of trees and tangled
underbrush.

The path leading to this fall is full of interest to
any one who loves to study nature. From where we
leave our horses at the head of the valley and com-
mence entering the mountain, every step presents new
and peculiar beauties. The most luxuriant verdure

196 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

clothes the ground, and in some places the beantifiilfy
burnished leaves of the ohia, or native apple^^ite
{Eugenia malaccensis)^ almost exclude the few nys of
light that find their way down into this aeduded nook.
A little farther on, and the graceful baniboo aemle iqi
its slender stalk to a great height, mingling ic» 6aA^
glossy foliage with the silvery leaves bf the fcniapj, or
candle-nut {AUurites mobuca$ui)\ these together, fixm
a striking contrast to the black walls which riae ia
such sullen grandeur on each side.

Nor is the beauty of the spot confined to the Ivap-
uriant verdure, or the stupendous walls and beedhig
crags. The stream itself is beautiful. From the htain
at the falls to the lowest point at which we o bscr vtd
it, every succeeding step presents a deiightfiil dungje.
Here, its partially confined waters burst forth wiUi
considerable force, and struggle on among the oppos-
ing rocks for some distance; there, collected in a little
basin, its limpid waves, pure as the drops of dew from
the womb of the morning, circle round in ceaseless
eddies, until they get within the influence of the down-
ward current, when away they whirl, with a gurglings
happy sound, as if joyous at being released from their
temporary confinement. Again, an aged kukui, whose
trunk is white with the moss of accumulated years,
throws his broad boughs far over the stream that
nourishes his vigorous roots, casting a meridian shadow
upon the surface of the water, which is reflected back
with singular distinctness from its mirrored bosom.

To every other gratification must be added the in-
comparable fragrance of the fresh wood, in perpetual

♦r

KALIUWAA 197

life and vigor^ which presents a freshness truly grate-
ful to the senses. But it is in vain to think of con-
veying an adequate idea of a scene where the sub-
lime is mingled with the beautiful, and the bold and
striking with the delicate and sensitive; where every
sense is gratified, the mind calmed, and the whole
soul delighted.

Famed as this spot is for its natural scenic attrac-
tions, intimated in the foregoing description, its claim
of distinction with Hawaiians is indelibly fixed by the
traditions of ancient times, the narration of which, at
this point, will assist the reader to understand the
character of the native mind and throw some light
also on the history of the Hawaiians.

Tradition in this locality deals largely with Kama-
puaa, the famous demigod whose exploits figure
prominendy in the legends of the entire group. Sum-
marized, the story is about as follows:

Kamapuaa, the fabulous being referred to, seems,
according to the tradition, to have possessed the power
of transforming himself into a hog, in which capacity
he committed all manner of depredations upon the
possessions of his neighbors. He having stolen some
fowls belonging to Olopana, who was the King of
Oahu, the latter, who was then living at Kaneohe,
sent some of his men to secure the thief. They suc-
ceeded in capturing him, and having tied him fast with
cords, were bearing him in triumph to the King,
when, thinking they had carried the joke fsur enough,
he burst the bands with which he was bound, and
killed all the men except one, whom he permitted to

198 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

convey the tidings to the King. This defeat so
enraged the monarch that he determined to go in per-
son with all his force, and either destroy his enemy, or
drive him from his dominions. He accordingly, des-
pising ease inglorious,

Waked up, with sound of conch tnd trumpet ahell.
The well-tried warriors of his nttive dell,

at whose head he sought his waiting enemy. Success
attending the King's attack, his foe was driven from
the field with great loss, and betook himself to the
gorge of Kaliuwaa, which leads to the falls. Here the
King thought he had him safe; and one would think
so too, to look at the immense precipices that rise on
each side, and the falls in front. But the sequel will
show that he had a slippery fellow to deal with, at
least when he chose to assume the character of a swine;
for, being pushed to the upper end of the gorge near
the falls, and seeing no other way of escape, he sud-
denly transformed himself into a hog, and, rearing
upon his hind legs and leaning his back against the
perpendicular precipice, thus afforded a very comfort-
able ladder upon which the remnant of the army
ascended and made their escape from the vengeance
of the King. Possessing such powers, it is easy to see
how he could follow the example of his soldiers and
make his own escape. The smooth channels before
described are said to have been made by him on these
occasions; for he was more than once caught in the
same predicament. Old natives still believe that they
are the prints of his back; and they account for a very

KALIUWAA 199

natural phenomenon, by bringing to their aid this
most natural and foolish superstition.

Many objects in the neighborhood are identified
with this remarkable personage, such as a large rock
to which he was tied, a wide place in the brook where
he used to drink, and a number of trees he is said to
have planted. Many other things respecting him are
current, but as they do not relate to the matter in
hand, it will perhaps suffice to say, in conclusion, that
tradition further asserts that Kamapuaa conquered the
volcano, when Pele its goddess became his wife, and
that they afterward lived together in harmony. That
is the reason why there are no more islands formed, or
very extensive eruptions in these later days, as boiling
lava was the most potent weapon she used in fighting
her enemies, throwing out such quantities as greatly to
increase the size of the islands, and even to form new
ones.

Visitors to the falls, even to this day, meet with
evidences of the superstitious awe in which the locality
is held by the natives. A party who recently visited
the spot state that when they reached the falls they
were instructed to make an offering to the presiding
goddess. This was done in true Hawaiian style; th ey
built a tiny pile^of stones on one oFtwo^Targc leavesj^ ,

made themseFves safe froni Tailing aconesy which
otherwise would assuredly Ijjuce. struck them.

XIX
BATTLE OF THE OWLS

JOS. M. POEPOE

nr^HE following is a fair specimen of the animal
'^ myths current in ancient Hawaii, and illustrates
the place held by the owl in Hawaiian mythology.

There lived a man named Kapoi, at Kahehuna, in
Honolulu, who went one day to Kewalo to get some
thatching for his house. On his way back he found
some owl's eggs, which he gathered together and
brought home with him. In the evening he wrapped
them in ti leaves and was about to roast them in hot
ashes, when an owl perched on the fence which sur-
rounded his house and called out to him, "O Kapoi,
give me my eggs!**

Kapoi asked the owj, "How many eggs had you?"

" Seven eggs," replied the owl.

Kapoi then said, " Well, I wish to roast these eggs
for my supper."

The owl asked the second time for its eggs, and was
answered by Kapoi in the same manner. Then said
the owl, "O heartless Kapoi! why don't you take pity
on me ? Give me my eggs."

Kapoi then told the owl to come and take them.

The owl, having got the eggs, told Kapoi to build

up a heiaUy or temple, and instructed him to make an

200

BATTLE OF THE OWLS 201

altar and call the temple by the name of Manua.
Kapoi built the temple as directed ; set kapu days for
its dedication, and placed the customary sacrifice on
the altar.

News spread to the hearing of Kakuihewa, who was
then King of Oahu, living at the time at Waikiki,
that a certain man had kapued certain days for his
heiau, and had already dedicated it. This King had
made a law that whoever among his people should
erect a heiau and kapu the same before the King had
his temple kapued, that man should pay the penalty of
death. Kapoi was thereupon seized, by the King's
orders, and led to the heiau of Kupalaha, at Waikiki.

That same day, the owl that had told Kapoi to
erect a temple gathered all the owls from Lanai, Maui,
Molokai, and Hawaii to one place at Kalapueo.* All
those from the Koolau districts were assembled at
Kanoniakapueo,' and those from Kauai and Niihau at
Pueohulunui, near Moanalua.

It was decided by the King that Kapoi should be
put to death on the day of Kane.* When that day
came, at daybreak the owls left their places of rendez-
vous and covered the whole sky over Honolulu; and
as the King's servants seized Kapoi to put him to
death, the owls flew at them, pecking them with their
beaks and scratching them with their claws. Then and
there was fought the battle between Kakuihewa's
people and the owls. At last the owls conquered, and

' Situate beyond Dumond Head.

sin Nuuann Valley.

'When the moon is twenty-aeren days old.

202 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

Kapoi was released, the King acknowledging that his
Akua (god) was a powerful one. From that time the
owl has been recognized as one of the mamy deities
venerated by the Hawaiian people.

THIS LAND IS THE SEA'S

TRADITIONAL ACCOUNT OF AN ANCIENT HA-
WAIIAN PROPHECY

TRANSLATED FROM MOKE MANU BY THOS. G. THRUM

TT is Stated in the history of Kaopulupulu that he
^ was famed among the kahunas of the island of
Oahu for his power and wisdom in the exercise of his
profession, and was known throughout the land as a
leader among the priests. His place of residence was
at Waimea, between Koolauloa and Waialua, Oahu.
There he married, and there was born to him a son
whom he named Kahulupue, and whom he instructed
during his youth in all priestly vocations.

In after years when Kumahana, brother of Kahahana
of Maui, became the governing chief {a/ii aimoku) of
Oahu, Kahulupue was chosen by him as his priest.
This chief did evil unto his subjects, seizing their
property and beheading and maiming many with the
leiomano (shark's tooth weapon) and pahoa (dagger),
without provocation, so that he became a reproach to
his people. From such treatment Kahulupue en-
deavored to dissuade him, assuring him that such a
course would fail to win their support and obedience^
whereas the supplying of food and fish, with covering

20J

204 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

for the body, and males, would insure their afiecdon-
ate regard. The day of the people wis near, for the
time of conflict was approaching when he would meet
the enemy. But these counsels of Kahulupue were
disregarded, so he returned to his father at Waimea.

Not long thereafter this chief Kumahana was cast
out and rejected by the lesser chiefs and people, and
under cover of night he escaped by canoe to Mololuu,
where he was ignored and became lost to fiirther history
in consequence of his wrong-doings.

When Kahekili, King of Maui, heard of the stealthy
flight of the governing chief of Oahu, he placed the
young prince Kahahana, his foster-son, as ruler over
Oahu in the place of his deposed relative, Kumahana.
This occurred about the year 1773, and Kahahana
took with him as his intimate friend and companion
one Alapai. Kahahana chose as his place of residence
the shade of the kou and cocoanut trees of Ulukou,
Waikiki, where also gathered together the chiefs of the
island to discuss and consider questions of state.

The new ruler being of fine and stalwart form and
handsome appearance, the chiefs and common people
maintained that his fame in this respect induced a cele-
brated chieftainess of Kauai, named Kekuapoi, to voy-
age hither. Her history, it is said, showed that she
alone excelled in maiden charm and beauty; she was
handsome beyond all other chieftainesses from Hawaii
to Kauai, as "the third brightness of the sun" {be ekolu
ula ka la). In consequence, Kahahana took her as
his wife, she being own sister to Kekuamanoha.

At this time the thought occurred to the King to

THIS LAND IS THE SEA'S 205

inquire through the chiefs of Oahu of the whereabouts
of Kaopulupulu, the celebrated priest, of whom he
had heard through Kahekili, King of Maui. In reply
to this inquiry of Kahahana, the chiefs told him that
his place of residence was at Waimea, whereupon a
messenger was sent to bid him come up by order of
the King. When the messenger reached Kaopulupulu
he delivered the royal order. Upon the priest hearing
this word of the King he assented thereto, with this
reply to the messenger: ^^You return first and tell him
that on the morning after the fourteenth night of the
moon (^po akua)y I will reach the place of the King.'*

At the end of the conference the messenger returned
and stood before Kahahana and revealed the words of
Kaopulupulu; and the King waited for the time of his
arrival.

It is true, Kaopulupulu made careful preparation for
his future. Toward the time of his departure he was
engaged in considering the good or evil of his ap-
proaching journey by the casting of lots, according to
the rites of his profession. He foresaw thereby the
purpose of the King in summoning him to dwell at
court. He therefore admonished his son to attend to
all the rites and duties of the priesthood as he had been
taught, and to care for his mother and relatives.

At early dawn Kaopulupulu arose and partook of
food till satisfied, after which he prepared himself for
the journey before him. After he had given his fare-
well greetings to his household he seized his bundle
and, taking a cocoanut fan in his hand, set out toward
Punanue, where was a temple {heiau) for priests only.

ao6 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

called Kahokuwelowelo. This was crown land at Wua-
lua in ancient times. Entering the temple he prayed
for success in his journey, after which he proceeded
along the plains of Lauhulu till reaching the Anahulu
stream, thence by Kemoo to Kukaniloko, the shelter
of whose prominent rock the chieftainesses of Oahu
were wont to choose for their place of confinement.

Leaving this place he came to Kalakoa, where
Kekiopilo the prophet priest lived and died, and the
scene of his vision at high noon when he prophesied
of the coming of foreigners with a strange language.
Here he stopped and rested with some of the people,
and ate food with them, after which he journeyed on
by way of Waipio by the ancient path of that time till
he passed Ewa and reached Kapukaki.

The sun was well up when he reached the water of
Lapakea, so he hastened his steps in ascending Kau-
walua, at Moanalua, and paused not till he came to
the mouth of the Apuakehau stream at Waikiki.
Proceeding along the sand at this place he was dis-
cerned by the retainers of the King and greeted with
the shout, " Here comes the priest Kaopulupulu."

When the King heard this he was exceedingly
pleased (^pihoihoi loo) at the time, and on the priest's
meeting with King Kahahana he welcomed Kaopulu-
pulu with loud rejoicing.

Without delay the King set apart a house wherein
to meet and discuss with the priest those things he
had in mind, and in the consideration of questions
from first to last, Kaopulupulu replied with great
wisdom in accordance with his knowledge of his pro-

THIS LAND IS THE SEA'S 207

fession. At this time of their conference he sat within
the doorway of the house> and the sun was near its
setting. As he turned to observe this he gazed out
into the sky and noticing the gathering short clouds
{ao poko) in the heavens, he exclaimed:

*'0 heaven, the road is broad for the King, it is full
of chiefs and people; narrow is my path, that of the
kahuna; you will not be able to find it, O King.
Even now the short clouds reveal to me the manner
of your reign; it will not be many days. Should you
heed my words, O King, you will live to gray hair.
But you will be the king to slay me and my child."

At these words of the priest the King meditated
seriously for some time, then spoke as follows: "Why
should my days be short, and why should your death
be by me, the King?"

Kaopulupulu replied: "O King, let us look into the
future. Should you die, O King, the lands will be
desolate; but for me, the kahuna, the name will live
on from one generation to another; but my death will
be before thine, and when I am up on the heaven-
feared altar then my words will gnaw thee, O King,
and the rains and the sun will bear witness."

These courageous words of Kaopulupulu, spoken
in the presence of Kahahana without fear, and regard-
less of the dignity and majesty of the King, were
uttered because of the certainty that the time would
come when his words would be carried into eflfect.
The King remained quiet without saying a word,
keeping his thoughts to himself.

After this conference the King took Kaopulupulu

ao8 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

to be his priest^ and in course of time he beoune also
an intimate companion^ in constant attendance upon
the King, ana counselled him in the care of his sub-
jects, old and young, in aU that pertained to thdr
welfare. The King r^arded his words, and in their
circuit of the island together they found the people
contented and holding thdr ruler in high esteem.
But at the end of three years the King attempted some
wrong to certain of his subjects like unto that of his
deposed predecessor. The priest remonstrated with
him continually, but he would not regard his counsel;
therefore, Kaopulupulu left King Kahahana and re-
turned to his land at Waimea and at once tattooed his
knees. This was done as a sign that the King had
turned a deaf ear to his admonitions.

When several days had passed, rumors among cer-
tain people of Waialua reached the priest that he was
to be summoned to appear before the King in conse-
quence of this act, which had greatly angered his
august lord. Kahahana had gone to reside at Waianae,
and from there shortly afterward he sent messengers
to fetch Kaopulupulu and his son Kahulupue from
Waimea.

