--- title: How Pele Came to Hawaii — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · full text with trees description: How Pele Came to Hawaii, «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: The simplest, most beautiful legend does not mention the land from which Pele started. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66516/5/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mytholo…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66516/) / How Pele Came to Hawaii # How Pele Came to Hawaii How Pele Came to Hawaii of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt: the whole text, 116 sentences and 2240 words. 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The simplest, most beautiful legend does not mention the land from which Pele started.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") In this legend her father was Moe-moea-au-lii, the chief who dreamed of trouble.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") Her mother was Haumea, or Papa, who personified mother earth.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") Moemoea apparently is not mentioned in any other of the legends.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") Haumea is frequently named as the mother of Pele, as well as the heroine of many legendary experiences.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele’s story is that of wander-lust.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") She was living in a happy home in the presence of her parents, and yet for a long time she was “stirred by thoughts of far-away lands.”[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") At last she asked her father to send her away.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") This meant that he must provide a sea-going canoe with mat sails, sufficiently large to carry a number of persons and food for many days.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") “What will you do with your little egg sister?” asked her father.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele caught the egg, wrapped it in her skirt to keep it warm near her body, and said that it should always be with her.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") Evidently in a very short time the egg was changed into a beautiful little girl who bore the name Hii-aka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele (Hiiaka-in-the-bosom-of-Pele), the youngest one of the Pele family.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") After the care of the helpless one had been provided for, Pele was sent to her oldest brother, Ka-moho-alii, the king of dragons, or, as he was later known in Hawaiian mythology, “the god of sharks.”[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") He was a sea-god and would provide the great canoe for the journey.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") While he was getting all things ready, he asked Pele where she was going.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") She replied, “I am going to Bola-bola; to Kuai-he-lani; to Kane-huna-moku; then to Moku-mana-mana; then to see a queen, Kaoahi her name and Niihau her island.”[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") Apparently her journey would be first to Bola-bola in the Society Islands, then among the mysterious ancestral islands, and then to the northwest until she found Niihau, the most northerly of the Hawaiian group.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") The god of sharks prepared his large canoe and put it in the care of some of their relatives, Kane-pu-a-hio-hio (Kane-the-whirlwind), Ke-au-miki (The-strong-current), and Ke-au-ka (Moving-seas).[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele was carried from land to land by these wise boatmen until at last she landed on the island Niihau.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") Then she sent back the boat to her brother, the shark-god.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") It is said that after a time he brought all the brothers and sisters to Hawaii.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele was welcomed and entertained.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") Soon she went over to Kauai, the large, beautiful garden island of the Hawaiian group.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") There is a story of her appearance as a dream maiden before the king of Kauai, whose name was Lohiau, whom she married, but with whom she could not stay until she had found a place where she could build a permanent home for herself and all who belonged to her.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") She had a magic digging tool, Pa-oa.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") When she struck this down into the earth it made a fire-pit.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") It was with this Pa-oa that she was to build a home for herself and Lohiau.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") She dug along the lowlands of Kauai, but water drowned the fires she kindled, so she went from island to island but could only dig along the beach near the sea.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") All her fire-pits were so near the water that they burst out in great explosions of steam and sand, and quickly died, until at last she found Kilauea on the large island of Hawaii.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") There she built a mighty enduring palace of fire, but her dream marriage was at an end.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") The little sister Hiiaka, after many adventures, married Lohiau and lived on Kauai.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") Another story says that Pele was the daughter of Kane-hoa-lani and Hina.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") The oldest and most authoritative legends say that Kane-hoa-lani was her brother and that Hina was the creator of a flood or great tidal wave which drove Pele from place to place over the ocean.