A Legendary Story of Koolau - KUWADA
A Legendary Story of Koolau - KUWADA
A Legendary Story of Koolau - KUWADA
Marvels & Tales, Volume 30, Number 1, 2016, pp. 93-110 (Article)
[ Access provided at 10 Aug 2020 06:47 GMT from University of Hawaii at Manoa Library ]
Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada
Translator’s Introduction
In 1893 a cabal of businessmen backed by the U.S. military overthrew the
lawful Hawaiian government, deposing the queen, Lili‘uokalani.1 Less than six
months later, Hawaiians were still reeling from the illegal overthrow, and
Hawaiian-language newspapers were still running headlines such as “He
Kupaa Mau ka Lahui” (The Nation Shall Be Ever Steadfast) and “He Oia Mau
ke Kulana o ka Moiwahine Liliuokalani” (The Position of Queen Liliuokalani
Continues On). But then new headlines began to grab the attention of the
people: “Ki Pu ma Kalalau” (Shooting at Kalalau) and “Ka Make ana o Lui i ka
Poe Ma‘i Lepera ma Kalalau” (Lui Killed by the Lepers in Kalalau). A sense of
wonder seized the nation’s imagination when these new articles appeared in
the Hawaiian-language newspapers as this amazing story began to play out on
the page and in the hearts of Hawaiian readers throughout the islands. A single
family—a mother, a father, and their young son—had stood before the mili-
tary might of the Provisional Government that was currently oppressing the
people. And they won.
The story of Kaluaiko‘olau (often shortened to Ko‘olau), his wife Pi‘ilani,
and their son Kaleimanu was and continues to be an important narrative of
connection to the land and resistance for Hawaiians. Ko‘olau worked as the
head paniolo (cowboy) for Francis Gay and Valdemar Knudsen while living in
Kekaha on the island of Kaua‘i with Pi‘ilani. He was well-known both for his
integrity and his abilities with a rifle. In 1889 he and his young son began to
show signs of Hansen’s disease, and in 1892 it was decreed that they were to
Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1 (2016), pp. 93–110. Copyright © 2016 by
Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI 48201.
93
94
95
he just sits on his board and his owl ancestor takes him out. Furthermore, in
the July 17 installment of the story, Ko‘olauomanokalanipō goes fishing for a
supernatural ulua. When he has a hard time landing the fish, he jumps into
the ocean to wrestle with it. The fish is finally defeated and is said to have been
30 feet long and 15 feet around. This aspect of the story is clearly reminiscent
of the pan-Pacific demi-god Māui and his fishing up of the islands of Hawai‘i
(or Aotearoa or other places). This is another example of connecting Ko‘olau to
the legendary past of Hawaiians, this time to a heroic trickster.
Ko‘olau, along with his mother at times, has other adventures across the
islands, such as cliff diving in the Wailuku River (but merely floating down
gently to touch the water) or finding a mystical land of plenty with an inland
sea full of fish, surrounded by all manner of food plants and crops and inhab-
ited by mysterious people who disappear at the wink of an eye. Ko‘olau also
has an interesting pursuit of Pele, who appears to him in many different body
forms but never really allows him to catch her.
Although this legend is clearly written in reference to the 1893 Ko‘olau, in
the final installment of the tale on July 20, the authors say that the hero is not
actually the Ko‘olau who is in Kalalau at that moment:
A iloko o na keneturia loihi i hala aku, ua make o Koolau kupuna,
aka, o keia Koolau e noho mai la i keia wa i na pali nihoniho o
Kalalau, oia no ka mamo a keia Koolau nona keia moolelo a kakou i
heluhelu iho nei.
And within the long centuries that passed, this ancestral Ko‘olau
died, but this Ko‘olau now living among the jagged cliffs of Kalalau,
he is the descendant of this Ko‘olau for whom is this story that we
have just read.
Even though the authors state that the legend is not explicitly about the
Ko‘olau holed up in Kalalau, the final battle of the story casts a bit of doubt on
the veracity of their assertion.