In the early morning of the day of the messenger's
arrival, a rainbow stood directly in the doorway of
Kaopulupulu* s house, and he asked of his god its
meaning; but his prayer was broken (^ua haki kapule).
This boded him ill; therefore he called to his son to
stand in prayer; but the result was the same. Then
he said, "This augurs of the day of death; see! the
rising up of a man in the pass of Hapuu, putting on

THIS LAND IS THE SEA'S 209

his kapa with its knot fastening on the left side of the
neck» which means that he is bringing a death
message."

Shortly after the priest had ended these words a
man was indeed seen approaching along the mountiun
pass, with his kapa as indicated; and he came and
stood before the door of their house and delivered the
order of the King for them to go to Waianae, both
him and his son.

The priest replied: "Return you first; we will
follow later," and the messenger obeyed. When he
had departed Kaopulupulu recalled to his son the
words he had spoken before the advent of the mes-
senger, and said: "Oh, where are you, my child? Go
clothe the body; put on the malo; eat of the food till
satisfied, and we will go as commanded by the King;
but this journey will result in placing us on the altar
{kau I ka lele). Fear not death. The name of an
idler, if he be beaten to death, is not passed on to
distinction."

At the end of these words of his father, Kahulupue
wept for love of his relatives, though his father bid
him to weep not for his family, because he, Kaopulu-
pulu, saw the end that would befall the King,
Kahahana, and his court of chiefs and retainers.
Even at this time the voices of distress were heard
among his family and their tears flowed, but Kaopulu-
pulu looked on unmoved by their cries.

He then arose and, with his son, gave farewell greet-
ings to their household, and set forth. In journeying
they passed through Waialua, resting in the house of

2IO HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

a kamaaina at Kawaihapai. In passing the night at
this place Kahulupue slept not, but went out to exam-
ine the fishing canoes of that neighborhood. Finding
a large one suitable for a voyage, he returned and
awoke his father, that they might flee together that
night to Kauai and dwell on the knoll of Kalalea.
But Kaopulupulu declined the idea of flight. In the
morning, ascending a hill, they turned and looked
back over the sea-spray of Waialua to the summing
halas of Kahuku beyond. Love for the place of his
birth so overcame Kaopulupulu for a time that his
tears flowed for that he should see it no more.

Then they proceeded on their way till, passing
Kaena Point, they reached the temple of Puaakanoe.
At this sacred boundary Kaopulupulu said to his son,
" Let us swim in the sea and touch along the coast of
Makua." At one of their resting-places, journeying
thus, he said, with direct truthfulness, as his words
proved: "Where are you, my son? For this drench-
ing of the high priests by the sea, seized will be the
sacred lands {moo-kapu) from Waianae to Kualoa by
the chief from the east."

As they were talking they beheld the King's men
approaching along the sand of Makua, and shortly
afterward these men came before them and seized
them and tied their hands behind their backs and took
them to the place of King Kahahana at Puukea,
Waianae, and put them, father and son, in a new grass
hut unfinished of its ridge thatch, and tied them, the
one to the end post {pouhand) and the other to the
corner post {poumanu) of the house.

'»

■IW

THIS LAND IS THE SEA'S 211

At the time of the imprisonment of the priest and
his son in this new house Kaopulupulu spake aloud,
without fear of dire consequences, so that the King
and all his men heard him, as follows: '^Here I am
with my son in this new unfinished house; so will be
unfinished the reign of the King that slays us." At
this saying Kahahana, the King, was very angry.

Throughout that day and the night following, till
the sun was high with warmth, the King was directing
his soldiers to seize Kahulupue first and put him to
death. Obeying the orders of the King, they took
Kahulupue just outside of the house and stabbed at
his eyes with laumake spears and stoned him with
stones before the eyes of his father, with merciless
cruelty. These things, though done by the soldiers,
were dodged by Kahulupue, and the priest, seeing the
King had no thought of regard for his child, spoke up
with priestly authority, as follows: "Be strong of
breath, my son, till the body touch the water, for the
land indeed is the sea's."

When Kahulupue heard the voice of his father tell-
ing him to flee to the sea, he turned toward the shore
in obedience to these last words to him, because of the
attack by the soldiers of the King. As he ran, he was
struck in the back by a spear, but he persevered and
leaped into the sea at Malae and was drowned, his
blood discoloring the water. His dead body was
taken and placed up in the temple at Puehuehu.
After the kapu days therefore the King, with his chiefs
and soldiers, moved to Puuloa, Ewa, bringing with
them the priest Kaopulupulu, and after some days

aia HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

he was brought before the King by the soldiers, and
without groans for his injuries was shun in the King's
presence. But he spoke fearlessly of the vengeance
that would fall upon the King in consequence of his
deaths and during their murderous attadc upon him
proclaimed with his dying breath: *'You» O King^
that kill me here at Puuloa, the time is near when a
direct death will be yours. Above here in this land,
and the spot where my lifeless body will be borne and
placed high on the altar for my flesh to decay and slip
to the earth, shall be the burial place of chiefs and
people hereafter, and it shall be called 'the royal sand
of the mistaken'; there will you be placed in the
temple." At the end of these words of Kaopulupulu
his spirit took flight, and his body was left for mockery
and abuse, as had been that of his son in the sea of
Malae, at Waianae.

After a while the body of the priest was placed on
a double canoe and brought to Waikiki and placed high
in the cocoanut trees at Kukaeunahi, the place of the
temple, for several ten-day periods {he mau anahulu)
without decomposition and falling off of the flesh to
the sands of Waikiki.

When King Kahekili of Maui heard of the death
of the priest Kaopulupulu by Kahahana, he sent some
of his men thither by canoe, who landed at Waiman-
alo, Koolau, where, as spies, they learned from the
people respecting Kaopulupulu and his death, with
that of his son ; therefore they returned and told the
King the truth of these reports, at which the aflection
of Kahekili welled up for the dead priest, and he con-

THIS LAND IS THE SEA'S aij

demned the King he had established. Coming with
an army from Maui, he landed at Waikiki without
meeting Kahahana, and took back the government of
Oahu under his own kingship. The chiefs and people
of Oahu all joined under Kahekili, for Kahahana had
been a chief of wrong-doing. This was the first sea of
Kaopulupulu in accordance with his prophetic utter-
ance to his son, "This land is the sea's."

Upon the arrival here at Oahu of Kahekili, Kaha-
hana fled, with his wife Kekuapoi, and friend Alapai,
and hid in the shrubbery of the hills. They went to
Aliomanu, Moanalua, to a place called Kinimakale-
hua; then moved along to Keanapuaa and Kepookala,
at the lochs of Puuloa, and from there to upper Wai-
poi; thence to Wahiawa, Helemano, and on to Lihue;
thence they came to Poohilo, at Honouliuli, where
they first showed themselves to the people and sub-
mitted themselves to their care.

While they were living there, report thereof was
made to Kahekili, the King, who thereupon sent
Kekuamanoha, elder brother of Kekuapoi, the wife of
Kahahana, with men in double canoes from Waikiki,
landing first at Kupahu, Hanapouli, Waipio, with
instructions to capture and put to death Kahahana, as
also his friend Alapai, but to save alive Kekuapoi.
When the canoes touched at Hanapouli, they pro-
ceeded thence to Waikele and Hoaeae, and from there
to Poohilo, Honouliuli, where they met in conference
with Kahahana and his party. At the close of the day
Kekuamanoha sought by enticing words to induce his
brother-in-law to go up with him and see the father

214 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

King and be assured of no death condcmiimtioiiy and hy
skilled flattery he induced Kahahana to consent to his
proposition ; whereupon preparmdon was made for the
return. On the following morning, comii^ along and
reaching the plains of Hoaeae^ they fell upon and slew
Kahahana and Alapd there, and bore their lifeless
bodies to Halaulani, Waipio, where they were placed
in the canoes and brought up to Waikiki and placed
up in the cocoanut trees by King Kahddli and his
priests from Maui, as Kaopulupulu had been. Thus
was fulfilled the famous saying of the Oahu priest in
all its truthfulness.

According to the writings of S. M. Kamakau'and
David Malo, recognized authorities, the thought of
Kaopulupulu as expressed to his son Kahulupue,
"This land is the seaV' was in keeping with the
famous prophetic vision of Keldopilo that ''the fer-
(Mgticrs possess the land," as the people of Hawaii now*
rcali/c. The weighty thought of this narration and
the :i|^plication of the saying of Kaopulupulu to this
time of enlightenment are frequent with certain leaders
of thought among the people, as shown in their papers.

XXI
KU-ULA, THE FISH GOD OF HAWAII

TRANSLATED FROM MOKE MANU BY M. K. NAKUINA

^T^HE Story of Ku-ula, considered by ancient
*** Hawaiians as the deity presiding over and con-
trolling the fish of the sea, — a story still believed by
many of them to-day, — is translated and somewhat
condensed from an account prepared by a recognized
legendary bard of these islands. The name of Ku-ula
is known from the ancient times on each of the islands
of the Hawaiian group, and the writer gives the Maui
version as transmitted through the old people of that
island.

Ku-ula had a human body, and was possessed with
wonderful or miraculous power (mana kupud) in direct-
ing, controlling, and influencing all fish of the sea, at
will.

Leho-ula, in the land of Aleamai, Hana, Maui, is
where Ku-ula and Hina-pu-ku-ia lived. Nothing is
known of their parents, but tradition deals with
Ku-ula, his wife, their son Ai-ai, and Ku-ula-uka, a
younger brother of Ku-ula. These lived together for
a time at Leho-ula, and then the brothers divided
their work between them, Ku-ula-uka choosing farm
work^ or work pertaining to the land, from the sea-
shore to the mountain-top, while Ku-ula — known also

215

ai6 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

as Ku-ula-kai — chose to be a fisherman, with such other
work as pertained to the sea, from the pebbly shore to
ocean depths. After this division Ku-ula-uka went
up in the mountains to live, and met a woman known
as La-ea — called also-Hina-ulu-ohia — a sister of Hina-
pu-ku-ia, Ku-ula's wife. These sisters had three
brothers, named Moku-ha-lii, Kupa-ai-kee, and
Ku-pulu-pulu-i-ka-na-hele. This trio were called by
the old people the gods of the canoe-making priests
— ^^Na akua aumakua o ka foe kahuna kalai waa**

While Ku-ula and his wife were living at Leho-ula
he devoted all his time to his chosen vocation, fishing.
His first work was to construct a fish-pond handy to
his house but near to the shore where the surf breaks,
and this pond he stocked with all kinds of fish. Upon
a rocky platform he also built a house to be sacred for
the fishing kapu which he called by his own name^
Ku-ula.

It is asserted that when Ku-ula made all these prep-
arations he believed in the existence of a God who had
supreme power over all things. That is why he pre-
pared this place wherein to make his offerings of the
first fish caught by him to the fish god. From this
observance of Ku-ula all the fish were tractable {laka
loa) unto him; all he had to do was to say the word,
and the fish would appear. This was reported all
over Hana and when KamohaolU, the King (who
was then living at Wananalua, the land on which
Kauiki Hill stands) heard of it, he appointed Ku-ula
to be his head fisherman. Through this pond, which
was well stocked with all kinds of fish, the King's

KU-ULA, THE FISH GOD 217

table was regularly supplied with all rare varieties,
whether in or out of season. Ku-ula was his main-
stay for fish-food and was consequently held in high
esteem by Kamohoalii, and they lived without dis-
agreement of any kind between them for many years*

During this period the wife of Ku-ula gave birth to
a son, whom they called Aiai-a-Ku-ula (Aiai of
Ku-ula). The child was properly brought up accord-
ing to the usage of those days, and when he was old
enough to care for himself an unusual event occurred.

A large puhi (eel), called Koona, lived at Wailau,
on the windward side of the island of Molokai. This
eel was deified and prayed to by the people of that
place, and they never tired telling of the mighty things
their god did, one of which was that a big shark came
to Wailau and gave it battle, and during the fight the
puhi caused a part of the rocky cliff to fall upon the
shark, which killed it. A cave was thus formed, with
a depth of about five fathoms; and that large opening
is there to this day, situate a little above the sea and
close to the rocky fort where lived the well known
Kapepeekauila. This puhi then left its own place and
came and lived in a cave in the sea near Aleamai,
called Kapukaulua, some distance out from the Alau
rocks. It came to break and rob the pond that
Ku-ula had built and stocked with fish of various
kinds and colors, as known to-day.

Ku-ula was much surprised on discovering his pond
stock disappearing, so he watched day and night, and
at last, about daybreak, he saw a large eel come in
through the makai (seaward) wall of the pond. When

21 8 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

he saw this he knew that it was the cause of the loss
of his fish, and was devising a way to catch and kill
it; but on consulting with his wife they decided to
leave the matter to their son Aiu, for him to use his
own judgment as to the means by which the thief
might be captured and killed. When Aiai was told
of it he sent word to all the people of Aleamai and
Haneoo to make ili hau ropes several lau fathoms in
length ; and when all was ready a number of the peo-
ple went out with it in two canoes, one each from the
two places, with Aiai-a-Ku-ula in one of them. He
put two large stones in his canoe and held in his hands
a fisherman's gourd (hokeo), in which was a large fish-
hook called manaiaakalani.

When the canoes had proceeded fiu* out he located
his position by landmarks; and looking down into the
sea, and finding the right place, he told the paddlers to
cease paddling. Standing up in the canoe and taking
one of the stones in his hands he dived into the sea.
Its weight took him down rapidly to the bottom, where
he saw a big cave opening right before him, with a
number of fishes scurrying about the entrance, such as
uluas and other deep sea varietieis. Feeling assured
thereby that the puhi was within, he arose to the surface
and got into his canoe. Resting for a moment, he then
opened the gourd and took out the hook manaiaakalani
and tied the hau rope to it. He also picked up a long
stick and placed at the end of it the hook, baited with
a preparation of cocoanut and other substances attractive
to fishes. Before taking his second dive he arranged
with those on the canoe as to the signs to them of his

KU-ULA, THE FISH GOD 219

success. Saying this, he picked up the other stone and
dived down again into the sea; then, proceeding to the
cave, he placed the hook in it, at the same time mur-
muring a few incantations in the name of his parents.
When he knew that the puhi was hooked he signalled,
as planned, to tell those on the canoe of his success.
In a short while he came to the surface, and entering
the canoe they all returned to shore, trailing the rope
behind. He told those in the canoe from Haneoo to
paddle thither and to Hamoa, and to tell all the people
to pull the puhi; like instructions were given those on
the Aleamai canoe for their people. The two canoes
set forth on their courses to the landings, keeping in
mind Aiai's instructions, which were duly carried out
by the people of the two places; and there were many
for the work.

Then Aiai ascended Kaiwiopele Hill and motioned
to the people of both places to pull the ropes attached
to the hook on the mouth of the puhi. It was said
that the Aleamai people won the victory over the much
greater number from the other places, by landing the
puhi on the pahoehoe stones at Lehoula. The people
endeavored to kill the prize, but without success till
Aiai came and threw three ala stones at it and killed
it. The head was cut off and cooked in the imu (oven).
The bones of its jaw, with the mouth wide open, are
seen to this day at a place near the shore, washed by
the waves, — the rock formation at a short distance
having such a resemblance.

Residents of the place state that all ala stones near
where the imu was made in which the puhi was baked

220 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

do not crack when heated, as they do elsewhere, be-
cause of the imu heating of that time. It is. so even to
this day. The backbone (ittn kmamoo) of this puhi is
still lying on the pahoehoe where Aiai killed it with the
three ala stones, — the rocky formation, about thirty feet
in length, exactly resembling the backbone of an eel.
The killing of this puhi by Aiai gave him feme among
the people of Hana. Its capture was the young lad's
first attempt to follow his fether*s vocation, and his
knowledge was a surprise to the people.

