Hawai‘i Wisdom — October 2016

The Nāmāhoe is seen here on its inauguration Sept. 11 leaving Nawiliwili Harbor toward Kalapaki Bay, where it was greeted by hundreds. The double-hulled canoe was built following ancient Polynesian voyaging canoe design, but with modern materials.

Pa‘akiki kānaka o Kauaʻi

“Tough are the men of Kaua‘i.”

O‘ahu was once inhabited by supernatural beings who ate people. They would extend their hospitality by day, but at night, they would eat their sleeping guests. A canoe came from Kaua‘i one day, and among the passengers was a man who was distrustful of the Oahuans. When the other men went to sleep, he dug a hole under the wall, crept into it, pulled a mat over himself, and waited. Late at night he listened as the hosts came and ate his companions. After the evil beings were gone, he hurried to the canoe and sailed home. He told his friends, and together they made wooden images, hid them in the canoe, and sailed for O‘ahu, where they were welcomed. That night the images were put inside the house, while the men hid outside. When the hosts came around to eat the visitors, they bit into the hard wooden images. The Kaua‘i men burned the house, thus tending the evil on O‘ahu.

Source: ʻŌlelo Noʻeau, by Mary Kawena Pukui