When Ko‘olauomanokalanipō returns to Kalalau after his travels through-
out the islands, he enters into battle with some O‘ahu chiefs who had come to
battle the chiefs of Kaua‘i, a clear reference to the soldiers of the Provisional
Government coming to find Ko‘olau and the other “lepers.” Some of the
O‘ahu chiefs were killed and buried at the base of the cliffs of Kalalau, an
obvious reference to the three soldiers who were killed by Ko‘olau. The
remainder of the warriors and ali‘i, or chiefs, were caught in a net cast by
Ko‘olauomanokalanipō, then taken out to Nomilu, where they were dropped
in the middle of that salt lake by his owl ancestor. The casting of the soldiers
into the saltwater seems to be a reference to the Provisional Government
96
soldiers returning on the ‘Iwalani defeated and without Ko‘olau. The O‘ahu
people were so frightened in the ka‘ao that they never returned to attack again.
The story of Ko‘olau, Pi‘ilani, and Kaleimanu has echoed down through
the years, standing as a testament to both the bonds of aloha in troubling times
and the power of the Hawaiian people to persist despite the overwhelming
forces arrayed against their culture, their language, and their traditions. The
story was reprinted in the Hawaiian-language newspapers around the time of
the Massie trial5 in 1932, another indication that it was a call for the people of
Hawaii to stand against the forces brought to bear by the U.S. military and the
American media machine. Even in the last decade, a handful of stage produc-
tions and film productions have retold this story, and as this issue of Marvels &
Tales goes to press, the literary journal Hawaii Review, based at the University
of Hawai‘i, is in the process of creating a graphic novelization of the story. It is
with all of this history in mind and the influence that this story still has today
that I present a partial translation of “He Moolelo Kaao no Koolau, ke Kaeaea o
na Pali Nihoniho o Kalalau, ka Weli o Kauai o Manokalanipo.” E ō kou inoa!
O Ulumaihea (k) kai noho aku ia Kaula (w) hanau mai o Lehua (w) i noho aku
oia ia Niihau (k) i hanau mai ai o Haena (w) i noho aku oia ia Lauaeomakana
(k) hanau mai ai keia keiki o Koolauomano aka, ma ka hoopokole inoa ana, ua
kapaia no o Koolau. O ke ano o keia inoa Koolau, he maka o ka La; he mea
hoea mai ma ke kukulu Hikina, he kukulu makani, he kaomi ana mai o ka
makani Moae; he noho ana o ka aina ua mau, ua pua [K]ookoolau a pela aku.
O kahi noho mau o Koolau, oia no o Haena ma Kauai; o kona wahi nae i
hanau ai, aia iluna o ka piko o Maunahina. No kona hanau iluna o na pikom-
auna, ua maa oia i ka hele ana maluna o na pali nihoniho o Kauai.
Ua oleloia hoi ma kona ano, a ma kona noho ana a me kona hele ana, he
lua ole ka palanehe, ka mimo, ka mama, a me ke kohu ano mana akua lapu o
ka po.
He hiki iaia ke noho iluna o na pali nihinihi o Kalalau, kulou mai la no,
lalau na lima a huhuki i ke kalo o na loi kalo o lalo o Kalalau.
He hiki ia Koolau ke ku mai iluna o ka mauna o Waialeale, a kamakoi aku
la i ka muliwai o Wailua, loaa no ka oopu hoihoi na ka makuahine ona i
97
Iulai 12
He kanaka o Koolau i loaa i na haawina ano kupua a me na ouli pahaohao o ka
po, e like me ko Kalikini, me ko Peapea, me ko Kauahoa a me ko Kanaloa.
Mamuli o keia kanaka o Koolau i kahea mua loa ia ai ka Mokuaina o Koolau
ma Kauai i ka wa o keia kapainoa ana, oia ka manawa he Hookahi Kanahiku
hanauna mamua o Umi.
Mamuli o ko Koolau makemake e holo kaapuni makaikai i na mokupuni
o ka Pae Aina o Hawaii nei, ua haalele aku la oia ia Kalalau, a hoi aku la a noho
me kona makuahine ma Haena, a mahope aku, hoi aku la, a noho ma Anahola
i Koolau o Kauai. . . .