After this event a man came over from Wailau,
Molokai, who was a kahu (keeper) of the puhi. He
dreamed one night that he saw its spirit, which told
him that his aumakua (god) had been killed at Hana,
so he came to see with his own eyes where this had
occurred. Arriving at Wananalua he was befiiended
by one of the retainers of Kamohoalii, the Kang of
Hana, and lived there a long time serving under him,
during which time he learned the story of how the puhi
had been caught and killed by Aiai, the son of Ku-ula
and Hinapukuia, whereupon he sought to accomplish
their death.

Considering a plan of action, he went one day to
Ku-ula, without orders, and told him that the King had
sent him for fish for the King. Ku-ula gave him but
one fish, an ulua, with a warning direction, saying,
"Go back to the King and tell him to cut off the head
of the fish and cook it in the imu, and the flesh of its
body cut up and salt and dry in the sun, for *this is
Hana the aupehu land; Hana of the scarce fish; the fish
Kama; the fish of Lanakila/ {Eia o Hana la he aina

KU-ULA, THE FISH GOD 221

aupehu; Hana keia i ka ia iki; ka ia Kama; ka ia
Lanaki/a)."

When the man returned to the King and gave him
the fish, the King asked: ''Who gave it to you?" and
the man answered :

"Ku-ula."

Then it came into his head that this was his chance
for revenge, so he told the King what Ku-ula had said
but not in the same way, saying: ''Your head fisher-
man told me to come back and tell you that your head
should be cut from your body and cooked in the imu,
and the flesh of your body should be cut up and salted
and dried in the sun/'

The King on hearing this message was so angered
with Ku-ula, his head fisherman, that he told the man
to go and tell all his konohikis (head men of lands with
others under them) and people, to go up in the moun-
tains and gather immediately plenty of firewood and
place it around Ku-ula's house, for he and his wife and
child should be burned up.

This order of the King was carried out by the kono-
hikis and people of all his lands except those of Aleamai.
These latter did not obey this order of the King, for
Ku-ula had always lived peaceably among them.
There were days when they had no fish, and he had
supplied them freely.

When Ku-ula and his wife saw the people of Hana
bringing firewood and placing it around the house they
knew it foreboded trouble; so Ku-ula went to a place
where taro, potatoes, bananas, cane, and some gourds
were growing. Seeing three dry gourds on the vine^

222 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

he asked the owner for them and was told to take them.
These he took to his house and discussed with his wife
the evil day to come, and told Aiai that their house
would be burned and their bodies too, but not to fear
death nor trouble himself about it when the people
came to shut them in.

After some thinking Ku-ula remembered his giving
the ulua to the King's retdner and felt that he was the
party to blame for this action of the King's people.
He had suspected it before, but now felt sure; therefore
he turned to his son and said: ''Our duld, Aiai-a-Ku-
ula, if our house is burned, and our bodies too, you
must look sharp for the smoke when it goes straight
up to the hill of Kaiwiopele. That will be your way
out of this trouble, and you must follow it till you find
a cave where you will live. You must take this hook
called manaiaakalani with you; also this fish-pearl
{pa hi aku)y called Kahuoi; this shell called lehoula, and
this small sandstone from which I got the name they
call me, Ku-ula-au-a-Ku-ulakai. It is the progenitor of
all the fish in the sea. You will be the one to make
all the ku-ulas from this time forth, and have charge
also of making all the fishing stations {ko^a lawaid) in
the sea throughout the islands. Your name shall be
perpetuated and those of your parents also, through all
generations to come, and I hereby confer upon you all
my power and knowledge. Whenever you desire any-
thing call, or ask, in our names, and we will grant it.
We will stand up and go forth from here into the sea
and abide there forever; and you, our child, shall live on
the land here without worrying about anything that

KU-ULA, THE FISH GOD 223

may happen to you. You will have power to punish
with death all those who have helped to burn us and
our house. Whether it be king or people, they must
die; therefore let us calmly await the calamity that is to
befall us/*

All these instructions Aiai consented to carry out
from first to last, as a dutiful son.

After Ku-ula*s instructions to his son, consequent
upon the manifestations of coming trouble, the King's
people came one day and caught them and tied their
hands behind their backs, the evil-doer from Molokai
being there to aid in executing the cruel orders of
Kamohoalii resulting from his deceitful story. Upon
being taken into their house Ku-ula was tied to the
end post of the ridge pole (j>ouhana)y the wife was
tied to the middle post {kai waena) of the house, and
the boy, Aiai, was tied to one of the corner posts {pou
manu). Upon ^tening them in this manner the
people went out of the house and barricaded the door-
way with wood, which they then set on fire. Before
the fire was lit, the ropes with which the victims were
tied dropped off from their hands. Men, women,
and children looked on at the burning house with
deep pity for those within, and tears were streaming
down their cheeks as they remembered the kindness of
Ku-ula during all the time they had lived together.
They knew not why this family and their house should
be burned in this manner.

When the fire was raging all about the house and
the flames were consuming everything, Ku-ula and his
wife gave their last message to their son and left him.

224 HAWAIIAN F0LK TALES

They went right out of the house as quietly as the last
breath leaves the body, and none of the people stand-
ing there gazing saw where, or how, Ku-ula and his
wife came forth out of the house. Aiai was the only
one that retained material form. Their bodies were
changed by some miraculous power and entered the sea,
taking with them all the fish swimming in and around
Hana. They also took all sea-mosses, crabs, crawfish,
and the various kinds of shellfish along the seashore,
even to the opihi-koele at the rocky beach; every edi-
ble thing in the sea was taken away. This was the first
stroke of Ku-ula's revenge on the King and the people
of Hana who obeyed his mandate; they suffered greatly
from the scarcity of fish.

When Ku-ula and his wife were out of the house the
three gourds exploded from the heat, one by one, and
all those who were gazing at the burning house believed
the detonations indicated the bursting of the bodies of
Ku-ula, his wife, and child. The flames shot up
through the top of the house, and the black smoke hov-
ered above it, then turned toward the front of Kaiwio-
pele Hill. The people saw Aiai ascend through the
flames and walk upon the smoke toward the hill till
he came to a small cave that opened to receive and
rescue him.

As Aiai left tfie house it burned fiercely, and, carry-
ing out the instructions of his father he called upon
him to destroy by fire all those who had caught and
tied them in their burning house. As he finished
his appeal he saw the rippling of the wind on the sea
and a misty rain coming with it, increasing as it came

KU-ULA, THE FISH GOD 225

till it reached Lehoula, which so increased the blazing
of the fire that the flames reached out into the crowd
of people for those who had obeyed the King. The
man from Molokai, who was the cause of the trouble,
was reached also and consumed by the fire, and the
charred bodies were left to show to the people the sec-
ond stroke of Ku-ula's vengeance. Strange to say, all
those who had nothing to do with this cruel act, though
closer to the burning house, were uninjured; the
tongues of fire reached out only for the guilty ones.
In a little while but a few smouldering logs and ashes
were all that remained of the house of Ku-ula. Owing
to this strange action of the fire some of the people
doubted the death of Ku-ula and his wife, and much
disputation arose among them on the subject.

When Aiai walked out through the flames and smoke
and reached the cave, he stayed there through that
night till the next morning, then, leaving his hook,
pearl shell, and stone there, he went forth till he came
to the road at Puilio, where he met several children
amusing themselves by shooting arrows, one of whom
made friends with him and asked him to his house.
Aiai accepted the invitation, and the boy and his par-
ents treating him well, he remained with them for some
days.

While Aiai was living in their house the parents of
the boy heard of the King's order for all the people of
Hana to go fishing for hinalea. The people obeyed
the royal order, but when they went down to the shore
with their fishing baskets they looked around for the
usual bait {ueue)y which was to be pounded up and put

226 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

into the baskets, but they could not find any, nor any
other material to be so used, ndther could they see
any fish swimming around in the sea. *' Why ? " was
the question. Because Ku*ula and his wife had taken
with them all the fish and everything pertaining to
fishing. Finding no bait they pounded up limestone
and placed it in the baskets and swam out and set them
in the sea. They watched and waited all day, but in
vain, for not a single hinalea was seen, nor did any
enter the baskets. When night came they went back
empty-handed and came down again the next day only
to meet the same luck. The parents of the boy who
had befiiended Aiai were in this fishing party, in obe-
dience to the King's orders, but they got nothing for
their trouble. Aiai, seeing them go down daily to
Haneoo, asked concerning it, and was told everything;
so he bade his friend come with him to the cave where
he had stayed after his father's house was burned.
Arriving there he showed the stone fish god, Pohaku-
muone, and said : " We can get fish up here from this
stone without much work or trouble. "

Then Aiai picked up the stone and they went down
to Lehoula, and setting it down at a point facing the
pond which his father had made he repeated these
words : " O Ku-ula, my father ; O Hina, my mother,
I place this stone here in your name, Ku-ula, which
action will make your name famous and mine too,
your son ; the keeping of this ku-ula stone I ^ve to
my friend, and he and his offspring hereafter will do
and act in all things pertaining to it in our names."

After saying these words he told his friend his dudes

KU-ULA, THE FISH GOD 227

and all things to be observed relative to the stone and
the benefits to be derived therefrom as an influencing
power over such variety of fish as he desired. This
was the first establishment of the k6*a ku-ula on land,
— a place where the fisherman was obliged to make his
offering of the first of his catch by taking two fishes
and placing them on the ku-ula stone as an offering to
Ku-ula. Thus Aiai first put in practice the fishing
oblations established by his father at the place of his
birth, in his youth, but it was accomplished only
through the mana kupua of his parents.

When Aiai had finished calling on his parents and
instructing his friend, there were seen several persons
walking along the Haneoo beach with their fishing
baskets and setting them in the sea, but catching noth-
ing. At Aiai's suggestion he and his friend went over
to witness this fishing efl^ort. When they reached the
fishers Aiai asked them, '* What are those things placed
there for ? "

They answered, "Those arc baskets for catching
hinaleas, a fish that our King, Kamohoalii, longs for,
but we cannot get bait to catch the fish with."

" Why is it so? " asked Aiai.

And they answered, " Because Ku-ula and his family
are dead, and all the fish along the beach of Hana are
taken awav."

Then Aiai asked them for two baskets. Having
received them, he bade his friend take them and fol-
low him. They went to a little pool near the beach,
and setting the baskets therein, he called on his parents
for hinaleas. As soon as he had finished, the fish

228 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

were seen coming in such numbers as to fill the pool,
and still they came. Aiai now told his friend to go
and fetch his parents and relatives to get fish^ and to
bring baskets with which to take home a supply ; they
should have the first pick, and the owners of the bas-
kets should have the next chance. The messenger
went with haste and brought his relatives as directed.
Aiai then took two fishes and gave them to his friend
to place on the ko'a they had established at Lehoula
for the ku-ula. He also told him that before the set-
ting of the sun of that day they would hear that King
Kamohoalii of Hana was dead, choked and strangled
to death by the fish. These prophetic words of Aiai
came true.

After Aiai had made his offering, his friend's parents
came to where the fish were gathering and were told
to take all they desired, which they did, returning home
happy for the liberal supply obtained without trouble.
The owners of the baskets were then called and told
to take all the fish they wished for themselves and for
the King. When these people saw the great supply
they were glad and much surprised at the success of
these two boys. The news of the reappearing of the
fish spread through the district, and the people flocked
in great numbers and gathered hinaleas to their satis-
faction, and returned to their homes with rejoicing.
Some of those who gave Aiai the baskets returned with
their bundles of fish to the King. When he saw so
many of those he had longed for he became so excited
that he reached out and picked one up and put it
in his mouth, intending to eat it; but instead the

KU-ULA, THE FISH GOD 229

fish slipped right into his throat and stuck there.
Many tried to reach and take it out, but were unable,
and before the sun set that day Kamohoalii, the King
of Hana, died, being choked and strangled to death
by the fish. Thus the words of Aiai, the son of Ku-
ula, proved true.

By the death of the King of Hana the revenge was
complete. The evil-doer from Molokai, and those
who obeyed the King's orders on the day Ku-ula's
house was fired, met retribution, and Aiai thus won a
victory over all his father's enemies.

After living for a time at Hana Aiai left that place
and went among the different islands of the group
establishing fishing ko'as (ko^a aina aumakua). He
was the first to measure the depth of the sea to locate
these fishing ko'as for the deep sea fishermen who go
out in their canoes, and the names of many of these
ko'as located around the diflferent islands are well
known.

XXII
AIM, SON OF KU-ULA

PART II OF THE LEGEND OF KU-ULA, THE FISH

GOD OF HAWAII

TRANSLATED FROM MOKE MANU BY M. K. NAKUINA

A FTER the death of the King of Hana, Aiai left
^^ the people of Haneoo catching hinalea and went
to Kumaka, a place where fresh water springs out from
the sand and rocks near the surf of Puhcle, at Hamoa,
where lay a large, long stone in the sea. This stone
he raised upright and also placed others about the
water spring, and said to his friend : " To-day I
name this stone Ku-a-lanakila, for I have triumphed
over my enemies ; and I hereby declare that all fishes,
crabs, and sea-moss shall return again in plenty through-
out the seas of Hana, as in the days when my parents
were living in the flesh at Lehoula."

From the time Aiai raised this stone, up to the pres-
ent generation, the story of Ku-ula and Aiai is well
preserved, and people have flocked to the place where
the stone stands to see it and verify the tradition.
Some kahunas advise their sufl^ering patients to pay a
visit to the stone, Ku-lanakila, with some offerings for
relief from their sickness and also to bathe in the spring

of Kumaka and the surf of Puhele. Thisr was a favor-

230

AIM, SON OF KU-ULA 231

ite spot of the kings and chiefs of the olden times for
bathing and surf-riding, and is often referred to in the
stories and legends of Hawaii-nei. This was the first
stone raised by Aiai and established as a ku-ula at
Hamoa ; and the old people of Hana attributed to its
influence the return of the fish to their waters.

After Aiai's practice of his father's instructions and
the return of the fishes, his fame spread through-
out the district, and the people made much of him
during his stay with them.

A great service wrought by Aiai during his boyhood
was the teaching of his friend and his friend's parents
how to make the various nets for all kinds of fishing.
He also taught them to make the difl^erent kinds of
fishing lines. When they were skilled in all these
branches of knowledge pertaining to fishing, he called
the people together, and in their presence declared his
friend to be the head fisherman of Hana, with full
control of all the stations {ko'a ia) he had established.
This wonder-working power second to none, possessed
by Aiai, he now conferred on his friend, whereby his
own name would be perpetuated and his fame estab-
lished all over the land.

The first ko'a ia (fishing ground, or station) where
Aiai measured the depth of the sea is near Aleamai,
his birthplace, and is called Kapukaulua, where he
hooked and killed the eel Koona. It is a few miles
from the shore to the southeast of the rocky islet
called Alau. The second station he established was
at a spot about a mile from Haneoo and Hamoa which
was for the kala, palani, nanue, puhi, and ula. These

232 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

varieties of fish are not caught by nets, or with the
hooky but in baskets which are filled with bait and let
down in the deep sea.

The third station, which he named Koauli, was
located out in the deep sea for the deep sea fishes, the
depth ranging about two hundred fathoms. This is
the ko'a that fishermen have to locate by certain shore
bearings, lest a mistake be made as to the exact spot
and the bottom be found rocky and the hooks entangle
in the coral. In all the stations Aiai located there are
no coral ledges where the fisherman's hook would
catch, or the line be entangled; and old Hawaiians
commended the skill of such locations, believing that
the success of Aiai's work was due to his father's
influence as an ocean deity.

At one time Aiai went over to the bay of Wananalua,
the present port of Hana, with its noted hill of Kauiki
and the sandy beach of Pueokahi. Here he made and
placed a ku-ula, and also placed a fish stone in
the cliff of Kauiki whereon is the ko'a known as
Makakiloia. And the people of Hana give credit to
this stone for the frequent appearance of the akule,
oio, moi, and other fishes in their waters.

