--- title: Pele and the Chiefs of Puna — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · full text with trees description: Pele and the Chiefs of Puna, «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: KUMU-KAHI --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66516/8/) [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/) / Pele and the Chiefs of Puna # Pele and the Chiefs of Puna Pele and the Chiefs of Puna of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt: the whole text, 98 sentences and 1446 words. 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KUMU-KAHI[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") According to the legends, Pele was very quickly angered.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") Her passions were as turbulent as the lake of fire in her crater home.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") Her love burned, but her anger devoured.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") She was not safe.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") Kumu-kahi was a chief who pleased Pele.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") According to the legends he was tall, well built, and handsome, and a great lover of the ancient games.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") Apparently he had known Pele only as a beautiful young chiefess; for one day, when he was playing with the people, an old woman with fiery eyes came to him demanding a share in the sports.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") He ridiculed her.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") She was very persistent.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") He treated her with contempt.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") In a moment her anger flashed out in a great fountain of volcanic fire.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") She chased the chief to the sea, caught him on the beach, heaped up a great mound of broken lava over him, and poured her lava flood around him and beyond him far out into the ocean.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus the traditions say Cape Kumu-kahi, the southeast point of the island Hawaii, was formed.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") Here kings, chiefs, and priests have come for ages to build great piles of lava rock with many ceremonies.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") The natives call these “funeral mounds” and name them after the builders, although the persons themselves were seldom placed underneath in burial.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") When Hawaiians, who had been ill, recovered, they frequently vowed to make a “journey of health.”[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") This meant that they came to the place now known as Hilo Bay.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") There they bathed by the beautiful little Coconut Island, fished up by the demi-god Maui.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") There they swam around a stone known as Moku-ola (The-island-of-life).[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") Then they walked along the seashore day after day until they were below the volcano of Kilauea.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") They went up to the pit of Pele, offered sacrifices, and then followed an overland path back to Hilo.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") It was an ill omen if for any reason they went back by the same path.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") They must make the “journey of health” with the face forward.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") Hopoe (The dancing stone), Kapoho (The green lake), and Kumu-kahi were among the places which must be visited.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") They all have their Pele legends.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") On the shortest path from Kumu-kahi to Kilauea is a great field of many acres of lava stumps.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") These, according to the best theories, were made by immense floods of lava pouring down upon large forests of living trees.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") Lava always cools rapidly on the surface, therefore, as the lava spread out through the forest, very soon there was a great floor of hot black stone pierced by a multitude of trees.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") Some of these burned very slowly.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") The flowing lava would easily push itself up through the small opening around a burning tree and would keep on pushing and building up a higher and higher cone of lava as the tree burned away, until the tree was destroyed.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") These cones rise sometimes ten to fifteen feet above the lava floor.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") They frequently have well-preserved masses of charcoal as their core.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") This is nature’s method of making lava stumps.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") This field of hundreds of lava stumps has a different origin according to the legends.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") PAPA-LAU-AHI[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") Papa-lau-ahi (The-fire-leaf-smothered-out) was a chief who at one time ruled the district of Puna.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") He excelled in the sports of the people.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") It was his great delight to gather all the families together and have feasts and games.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") He challenged the neighboring chiefs to personal contests of many kinds and almost always was the victor.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") One day the chiefs were sporting on the hillsides around a plain where a multitude of people could see and applaud.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele heard a great noise of shouting and clapping hands and desired to see the sport.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") In the form of a beautiful woman she suddenly appeared on the crest of one of the hills down which Papa-lau-ahi had been coasting.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") Borrowing a sled from one of the chiefs she prepared to race with him.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") He was the more skilful and soon proved to her that she was beaten.