I anei haalele ka waa o laua i kahi o kamaaina, alaila, pii aku laua no
Kilauea. E hoomanao kakou he ano mana kupaianaha ko keia keiki Koolau; a
ma ia ano, ua koi aku la oia i kona makuahine ia Haena e pii aku a ku iho iluna
o kekahi puupahoehoe i uluia e ka ulu lehua, ka ohelo, ka pukeawe, ka uki, ka
ulei, ka amaumau, ka palai, ka poha, a me na mea ulu o ka nahele. Ia wa no o
Koolau i lalau aku ai i ka puu pahoehoe a kona makuahine e ku ana, a oniu ae
la, a naha mai la he apana nui nona, me na mea ulu a pau e ku ana iluna;
a hapai ae la iluna o kona poo a pii aku la no Kilauea.
Iulai 13
I ka manawa i pii aku nei o Koolau mai luna aku o ke kiekiena o Kaluaiki, ua
ike mai nei o Hiiakaikapoliopele i ka hele aku o keia uluohia me kekahi wahine
e noho ana iluna o ke ahua pahoehoe. Haohao oia a lele ae nei a kau pono
iluna o ke kiekiena o Uwekahuna, alaila ike mai la oia, he kanaka opiopio,
e hapai hele ia ana, he puu pahoehoe me ka uluohia, a me na launahele e ulu
ana iluna o kona poo.
98
Ia Koolau i hiki pono aku ai i ka pali o Kaauwe, hookuu iho la oia i kela
apana puu pahoehoe i uluia e ka nahelehele, me kona makuahine Haena.
Ku aku la laua nei a nana i ka lua i ka a mai o ke ahi, a hoomanao ae la o
Haena, i ka noho mua ana o Pele ia Kauai ma kahi kapa ia o Kilauea, olelo ae
la o Haena ia Koolau. Ka! he poe kupunawahine no kela nou, ua haalele lakou
ia Kilauea i Kauai, a hoi mai nei i Hawaii nei e noho ai.
Ia wa pane ae nei o Koolau i ka makuahine; i na hoi ha pela no, e pono
kaua e iho e ike ia lakou, ae mai la o Haena e iho. . . .
Malaila ko laua iho ana mai, ma ia pali nihinihi a kiei ana ma ke kae o
Halemaumau, kahea mai nei o Hiiakaikapoliopele. O oe no ia e Haena? Pane
aku nei o Haena; Owau no keia! O ka moopuna no keia a oukou a me a‘u.
Owai ka inoa? O Koolau! Aole paha? Oia keia o Koolauomano! O Koolauao-
manaokalanipo? Oia. Pehea o Kauai? Malie Kauai! Heaha ka huakai? He
makaikai wale mai nei no!
I keia manawa i kuupau ae ai o Pele i ke ahi aihonua, a pii ae la ka lapalapa
ahi a hu, a hanini aku la ma kela a me keia aoao o kahi a laua e ku nei, kiola ae la
o Pele i na pohaha ahi i ka lewa me ka uwahi, a poeleele ka malamalama o ka La.
Iulai 14
. . . I kekahi la malie o Hilo, koi aku nei o Haena i kana keiki ia Koolau e pii i
ka auau me kamaaina i Wailuku, a e ike i ka lele kawa ana a na keiki o ka Aina
Uakanilehua.
Ia lakou i hiki aku ai me kamaaina, aia hoi, ua piha e na pali a me ke
kahawai o Wailuku i na kanaka makaikai.
Imo mai nei ka maka o kekahi kaikamahine ui i kekahi keiki, e kena aku
i ka malihini e lele kawa. Pane ae nei ua keiki nei: E! maikai Kauai ua malie,
mahana ka wai i ke keiki o na pali!
I keia wa no i ui ae ai i ka makuahine ia Haena o laua pu ke lele kawa.
Ae mai nei o Haena; ae. Ia wa, wehe laua nei i na kihei kalukalu o laua nei,
a pa-u ae la i na wahi kapu o ke kanaka; haawi mai la kamaaina i na lei lehua
palua no laua nei me na lei maile o Paieie; oia no ke kahiko o ko laila poe keiki
ke auau, a lele kawa.
Eia laua iluna o ka piko o Piikea kahi i ku ai.
Huli ae nei o Koolau a honi aku la i ka makuahine ia Haena, paa aku la kona
lima hema ma ko Haena poohiwi, a holo aku la laua, a lele aku la ilalo o ka wai.