Aiai's good work did not stop at this point ; pro-
ceeding to Honomaele he picked up three pebbles at
the shore and, going into the sea, out beyond the
breaking surf, he placed them there. In due time
these three pebbles gathered others together and made
a regular ridge ; and when this was accomplished, the
aweoweo gathered from the far ocean to this ridge of
pebbles for rest; whereupon the people came with net.

AIM, SON OF KU-ULA 233

hook, and line, and caught them as they desired. The
writer witnessed this in 1 845 with his own eyes. This
ko'a for aweoweo is still there, but difficult to locate,
from the fact that all the old residents are gone — either
dead or moved away.

He next went over to Waiohue, Koolau, where he
placed a stone on a sharp rocky islet, called Paka,
whereon a few puhala grow. It is claimed that during
the season of the kala, they come in from the ocean,
attracted to this locality by the power of this stone.
They continue on to Mokumana, a cape between
Keanae and Wailuanui. They come in gradually for
two days, and on the third day of their reaching the
coast, at the pali of Ohea, is the time and place to
surround them with nets. In olden times while the
fishermen were hauling in their nets full of kala into
the canoes, the akule and oio also came in numbers at
the same time, making it impossible to catch all in one
day; and as there were so many gathered in the net it
took them a day and a night before they could care for
their draught, which yielded so many more than could
be made use of that they were fed to the pigs and
dogs. The kala of Ohea is noted for its fatness and
fine flavor. Few people are now living there, and the
people who knew all about this are dead ; but the stone
that Aiai placed on that little island at Waiohue is still
there.

Aiai stayed there a few days and then returned to
Hanaand lived at his birthplace quite a length of time
till he was a man grown. During this period he was
teaching his art of fishing in all its forms ; and when

234 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

he was satisfied the people were proficient, he prepared
to visit other places for like service. But before leav-
ing, Aiai told his friend to go and kill the big
hee kupua (wonderful octopus) in the deep sea» right
out of Wailuanui, Koolau, and he consented.

When the canoes were made ready and drawn to the
beach and the people came prepared to start, Aiu
brought the hokeo (fishing gourd), where the leho (kauri
shell) that Ku-ula his father gave him was kept, and
gave it to his friend. This shell is called lehoula^ and
the locality at Hana of that name was called after it

Then the canoes and people sailed away till they got
out along the palis near Kopiliula, where they rested.
Aiai was not with the party, but overlooked their
operations from the pali of Puhiai. While they rested,
preparation for the lowering of the leho was being
made, and when ready, Aiai's friend called on Ku-ula
and Hina for the assistance of their wonderful powers.
When he was through, he took off the covering of the
gourd and took out the leho, which had rich beautiful
colors like the rainbow, and attaching it to the line, he
lowered it into the sea, where it sent out rays of a fiery
light. The hee was so attracted by its radiance that
it came out of its hole and with its great arms, which
were as long and large as a full-grown cocoanut tree,
came up to the surface of the water and stood there
like a cocoanut grove. The men were frightened, for
it approached and went right into the canoes with the
intention of destroying them and the men and captur-
ing the leho ; but it failed, because Aiai's friend, with
his skill and power, had provided himself with a stone.

AIAI, SON OF KU-ULA 235

which, at the proper time, he shoved into the head of
the squid ; and the weight of the stone drew it down
to the bottom of the sea and kept it there, and being
powerless to remove the stone, it died. The men
seized and cut off one of the arms, which was so big
that it loaded the canoes down so that they returned to
Mana. When the squid died, it turned to stone. It
is pointed out to-day just outside of Wailuanui, where
a stone formation resembles the body of a squid and
the arms, with one missing.

When Aiai saw from the pali that his friend was
successful in killing the hee, he returned to Hana
unseen, and in a short while the canoes arrived with its
arm, which was divided among the people according to
the directions of Aiai.

When Aiai saw that his friend and others of Hana
were skilled in all the art of fishing, he decided to
leave his birthplace and journey elsewhere. So he
called a council of his friends and told them of his
intended departure, to establish other fishing stations
and instruct the people with all the knowledge thereof
in conformity with the injunction of Ku-ula his father.
They approved of the course contemplated and
expressed their indebtedness to him for all the benefits
!ie had shown them.

On leaving Aleamai he took with him the fish-hook,
manaiaakalanif and the fish pearl, Kahuoi^ for aku from
the little cave where he had lodged on the hill of
Kaiwiopele, and then disappeared in the mysterious
manner of his parents. He established ku-ulas and
ko'a aina, by placing three fish stones at various points

236 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

as far as Kipahulu. At the streams of Kikoo and
Maulili there stands a stone to-day, which was thrown
by Aiai and dropped at a bend in the waters, unmoved
by the many freshets that have swept the valleys since
that time.

Out in the sea of Maulili is a famous station known
as Koanui. It is about a mile from the shore and
marks the boundary of the sea of Maulili, and the fish
that appear periodically and are caught within its
limits have been subject to a division between the
fishermen and the landowner ever since. This is a
station where the fisherman's hook shall not return
without a fish except the hook be lost, or the line cut.

The first time that Aiai tested this station and
caught a fish with his noted hook, he saw a fisherman
in his canoe drifting idly, without success. When he
saw Aiai, this fisherman, called Kanemakua, paddled
till he came close to where Aiai was floating on an
improvised canoe, a wiliwili log, without an outrigger,
— which much surprised him. Before the fisherman
reached him, Aiai felt a tug at his line and knew that he
had caught a fish and began pulling it in. When
Kanemakua came within speaking distance Aiai greeted
him and gave him the fish, putting it into his canoe.
Kanemakua was made happy and thanked Aiai for
his generosity. While putting it in the canoe Aiai said :

"This is the first time I have fished in these waters
to locate (or found) this station, and as you are the
first man I meet I give you the first fish caught. I
also give you charge of this ko'a; but take my advice.
When you come here to fish and see a man meeting

AIM, SON OF KU-ULA 137

you in a canoe and floating alongside of you, if at that
time you have caught a fish, then give it to him as I
have done to you, without regret, and thus get a good
name and be known as a generous man. If you
observe this, great benefits will come to you and those
related to you."

As Aiai finished speaking he suddenly disappeared,
and Kanemakua could hardly realize that he had not
been dreaming but for the assurance he had in the
great fish lying in his canoe. He returned to the
shore with his prize, which was so large and heavy that
it required the help of two others to carry it to the
house, where it was cut up and the oven made hot for
its baking. When it was cooked he took the eyes of
the fish and offered them up as a thanksgiving sacrifice.
Then the family, friends, and neighbors around came
to the feast and ate freely. During all this time
Kanemakua was thinking of the words spoken by
the young man, which he duly observed. The first
ku-ula established in Maulili, Maui, was named after
him, and from that time its fish have been given
out freelv without restriction or division.

After establishing the different ku-ula stations along
the coast from Hana to Kipahulu, Aiai went to Kaupo
and other places. A noted station and ku-ula is at
Kahikinui. All the stations of this place are in the
deep sea, where they use nets of three kinds ; there
is also fishing with poles, and ulua fishing, because
this part of the island faces the wind ; but the ku-ulas
are located on the seashore, as is also the one at
Honuaula, where it is covered over by the lava flow.

238 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

Thus was performed the good work of Aiai in
establishing ku-ula stations and fish stones continued
all around the island of Maui. It is also said that he
visited Kahoolawe and established a ku-ula at
Hakioawa, though it differs from the others, being
built on a high bluff overlooking the sea, somewhat
like a temple, by placing stones in the form of a
square, in the middle of which was left a space wherein
the fishermen of that island laid their first fish caught,
as a thank offering. Awa and kapa were also placed
there as offerings to the fish deities.

An idea prevails with some people that the ko'a of
Kamohoalii, the king shark of Kahoolawe, is on this
island, but if all the stories told of it be examined
there will be found no reference to a ko'a of his on
this island.

From Kahoolawe, Aiai next went to Lanai, where
he started fishing for aku (bonito) at Cape Kaunolu,
using his pearl Kahuoi. This is the first case known
of fishing for aku with pearl from the land, as it is a
well known fact that this fish is caught only in deep
sea, far from shore. In the story of Kaneapua it is
shown that he is the only one who had fished for aku
at the Cape of Kaunolu, where it was started by Aiai.

From Kaunolu, Aiai went to Kaena Cape, where at
a place close to Paomai, was a little sandy beach now
known as Polihua. Here he took a stone and carved
a figure on it, then carried and placed it on the sandy
beach, and called on his parents. While making his
incantations the stone moved toward the sea and dis-
appeared under the water. His incantations finished.

AIM, SON OF KU-ULA 239

the stone reappeared and moved toward him till it
reached the place where it had been laid; whereupon it
was transformed into a turtle, and gave the name of
Polihua to that beach. This work of Aiai on the
island of Lanai was the first introduction of the turtle
in the seas of Hawaii, and also originated the habit of
the turtle of going up the beach to lay its eggs, then
returning to the sea.

After making the circuit of Lanai he went over to
Molokai, landing at Punakou and travelled along the
shore till he reached Kaunakakai. At this place he
saw spawns of mullet, called Puai-i, right near the
shore, which he kicked with his foot, landing them on
the sand. This practice of kicking fish with the feet
is carried on to this time, but only at that locality.
. Aiai continued on along the Kona side of Molokai,
examining its fishing grounds and establishing ku-ulas
till he got to Halawa. At the Koolau side of the
island he stopped at Wailau and saw the cave of the
eel Koona that went to Hana and stole the fish from
his father's pond, and the cause of all the trouble that
befell his parents and himself.

When Aisu landed at Wailau he saw that both sides
of the valley were covered with men, women, and
children engaged in closing up the stream and divert-
ing its water to another course, whereby they would
be enabled to catch oopu and opae. The water being
low, the gourds of some of the people were full from
their catch.

Aiai noticed their wanton method of fishing, where-
by all oopus and opaes were caught without thought

240 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

of any reservation for their propagation ; therefore he
called on his parents to take them all away. The
prayer was granted, for suddenly they all disappeared;
those in the water went up the stream to a place
called Koki, while those in the gourds were turned to
lizards which scampered out and ran all over the
rocks. The people were much surprised at this change
and felt sorely disappointed at the loss of their food
supply.

On account of his' regard for a certain lad of that
place, named Kahiwa, he showed him the place of the
opaes to be up the precipitous cliff, Koki. The youth
was attentive to the direction of Aiai and going there
he found the oopus and opaes as stated, as they are to
this day. That is what established the noted saying
of the old people of that land : "Kokio of Wailau is
the ladder of the opae." It is also known as the
"Paliof Kahiwa."

When Aiai left Wailau he showed this lad the
ku-ula and the fish station in the sea he had
located there, at the same distance as that rocky
island known as Mokapu. He went also to
Pelekunu, Waikolu and Kalawao, even to Kalaupapa,
the present home of the lepers. At the latter place
he left a certain fish stone. That is the reason fish
constantly gather there even to this day. He also
went to Hoolehua and so on as far as Ka lae o ka ilio
(the dog's forehead) and Ka lae o ka laau. Between
these two capes in the sea is a station established by
Aiai, where a tree grew out from under a rock, Ekaha
by name. It is a hardwood tree, but the trunk and

AIAI, SON OF KU-ULA 141

also the branches are without leaves. This place is a
great haunt for fishermen with their hooks.

Aiai then came to Oahu, first landing at Makapuu,
in Koolau, where he founded a pohaku-ia (fish stone)
for red fish and for speckled fish, and called it Malei.
This was a female rock, and the fish of that place is
the uhu. It is referred to in the mele of Hiiaka, thus:

<« I will not go to the stormy capes ofKooIau,
The sea-clifFs of Moeaau.
The woman watching uhu of Makapuu
Dwells on the ledge of Kamakani
At Koolau. The living
Oifers grass-twined sacrifices, O Malie ! "

From the time Aiai founded that spawning-place
until the present, its fish have been the uhu, extend-
ing to Hanauma. There were also several gathering-
places for fish established outside of Kawaihoa. Aiai
next moved to Maunalua, then to Waialae and
Kahalaia. At Kaalawai he placed a white and brown
rock. There in that place is a hole filled with
aholchole, therefore the name of the land is Kaluahole.
Right outside of Kahuahui there is a station where
Aiai placed a large round sandstone that is surrounded
by spawning-places for fish; Ponahakeone is its name.

In ancient times the chiefs selected a very secret
place wherein to hide the dead bodies of their greatly
beloved, lest some one should steal their bones to
make fish-hooks, or arrows to shoot mice with. For
that reason the ancients referred to Ponahakeone as
"//^ Lualoa no Na/ii** — a deep pit for the chiefs.

242 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

Aiai came to Kalia and so on to Kakaako. Here
he was befriended by a man named Apua, with whom
he remained several days, observing and listening to
the murmurs of the chief named Kou. This chief
was a skilful hiaku fisherman, his grounds being out-
side of Mamala until you came to Moanalua. There
was none so skilled as he, and generous withal^ pving
akus to the people throughout the districL

As Aiai was dwelling with his friend Apua at
Kakaako, he meandered off one day along the shore
of Kulolia, and so on to Pakaka and Kapapoko. But he
did not return to the house of his frienc^ for he met a
young woman gathering Umu (sea-moss) and fishing
for crabs. This young woman, whose name was
Puiwa, lived at Hanakaialama and was a virgin, never
having had a husband. She herself, as the people
would say, was forward to ask Auu to be her husband;
but he listened to her voice, and they went up
together to her home and saw the parents and rela-
tives, and forthwith were married. After living with
this young woman some time a son was born to them,
whom Aiai named Puniaiki. During those days was
the distribution of aku which were sent up from
Honolulu to the different dwellings; but while others
were given a whole fish, they got but a portion from
some neighbor. For this reason the woman was
angry, and told Aiai to go to the brook and get some
oopus fit to eat, as well as opae. Aiai listened to the
voice of his wife. He dug a ditch and constructed a
dam so as to lead the water of the brook into some
pits, and thus be able to catch the oopu and opae. He

AIM, SON OF KU-LUA 243

labored some days at this work, and the fish and
shrimps were hung up to dry.

On a certain day following, Aiai and his wife went
with their child to the brook. She left her son upon
the bank of the stream while she engaged herself in
catching opae and oopu from the pits. But it was not
long before the child began to cry; and as he cried,
Aiai told his wife to leave her fishing, but she talked
saucily to him. So Aiai called upon the names of his
ancestors. Immediately a dark and lowering cloud
drew near and poured out a flood of water upon the
stream, and in a short time the dam was broken by
the freshet and all the oopu and opae, together with
the child, were swept toward the sea. But the woman
was not taken by the flood. Aiai then rose up and
departed, without thought of his wife.

He went down from the valley to Kaumakapili, and
as he was standing there he saw some women fishing
for oopu on the banks of the stream, the daughter of
the chief Kikihale being with them. At that time,
behold, there was caught by the female guardian of
the daughter of Kikihale a very large oopu. This
oopu she showed to her protegee^ who told her to put
it into a large calabash with water and feed it with limu,
so that it might become a pet fish. This was done and
the oopu was tended very carefully night and day.

Aiai stood by and saw the fish lifted out of' the
brook, and recognized it at the same time as his own
child, changed from a human being into an oopu.

(At this point the story of Aiai gives place to that of
his child.)

244 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

When the oopu was placed in a latge calabash with
water^ it was carefully tended and fed with sea-moss
for some time, but one day in sedng to this duty
the guardian of the chieftainess, on reaching the cala-
bash, was startled to behold therein a human child,
looking with its eyes. And the water in the calabash
had disappeared. She was greatly surprised and sdzed
with a dark foreboding, and a trembling fear possessed
her as she looked upon this miraculous child.

