---
title: Pele’s Tree — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · full text with trees
description: Pele’s Tree, «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: Ohia-lehua [5] is the native name for a tree which abounds in Puna, the region of the volcanic home of the goddess Pele.
---

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# Pele’s Tree

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Pele’s Tree of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt: the whole text, 12 sentences and 238 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself.

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Ohia-lehua \[5\] is the native name for a tree which abounds in Puna, the region of the volcanic home of the goddess Pele.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") It has a continual growth of delicately shaded leaves.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") The young leaf, pink tinted, comes as the old leaf shading into gray falls from the tree.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") Flowers which are like beautiful red fringed balls are always found glorifying the varicolored foliage.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") Here honey-loving birds and bees find their best feeding-places.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics")

The ohia forests grow abundantly and rapidly on lava even recently thrown out by the eruptions from Pele’s lake of fire.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") The ohia roots seem to find food and drink, where the numerous cracks of a lava field open in every direction, and vie with the tree ferns in making life take the place of the desolation caused by the volcanic floods.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics")

About half way between the city of Hilo and the volcano Kilauea, there stood for many, many years an old ohia tree.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") It was so old that it had become legendary and was known as “Ka laau o Pele” (The tree of Pele).[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") Whenever a native came near this tree, he began to search for certain leaves or fruits which he could lay beneath the tree as an offering before he dared to try to pass beyond.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") These sacrifices were supposed to appease the wrath of the goddess and assure the traveller safe passage through Pele’s dominions.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics")

VII[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics")

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