Eia nae ka mea kupaianaha ia laua e lele nei, oia kauaheahe malie iho la no
a emi malie iho la e pili i ka iliwai; alaila, pii hou ae la laua nei iluna. . . .
I kekahi la heenalu o ko Hilo Kini, ua piha-u na kahakai mai Punahoa a
Ohele i ka makaikai, aia kahi e hee mai ai ka nalu iwaho loa o ke ahua, oia na
nalu o Makaiwa, he aneane elua mile ka loihi o kahi e pae mai ai. I ka au ana o
99
Iulai 17
. . . I ka wa e au nei na kanaka iloko o ka wai o Waiau ma Hilo, he wa ano
ahiahi malie loa ia, a ua hoea ae ka mahina Mahealani ia wa; a ua moakaka loa
ke aka o ka mahina iloko o ka wai. Ia wa i ike aku nei o Koolau i kekahi
wahine kupanaha e noho ana iluna o ke aka o ka mahina, e luhe ana no hoi
kona lauoho iloko o ka wai, hoohele malie loa aku nei oia, me ka manao e
hopu i ka wahine e noho ana iloko o ke aka o ka mahina, eia nae, alawa mai la
kona mau maka iaia nei, a hoomaka ae la oia e ku iluna o ka mahina; i keia wa,
ike aku nei keia he mau eheu ko ua wahine nei maluna mahope o kona mau
kipoohiwi. Hoaleale ae la keia i ka wai, a hoopaholo iho la i ke aka o ka mahina
iloko o ka wai, a hoolilo ae la i ka wai i puahiohio, a i waipuilani, a lilo pu aku
la o Koolau i luna o ka lewa me ua wahine kupua nei, a ua lawe ia a hiki iuka
o Halekamahina ma Puna i Hawaii.
Noho aku nei o Koolau me keia wahine kupua hoopahaohao, me he mea kino
kanaka maoli kona la ano, aka, ma ka oiaio, aole ia he mea kino wahine maoli,
o kekahi no keia o na kino pahaohao o Pele.
No ko Koolau manao he wahine maoli oia, a ua loli wale ae no ma kona
ano hoomahua, ia Koolau, ua ulu ae ka manao aloha iloko o Koolau iaia, a e
noho pu oia me ia ma ke ano kane a wahine hoi, nolaila, ua hoao oia e kukulu
i hale no laua maluna o kekahi puu kiekie i hiki ai iaia ke ike ina poe a pau loa
e pii aku ana i o laua la. I kona wa nae i kukulu ai a paa ka hale, aia hoi ike aku
nei no oia i ka Mahina e waiho ana iloko o ua hale nei ana i kukulu ai. Hoea ae
nei mailoko o ua mahina nei he wahi keiki, a olelo mai la ia Koolau: Ua luhi
hewa oe i ke kukulu ana i hale iluna o keia puu, no ka mea, o ka mea nana oe
i lawe mai nei ianei nei, aohe ia he mea okoa, aka, o Pele no ia, ka wahine
kupua aihonua o Kilauea nei.
Ia wa kapa aku la oia i ka hale ana i kukulu ai maluna o ka puu o
Halekamahina, oia no ka inoa oia wahi puu ma Puna, Hawaii a hiki i keia la,
mamuli o ko Koolau kukulu ana i hale noho ia e ka Mahina. . . .
100
Iulai 19
I ka pau ana ae o ke kamailio a kahi kamaaina, o ko Koolau hoomaka aku la no
ia e iho no kai o Hilo; ua liuliu iki iho, puiwa keia i ka owe me ka halulu o ka
ululaau, aia hoi, he wili puahiohio iloko o ka ululaau ohia, a e puhee liilii ana
na manu o ka lewa i o ia nei, ku iho la keia a nana pono aku la, aia hoi, me he
kai ho-ee ikaika la, pukoa liilii ae la ka wai iluna o ka lewa, a haki aku la na ale
ma na aoao, a uhi pu ia aku la na ululaau a nalowale, hoea mai la ka uluniu
mailoko mai o ka moana wai, a hoea pu mai la na laau hua ai, a me [na] mea
ulu ai, a me na kauhale a pohai ae la na manu o ka lewa maluna ululaau i hoea
mai mailoko mai o ka wai, aka, ua mehameha loa nae, no ka mea, aole he kino
kanaka hookahi i ikeia e maalo ae ana ma ia wahi.
