"This is my wish, my burning desire, That in the season of slumber, Thy spirit my soul may inspire, Altar dweller, Heaven guest, Soul awakener, Bird from covert calling, Where forest champions stand, There roamed I too with Laka." This one from the same collection is interesting in its simplicity and strength: "O Pele, god Pele! Burst forth now! burst forth! Launch a bolt from the sky! Let thy lightnings fly!... Fires of the goddess burn. Now for the dance, the dance, Bring out the dance made public; Turn about back, turn about face; Dance toward the sea, dance toward the land, Toward the pit that is Pele, Portentous consumer of rocks in Puna!" The Hawaiian myths, I find, are not nearly so original or so full of charm as the Japanese and Chinese stories, and the long names are tiresome. They have, moreover, lost their freshness, their individuality and their primitive quality in translation and through American influence. They had been handed down entirely by word of mouth until the missionaries arrived. Many of the myths bear some resemblance to Old Testament stories as well as to the traditions told by the head-hunters of the Philippines. The legends of the volcano seem more distinctly Hawaiian. There are many legends of Pele as well as chants in her honour, which generally represent her as wreaking her vengeance on mortals who have been so unfortunate as to offend her. I quote one that is told to account for the origin of a stream of unusually black lava, which long, long ago flowed down to the coast on Maui: "A withered old woman stopped to ask food and hospitality at the house of a dweller on this promontory, noted for his penuriousness. His _kalo_ (taro) patches flourished, cocoanuts and bananas shaded his hut, nature was lavish of her wealth all around him. But the withered hag was sent away unfed, and as she turned her back on the man she said, 'I will return to-morrow.' "This was Pele, goddess of the volcano, and she kept her word, and came back the next day in earthquakes and thunderings, rent the mountain, and blotted out every trace of the man and his dwelling with a flood of fire." Another story goes that in the form of a maiden the goddess appeared to a young chief at the head of a toboggan slide and asked for a ride on his sled. He refused her, and started down without her. Soon, hearing a roar as of thunder and looking back, he saw a lava torrent chasing him and bearing on its highest wave the maiden, whom he then knew to be the goddess Pele. Down the hill and across the plain his toboggan shot, followed by the flaming river of molten rock. The chief, however, reached the ocean at last and found safety in the waters. This condensed story of the Shark King is also a typical Hawaiian tale: