Fornander collection of Hawaiian antiquities and folk-lore, Volume 1 (of 3) : $b The Hawaiians' account of the formation of their islands and origin of their race, with the traditions of their migrations, etc., as gathered from original sources
History
Fornander collection of Hawaiian antiquities and folk-lore, Volume 1 (of 3) : $b The Hawaiians' account of the formation of their islands and origin of their race, with the traditions of their migrations, etc., as gathered from original sources
Folklore -- Hawaii; Hawaii -- Social life and customs; Hawaiian language -- Texts; Legends -- Hawaii
Upon their arrival on Oahu, Pele and Hiiaka took up their abode in
Kealiapaakai, at Moanalua, where they dug down into the ground and made
a home. On coming from Kauai they brought some red dirt and some salt
with them and deposited these things in their new home. Because of this
fact these places were given the names of Kealiapaakai and Kealiamanu.
Upon finding that the place was too shallow they went to settle at
Leahi. While living at Leahi they tried digging down into the place,
but again found it too shallow. The two then moved on to Molokai and
settled down at Kalaupapa. After a time they began digging and were
again disappointed in striking water; so they left Molokai. The hole
they dug was called Kauhako. From Molokai they journeyed to Haleakala
in Maui. Upon their arrival at this place they began digging a pit
which they left open on the top of the mountain. The rocks [106] in
Hanakaieie, at Kahikinui, are those that were dug up by Pele and
Hiiaka.
We will now take up Namakaokahai. After Pele and Hiiaka had been driven
away from Kauai, through the terrible fight that took place,
Namakaokahai returned to Nuumealani, and proceeded to the highest peak
where she could see Maui. While Namakaokahai was living on Nuumealani,
she again saw Pele and Hiiaka starting a fire on the mountain on Maui,
so she left Nuumealani and came to Maui where another battle was fought
in which Pele was killed. Namakaokahai then returned to the peaks on
Nuumealani. After a time she looked towards Hawaii and saw Pele’s fire
burning on Mauna Loa. But Namakaokahai discontinued her warfare against
Pele and Hiiaka.
We will now speak of Pele. Pele was indeed really killed in the battle
that was fought on Maui with her cousin, but she traveled in spirit to
Hawaii, at which place she again came back to life. It was Pele and
Hiiaka that dug that pit at Kilauea, on the slope of the Mauna Loa
mountain, and this place has become their own to this day, and no one
will dare dispute their claim. [107] After the death of Pele,
Namakaokahai returned to her own land in Kalakeenuiakane [108] where
she lived with her husbands and son and nephew.
After the lapse of some considerable time, the two boys, the son of
Aukelenuiaiku and the son of the oldest brother got into a fight. The
cause of the quarrel was this: The forehead of Kauilanuimakaehaikalani
was cuffed by his cousin, the son of of the oldest brother of
Aukelenuiaiku, the one whose every word was sacred. A few words in
explanation regarding the two boys. One of these boys was human and the
other, Kauilanuimakaehaikalani, was god-like. In their fight
Kauilanuimakaehaikalani said to his cousin:
“You are a lot that for a time were dead,
You were food for the maggots;
You are a lot whose bones were whitened.
It was my parents that brought you back to life,
You were a lot that were asleep in the bottom of the sea
With eyes all rotted.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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