This woman went and told the chieftainess of this
child they knew to have had the form of an oopu, and
as Kikihale heard the story of her guardian she went
quickly, with grave doubts, however, of this her
report; but there, on reaching the calabash, as she
looked she saw indeed a child therdn. She immedi-
ately put forth her hands toward the child and lifting
it, carefully examined its form and noted its agreeable
features. As the thought quickly possessed this girl,
she said: ''Now, my guardian, you and your husband
take and rear this child till he is grown, then I will be
his wife."

The guardian answered her: "When this child
becomes grown you will be old; that is, your days
will be in the evening of life, while his place will be in
the early morn. Will you not thereby have lasting
cause for dissatisfaction and contention between you in
the future?"

Kikihale answering her guardian said: "You are
not to blame; these things are mine to consider, for
the reason that the desire is mine, not yours, my
guardian."

AIAI, SON OF KU-ULA 145

After this talking the child was quickly known of
among the chiefs and attendants. He was nourished
and brought up to adult age, when Kikihale took
him for her husband as she had said; and for a time
they dwelt together as man and wife without disagree-
ment between them. But during these days Kikihale
saw plainly that her husband was not disposed to do
anything for their support; therefore she mourned
over it continually and angrily reproved him, finally,
saying:

^'O my husband, can you not go forth also, as others,
to assist our father and the attendants in the duties of
fishing, instead of eating till you are satisfied, then
rolling over with face upward to the ridge-pole of the
house and counting the ahos? It may do while my
father is alive; but if he should die, whence would
come our support?" Thus she spoke reproachingly
from day to day, and the words stung Puniaiki's heart
with much pain.

And this is what he said to his wife one day: ^4t
is unpleasant to hear you constantly talking thus.
Not as wild animals is the catching of fish in the sea;
they are obedient if called, and you may eat wastefully
of my fish when procured. I have authority over
fish, men, pigs, and dogs. If you are a favorite
of your father then go to him for double canoes,
with their fishing appurtenances, and men to paddle
them."

When Kikihale heard these words of her husband
she hastened to Kou, her father, and told him all that
Puniaiki had said, and the request was promptly

246 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

executed. Kikihale returned to her husband and told
him all she had done.

On Puniaiki's going down to the canoe place he
found the men were making ready the canoes with the
nets, rods, lines, and the pearl fish-hooks. Here he
lit a fire and burned up the pearl fish-hooks^ at which
his wife was much angered and cried loudly for the
hiaku pearl hooks of her father. She went and told
Kou of this mischievous action of her husband, but
he answered her not a word at this act of his son-in-
law, though he had supplied five gourds filled with
them, a thousand in number, and the strangest thing
was, that all were burned up save two only which Kou
had reserved.

That night Puniaiki slept apart from his wife, and
he told the canoe paddlers to sleep in the canoe sheds,
not to go to their homes that night; and they obeyed
his voice.

It was Kou's habit to rouse his men before break
of day to sail in the malaus for aku fishing at the
mouth of the harbor, for that was their feeding-time,
not after the sun had risen. Thus would the canoes
enter the schools of aku and this chief became famous
thereby as a most successful fisherman. But on this
da) was seen the sorcerer's work of this child of Aiai.

As Kou with his men set out always before dawn,
here was this Puniaiki above at his place at sunrise.
At this time on his awaking from sleep he turned his
face mountainward, and looking at Kaumakapili he
saw a rainbow and its reddish mist spread out at that
place, wherein was standing a human form. He felt

AIAI, SON OF KU-ULA 247

conscious that it was Aiai his father, therefore he went
there and Aiai showed him the place of the pa (fish-
hook) called Kahuai, and he said to his son: "Here
will I stay till you return; be quick."

Upon Puniaiki reaching the landing the canoes were
quickly made ready to depart, and as they reached
Kapapoko and Pakaka, at the sea of Kuloloia, they
went on to Ulukua, now the lighthouse location of
Honolulu harbor. At this place Puniaiki asked the
paddlers: **What is the name of that surf cresting
beneath the prow of our canoes?"

**Puuiki/' replied the men.

He then said to them: "Point straight the prow
of the canoes and paddle with strength." At these
words of Puniaiki their minds were in doubt, because
there were probably no akus at that place in the surf;
but that was none of their business. As they neared
the breakers of Puuiki, below the mouth of Mamala,
Puniaiki said to his men: "Turn the canoes around
and go shorewards." And in returning he said quickly,
"Paddle strong, for here we are on the top of a school
of akus." But strange to say, as the men looked in
the water they saw no fish swimming about, but on
reaching Ulakua Puniaiki opened up the fish-hook,
Kahuai, from its wrapping in the gourd and held it in
his hand.

At this the akus, unprecedented in number, fairly
leaped into the canoes. They became so filled with
the fish, without labor, that they sank in the water as
they reached Kapuukolo, and the men jumped over-
board to float them to the beach. The canoe men

248 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

wondeted grestly at this work of the son-in-Jaw of
Koa the chief; and the shore people shouted as the
ftkus which filled the harbor swam toward the fish-
pond of Kuwili and on to the mouth of Leieo stream.

When the canoes touched shore Puniaikl seized
two fishes in his hands and went to join his father
where he was staying, and Aiai directed him to take
them up to where his mother lived. These akus
were notg^fb for her, but an offering to Ku-ula at a
ko'a established just above Kahuailanawai. Puniaiki
obeyed the instructions of his father, and on returning
to him he was sent back to his mother, Fuim, with a
supply of akus. She was greatly surprised that this
handsome young man, with his gift of akus for ho" to
eat, was her own son, and these were the first &nits c^
his labor.

The people marrelled at the quantity of fish
throughout the harbor, so that even the stream at
Kikihale was also fiill of akus, and Puniaikl com-
manded the people to take of them day and night;
and the news of this visi: of akus went all around
Oahu. This unequalled haul of akus was a great
humiliation to Kou, affecting his fame as a fisherman ;
but he was neither jealous of his son-in-law nor angry,
— he just sat silent. He thought much on the sub-
ject but with kindly feelings, resulting in turning over
this employment to him who could prosecute it with-
out worry.

Shortly afterwards Aiai arranged with Puniaiki for
the establishing of ku-ulas, ko'as, and fish stones
around the island of Oahu, which were as follows;

AIM, SON OF KU-ULA 249

The Kou stone was for Honolulu and Kaumakapili;
a ku-ula at Kupahu; a fish stone at Hanapouli, Ewa.
Ahuena was the ku-ula for Waipio; two were assigned
for Honouliuii. Hani-o was the name of the ko'a
outside of Kalaeloa; Kua and Maunalahilahi for Waia-
nae; Kamalino for Waimea; and Kaihukuuna for Laie-
maloo, Koolau.

Aiai and his son also visited Kauai and Niihau on
this work, then they turned and went together to
Hawaii. The principal or most noted fishing-grounds
there are: Poo-a, Kahaka, and Olelomoana at Kona;
Kalae at Kau; Kupakea at Puna, and I at Hilo.

In former times at most of these fishing-grounds
were seen multitudes and varieties of fish, all around
the islands, and occasionally deep sea kinds came close
in shore, but in this new era there are not so many.
Some people say it is on account of the change of the
times.

XXIII

KANE AUK AI

A LEGEND OF WAIALUA

THOS. O. THRUM

T ONG ago, when the Hawaiians were in the dark-
^^ ness of superstition and kahunaism, with their
gods and lords many, there lived at Mokuleia,
Waialua, two old men whose business it was to prajr
to Kaneaukai for a plentiful supply of fish. These
men were quite poor in worldly possessions^ but
given to the habit of drinking a potion of awa after
their evening meal of poi and fish.

The fish that frequented the waters of Mokuleia
were the aweoweo, kala, manini, and many other
varieties that find their habitat inside the coral reefs.
Crabs of the white variety burrowed in the sand near
the seashore and were dug out by the people, young
and old. The squid also were speared by the skilful
fishermen, and were eaten stewed, or salted and sun-
dried and roasted on the coals. The salt likely came
from Kaena Point, from salt-water evaporation in the
holes of rocks so plentiful on that stormy cape. Or
it may have been made on the salt pans of Paukauwila,
near the stream of that name, where a few years ago

this industry existed on a small scale.

250

KANEAUKAI asi

But to return to our worshippers of Kaneaukai.
One morning on going out upon the seashore they
found a log of wood, somewhat resembling the human
form, which they took home and set in a corner of
their lowly hut, and continued their habit of praying
to Kaneaukai. One evening, after having prepared a
scanty supper of poi and salt, with perhaps a few
roasted kukui-nuts, as a relish, and a couple of cocoa-
nut cups of awa as their usual drink, they saw a
handsome young man approaching, who entered their
hut and saluted them. He introduced himself by
saying, ^'I am Kaneaukai to whom you have been
praying, and that which you have set up is my image;
you have done well in caring for it."

He sat down, after the Hawaiian custom, as if to
share their evening meal, which the two old men
invited him to partake of with them, but regretted the
scanty supply of awa. He said: '^Pour the awa back
into the bowl and divide into three.'* This they did
and at once shared their meal with their guest.

After supper Kaneaukai said to the two old men,
'^Go to Keawanui and you will get fish enough for the
present." He then disappeared, and the fishermen
went as instructed and obtained three fishes ; one they
gave to an old sorceress who lived near by, and the
other two they kept for themselves.

Soon after this there was a large school of fish
secured by the fishermen of Mokuleia. So abundant
were the fish that after salting all they could, there
was enough to give away to the neighbors; and even
the dogs had more than they desired.

251 HAWAIIAN FOJLK TALES .

Leaving the Mokulda people to the eo^ojment of
dieir unusual supply of fish, we inll turn to ^e abode
of two kahunas, who were also fish^m^t, living on
the south side of Wumea Valleyi Oahu. One morn*
ing, being out of fish, they went out into the harbw to
try their luck^ and casting their net they caught up a
calcareous stone about as large as a man's houl^ and a
pilot fish. They let the pilot fish go» and threw the
stone bade into the sea. Again they cast thdr net and
again they caught the stone and'the pilot fish ; arid so
agun at the third haul. At this they conduded that
the stone was a representative of some god. The
dder of the two said r ''Let us take tUs stone ashore
and set it up as an idol, but the pilot fish we will let
go/' So they did> setting it up on the turn of the
bluff on the south side of the harbor of Wwnea.
They built an inclosure about it and smoodied oflTtiie
rocky bluff by putting flat stones from the immediate
neighborhood about the stone idol thus strangely
found.

About ten days after the finding of the stone idol
the two old kahunas were sitting by their grass hut in
the dusk of the evening, bewailing the scarcity of fish,
when Kaneaukai himself appeared before them in the
guise of a young man. He told them that they had
done well in setting up his stone image, and if they
would follow his directions they would have a plendflii
supply offish. Said he, "Go to Mokuleia, and you
will find my wooden idol ; bring it here and set it up
alongside of my stone idol." But they demurred, as
it was a dark night and there were usually quicksands

KANEAUKAI 253

after a freshet in the Kamananui River. His answer
was, ^'Send your grandsons." And so the two young
men were sent to get the wooden idol and were told
where they could find it.

The young men started for Mokuleia by way of
Kaika, near the place where salt was made a few years
ago. Being strangers, they were in doubt about the
true way, when a meteor (^hoku kaoUle) appeared and
went before them, showing them how to escape the
quicksands. After crossing the river they went on to
Mokuleia as directed by Kaneaukai, and found the
wooden idol in the hut of the two old men. They
shouldered it, and taking as much dried fish as they
could carry, returned by the same way that they had
come, arriving at home about midnight.

The next day the two old kahunas set up the
wooden idol in the same inclosure with the stone rep-
resentative of Kaneaukai. The wooden image has
long since disappeared, having been destroyed, prob-
ably, at the time Kaahumanu made a tour of Oahu
after her conversion to Christianitv, when she issued
her edict to burn all the idols. But the stone idol
was not destroyed. Even during the past sixty years
offerings of roast pigs are known to have been placed
before it. This was done secretly for fear of the
chiefs, who had published laws against idolatry.

Accounts differ, various narrators giving the story
some embellishments of their own. So good a man
as a deacon of Waialua in telling the above seemed to
believe that, instead of being a legend it was true; for
an old man, to whom he referred as authority, said

a54 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

that one of the young men who went to Mokuleia and
brought the wooden idol to Wdmea was his own
grand&ther.

An aged resident of the locality gives this version:
Following the placement of their strangely found stone
these two men dreamed of Kaneaukai as a god in some
far-distant land, to whom they petitioned that he would
crown their labors with success by granting them a
piendflil supply of fish. Dreaming thus, Kaneaukai
revealed himself to them as being already at their
shore; that the stone which they had been permitted
to find and had honored by setting up at Kehauapuu,
was himself, in response to their petitions; and since
they had been faithful so far, upon continuance of the
same, and offerings thereto, they should ever after be
successful in their fishing. As if in confirmation of
this covenant, this locality has ever since been noted
for the periodical visits of schools of the anae-holo and
kala, which are prevalent from April to July, coming,
it is said, from Ohea, Honuaula, Maui, by way of
Kahuku, and returning the same way.

So strong was the superstitious belief of the people
in this deified stone that when, some twenty years
ago, the road supervisor of the district threw it over
and broke off a portion, it was prophesied that Kan-
eaukai would be avenged for the insult. And when
shortly afterward the supervisor lost his position and
removed from the district, returning not to the day of
his death; and since several of his relatives have met
untimely ends, not a few felt it was the recompense of
his sacrilegious act.

XXIV
THE SHARK-MAN, NANAUE

MRS. E. M. NAKUINA

TTAMOHOALII, the King-shark of Hawaii and
'-^ Maui, has several deep sea caves that he uses in
turn as his habitat. There are several of these at the
bottom of the palisades, extending from Waipio toward
Kohala, on the island of Hawaii. A favorite one was
at Koamano, on the mainland, and another was at
M aiaukiu, the small islet just abreast of the valley of
Waipio. It was the belief of the ancient Hawaiians
that several of these shark gods could assume any
shape they chose, the human form even, when occa-
sion demanded.

In the reign of Umi, a beautiful girl, called Kalei,
living in Waipio^ was very fond of shellfish, and
frequently went to Kuiopihi for her favorite article of
diet. She generally went in the company of other
women, but if the sea was a little rough, and h^r usual
companion was afraid to venture out on the wild and
dangerous beach, she very often went alone rather than
go without her favorite sea-shells.

In those days the Waipio River emptied over a low
fall into a basin partly open to the sea; this basin is
now completely filled up with rocks from some con-

^55

asS HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

▼ulsion of nature, which has happened since dien. In
this was « deep pool, « fiirorite bathing-place for all
Wupio. The King riiark god, KamohaaUi, used to
virit this pool very often to sport in the fresh waters
of the Wupio River. Taking into account the many
different tales told of the doings of this shark god, he
must have had quite an eye for human phyucal beauty.

Kald» as was to be expected ftoni a strongs weU-
formed Hawuian girl of those daysy was an expert
swimmer^ a good diver^ and noted for the neatness and
grace with which she would klekawa (jump from the
rocks into deep water) without any splashing of water,
which would happen to unskilfiil divers, from the
awkward attitudes they would assume in the act of
jumping.

It seems Kamohoalii, the King-shark^ had noted
the charms of the beautiful Kald^ and his heart, or
whatever answers in place of it with fishes, had been
captured by them. But he could not expect to make
much of an impression on the maiden's susceptibilities
in propria persona, even though he was perfectly able
to take her bodily into his capacious maw; so he must
needs go courting in a more pleasing way. Assuming
the form of a very handsome man, he walked on the
beach one rather rough morning, waiting for the girl's
appearance.

