Legends of Gods and Ghosts: Hawaiin Mythology by W.D. Westervelt

Author:W.D. Westervelt [Westervelt, W.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781975761110
Barnesnoble:
Published: 2012-03-18T00:00:00+00:00

XVI

PUNA AND THE DRAGON

Two images of goddesses were clothed in yellow kapa cloth and worshipped in

the temples. One was Kiha-wahine, a noted dragon-goddess, and the other was

Haumea, who was also known as Papa, the wife of Wakea, a great ancestor-god

among the Polynesians.

Haumea is said to have taken as her husband, Puna, a chief of Oahu. He and his

people were going around the island. The surf was not very good, and they

wanted to find a better place. At last they found a fine surf-place where a beautiful woman was floating on the sea.

She called to Puna, “This is not a good place for surf.” He asked, “Where is there a place?” She answered, “I know where there is one, far outside.” She desired to get Puna. So they swam way out in the sea until they were out of sight nor could

they see the sharp peaks of the mountains. They forgot everything else but each

other. This woman was Kiha-wahine.

The people on the beach wailed, but did not take canoes to help them. They swam over to Molokai. Here they left their surf-boards on the beach and went inland. They came to the cave house of the woman. He saw no man inside nor

did he hear any voice, all was quiet.

Puna stayed there as a kind of prisoner and obeyed the commands of the woman.

She took care of him and prepared his food. They lived as husband and wife for

a long time, and at last his real body began to change.

Once he went out of the cave. While standing there he heard voices, loud and confused. He wanted to see what was going on, but he could not go, because the

woman had laid her law on him, that if he went away he would be killed.

He returned to the cave and asked the woman, “What is that noise I heard from

the sea?” She said: “Surf-riding, perhaps, or rolling the maika stone. Some one is winning and you heard the shouts.” He said, “It would be fine for me to see the things you have mentioned.” She said, “To-morrow will be a good time for you

to go and see.”

In the morning he went down to the sea to the place where the people were gathered together and saw many sports.

While he was watching, one of the men, Hinole, the brother of his wife, saw him

and was pleased. When the sports were through he invited Puna to go to their house and eat and talk.

Hinole asked him, “Whence do you come, and what house do you live in?” He

said, “I am from the mountains, and my house is a cave.” Hinole meditated, for he had heard of the loss of Puna at Oahu. He loved his brother-in-law, and asked,

“How did you come to this place?” Puna told him all the story. Then Hinole told him his wife was a goddess. “When you return and come near to the place, go very easily and softly, and you will see her in her real nature, as a mo-o, or dragon; but she knows all that you are doing and what we are saying. Now listen

to a parable. Your first wife, Haumea, is the first born of all the other women.

Think of the time when she was angry with you. She had been sporting with you

and then she said in a tired way, ‘I want the water.’ You asked, ‘What water do you want?’ She said, ‘The water from Poliahu of Mauna Kea.’ You took a water-jar and made a hole so that the water always leaked out, and then you went to the

pit of Pele. That woman Pele was very old and blear-eyed, so that she could not

see you well, and you returned to Haumea. She was that wife of yours. If you escape this mo-o wife she will seek my life. It is my thought to save your life, so

that you can look into the eyes of your first wife.”

The beautiful dragon-woman had told him to cry with a loud voice when he went

back to the cave. But when Puna was going back he went slowly and softly, and

saw his wife as a dragon, and understood the words of Hinole. He tried to hide,

but was trembling and breathing hard.

His wife heard and quickly changed to a human body, and cursed him, saying:

“You are an evil man coming quietly and hiding, but I heard your breath when

you thought I would not know you. Perhaps I will eat your eyes. When you were

talking with Hinole you learned how to come and see me.”

The dragon-goddess was very angry, but Puna did not say anything. She was so

angry that the hair on her neck rose up, but it was like a whirlwind, soon quiet

and the anger over. They dwelt together, and the woman trusted Puna, and they

had peace.

One day Puna was breathing hard, for he was thirsty and wanted the water of the

gods.

The woman heard his breathing, and asked, “Why do you breathe like this?” He

said: “I want water. We have dwelt together a long time and now I need the water.” “What water is this you want?” He said, “I must have the water of Poliahu of Mauna Kea, the snow covered mountain of Hawaii.”

