Legends of Gods and Ghosts — William Drake Westervelt
D. (William Drake) Westervelt You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology) Author : W. D. Westervelt Release date : March 18, 2012 [eBook #39195] Language : English Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39195 Credits : E-text prepared by Bryan Ness, Katie Hernandez, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by the Google Books Library Project (http://books.google.com) *** START OF pgdp.net ) from page images generously made available by the Google Books Library Project ( http://books.google.com ) Note: Images of the original pages are available through the the Google Books Library Project. See http://books.google.com/books?vid=qqETAAAAYAAJ&id KE-ALOHI-LANI LEGENDS OF GODS AND GHOSTS (HAWAIIAN MYTHOLOGY) Collected and Translated from the Hawaiian BY W. D. WESTERVELT AUTHOR OF "LEGENDS OF OLD HONOLULU" AND "MAUI, A DEMI-GOD OF POLYNESIA" BOSTON, U.S.A. PRESS OF GEO. H. ELLIS CO. LONDON CONSTABLE & CO., LTD. 10 Orange St., Leicester Sq., W.C. 1915 Copyright, 1915, by William Drake Westervelt Honolulu, H.T. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Introduction v I. The Ghost of Wahaula Temple 1 II. Maluae and the Under-world 14 III. A Giant's Rock-throwing 21 IV. Kalo-eke-eke, the Timid Taro 26 V. Legendary Canoe-making 29 VI. Lau-ka-ieie 36 VII. Kauhuhu, the Shark God of Molokai 49 VIII. The Shark-man of Waipio Valley 59 IX. The Strange Banana Skin 66 X. The Old Man of the Mountain 74 XI. Hawaiian Ghost Testing 84 XII. How Milu became the King of Ghosts 94 XIII. A Visit to the King of Ghosts 100 XIV. Kalai-pahoa, the Poison-god 108 XV. Ke-ao-mele-mele, the Maid of the Golden Cloud 116 XVI. Puna and the Dragon 152 XVII. Ke-au-nini 163 XVIII. The Bride from the Under-world 224 Appendix : The Deceiving of Kewa 241 Homeless and Desolate Ghosts 245 Aumakuas, or Ancestor-ghosts 248 The Dragon Ghost-gods 255 Chas. R. Bishop 259 Partial List of Hawaiian Terms 260 Press Notices 264 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS OPPOSITE PAGE Ke-alohi-lani Frontispiece Images of Gods at the Heiau 12 From a Taro Patch 28 Kukui-trees, Iao Valley, Mt. Eeke 50 A Trusty Fisherman 64 The Misty Pali, Nuuanu 120 Dancing the Hula 140 Breadfruit-trees 160 A Young Chief of Hawaii 189 The Home of the Dragons Near Hilo 198 Cocoanuts 222 The Home of Kewalu 230 Fish Plates in Color PRONUNCIATION Readers will have little difficulty in pronouncing names if they remember two rules:— 1. No syllable ends in a consonant, e.g. , Ho-no-lu-lu, not Hon-o-lulu. 2. Give vowels the German sound rather than the English, e.g. , "e" equals "a," and "i" equals "e," and "a" is sounded like "a" in "father." INTRODUCTION The legends of the Hawaiian Islands are as diverse as those of any country in the world. They are also entirely distinct in form and thought from the fairy-tales which excite the interest and wonder of the English and German children. The mythology of Hawaii follows the laws upon which all myths are constructed. The Islanders have developed some beautiful nature-myths. Certain phenomena have been observed and the imagination has fitted the story to the interesting object which has attracted attention. Now the Rainbow Maiden of Manoa, a valley lying back of Honolulu, is the story of a princess whose continual death and resurrection were invented to harmonize with the formation of a series of exquisite rainbows which are born on the mountain-sides in the upper end of the valley and die when the mist clouds reach the plain into which the valley opens. Then there were the fish of the Hawaiian Islands which vie with the butterflies of South America in their multitudinous combinations of colors. These im aginative people wondered how the fish were painted, so for a story a battle between two chiefs was either invented or taken as a basis. The chiefs fought on the mountain-sides until finally one was driven into the sea and compelled to make the deep waters his continual abiding-place. Here he found a unique and pleasant occupation in calling the various kinds of fish to his submarine home and then painting them in varied hues according to the dictates of his fancy. Thus we have a pure nature-myth developed from the love of the beautiful, one of the highest emotions dwelling in the hearts of the Hawaiians of the long ago. So, again, Maui, a wonder-working hero like the Hercules of Grecian mythology, heard the birds sing, and noted their beautiful forms as they flitted from tree to tree and mingled their bright plumage with the leaves of the fragrant blossoms. No other one of those who lived in the long ago could see what Maui saw. They heard the mysterious music, but the songsters were invisible. Many were the fancies concerning these strange creatures whom they could hear but could not see. Maui finally pitied his friends and made the birds visible. Ever since, man has been able to both hear the music and see the beauty of his forest neighbors. Such nature-myths as these are well worthy of preservation by the side of any European fairy-tale. In purity of thought, vividness of imagination, and delicacy of coloring the Hawaiian myths are to be given a high place in literature among the stories of nature vivified by the imagination. Another side of Hawaiian folk-lore is just as worthy of comparison. Lovers of "Jack-the-Giant-Killer," and of the other wonder-workers dwelling in the mist-lands of other nations, would enjoy reading the marvelous record of Maui, the skilful demi-god of Hawaii, who went fishing with a magic hook, and pulled up from the depths of the ocean groups of islands. This story is told in a matter-of-fact way, as if it were a fishing-excursion only a little out o