Ku aku la keia, a nana aku la ma waenakonu o ka lokokai, aia hoi, me he
wiliau ikaika la o ka moanakai e pii ana i ka lewa, ua poha ae la ua pukoa ale
mawaenakonu, ahai aku la na nalu i na paia o ka lokokai, a hiki i ka pae ana
aku i na ae one ohai.
He manawa pokole, aia hoi, he uuina ana ana me he haalulu ana la o ke
olai pua ae la ka uahi maluna o ka wai, a lilo he mahu maluna o ka wai a pau.
101
102
Ulumaihea (m) dwelt with Kaula (f), and Lehua (f) was born, and she dwelt
with Niihau (m), and gave birth to Haena (f), who dwelt with Lauaeomakana
(m), and this child named Koolauomano was born. His name is sometimes
shortened to Koolau. This name Koolau refers to the heart of the sun, some-
thing that arrives at the eastern horizon, a pillar of wind, a suppression of the
Moae trade winds, a life in a land of constant rain, the blossoming of the Koo-
koolau, and so forth.
The place Koolau lived was Haena on Kauai, but the place he was born
was upon the summit of Maunahina. Because he was born high in the peaks,
he was used to traversing the jagged cliffs of Kauai.
It is said of his manner and the way he lived and the way he moved that
he had no equal in skill, deftness, speed, and in how much it seemed like he
had the abilities of the spectral spirits of the night.
103
He could perch upon the heights of Kalalau’s sheer cliffs, lean down, and
use his hands to harvest kalo from the loi in the lowlands of Kalalau.
He could also stand atop the mountain Waialeale, and use his pole to fish
in the streams of Wailua, catching oopu, and giving it to his mother in Haena.
He would eat with his mother until he had his fill and then get up and climb
the cliffs of Haena, and with two strides, Koolau would be back in Kalalau.
When the alii of Kauai battled at Kahoaea, the area that you pass when
you travel between Huleia on the way to Koloa, it is said that Koolau was living
atop Haupu, and there below Huleia was where his mother lived. When Koloa,
a chief from Waimea, fled the battle, Koolau stretched out his hands to Koloa,
lifted him up, and set him upon a high place on the hill Haupu, and that is
how he escaped being killed by his enemies.
The high places, the mountaintops, the steep cliffs were where Koolau
lived, and because he always returned to Kalalau, it was very fitting with that
meaning of his name, Koolau.
July 12
Koolau is someone who had the mystical abilities and wondrous nature of
the night, like that of Kalikini, Peapea, Kauahoa, and Kanaloa. The Koolau
land districts on Kauai were named after this person Koolau when they were
first given their names, and that was one hundred and seventy generations
before Umi.
Koolau desired to travel about the islands of Hawaii nei, and so he left
Kalalau and went back to live with his mother in Haena, and after that they
went to stay in Anahola, in the Koolau district of Kauai. . . .
Here they left this canoe of theirs in the place everyone in the area lived,
and then they made their way up to Kilauea. We must remember that this son
of ours, Koolau, had amazing powers, and with those powers, he told his
mother to clamber up and stand on a hill of pahoehoe lava rock that was
covered in lehua groves, ohelo, pukeawe, uki, ulei, amaumau, palai, poha, and
other plants of the forest. Then Koolau grasped the hill his mother was stand-
ing upon, gave a mighty twist, and broke off a section of it with all of the plants
growing atop it, and carried it upon his head and he climbed up toward
Kilauea.
July 13
When Koolau crested the heights of Kaluaiki, Hiiakaikapoliopele saw this lehua
grove with a woman sitting upon a mound of pahoehoe moving along. She was
astonished, so she leapt through the air and landed directly atop Uwekahuna,
104
and then she saw that there was a young man moving along with this pahoehoe
hill with a lehua grove and other bits of forest balanced upon his head.
When he reached the cliff named Kaauwe, he set down that chunk of
pahoehoe covered in forest greenery along with his mother.
The two of them stood and gazed at the blaze of the fire, and Haena
recalled the first time that Pele stayed on Kauai at the place also named Kilauea.
Haena exclaimed to Koolau, “Ka! She is a grandmother to you; they left Kilauea
on Kauai, and came here to Hawaii to live.”