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") Then followed taunts and angry words and the sudden absolute loss of all self-control on the part of Pele.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") She stamped on the ground and floods of lava broke out, destroying many of the chiefs as they fled in every direction.[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") The watching people, overcome with wonder and fear, were turned into a multitude of pillars \[2\] of lava, never changing, never moving through all the ages.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") Papa-lau-ahi fled from his antagonist, but she rode on her fiery surf waves, urging them on faster and faster until she swept him up in the flames of fire, destroying him and all his possessions.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") KE-LII-KUKU[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") Another chief was the one who was called in Hawaiian legends, Ke-lii-kuku (The-Puna-chief-who-boasted).[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") He was proud of Puna, celebrated as it was in song and legend.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") “Beautiful Puna\![53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") Clear and beautiful, Like a mat spread out.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") Shining like sunshine Edged by the forest of Malio.”—Ancient Chant.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") Ke-lii-kuku visited the island Oahu.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") He always boasted that nothing could be compared with Puna and its sweet-scented trees and vines.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") He met a prophet of Pele, Kane-a-ka-lau, whose home was on the island Kauai.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") The prophet asked Ke-lii-kuku about his home land.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief was glad of an opportunity to boast.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") According to the “Tales of a Venerable Savage” the chief said: “I am Ke-lii-kuku of Puna.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") My country is charming.[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") Abundance is found there.[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") Rich sandy plains are there, where everything grows wonderfully.”[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") The prophet ridiculed him, saying: “Return to your beautiful country.[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") You will find it desolate.[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele has made it a heap of ruins.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") The trees have descended from the mountains to the sea.[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") The ohia \[3\] and puhala \[4\] are on the shore.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") The houses of your people are burned.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") Your land is unproductive.[71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") You have no people.[72](72/ "tree and pragmatics") You cannot live in your country any more.”[73](73/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief was angry and yet was frightened, so he told the prophet that he would go back to his own land and see if that word were true or false.[74](74/ "tree and pragmatics") If false, he would return and kill the prophet for speaking in contempt of his beautiful land.[75](75/ "tree and pragmatics") Swiftly the oarsmen and the mat sails took the chief back to his island.[76](76/ "tree and pragmatics") As he came around the eastern side of Hawaii he landed and climbed to the highest point from which he could have a glimpse of his loved Puna.[77](77/ "tree and pragmatics") There in the distance it lay under heavy clouds of smoke covering all the land.[78](78/ "tree and pragmatics") When the winds lifted the clouds, rolling them away, he saw that all his fertile plain was black with lava, still burning and pouring out constantly volumes of dense smoke.[79](79/ "tree and pragmatics") The remnants of forests were also covered with clouds of smoke through which darted the flashing flames which climbed to the tops of the tallest trees.[80](80/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele had heard the boasting chief and had shown that no land around her pit of fire was secure against her will.[81](81/ "tree and pragmatics") Ke-lii-kuku caught a long vine, hurled it over a tree, and hung himself.[82](82/ "tree and pragmatics") KA-PA-PALA[83](83/ "tree and pragmatics") Another chief by the name of Ka-pa-pala heard of Pele.[84](84/ "tree and pragmatics") He went to the edge of the crater and there found a group of beautiful women.[85](85/ "tree and pragmatics") He was welcomed by Pele.[86](86/ "tree and pragmatics") They delighted in each other.[87](87/ "tree and pragmatics") Many were the games and contests.[88](88/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief was so frequently the victor that at last he boasted that he could ride his surf-board on the waves of her lake of fire.[89](89/ "tree and pragmatics") She was angry at the thought that he dared to desecrate her sacred home.[90](90/ "tree and pragmatics") He defied her, caught his surf-board, threw it on a wave as it struck the encircling wall, then leaped on his board and launched out on the fire-waves.[91](91/ "tree and pragmatics") It is said that, to show his contempt for the power of Pele, he even stood on his head and was carried safely for a time on the crest of the red rolling surf.[92](92/ "tree and pragmatics") Pele became very angry as she saw him fleeing from her over the lake of fire, so she called to her fire-servants, the au-makuas, or ghost-gods, of the crater, and they hurled other fire-waves across the lake against the one the chief was riding.[93](93/ "tree and pragmatics") These twisted and turned that wave.[94](94/ "tree and pragmatics") They broke its crest.[95](95/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief and his surf-board were tossed up in a whirlpool of fire.[96](96/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he dropped into the heart of the flame and was lost.[97](97/ "tree and pragmatics") VI[98](98/ "tree and pragmatics") - ← previous: [Na Puu O Pele](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66516/7/) - next →: [Pele’s Tree](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66516/9/) - ↑ back to [Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66516/)