She said, “Why do you want that water?” He said: “The water of that place is cold and heavy with ice. In my youth my good grandparents always brought

water from that place for me. Wherever I went I carried that water with me, and

when it was gone more would be brought to me, and so it has been up to the time

that I came to dwell with you. You have water and I have been drinking it, but it

is not the same as the water mixed with ice, and heavy. But I would not send you

after it, because I know it is far away and attended with toil unfit for you, a woman.”

The woman bent her head down, then lifted her eyes, and said: “Your desire for

water is not a hard thing to satisfy. I will go and get the water.”

Before he had spoken of his desire he had made a little hole in the water-jar, as

Hinole had told him, that the woman might spend a long time and let him

escape.

She arose and went away. He also arose and followed. He found a canoe and crossed to Maui. Then he found another boat going to Hawaii and at last landed

at Kau.

He went up and stood on the edge of the pit of Pele. Those who were living in

the crater saw him, and cried out, “Here is a man, a husband for our sister.” He quickly went down into the crater and dwelt with them. He told all about his

journey. Pele heard these words, and said: “Not very long and your wife will be here coming after you, and there will be a great battle, but we will not let you go

or you will be killed, because she is very angry against you. She has held you,

the husband of our sister Haumea. She should find her own husband and not take

what belongs to another. You stay with us and at the right time you can go back

to your wife.”

Kiha-wahine went to Poliahu, but could not fill the water-jar. She poured the water in and filled the jar, but when the jar was lifted it became light. She looked

back and saw the water lying on the ground, and her husband far beyond at the

pit of Pele. Then she became angry and called all the dragons of Molokai, Lanai,

Maui, Kahoolawe, and Hawaii.

When she had gathered all the dragons she went up to Kilauea and stood on the

edge of the crater and called all the people below, telling them to give her the husband. They refused to give Puna up, crying out: “Where is your husband?

This is the husband of our sister; he does not belong to you, O mischief-maker.”

Then the dragon-goddess said, “If you do not give up this man, of a truth I will

send quickly all my people and fill up this crater and capture all your fires.” The dragons threw their drooling saliva in the pit, and almost destroyed the fire of the

pit where Pele lived, leaving Ka-moho-alii’s place untouched.

Then the fire moved and began to rise with great strength, burning off all the saliva of the dragons. Kiha-wahine and the rest of the dragons could not stand the heat even a little while, for the fire caught them and killed a large part of them in that place. They tried to hide in the clefts of the rocks. The earthquakes

opened the rocks and some of the dragons hid, but fire followed the earthquakes

and the fleeing dragons. Kiha-wahine ran and leaped down the precipice into a

fish-pond called by the name of the shadow, or aka, of the dragon, Loko-aka (the

shadow lake).

So she was imprisoned in the pond, husbandless, scarcely escaping with her life.

When she went back to Molokai she meant to kill Hinole, because she was very

angry for his act in aiding Puna to escape. She wanted to punish him, but Hinole

saw the trouble coming from his sister, so arose and leaped into the sea,

becoming a fish in the ocean.

When he dove into the sea Kiha-wahine went down after him and tried to find

him in the small and large coral caves, but could not catch him. He became the

Hinalea, a fish dearly loved by the fishermen of the islands. The dragon-goddess

continued seeking, swimming swiftly from place to place.

Ounauna saw her passing back and forth, and said, “What are you seeking, O

Kiha-wahine?” She said, “I want Hinole.” Ounauna said: “Unless you listen to me you cannot get him, just as when you went to Hawaii you could not get your

husband from Pele. You go and get the vine inalua and come back and make a

basket and put it down in the sea. After a while dive down and you will find that

man has come inside. Then catch him.”

The woman took the vine, made the basket, came down and put it in the sea. She

left it there a little while, then dove down. There was no Hinole in the basket, but

she saw him swimming along outside of the basket. She went up, waited awhile,

came down again and saw him still swimming outside. This she did again and again, until her eyes were red because she could not catch him. Then she was angry, and went to Ounauna and said: “O slave, I will kill you to-day. Perhaps you told the truth, but I have been deceived, and will chase you until you die.”

Ounauna said: “Perhaps we should talk before I die.

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