Now the very wildness of the elements afforded him
the chance he desired, as, though Kalei was counted
among the most agile and quick of rock-fishers, that
morning, when she did come, and alone, as her usual
companions were deterred by the rough weather, she

THE SHARK-MAN, NANAUE 257

made several unsuccessful springs to escape a high
threatening wave raised by the god himself; and
apparently, if it had not been for the prompt and
effective assistance rendered by the handsome stranger,
she would have been swept out into the sea.

Thus an acquaintance was established. Kalei met
the stranger from time to time, and finally became his
wife.

Some little time before she expected to become a
mother, her husband, who all this time would only
come home at night, told her his true nature, and
mforming her that he would have to leave her, gave
orders in regard to the bringing up of the future child.
He particularly cautioned the mother never to let him
be fed on animal flesh of any kind, as he would be
born with a dual nature, and with a body that he could
change at will.

In time Kalei was delivered of a fine healthy boy,
apparently the same as any other child, but he had,
besides the normal mouth of a human being, a shark's
mouth on his back between the shoulder blades.
Kalei had told her family of the kind of being her
husband was, and they all agreed to keep the matter
of the shark-mouth on the child's back a secret, as
there was no knowing what fears and jealousies might
be excited in the minds of the King or high chiefs by
such an abnormal being, and the babe might be killed.

The old grandfather, far from heeding the warning
given by Kamohoalii in the matter of animal diet, as
soon as the boy, who was called Nanaue, was old
enough to come under the taboo in regard to the eat-

asB HAWAIIAN FOLKTALES

ing of males, and had to take lus mtah at the mua
house with the men of the fiunilj, took espedal pains
to feed him on dog meat and pwk. He had a hope
that his grandson would grow up to be a great, strong
man, and become a fiunous warrior; and tiiere was no
knowing what possibilides lay before a strong, skilful
warrior in those days. So he fed the boy with meat,
whenever it was obtunable. The boy thrived, grew
strong, big, and handsome as a yiHing lama {Maia
sandwkensis) tree.

There was another pool with a small fell of the
Wupio River very near the house of Kalei, and the
boy very often went into it while his mother watched
on the banks. Whenever he got into die water he
would take the form of a shark and would chase and
eat the snudl fish which abounded in the pooL As he
grew old enough to • understand, his motiier took
especial pains to impress on him the necessity of con-
cealing his shark nature from other people.

This place was also another favorite bathing-place
of the people, but Nanaue, contrary to all the habits
of a genuine Hawaiian, would never go in bathing
with the others, but always alone; and when his
mother was able, she used to go with him and sit on
the banks, holding the kapa scarf, which he always
wore to hide the shark-mouth on his back.

When he became a man, his appetite for animal
diet, indulged in childhood, had grown so strong that
a human being's ordinary allowance would not suffice
for him. The old grandfather had died in the mean-
time, so that he was dependent on the food supplied

THE SHARKMAN, NANAUE as9

by his stepfather and uncles, and they had to expostu-
late with him on what they called his shark-like
voracity. This gave rise to the common native nick-
name of a manohae (ravenous shark) for a very glut-
tonous man, especially in the matter of meat.

Nanaue used to spend a good deal of his time in
the two pools, the one inland and the other opening
into the sea. The busy-bodies (they had some in
those days as well as now) were set to wondering why
he always kept a kihei^ or mantle, on his shoulders;
and for such a handsomely shaped, athletic young man,
it was indeed a matter of wonder and speculation, con-
sidering the usual attire of the youth of those days.
He also kept aloof from all the games and pastimes
of the young people, for fear that the wind or some
active movement might displace the kapa mantle, and
the shark-mouth be exposed to view.

About this time children and eventually grown-up
people began to disappear mysteriously.

Nanaue had one good quality that seemed to redeem
his apparent unsociability ; he was almost always to be
seen working in his mother's taro or potato patch
when not fishing or bathing. People going to the sea
beach would have to pass these potato or taro patches,
and it was Nanaue's habit to accost them with the
query of where they were going. If they answered,
"To bathe in the sea," or, "Fishing,** he would
answer, "Take care, or you may disappear head and
tail/* Whenever he so accosted any one it would not
be long before some member of the party so addressed
would be bitten by a shark.

a6o HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

If it should be a man or woman going to die beidi
alone, that person would never be seen again, as die
shark-man would immediately follow, and watching fiir
a favorable opportunity, jump into the sea. Having
previously marked the whereabouts of the person he
was after, it was an easy thing for him to approach
quite dose, and changing into a shark, rush on the
unsuspecting person and drag him or her down into
the deep, where he would devour his victim at his
leisure. This was the danger to humanity which his
king-father foresaw when he cautioned the mother c^
the unborn child about feeding him on animal flesh, as
thereby an appetite would be evoked which di^ had
no means of satisfying, and a human being would
flirnish the most handy meal of the kind that he
would desire.

Nanaue had been a man grown some time, when an
order was promulgated by Umi, King of Hawaii, for
every man dwelling in Waipio to go to koele work,
tilling a large plantation for the King. There were to
be certain days in an anahulu (ten days) to be set aside
for this work, when every man, woman, and child had
to go and render service, excepting the very old and
decrepit, and children in arms.

The first day every one went but Nanaue. He kept
on working in his mother's vegetable garden to the
astonishment of all who saw him. This was reported
to the King, and several stalwart men were sent after
him. When brought before the King he still wore his
kapa kiheiy or mantle.

The King asked him why he was not doing koele

THE SHARK-MAN, NANAUE 261

V70rk with every one else. Nanaue answered he did
not know it was required of him. Umi could not
help admiring the bold, free bearing of the handsome
man, and noting his splendid physique, thought he
would make a good warrior, greatly wanted in those
ages, and more especially in the reign of Umi, and
simply ordered him to go to work.

Nanaue obeyed, and took his place in the field with
the others, and proved himself a good worker, but
still kept on his kihei, which it would be natural to
suppose that he would lay aside as an incumbrance
when engaged in hard labor. At last some of the
more venturesome of the younger folks managed
to tear his kapa off, as if accidentally, when the
shark-mouth on his back was seen by all the people
near.

Nanaue was so enraged at the displacement of his
kapa and his consequent exposure, that he turned and
bit several of the crowd, while the shark-mouth
opened and shut with a snap, and a clicking sound
was heard such as a shark is supposed to make when
baulked by its prey.

The news of the shark-mouth and his characteristic
shark-like actions were quickly reported to the King,
with the fact of the disappearance of so many people
in the vicinity of the pools frequented by Nanaue ; and
of his pretended warnings to people going to the sea,
which were immediately followed by a shark bite or by
their being eaten bodily, with every one's surmise and
belief that this man was at the bottom of all those
disappearances. The King believed it was even so.

26a HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

iukI ordered > large fire to be lighted, and Nanaue tofl
be thrown in to be burnt alive.

When Nanaue saw what was before him, he called 1
on the shark god, hiafiither, to help him; then, seem-'j
ingto be endowed with superhuman strength in answer 1
to his pnqrer, he burst the ropes with which he had f
been bound in preparation for the burning, and break-
ing throu^ the throng of Uml's warriors, who
attempted to detain turn, he ran, followed by the
whole multitude, toward the pool that emptied into '
the sea. When he got to the edge of the rocks bor-
dering the pool, he waited ti!) the foremost persons '
were within arm's length, when he leaped into the ]
water and immediately turned into a large shark on '
the surface of the water, in plain view of the people ,
who had arrived, and whose numbers mre bang con-
tinually augmented by more and more arriv:^

He lay on the suHuce some little time, as if to
recover his breath, and then turned over on his back,
and raising his head partly out of the water, snapped
his teeth at the crowd who, by this rime, completely
lined the banks, and then, as if in derision or defiance
of them, turned and flirted his tail at them and swam
out to sea.

The people and chiefs were for killing his mother
and relatives for having brought up such a monster.
Kaiei and her brothers were seized, bound, and dragged
before Umi, while the people clamored for their
immediate execution, or as some suggested, that they
be thrown into the fire lighted for Nanaue.

But Umi was a wise king and would not consent to

THE SHARK-MAN, NANAUE 263

any such summary proceedings, but questioned Kalei
in regard to her fearful offspring. The grieved and
frightened mother told everything in connection with
the paternity and bringing up of the child, and with
the warning given by the dread sea-father.

Umi considered that the great sea god Kamohoalii
was on the whole a beneficent as well as a powerful
one. Should the relatives and mother of that shark
god's son be killed, there would then be no possible
means of checking the ravages of that son, who might
linger around the coast and creeks of the island, taking
on human shape at will, for the purpose of travelling
inland to any place he liked, and then reassume his
fish form and lie in wait in the many deep pools
formed by the streams and springs.

Umi, therefore, ordered Kalei and her relatives to
be set at liberty, while the priests and shark kahunas
were requested to make offerings and invocations to
Kamohoalii that his spirit might take possession of
one of his hakas (mediums devoted to his cult), and
so express to humanity his desires in regard to his bad
son, who had presumed to eat human beings, a practice
well known to be contrary to Kamohoalii's design.

This was done, whereupon the shark god manifested
himself through a haka, and expressed his grief at the
action of his wayward son. He told them that the
grandfather was to blame for feeding him on animal
flesh contrary to his orders, and if it were not for that
extenuating circumstance, he would order his son to
be killed by his own shark ofllicers ; but as it was, he
would require of him that he should disappear forever

a64 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

from the shores of Hawui. Should Nanaue disregard
that order and be seen by any of his Other's shark
soldiers, he was to be instantly killed.

Then the shark god, who it seems retained an
afiection for his hunmn mfe, exacted a promise that she
and her relatives were to be forever free from any
persecutions on account of her unnatural son, on pain
of the return and freedom from the taboo of that son.

Accordingly Nanaue left the bland of Hawaii,
crossed over to Maui, and landing at Kipahulu,
resumed his human shape and went inland. He was
seen by the people, and when questioned, told them
he was a traveller from Hawaii, who had landed at
Hana and was going around sightseeing. He was so
good looking, pleasant, and beguiling in his conversa-
tion that people generally liked him. He was taken
as aikane by one of the petty chiefs of the place, who
gave his own sister for wife to Nanaue. The latter
made a stipulation that his sleeping house should be
separated from that of his wife, on account of a
pretended vow, but really in order that his peculiar
second mouth might escape detection.

For a while the charms of the pretty girl who had
become his wife seem to have been sufficient to
prevent him from trying to eat human beings, but
after a while, when the novelty of his position as a
husband had worn off, and the desire for human flesh
had again become very strong, he resumed the old
practice for which he had been driven away from
Hawaii.

He was eventually detected in the very act of push-

THE SHARK-MAN, NANAUE 265

ing a girl into the sea, jumping in after her, then
turning into a shark, and commencing to devour her,
to the horror of some people who were fishing with
hook and rod from some rocks where he had not
observed them. These people nused the alarm, and
Nanaue seeing that he was discovered, left for
Molokai where he was not known.

He took up his residence on Molokai at Poniuohua,
adjoining the ahupuaa of Kainalu, and it was not very
long before he was at his old practice of observing and
accosting people, giving them his peculiar warning,
following them to the sea in his human shape, then
seizing one of them as a shark and pulling the unfor-
tunate one to the bottom, where he would devour his
victim. In the excitement of such an occurrence,
people would fail to notice his absence until he would
reappear at some distant point far away from the
throng, as if engaged in shrimping or crabbing.

This went on for some time, till the frightened and
harassed people in desperation went to consult a shark
kahuna, as the ravages of the man-eating shark had
put a practical taboo on all kinds of fishing. It was
not safe to be anywhere near the sea, even in the
shallowest water.

The kahuna told them to lie in wait for Nanaue,
and the next time he prophesied that a person would
be eaten head and tail, to have some strong men seize
him and pull off his kapa mantle, when a shark mouth
would be found on his back. This was done, and the
mouth seen, but the shark-man was so strong when
they seized him and attempted to bind him, that he

a66 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES '

broke away from them several times. He was finally
overpowered near the seashore and t^dy bound. AU
the people then turned their attention to gadiering
brush and firewood to bum him^ fi^r it was well known
that it is only by being totally consumed by fire that
a man^-sharic can be thoroughly destroyed, and
prevented from taking possession of the body of *some
harmless fish shark, who would then be indted to do
all the pernicious acts of a man-shark.

While he lay there on the low sandy beach, the dde
was coming in, and as most of the people were return-
ing with fiigots and brush, Nanaue made a supreme
»efibrt and rolled over so that his feet toudied the
water, when he was enabled at once to change into a
monster shark. Those who were near him saw i^ but
were not disposed to let him off so easily, and diey ran
several rows of netting makai, the water being very
shallow for quite a distance out The shark's flippers
were all bound by the ropes with which the man
Nanaue had been bound, and this with the shallowness
of the water prevented him from exerting his great
strength to advantage. He did succeed in struggling
to the breakers, though momentarily growing weaker
from loss of blood, as the people were striking at him
with clubs, spears, stone adzes and anything that
would hurt or wound, so as to prevent his escape.

With all that, he would have got clear, if the people
had not called to their aid the demigod Unauna, who
lived in the mountains of upper Kainalu. It was then
a case of Akua vs. Akua, but Unauna was only a
young demigod, and not supposed to have acquired

THE SHARK-MAN, NANAUE 267

his full strength and supernatural powers, while
Nanaue was a full-grown man and shark. If it had
not been for the latter's being hampered by the cords
with which he was bound, the nets in his way, as well
as the loss of blood, it is fa !ly believed that he would
have got the better of the young local presiding deity ;
hut he was finally conquered and hauled up on the hill
slopes of Kainalu to be burnt.

The shallow ravine left by the passage of his
immense body over the light yielding soil of the
Kainalu Hill slope can be seen to this day, as also a
ring or deep groove completely around the top of a
tall insulated rock very near the top of Kainalu Hill,
around which Unauna had thrown the rope, to assist
him in hauling the big shark uphill. The place was
ever afterwards called Puumano (Shark Hill), and is
so known to this day.

Nanaue was so large, that in the attempt to burn
him, the blood and water oozing out of his burning
body put out the fire several times. Not to be out-
witted in that way by the shark son of Kamohoalii,
Unauna ordered the people to cut and bring for the
purpose of splitting into knives, bamboos from the
sacred grove of Kainalu. The shark flesh was then
cut into strips, partly dried, and then burnt, but the
whole bamboo grove had to be used before the big
shark was all cut. The god Mohoalii (another form
of the name of the god Kamohoalii), father of Unauna,
was so angered by the desecration of the grove, or more
likely on account of the use to which it was put, that
he took away all the edge and sharpness from the

268 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

bamboos of this grove forever^ and to diis day thejr
are difierent firom , the bamboos of any other place or
grove on the islands, in this particular, that a piece of
them cannot cut any more than any piece of common
wood.

XXV

FISH STORIES AND SUPERSTITIONS

TRANSLATED BY M. K. NAKUINA

'T^HE following narration of the different fishes
^ here given is told and largely believed in by
native fishermen. All may not agree as to particulars
in this version, but the main features are well known
and vary but little. Some of these stories are termed
mythical, in others the truth is never questioned, and
together they have a deep hold on the Hawaiian mind.
Further and confirmatory information may be obtained
from fishermen and others, and by visiting the market
the varieties here mentioned may be seen almost daily.
In the olden time certain varieties of fish were
tabooed and could not be caught at all times, being
subject to the kapu of Ku-ula, the fish god, who
propagated the finny tribes of Hawaiian waters.
While deep sea fishing was more general, that in the
shallow sea, or along shore, was subject to the restric-
tions of the konohiki of the land, and aliis, both as to
certain kinds and periods. The sign of the shallow
sea kapu was the placing of branches of the hau tree
all along the shore. The people seeing this token of
the kapu respected it, and any violation thereof in

ancient times was said to be punishable by death.