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") This story says that Pele had a husband, Wahioloa, who ran away from her with a sister named Pele-kumu-ka-lani, and that Pele searched the islands of the great ocean as she followed them, but never found them.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") At last Pele came to Hawaii and escaped the flood by finding a home in Kilauea.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") In this story she was said to have a son Menehune and a daughter Laka.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") There is very little foundation for this legend.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") Wahioloa was a chief, well known in the legends, of a famous family of New Zealand and other South Sea islands.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") Laka was his son, who cut down trees by day which were set up again at night by the fairies.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") The Menehunes were the fairy folk of Hawaii.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") The story of Pele’s search for a husband has been widely accepted by foreigners but not by the early Hawaiian writers.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") The most authoritative story of the coming of Pele to Hawaii was published in the Hoku-o-ka-Pakipika (Star of the Pacific), in the story of Aukele-nui-aiku, in 1861, and in another Hawaiian paper, Ke Kuokoa, in 1864, and again in 1865.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") Again and again the legends give Ku-waha-ilo as the father and Haumea as the mother of the Pele family.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") Hina is sometimes said to be Ku-waha-ilo’s sister in these legends.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") She quarrelled with him because he devoured all the people.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") The Hawaiians as a nation, even in their traditions, have never been cannibals, although their legends give many individual instances of cannibalism.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") The Pele stories say that “Ku-waha-ilo was a cannibal,” and “Haumea was a pali \[precipice or a prominent part of the earth\].”[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") The Hawaiians, it is safe to say, had no idea of reading nature-thoughts into these expressions, thus making them “nature-myths.”[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") They probably did not understand that Ku-waha-ilo might mean destructive earth forces, and Haumea might mean the earth itself from whom Pele, the goddess of fire, and Na-maka-o-ka-hai, the goddess of the sea, were born.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") It is, however, interesting to note that this is the fact in the legends, and that it was in a conflict between the two sisters that Na-maka-o-ka-hai drove Pele to the Hawaiian Islands.[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") A greater sorcerer married Na-maka-o-ka-hai.[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") After a time he saw Pele and her beautiful young sister Hiiaka.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") He took them secretly to be his wives.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") This sorcerer was Au-kele-nui-a-iku.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") Au might mean “to swim,” and kele “to glide,” or “slip smoothly along.”[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") The name then might mean “the great smoothly swimming son of Iku.”[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") He could fly through the heavens, swim through the seas, or run swiftly over the earth.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") By magic power he conquered enemies, visited strange lands, found the fountain of the water of life, sprinkled that water over his dead brothers, brought them back to life, and did many marvellous deeds.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") But he could not deliver Pele and Hiiaka from the wrath of their sister.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") High tides and floods from the seas destroyed Pele’s home and lands.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the elder brother of Pele—Ka-moho-alii, the shark-god—called for all the family to aid Pele.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") Na-maka-o-ka-hai fought the whole family and defeated them.[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") She broke down their houses and drove them into the ocean.[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") There Ka-moho-alii provided them with the great boat Honua-i-a-kea (The great spread-out world) and carried them away to distant islands.[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") Na-maka-o-ka-hai went to the highest of all the mythical lands of the ancestors, Nuu-mea-lani (The raised dais of heaven).[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") There she could look over all the seas from Ka-la-kee-nui-a-Kane to Kauai, i.e., from a legendary land in the south to the most northerly part of the Hawaiian Islands.[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele carried her Paoa, a magic spade.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") Wherever they landed she struck the earth, thus opening a crater in which volcanic fires burned.[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") As the smoke rose to the clouds, the angry watching one rushed from Nuu-mea-lani and tried to slay the family.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") Again and again they escaped.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") Farther and farther from the home land were they driven until they struck far out into the ocean.[71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") Na-maka-o-ka-hai went back to her lookout mountain.[72](72/ "tree and pragmatics") After a long time she saw the smoke of earth-fires far away on the island Kauai.