Hawaiian Folk Tales | Page 3

living, he organized it as it now is, and created the first
man and the first woman, with the assistance of Ku and Lono, nearly in
the same manner as narrated in the former legend of Kumuhonua. In
this legend the man is called Wela-ahi-lani, and the woman is called
Owe."
Of the primeval home, the original ancestral seat of mankind, Hawaiian
traditions speak in highest praise. "It had a number of names of various
meanings, though the most generally occurring, and said to be the
oldest, was Kalana-i-hau-ola (Kalana with the life-giving dew). It was
situated in a large country, or continent, variously called in the legends
Kahiki-honua-kele, Kahiki-ku, Kapa-kapa-ua-a-Kane, Molo-lani.
Among other names for the primary homestead, or paradise, are
Pali-uli (the blue mountain), Aina-i-ka-kaupo-o-Kane (the land in the
heart of Kane), Aina-wai-akua-a-Kane (the land of the divine water of
Kane). The tradition says of Pali-uli, that it was a sacred, tabooed land;
that a man must be righteous to attain it; if faulty or sinful he will not
get there; if he looks behind he will not get there; if he prefers his
family he will not enter Pali-uli." "Among other adornments of the
Polynesian Paradise, the Kalana-i-hau-ola, there grew the Ulu kapu a
Kane, the breadfruit tabooed for Kane, and the ohia hemolele, the
sacred apple-tree. The priests of the olden time are said to have held
that the tabooed fruits of these trees were in some manner connected
with the trouble and death of Kumuhonua and Lalahonua, the first man

and the first woman. Hence in the ancient chants he is called
Kane-laa-uli, Kumu-uli, Kulu-ipo, the fallen chief, he who fell on
account of the tree, or names of similar import."
According to those legends of Kumuhonua and Wela-ahi-lani, "at the
time when the gods created the stars, they also created a multitude of
angels, or spirits (i kini akua), who were not created like men, but made
from the spittle of the gods (i kuhaia), to be their servants or
messengers. These spirits, or a number of them, disobeyed and revolted,
because they were denied the awa; which means that they were not
permitted to be worshipped, awa being a sacrificial offering and sign of
worship. These evil spirits did not prevail, however, but were
conquered by Kane, and thrust down into uttermost darkness (ilalo loa i
ka po). The chief of these spirits was called by some Kanaloa, by others
Milu, the ruler of Po; Akua ino; Kupu ino, the evil spirit. Other legends,
however, state that the veritable and primordial lord of the Hawaiian
inferno was called Manua. The inferno itself bore a number of names,
such as Po-pau-ole, Po-kua-kini, Po-kini-kini, Po-papa-ia-owa,
Po-ia-milu. Milu, according to those other legends, was a chief of
superior wickedness on earth who was thrust down into Po, but who
was really both inferior and posterior to Manua. This inferno, this Po,
with many names, one of which remarkably enough was Ke-po-lua-ahi,
the pit of fire, was not an entirely dark place. There was light of some
kind and there was fire. The legends further tell us that when Kane, Ku,
and Lono were creating the first man from the earth, Kanaloa was
present, and in imitation of Kane, attempted to make another man out
of the earth. When his clay model was ready, he called to it to become
alive, but no life came to it. Then Kanaloa became very angry, and said
to Kane, 'I will take your man, and he shall die,' and so it happened.
Hence the first man got his other name Kumu-uli, which means a fallen
chief, he 'lii kahuli.... With the Hawaiians, Kanaloa is the personified
spirit of evil, the origin of death, the prince of Po, or chaos, and yet a
revolted, disobedient spirit, who was conquered and punished by Kane.
The introduction and worship of Kanaloa, as one of the great gods in
the Hawaiian group, can be traced back only to the time of the
immigration from the southern groups, some eight hundred years ago.
In the more ancient chants he is never mentioned in conjunction with

Kane, Ku, and Lono, and even in later Hawaiian mythology he never
took precedence of Kane. The Hawaiian legend states that the oldest
son of Kumuhonua, the first man, was called Laka, and that the next
was called Ahu, and that Laka was a bad man; he killed his brother
Ahu.
"There are these different Hawaiian genealogies, going back with more
or less agreement among themselves to the first created man. The
genealogy of Kumuhonua gives thirteen generations inclusive to Nuu,
or Kahinalii, or the line of Laka, the oldest son of Kumuhonua. (The
line of Seth from Adam to Noah counts ten generations.) The second
genealogy, called that of Kumu-uli, was