269

ayo HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES .

While this kapu prevailed the people resetted to the
deep sea stations for their food si:^pl7. With the
removal of the hau branches^ indicating ^t the kapu
was lifted, the people fished as they desired, sutject
only to the makahild taboo days of the priest or alii,
when no canoes were allow^ to go out upon the wafer.
The first fish caught by a fishernum, or any one
else, was marked and dedicated to Ku-ula. After this
offering was made, Ku-ula*s right therdn being thus
recognized, they were free from further oblations so far
as that particular variety of fish was concerned. All
fishermen, from Hawui to Niihau, observed this
custom religiously. When the fishermen caught a
large supply, whether by the net, hook, or shell, but
one of a kind, as just stated, was resenr^ as an ofifer-
ing to Ku-ula; the remainder was then free to the people.

DEIFIED FISH SUPERSTITION

Some of the varieties of fish we now eat were deified
and prayed to by the people of the olden time, and even
some Hawaiians of to-day labor under like superstition
with regard to sharks, eels, oopus, and some others.
They are afraid to eat or touch these lest they suffer in
consequence; and this belief has been perpetuated,
handed down from parents to children, even to the
present day. The writer was one of those brought up
to this belief, and only lately has eaten the kapu fish
of his ancestors without fearing a penalty therefor.

STORY OF THE ANAE-HOLO

The anae-holo is a species of mullet unlike the
shallow water, or pond, variety; and the following

FISH STORIES AND SUPERSTITIONS 271

story of its habit is well known to any kupa (native
born) of Oahu.

The home of the anae-holo is at Honouliuli, Pearl
Harbor, at a place called Ihuopalaai. They make
periodical journeys around to the opposite side of the
island, starting from Puuloa and going to windward,
passing successively Kumumanu, Kalihi, Kou, Kalia,
Waikiki, Kaalawai and so on, around to the Koolau
side, ending at Laie, and then returning by the same
course to their starting-point. This fish is not caught
at Waianae, Kaena, Waialua, Waimea, or Kahuku
because it does not run that way, though these places
are well supplied with other kinds. The reason given
for this is as follows:

Ihuopalaai had a Ku-ula, and this fish god supplied
anaes. Ihuopalaai's sister took a husband and went
and lived with him at Laie, Koolauloa. In course of
time a day came when there was no fish to be had. In
her distress and desire for some she bethought herself
of her brother, so she sent her husband to Honouliuli
to ask Ihuopalaai for a supply, saying: "Go to
Ihuopalaai, my brother, and ask him for fish. If he
offers you dried fish, refuse it by all means; — do not
take it, because the distance is so long that you would
not be able to carry enough to last us for any length
of time."

When her husband arrived at Honouliuli he went
to Ihuopalaai and asked him for 6sh. His brother-in-
law gave him several large bundles of dried fish, one
of which he could not verv well lift, let alone carrv a
distance. This offer was refused and reply given

1272 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

according to instraction. Ihuopalaai sat thinking for
some time and then told him to return home> saying:
*^ You take the road on the Kona side of the island;
do not sit, stay, nor sleep on the way till you reach
your own house/'

The man started as directed, and Ihuopalaai asked
Ku-ula to send fish for his sister, and while the man
was journeying homeward as directed a school of fish
was following in the sea, within the breakers. He did
not obey fully the words of Ihuopalaai, for he became
so tired that he sat down on the way; but he noticed
that whenever he did so the fish rested too. The
people seeing the school of fish went and caught some
of them. Of course, not knowing that this was his
supply, he did not realize that the people were"t|iking
his fish. Reaching home, he met his wife and told her
he had brought no fish, but had seen many all the
way, and pointed put to her the school of anae-holo
which was then resting abreast of their house. She
told him it was their supply, sent by Ihuopalaai, his
brother-in-law. They fished, and got all they desired,
whereupon the remainder returned by the same way
till they reached Honouliuli where Ihuopalaai was liv-
ing. Ever afterward this variety of fish has come and
gone the same way every year to this day, commencing
some time in October and ending in March or April.

Expectant mothers are not allowed to eat of the
anae-holo, nor the aholehole, fearing dire consequences
to the child, hence they never touch them till after the
eventful day. Nor are these fish ever given to children
till they are able to pick and eat them of their own accord.

FISH STORIES AND SUPERSTITIONS 273

MYTH OF THE HILU

The hilu is said to have once possessed a human
form, but by some strange event its body was changed
to that of a fish. No knowledge of its ancestry or
place of origin is given, but the story is as follows:

Hilu-ula and Hilu-uli were born twins, one a male
and the other a female. They had human form, but
with power to assume that of the fish now known as
hilu. The two children grew up together and in due
time when Hilu-uli, the sister, was grown up, she left
her brother and parents without saying a word and
went into the sea, and, assuming her fish form, set out
on a journey, eventually reaching Heeia, Koolaupoko.
During the time of her journey she increased the num-
.bers of the hilu so that by the time they came close to
Heeia there was so large a school that the sea was red
with them. When the people of Heeia and Kaneohe
saw this, they paddled out in their canoes to discover
that it was a fish they had never seen nor heard of
before. Returning to the shore for nets, they sur-
rounded the school and drew in so many that they
were not able to care for them in their canoes. The
fishes multiplied so rapidly that when the first school
was surrounded and dragged ashore, another one
appeared, and so on, till the people were surfeited.
Yet the fish stayed in the locality, circling around.
The people ate of them in all styles known to
Hawaiians; raw, lawalued, salted, and broiled over a
fire of coals.

While the Koolau people were thus fishing and

174 HAWAIIAN FOLK TALES

fcMMdng^ Hila-uhy the brother, arriyed among them in
hb human form; and when he saw the hilu-uli Inoiling
over the coal fire he reoc^nized the fish form of his
sister* This so angered him that heassomed die form
of a whirlwind and entered ewtxf house where they had
hiln airid Uew the fish all back into die sea. Since
then the hiln-nli has daric scales, and is well known all
over the isknds.

THB HOU» OR SNORING FISH

The hou lives in shallow water. When fislungmth
torches on a quiet, still night, if one gets dose to
where it is sleeping it will be heard to snore as if it
were a human bdng. This is a small, beautifully
colored fish. Certain sharks also, sleeping in shallow
water, can be heard at dmes indulging in the same
habit

There are many kinds of fish known to these
islands, and other stories connected with them, which,
if gathered together, would make an interesting collec-
tion of yarns as *' fishy" as any country can produce.

THE END

GLOSSARY OF
HAWAIIAN WORDS

GLOSSARY OF HAWAIIAN WORDS

AAH

SMb$^ p. 142.
sbsMiMM, feasty p. 150.
Mbisbis, p. 135.
Mb$liMi^ a ipeciet of fish.
sb$Sf ftiiull sticks used in thatch*

«g. P- 245-
Abu $ KMkMMUnn^ the name given

to the original feather cloak»

P- «$5.
MbMfMMM^ a small division of a

country under the care of a

head man.
Mbuuld^ a feather cloak^ p. 155.
At KsMsks^ man eater, p. 191.
siksMf, an intimate friend of the

same sex, p. 264.
AtMM-i kM'kMap§'$-KMmi (the land

in the heart of Kane)» the

primeval home of mankind,

p. «7.
AtMS kumtipMaM s KsMi^ see Kmm-

Asms UtienM m Ksiti^ p. 24.
AiMa-wss-akMU'M' Ksm (the land

of the divine water of Kane),

the primeval home of man*

kind, p. 17.
MiprntpuM^ chief cook or steward,

p. 141.

APA

skssksp laughter, p. 118.

skm^ a species of fish, the bonito.

Mkus, a deity, p. 1 84.

skuli^ a species of fish.

tfZf, a smooth, round stone.

ski, mud-hens, p. 33.

sUiM^ red earth, of which the
body of the first man wu
made, p. 16.

Alibt-ka-ld^ sun snarer, pu 3 2.

slit, chief.

Aiii Mm0kiip sovereign of the land.

sUbs, a word betokening greet-
ing or farewell.

AUba im$ #/, iU ib$9ii psbs $i i
mski £1, ki MS mssMii Pili^
Compassion great to you!
Close here, perhaps, is your
death; Pele comes devour-
ing, p. 40.

Ahbs #// Alu for you! p. 41.

MMMf-b§l$9 p. 370.

MMMbulMf a period of ten days.
Amm pubi, eel's cave, p. 188.

SM0 skits MMi, p. 5 I .

A9U! no! p. 40.
s§ /#i#, short cloud, p. 207.
spspsmi (or spspsMi), a scarlet
bird, p. 182.

*77

ayS

GLOSSARY

' (

A-PE

#•/#, a pltQt having broad leaves

of an acrid tute, Hke kalo,

bat ttronger.
MtUp the ki leaf (DrMc^^na tir^

miBsBs)^ p. 119.
Aumaktis, ancestral shades^ p. 93 ;

god, p. aao.
anfihi, p. aao*
sMwsi, waterconne, p. no.
jlmef is tfsh/ alas, he is dead !

p. 176*

MM, the name of a plant of a
tntter, aoid taste, from which
an intoxicating drinkismade;
also the name of die liqnor
itself^ expressed from the
root of the plant.

amama, a spedes of reddish fish.

Eia Hana la be aina aupehu;
Hana keia i ka ia iki; ka ia
Kama; ka ia LanakOa,
p. 220.

EUpaio, a small green bird {^Cha-
ste mpis sandtoubemis), p.
125.

ba^ the lower stem ofleaves when
cut from the root, p. 114.

baawe, back-load, p. 126.

baka, a medium devoted to the
cult of a god, p. 263.

ba/a tree (Pandanus odoratissi-
muj), p. 121.

ba/au, shed, p. 113.

HOK

ban, a forest tree — a species of

hibiscus; also, die bark of

this tree from which ropes

are made.
bt ih/M mU 9 ka /t, the third

brightness of the sun, p. 204.
bei infuMg wonderfbl octopns,

p. 234.
biiaHf temple.

bi hibiMM b^nud s Kane, p. 1 5.
bi ^liikMbMU, p. 19.
Hi LmoUm n9 Ns */ii, a deep pit

for the chiefs, p. 241.
bi msM MUdbmlu, about thirty

days.
Hi pi hiiksbi, -a mo mm pMM, in one

night, and by dawn it is

finished, p. 109.
Hi WMM baldM AUi kM MfikM,

the royal vessel, the ark, p.

20.
biaku, name of a place in the sea

beyond the kaiuli, and inside

the kohola, p. 242.
Hi-ka-po-Zoa, Most Excellent, p.

Hi/Of the first day (of the new

moon), p. 75.
bi/u, a species of fish, spotted

with various colors, p. 273.
binabina, leaves of a gray or

withered appearance, p. 98.
binalea, a spedes of small fish.
bokeo, a fisherman's gourd.
boku kaolele, a meteor, p. 253.

GLOSSARY

HOL

btluM, sled.

boMMf lea turtle^ p. 183.
boMf a species of fish, p. 274.
buUf drum.

iV/Vy the leaves of the ie, a deco-
rative vine.

iiwif a small red bird.

/ ka mult He 4, p. 24.

Ikiki, a summer month — July or
August, p. 74.

I kiMi akud, spirits, angels.

IkMn, a winter month — Decem-
ber or January, p. 74.

I kttbMU^ the spittle of the gods,
p. 18.

iUh ha i ka fo^ p. 1 8.

Hi baUt the bark of the hau tree
horn which ropes are made,
p. 218.

i7/#, dog.

/ mea #//, nothing.

/Mfir, oven.

iwi kuam$$^ the backbone.

ka aina i ka bauf a Kant^ p.

ka aina mom^na a Kane, p. 24.
kaa$, legend -bearer, p. 108.
ka b§lua ana $ Kabawali, Kaha-
wali*s sliding- place, p. 39.
kahut keeper, p. 188.
kahuna lafaau, medical prie»t,

P- S3-
Kaiakabtna/ii, the Flood, p. 20.

279

KAN
/Ldi a Kabina/ii, Sea of Kahina-

laa, p. 37.
kai-uIaa-Kane, the Red Sea of

Kane, p. 24.
kaiu/i, the deep sea.
kai waena, middle post (of a

house), p. 223.
Kakeiekeli, hydropathic cure, p.

126.
kala, a species of fish.
Ka lae ka ilio, the dog*s fore.

head, p. 240.
Ka lae ka iaau^ p. 240.
Kaiana-i baU'$la (Kalana with the

life-giving dew), the prime.

val home of mankind, p.

i<f/#, the well-known vegetable of
Hawaii, a species of Arum
esculent nm; C$l§eMsia antiqu-
erum, p. 131.

kamaainas, original inhabitants,
p. 140.

kamani tree, CaUfbyllum inefbjl-
lum, p. 72.

kanaka, a man; the general name
of men, women, and children
of all classes, in distinction
from animals.

Kanaka-maeli, the people living
on the mainland of Kane
(Ama kumufnaa a Kane),
p. 22.

Kane, sunlight, p. 15.

kanek$a, a deity, p. 1 84.

aSo

GLOSSARY

KAN

Xm*-Im'kS, die fiUka duef, he
yriw M on aoGomit of the

KMniiau, lamenttdoii, p. i8i.

ka $tn imnki # Xmfg, p. 14.

kafa,.iht dodi betlai from the
btrk (rf* die peper mulbcny,
•lio from the beifc of leveral
odier trees; hence, doth of
toy khidi dotUag fenerelly .

KupMfMbmnmuMkM^ "die iiland
bearing toA or ttntmn, p*

i4p$i ii§ k^ muMt p. ss.

k^4f$mt99 Hoed or holy dtyi ,

Ai^fffa» dw stttoratioa to life of

die dead, p. 151.
JSTtf PunaboM, the new spring, p.

37.
Kauakiotoao, Mountain Mist, p.

>33-
Kauatoaabiia^ Waahila Rain, p.

"33-
kau i ka lele, p. 209.

ka-foai'oia-ioa'a-Kanet p. 23.

^iffi^f/fn^//f, guiding -ropes, p. 1 1 5.

Keakeomilu^ the liver of Milu,
p. 56.

keawemanbili^ a deity, p. 1 84.

Keinoboomanatoanuif a sloven, one
persistently unclean, p. 88.

KepoJua-abi, the pit of fire, in-
ferno, p. 18.

KON

Ki Mi mi MM U 9hM^ I grieve lor
you two, p. 41.

i/, a phmt ha^g a tacduunae
root, the leaves of which are
used fer wrapfMng up boncDM
of food$ the leaves are also
used as feod for catde and
fer thatching*

kibeit a mande worn over die
shoulders.

iiAr, play, or game, p. 1 ay.

k§M tree, AcmcU iM.

h^M Mma MMmskMM, fishiag-stadon,
p. 129.

k§*M ia, fishing-station.

h^a kM-mk, p. 227.

kt^Mltmais, fishing-station, p. 2 a 2.

kMii, same as k^wsM.

kMff fitting men, p. 157.

koeU, a small division of land;
hence, a field planted by the
tenants for a landlord; a
garden belonging to the
chief, but cultivated by his
people, p. 260.

kobpUf a reef.

kolea, plover, p. 71.

kona, a severe storm that comes
up from the equator, p.
183.

konane, a game like checkers.

Konobiki, feudal lord, a hesd man
with others under him.

konobili, wife of a feudal lord, p.

87.

GLOSSARY

a8i

KOU

hu, a large shade tree growing
mostly near the tea, p. 1 6 1 .

knoali^ convulvulut vine, a swing
made of these vines, p. 46.

Ku^ Substance.

ku^ arose, p. 24.

kitsbs, a stone-paved platform,
p. 156.

Km- KsmS' Ksbi, a triad — the Fun-
damental Supreme Unity, p.