[73](73/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele had struck her Paoa into the earth, dug a deep pit, and thrown up a large hill known to this day as the Puu-o-Pele (The hill of Pele).[74](74/ "tree and pragmatics") It seemed as if an abiding-place had been found.[75](75/ "tree and pragmatics") But the sister came and fought Pele.[76](76/ "tree and pragmatics") There is no long account of the battle.[77](77/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele was broken and smashed and left for dead.[78](78/ "tree and pragmatics") She was not dead, but she left Kauai and went to Oahu to a place near Honolulu, to Moanalua, a beautiful suburb.[79](79/ "tree and pragmatics") There she dug a fire-pit.[80](80/ "tree and pragmatics") The earth, or rather the eruption of lava, was forced up into a hill which later bore the name Ke-alia-manu (The-bird-white-like-a-salt-bed or The-white-bird).[81](81/ "tree and pragmatics") The crater which she dug filled up with salt water and was named Ke-alia-paa-kai (The-white-bed-of-salt, or Salt Lake).[82](82/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele was not able to strike her Paoa down into a mountain side and dig deep for the foundations of her home.[83](83/ "tree and pragmatics") She could find fire only in the lowlands near the seashore.[84](84/ "tree and pragmatics") The best place on Oahu was just back of Leahi, the ancient Hawaiian name for Diamond Head.[85](85/ "tree and pragmatics") Here she threw up a great quantity of fire-rock, but at last her fires were drowned by the water she struck below.[86](86/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus she passed along the coast of each island, the family watching and aiding until they came to the great volcano Haleakala.[87](87/ "tree and pragmatics") \[1\] There Pele dug with her Paoa, and a great quantity of lava was thrown out of her fire-pit.[88](88/ "tree and pragmatics") Na-maka-o-ka-hai saw enduring clouds day after day rising with the colors of the dark dense smoke of the underworld, and knew that her sister was still living.[89](89/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele had gained strength and confidence, therefore she entered alone into a conflict unto death.[90](90/ "tree and pragmatics") The battle was fought by the two sisters hand to hand.[91](91/ "tree and pragmatics") The conflict lasted for a long time along the western slope of the mountain Hale-a-ka-la.[92](92/ "tree and pragmatics") Na-maka-o-ka-hai tore the body of Pele and broke her lava bones into great pieces which lie to this day along the seacoast of the district called Kahiki-nui.[93](93/ "tree and pragmatics") The masses of broken lava are called Na-iwi-o-Pele (The bones of Pele).[94](94/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele was thought to be dead and was sorely mourned by the remaining brothers and sisters.[95](95/ "tree and pragmatics") Na-maka-o-ka-hai went off toward Nuu-mea-lani rejoicing in the destruction of her hated enemy.[96](96/ "tree and pragmatics") By and by she looked back over the wide seas.[97](97/ "tree and pragmatics") The high mountains of the island Hawaii, snow covered, lay in the distance.[98](98/ "tree and pragmatics") But over the side of the mountain known as Mauna Loa she saw the uhane, the spirit form of Pele in clouds of volcanic smoke tinged red from the flames of raging fire-pits below.[99](99/ "tree and pragmatics") She passed on to Nuu-mea-lani, knowing that she could never again overcome the spirit of Pele, the goddess of fire.[100](100/ "tree and pragmatics") The Pele family crossed the channel between the islands and went to the mountain side, for they also had seen the spirit form of Pele.[101](101/ "tree and pragmatics") They served their goddess sister, caring for her fires and pouring out the destructive rivers of lava at her commands.[102](102/ "tree and pragmatics") As time passed they became a part of the innumerable multitude of au-makuas, or ghost-gods, of the Pit of Pele, worshipped especially by those whose lives were filled with burning anger against their fellow-men.[103](103/ "tree and pragmatics") The acceptable offerings to Pele were fruits, flowers, garlands (or leis), pigs (especially the small black pig of tender flesh and delicate flavor), chickens, fish, and men.[104](104/ "tree and pragmatics") When a family sent a part of the dead body of one of the household, it was with the prayer that the spirit might become an au-makua, and especially an unihipili au-makua.[105](105/ "tree and pragmatics") This meant a ghost-god, powerful enough to aid the worshipper to pray other people to death.[106](106/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele is said to have become impatient at times with her brothers and sisters.[107](107/ "tree and pragmatics") Then she would destroy their pleasure resorts in the valleys.[108](108/ "tree and pragmatics") She would send a flood of lava in her anger and burn everything up.[109](109/ "tree and pragmatics") Earthquakes came when Pele stamped the floor of the fire-pit in anger.[110](110/ "tree and pragmatics") Flames thrusting themselves through cracks in a breaking lava crust were the fire-spears of Pele’s household of au-makuas or ghost-gods.[111](111/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele’s voice was explosive when angry.[112](112/ "tree and pragmatics") Therefore it was called “pu.”[113](113/ "tree and pragmatics") When the natives first heard guns fired they said that the voice of the gun was “pu.”[114](114/ "tree and pragmatics") It was like the explosions of gas in volcanic eruptions, and it seemed as if the foreigners had persuaded Pele to assist them in any trouble with the natives.[115](115/ "tree and pragmatics") III[116](116/ "tree and pragmatics") - ← previous: [Ai-laau, the Forest Eater](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66516/4/) - next →: [Pele and the Owl Ghost-god](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66516/6/) - ↑ back to [Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66516/)