Koolau responded to his mother, “If that is so, then we must descend into
the crater to see them.” Haena agreed. . . .
From there they climbed down along the tall cliffs until they were looking
down over the rim of Halemaumau, and Hiiakaikapoliopele called out, “Is that
you, Haena?”
Haena cried out in response, “It is indeed! This is the grandchild of yours and
mine.”
“What is his name?”
“Koolau!”
“Is that so?”
“This is Koolauomano!”
“Koolauomanokalanipo?”
“Just so!”
“How is Kauai?”
“Kauai is tranquil!”
“What brings you here?”
“Just a sightseeing trip!”
At that point, Pele released her earth-devouring flames, and the tendrils of
flame climbed and swelled, and lava poured from every side of where they
were standing. Pele flung balls of fire into the sky along with smoke and
blocked the rays of the sun.
July 14
. . . On a calm day in Hilo, Haena urged her son Koolau that they should go up
to swim in Wailuku with some of the local folks and watch the cliff diving of
the sons and daughters of the land where the rain sounds in the lehua
blossoms.
When they all got there, it turned out that the cliffs along with the W
ailuku
River itself was thronged with people who had come to watch.
A beautiful young girl winked at the young man Koolau to get this stranger
to cliff dive. This young man replied, “E! Kauai is beautiful in the calm, and the
water shall be set to boil by this son of the cliffs!”
105
And then he invited his mother Haena that the two of them be the ones to
leap from the cliff.
Haena assented: “Yes.” So the two of them took off their fine kapa gar-
ments, until only their sacred areas were covered. The people of that area gave
them double lei of lehua and lei of maile from Paieie, which is what the youth
of that area wore when they swam and dove from the cliffs.
And then there they were standing at the top of Piikea.
Koolau turned and gave his mother a kiss, placed his left hand on her
shoulder, and the two of them took off running and leapt into the water.
The amazing thing was that when they jumped, they wafted down gently
as if carried by a gentle breeze and descended until they touched the water,
and then they rose up to the top of Piikea again. . . .
On a certain surfing day for Hilo’s multitudes, the shores from Punahoa to
Ohele were crowded with spectators, and the break was way out past the sand-
bar. It was the break called Makaiwa, and the takeoff zone was nearly two
miles offshore. When Koolau and the local people of Hilo paddled out, Koolau
merely sat upon his board, and it was his ancestral guardian the owl who
pulled him out to the break.
When the first wave began to crest, there were forty people who took
off on it.
Koolau stood and kept his body taut while he rode the wave, while all of
his fellow surfers were sliding and running out to the shoulder before cutting
back to the curl. But Koolau was riding there above the spray coming from the
crest of the wave, with his board carried lengthwise across his back. As they
approached the shore, Koolau rose up and rode along the lip of the wave until
he came ashore at Kalalau, and that place has been called Kalalau until this
day, named for Kalalau on Kauai, the place where Koolau used to live.
July 17
. . . Everyone was bathing in the water at Waiau, in Hilo, and it was a com-
pletely still evening. It was the Mahealani moon, and it rose then, and the
reflection of the moon upon the water was absolutely clear. That was when
Koolau saw a magical woman sitting upon the reflection of the moon, with her
hair dangling down into the water. He carefully made his way to her, hoping
to seize the woman sitting on the moon’s reflection. But she turned her eyes
toward him, and she began to stand upon the moon. He saw that this woman
had wings growing from the backs of her shoulders. He ruffled the water and
the reflection of the moon sank into the water, and it spun the water into a
whirlpool and then a waterspout, and it whisked Koolau into the air with this
magical woman, and they were carried up to Halekamahina in Puna, Hawaii.
106
Koolau dwelt with this magical and wondrous woman as if she had the
body of a regular person, but in truth, it was not the body of a normal person,
but one of Pele’s many body forms.
Because Koolau thought she was a real woman and that her thoughts
toward Koolau had changed, thoughts of love grew within Koolau and he
desired to dwell with her as a man does with a woman. Therefore he endeav-
ored to build a house for the two of them atop a tall hill so that he might see
anyone who might approach them. When he erected the house and put the
finishing touches on it, however, he saw the moon spread out there before him
in the house that he had built. And from within the moon came a small child,
who said to Koolau, “You have wasted your efforts building a house upon this
hill because the person that you wish to bring here is none other than Pele, the
wondrous earth-devouring woman of Kilauea.”