15-
MtMt, trained runner.

kah, to wish, to lust, p. 89.

iuki/i tree, J/f&rites m$//iH'c4iM£,

p. 88.
Ktilu'ifo, the fidlen chief, he who

fell on account of the tree,

p. 17.
ki/mi/kabi, east wind, p. 41.
KMrnM-nU, the fallen tree, he who

fell on account of the tree,

p. 17.
kufa, native bom person, p. 271.
KufMfan PuMfebe, Tomb of

Puupehe, p. 181.
kufus, demigod, p. 43,
ku'uU, fishing- sution.

Ldi, cape (of land), p. 148.

U-i leaves, dracaena leaves.

Uka los^ p. 2 1 6,

Ul$ pubsks^ p. 16.

lams, a forest tree ( Makd land-
toUensh) which has very
hard wood, p. 258.

LUA

i4MSf floating, p. 20.

laMaif arbor, p. 1 50.

Uut four hundred, p. 1 90.

Uueie^ a species of turnip.

iswalm, to cook meat on the coals

wrapped in ki leaves, p. 1 47.
lib$, kauri sheU.
ifb$MU, a species of leho of a red

color, a red shell- fish.
libus tree» MetrQsiJiros flymn"'

fbs.
ieiomMM$f shark's tooth weapon,

p. 203.
/Wi, wreaths.
////, p. 1 50.
/r//i#iM, to jump horn the rocks

into deep water, p. 256.
UU k$wslt, p. 46.
Lelifud, arrow flight, p. 88.
Ufo ula, red earth, of which the

body of the first man was

made, p. 16.
liU at kona •la a make ibo la, p. 5 5.
limu, sea-moss, p. 24a.
L0 Aikanaka, the last of the man-
eating chiefs.
UmiUmi, to rub or chafe the body.
£#»«, Sound.
lua, killing by breaking the bones,

p. 142.
Lua • MUm, the nether world, p.

46.

luan, the kalo leaf; bmled berba;
young kalo leaves gathered
and cooked for food.

282

GLOSSARY

ma, a syllable signifymg accoxn.

pying, together, etc., p. 54,
maika, the name of a popular

game; also, the stone used for

rolling in that game, p. 157.
mat ka po mia, from the time of

night, darkness, chaos, p.

mat, komo mat, p- 78.

maile, Alyxia olivaeformis, p. 1 20;

fine-leaved variety, Maile

Ian Hi, p. 95.
makaba, floodgates, p. 142.
makabelei, drawn eyes, p. 1 20.
makabiki, the name of the first

day of the year, p. 270.
makai, seaward, p. 217.
Makakebau, Misty Eyes, p. 182.
malailua, goats without horns,

such as were found on Mauna

Loa, p. 24.
malau, a place in the sea where

the water is still and quiet;

a place where the bait for

the aku or bonito is found,

p. 246.
maloSf girdles worn by the males,
mamani, p. 1 73.
manaiaakalani, p. 218.
mana kupua, miraculous power,

p. 215.
manaiva ole, in no time, p. i lo;

in a short time, p. 113.
manienie-akiakif a medicinal grass

of the olden time, p. 135.

OHI

martini, a species of fish caught

by diving, p. 250.
mano, dam, p. no.
manobae, a ravenous shark, p.

259.
maoH, a species of banana; che

long, dark-colored plantain,

p. 150.
mauka, inland.
Milu, inferno.
Mei, sovereign, p. 186.
moi, a species of fish of a white

color.
meo, a general name for all lizards,

a serpent.
Moo-kapu, sacred lands, p. 210.
mua, p. 258.

Na akua aumakun ka poe kabuna

kalai waa, p. 216.
nae, the farther side, p. 116.
na-u, jessamine, gardenia.
noa, pertaining to the lower class

of people, p. 135.

O haehae ka manu, ke ale net ka
wai, p. 95.

ohelo, a species of small reddish
berry; the Hawaiian whor-
tleberry, p. 182.

ohia, native apple.

ohia hemoleie, the sacred apple-
tree, p. I 7.

obiki-makaioa, long-eyed sand-
crabs, p. 70.

GLOSSARY

^83

OHU

obua^ the ntme given to the ycmng

of the manini fish.
O/-/9 Most EzceUent, p. 15.
Oi$, p. 48.
9io, a ipeciet offish.
99 » digger, p. 52.
99fii, a species of small fish living

in fresh water rivers and

ponds.
•fat, a small fish; a shrimp; a crab.
opibi'helt^ a species of shell -fish,

p. 124.
•pibis^ shell -fish, p. 70.

pa, wall, p. 157.
pa^ fish-hook, p. 247.
pa bi akny fish -pearl.
paboa, stone hatchet.
faboeboe, smooth, shining lava.
pabonua, place of refuge, p. 1 56.
pab§9la, a remnant, a piece, p.

S6.
pabu iaeie, p. 186.
paiula, the royal red kapa of old,

pakai, an herb used for food in

time of scarcity.
pakiti, a house joined to a house

above — that is, a tower, p.

158.
pala, ripe, soft; also, as a noun,

a vegeuble used as food in

time of scarcity.
pa/f, a director, p. 115.
pa/i\ precipice.

POI

Pali'ttli (the blue mountain), the

primeval home of mankind,

p. 17.
paloh, whitish clay, of which the

head of the first man was

made, p. 16.
pani, t stoppage, a closing up,

that which stops or closes.
papa b^lua, a flat sled, p. 40.
pa-M, skirt.
piboib^i loa, p. 206.
////, the long, coarse grass used in

thatching houses, p. 158.

/'>'>'. P- 54-

po, night, chaos, pp. i 5, 49.

poe poi'ubane, spirit catchers, p.
129.

pobaku'ia, fish stone, p. 241.

/i//, the pute or pudding which
was formerly the chief food
of the Hawaiians, and ttill
is so to a great eztent. It
is made of kalo, sweet pota-
toes, or breadfruit, but most-
ly of kalo, by baking the
above articles in an under-
ground oven, and then peel-
ing or pounding them, add-
ing a little water; it it then
left in a mau to ferment;
after fermentation, it is again
worked over with more water
until it has the conttstencv
of thick paste. It is eaten
cold with the fingers.

284

GLOSSARY

Po-ia-miiu, inferao, p. 1 8.

Po'kifii'kim, inferno, p. 1 8.

Po-kua-kini, inferno, p. i8.

po 9 akua, p. 205.

Po-papa-ia-owa, inferno, p. 18.

Po'paU'oUf inferno, p. 18.

popoloy a plant sometimes eaten in
times of scarcity, also used
as a medicine.

poubana^ end post (of a house).

poumanut comer post (of a house),
p. 210.

pou manUt comer post (of a
house), p. 223.

pu^ head, p. 115.

puaa^ a hog, p. 16.

pubala, the hala tree, p. 233.

pubi, eel, sea snake.

puboioboio, to cook (food) by roll-
ing with hot stones in a cov-
ered gourd, p. 135.

puioulou^ sign of kapu, p. 119.

funl ka bUmoe, p. 8 1 .

fuoa, a burial tower, p. 1 48.

Reinga, the leaping place, p. 50.

tapa, p. 1 44.

Ua, rain, p. 169.
ua baki ka pule, p. 208.
tieue, bait, p. 225.
ubae ia, p. 134.

WIL

t/bitp a species of fish about the

size of the salmon, p. 241.
Mki, a plant or shrub tomedmet

used in thatching; a species

of grass, p. 98.
It kit, a species offish.
U/m kapu a Kam, the breadfhdt

tabooed for Kane, p. 1 7.
U9, a part of the process of feather

cloak making, p. 155.
uwau, a species of bird; a kind of

waterfowK

waa, canoe, p. 194.

waa balaw, see He wms be^Un AlU

9 ka Mekti.
Wai a Hiku, water of Hiku, p.

WaUkoha^ p. 192.

Wat nae, the spittle of the gods,
p. 16.

waoke, banana, p. 79.

fVawa ka Menebune i PmukapeU,
ma Kauai, pwbu ka maim 9
ka hke # Kawainui ma K99'
Uup9k9, Oabu, the hum of
the voices of the Menehanet
at Pttukapele, Kauai, startled
the birds of the pond of
Kawainui, at Koolaupoko,
Oahu, p. III.

toiiitoili tree, Erjtbriua m9n9*
sperma, p. 121.

THE HAWAIIAN ANNUAL

HV THOMAS <;. THRUM

TH I S publication
issued regularly
since 1875, has
long since been
gi\ en first place for its
varied amount of reliable
information pertaining to
Hawaii, and is the recog-
nized reference book in
official and commercial
circles, appealing alike to
all others seeking knowl-
edge of this interesting
'I'erritory in statistical, his-
torical and current progress,
as more is to be found in
the Annual that can be had
in anv other source.

SOME PRESS comments:

"Till- iHHik is n iMiiislnkJMg compilation of facts an<l infiiriDatiiin of the
uriMU'St valui'. . Il ^nii|>ly sustains ils if|>iil.itii>n as iht- lifM piihliiatioii in
I'listi-nri' In pnl intu tli>- li:ni<ls ni iinyoiK.- wisfiitiK >u kimw the preSL-nt status ul

"A nliwl ciinvriii.-nt c.mu>i-iuliiim ul i[it..rmal

■n ;i1.ol:1 malU-rs iHAii.j; lo

l)i<' Hauiiiian Ishinils. . . All sorts <>t vl.iti->ti<s .

r<- lii-ri- |>rrst:nlt.-il. and murh

kiuiu li-i1^c of iliv Isl.inds in^iv Ik- ;:.iiiit-<l iroin tlii<.

-ni.- ^A»f to tl.^ .oumrv of this pul.li. iiiion

s ,1 r<-liiil>lf Minn-f of infurnia-

tlon li^is Ui-n liilK mui;iii/c<l for >t'ars ;inil i

s iitiljiy a|.iwft-mlv imicaMrs

wiihimf."

-It is.i|>ii1>ti.-,itio>i iiiv.tluiil)l<<i[) tuoiiii|x>Tla[i

«»vs-tlu-fiirnisliiiiK U t..r-

f.-.l iii1otniali..n alwni tin- H..».iiiiiti Islamls i.> ilu-

oiJtcr *..rl.l. an.} t.ilfil'iiiK tfit

Itliu-tioiis of .1 lomiirt-hfiisiM- refi-n-nie Imh.U to jr-i

|.lc o1 all ralliiiK-^."

■■Ili.U'lK-lisil.k- as .. work or r.-lert-n.-r on i-vi-rv

.m.r il.sk aiKt lil.rarv lal.W

111 tlir T< rtilor> . .mil im^lit 1.. U- |<l.l<-<.-<l vMvnsivH

al.foail ■■

-Kvt^rv |>.i);t- l>-(.-iiis with iiLiIliT iiilLTi-sliiiK am

ii,stru<liv« not .mlv to ,h.«e

.i1>ro,i.1 M"-'kinK int.irm.iiinn. I.til .l^o lo iIil- ri.'>i.l<-ii

-11 i-i i-vtr .1 siiti-.i.i.i.irv «..tk. . . As.i

1 tlu- Annuals Kiv«i,,-..n.-i-e

il whiL-fi ha!, in this »ji>

/'iihli'/tfti i-a, h J\'irmbir fcr Ihr /,'/h-.,iiig rrar: .V ni, paptr. t>/ joo ,-r
iiii'fi- pagfs. 7.1 ffiiti pfr ii'Py: by mail in eenls extra.

THOS. Q, THRUM, Compiler and Publisher

HoNOHl.t'. T. I!

iH'

a84

GLOSSARY

ft-iM-miiM, inftnto, p. 1 8,
/'oiM-iM'. infenw. p. t8.
F»-itd-iiMlt iaftmo, p. iS.
f» § 4hut p. Z05.
Pt-p^'U-tm4, inftno, p. tS.
Pt-f4m-tk, lafemo, p. tS.
t^>9h, s plant w wae ili nw eaten la
tuDCt of icaruii y a uso Qied

f t m bm i t, end pMt (ofa iiOBie).
/ wwM W, corser po« (<rf't hone),

p. XIO. '

/M • MMW, comer poM (of a
hooe). p. 113.

/«.haHt,p. 115.

jMrM, a kogt p. 16.

fwhsU, Ae bala tree, p. 1331

fah^ vA, •« laake,

fkhtUMt, to co(A (food) 17 roll-
ing with hot (tone* in a cov-
ered gourd, p. 155.

fMUubn, sign of kapu, p. 119.

funi ka bUmM, p. 8 1 .

ftud, a buriti tower, p. 148.

Rtinga, [he leaping plice, p. 50.

«/*, p. 14+.

U*. rain, p. 169.
ta haki kA fule, p. 308.
utai, bait, p. 115.
ubet ie, p. 1 34.

WIL

wha, a ipecies of fish tboui the \

rise of the nltnon, p. 241.
nhit*. fdant or ihrub lomeumee I

Died in thatddng; a ipcdea I

of grau, p. 98.
viF*, a ipeciea of bh.
Vh k^ Ksni, the bretdfniit I

tabooed for Kane, p. 1 7
M, apartof tbeprftccjaorrMcher -j

doak makbg, p. 1 ; $.
*mMUt a ^eciea of bird \ ■ kind of \
1.

«M, caBoe, p. 194.

WM ttbm, MC Ht wet haUu ABi
* ht MtiM. .

W4a a Hitm, water of Hilcu, p. ]
44.

IFththUa, p. 191.

IFai naa, the ipitde of the godi,
p. 16.

wetkt, banana, p. 79.

Watott ke Mtnthnni i PuakaptU,
ma Kauai, pnabu ka m*nm t
ka l»k» Q Kawainui ma Ktt-
iaufaka, Oaba, the hum of
the voices of the Menehunei
at Puukapele, Kauai, itirtled
the birds of the pond of
Kawainiii, at Koolaupoko,
0«hu, p. tit.

miliwHi tree, Erjtbrina mtnt-
iptrma, p. 111.

THE HAWAIIAN ANNUAL

HV THOMAS I,, THRUM

TH 1 S publication
issued regularly
since 1875, has
long since been
given first place for its
varied amount of reliable
information pertaining to
Hawaii, and is the recog-
nized reference book m
official and commercial
circles, appealing alike to
all others seeking knowl-
edge of this interesting
Territory in statistical, his-
torical and current progress,
as more is to be found in
the Annual that can be had
in anv other source.

SOME PRESS comments:

■■Jill' iMHik is a luiinstakiri); compile lion of iactj aiiJ iiii»rnialii>n i)i the
i^rt'.ili'M viiltx*. . Il 4iii|>lv sust:iiiis ils if|mt;ttiiin as tht- iH-yt |»il>lii;<li(>n in
<'xiMt-iuvl"|Mit iiTto Ihi'lianilsiit anvr.m- uisliitiK t.> know lUr t>r<^s<:nt status m

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.I'A.iii.iti l.ilt-s. .in<l «-hi<-h Im> in this wav Iwn
>r till- tiiiiiic hisiori.in. "

/'iii-li>k.J ,:t. h Ih-ituibf ht l/if/olhuingyfat: .1 :i'. /vi/Vr. .•/ ji«> ,<t
III i'n- /><!/; IS. -^ irnl' /trr fii/iv: bv mail li> ifnls fxira.

THOS.Ci. IHRUM, C;(>mpilcr and IVUxsW^

HoS(>\.VV.V,"\.\\

THE BORROVER VIU BE CHARCEDI

ANOVlJlrH;EFFTl^^nlslMXlKl^^;()T^

RETl'RNED 7( >

lithORE Till -

HFLOtt NON K.

NOTILKS DUt> :ni»i i.M.MEi II

BORROWER FROM OVERDUE ffcES-

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Full text of "Hawaiian Folk Tales: A Collection of Native Legends"

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