When he heard that, Koolau named the house he had built upon the
hill Halekamahina, and that is the name of that hill in Puna, Hawaii, until
today, named so because of Koolau’s building a house that was dwelt in by the
moon. . . .
[The people of Ponuiohai say,] “When you come upon Paliuli, it is an
amazing land. It is filled with all sorts of magical and mysterious things accord-
ing to our ancestors. It is located in the middle of this ohia forest, but finding
it is extremely difficult, and even if someone does find it and she sees Paliuli,
when she tries to return, it will have disappeared from where it was, and won’t
be found again. . . .
“There in the middle [of the salt lake] is a ledge almost reaching to the
surface of this inland sea, and there above the ledge, waves swell and break
and move out in a circle to all sides of the sandy shores surrounding the salt
lake. . . .
“Paliuli, it is surrounded by all of our Hawaiian fruits: coconut, banana,
ula, sugar cane, ti, hapuu, ohi, all the growing things, taro, sweet potato, yam,
ape, bitter yam, cassava, pala, and so forth, and every sort of fish swims there,
along with the crawling things, shrimp, aama and paiea crabs, opihi, seaweed,
and on and on. Chickens are the only type of animal there, along with the
birds of the forest.
“The houses are mysterious and very rare. When you arrive at the place
where the house is standing, there is no house, just a reflection that you would
see when you stand in the water. It seems very lonely when you try to see how
they live, but sometimes you can see throngs of people surfing and going
about here and there on the sea on canoes, and some people steering their
canoes, but in the blink of an eye, like the flash of lighting, a second only,
everything will have disappeared and the entire land of Paliuli will fold up and
disappear.”
107
July 19
When the local finished talking, Koolau took his leave to head down to Hilo,
but without much warning, he was shocked when the forest began to rustle and
sway. And then a whirlwind began to sweep through the ohia forest, and the
birds in the sky were carried here and there. Koolau stood and gaped, and then,
as though it was a tidal wave, water began to cover the ground and waves broke
on all sides, covering the groves of trees until they disappeared from sight.
Stands of coconut trees rose out of the water, along with the fruiting plants and
the other food plants. Even houses came from the water, and the birds began to
circle above the clumps of plants that came from the water, though it was eerie
and lonely, as not a single person was seen moving about in that place.
Koolau continued to stand there and looked toward the center of the
inland sea, and there was a huge eddy that began to rise into the air until great
swells began to burst forth from the center, and the waves swept across to the
margins of the sea until they broke onto the sandy shores.
In no time at all, there was a crackling and a rumbling as an earthquake
sent smoke out onto the water, which became fog over the entirety of the water.
And then the fog spread over everything and the mist obscured everything from
sight. Koolau could hear voices, though, murmuring in the fog. He waited, and
in no time, lightning struck and thunder roared, and then calm settled and the
mist began to dissipate, and sure enough, the shore was crowded with people.
When Koolau saw all the people and even the houses filled with people,
he began to approach the beach. Nevertheless, from the constant flashing of
lightning, the water became like a flash of lightning itself, and he could see the
people surfing and riding here and there in their canoes. As for the surfing, it
was unmatched in beauty, as if the surfers were licks of flame flashing upon the
waves whenever someone would catch one.
It was completely entrancing for Koolau to witness all the wondrous sights
of Paliuli.
But just then, like the flash of death, all the trees and houses and the salt-
water lake tumbled away, to be replaced with the ohia trees that he had seen in
that place earlier. . . .
Then they sailed for Kauai, landing in Haena, where Koolau was raised.
There, Koolau’s family dwelt and the children mated with the men and women
of that place, and they spread out all across Kauai. And over the long centuries
that passed since then, this ancestor Koolau passed away, but the Koolau who
is now living among the jagged cliffs of Kalalau, he is a descendant of the
Koolau who is the subject of this story that we are reading.
Before the story of Koolau is brought to a close, the final act of bravery in
his story must be seen.
108
This is the final act of Koolau, and one of the most amazing deeds of a
Hawaiian seen in the legends of our land.
This was a battle that took place between the alii of Oahu and the alii of
Kauai and Niihau. Koolau and the alii of Kauai and Niihau gathered in Kala-
lau. The reason for the battle was that there was an alii from Kauai who sailed
off and stayed on Oahu, where he married a woman from Oahu. And then at
some point, a messenger arrived, a runner from the alii of Niihau, and he met
with that Kauai alii and told him that they should join with the alii of Oahu to
go to war with Kauai, so they could take over that island.
The war chiefs and warriors boarded their double-hulled canoes, and they
landed at Waialua, and there they planned their strategy about how to attach
the alii of Kauai.
The Kauai alii all gathered in Kalalau, and they climbed up until they were
atop the heights of the cliffs. From Waialua the alii of Oahu came and landed
at Haena, and from there, some traveled along the cliffs while some went
aboard canoes, all headed for Kalalau.
When the two forces arrived, along the land and upon the sea, there was
Koolau and the others looking from atop the cliffs. Then, a high alii who was a
skilled fighter and whose face had been scarred by the blow of a leiomano, tak-
ing his eye and an ear, called out to them: “E ka I! E ka Mahi! E ka Palena!
Heed me, O descendants of Kakuhihewa, hold your breath and let us pursue
these alii of Kauai and cook their heads in the imu! Forward until Kauai is
crushed! Until Manokalanipo is killed!”
And with that, the battle began. It happened just as the sun was beginning
to rise. Koolau leapt into the air and caught a hold of the sun and then tossed
it into the Hanakapiai River. The entire land of Kauai was plunged into abso-
lute darkness, and the alii of Oahu approached through the dark until they
neared the base of the cliff, at which point a giant net was let down to sur-
round the alii of Oahu, though none of them were aware in the slightest of the
death that Koolau and the others had prepared for them.
When these alii were ensnared in the Kauai alii’s net, it was drawn tight
and lifted up to the cliffs of Kalalau. The other alii, who had hidden in the
bushes, were found and killed and then buried at the base of the Kalalau cliffs.
Some of the Oahu alii were caught in the net, and they tried to chew
through the net to escape.
Koolau saw this and grabbed the net tight and carried it over his shoulder
like a koko, a carrying net, and he called out to his owl guardian to fetch it and
take it out to the salt lake of Nomilu. The owl came and took these alii in the
net and tossed them into the lake, where they all drowned, leaving only the alii
of Kauai and Koolau at Kalalau.
109
When the people of Oahu heard about how their alii had been slaugh-
tered by the people of Kauai, there was no end to their fear. After that, the
people of Oahu never again dared to attack the alii of Kauai. And that is how
Koolau took his ultimate victory.
Notes
1. Diacritical markings are used in the translator’s introduction but not in the trans-
lation itself to preserve the original spellings of personal and place names as they
appeared in the newspaper.
2. An editorial in the newspaper Hawaii Holomua on July 20, 1893, titled “Kela
Huakai i Kalalau,” implicates the Provisional Government’s plan for a sugar plan-
tation in the fertile Kalalau valley as the reason for their sudden eagerness to
round up all those afflicted with Hansen’s disease and their families and ship
them off to Kalawao. Two other interesting allegations that they bring up are
(1) that Lui Stolz, the deputy sheriff, had been angling to clear out the people
from Kalalau for quite some time because he was to become an overseer of the
plantation and (2) that the head of the Board of Health at the time, W. O. Smith,
just happened to be a part of the group that was pushing for the Kalalau planta-
tion.
3. The editor of Hawaii Holomua was Kahikina Kelekona, who would go on to inter-
view Pi‘ilani years later, after she returned from the wilderness, and wrote a book
detailing her family’s flight into the wilderness.
4. Jack London even got wind of the story when he visited Hawai‘i, but his version
made no mention of Pi‘ilani or Kaleimanu and turned Ko‘olau into a masculine
icon of American individualism.
5. Leading up to and during the famous Massie Trial, Clarence Darrow’s final case,
native and local residents of Hawai‘i were cast as savages and thugs by the conti-
nental media and the United States Navy had a strong hand in the governance of
the territory. It is likely that the themes of a tight-knit family standing up to out-
siders who did not really know the terrain resonated with the readers of that era.
Works Cited
110