Hawaiian Folk Tales | Page 4

of greatest authority among the
highest chiefs down to the latest times, and it was taboo to teach it to
the common people. This genealogy counts fourteen generations from
Huli-houna, the first man, to Nuu, or Nana-nuu, but inclusive, on the
line of Laka. The third genealogy, which, properly speaking, is that of
Paao, the high-priest who came with Pili from Tahiti, about twenty-five
generations ago, and was a reformer of the Hawaiian priesthood, and
among whose descendants it has been preserved, counts only twelve
generations from Kumuhonua to Nuu, on the line of Kapili, youngest
son of Kumuhonua."
"In the Hawaiian group there are several legends of the Flood. One
legend relates that in the time of Nuu, or Nana-nuu (also pronounced
lana, that is, floating), the flood, Kaiakahinalii, came upon the earth,
and destroyed all living beings; that Nuu, by command of his god, built
a large vessel with a house on top of it, which was called and is referred
to in chants as 'He waa halau Alii o ka Moku,' the royal vessel, in which
he and his family, consisting of his wife, Lilinoe, his three sons and
their wives, were saved. When the flood subsided, Kane, Ku, and Lono
entered the waa halau of Nuu, and told him to go out. He did so, and
found himself on the top of Mauna Kea (the highest mountain on the
island of Hawaii). He called a cave there after the name of his wife, and
the cave remains there to this day--as the legend says in testimony of
the fact. Other versions of the legend say that Nuu landed and dwelt in
Kahiki-honua-kele, a large and extensive country." ... "Nuu left the
vessel in the evening of the day and took with him a pig, cocoanuts,

and awa as an offering to the god Kane. As he looked up he saw the
moon in the sky. He thought it was the god, saying to himself, 'You are
Kane, no doubt, though you have transformed yourself to my sight.' So
he worshipped the moon, and offered his offerings. Then Kane
descended on the rainbow and spoke reprovingly to Nuu, but on
account of the mistake Nuu escaped punishment, having asked pardon
of Kane." ... "Nuu's three sons were Nalu-akea, Nalu-hoo-hua, and
Nalu-mana-mana. In the tenth generation from Nuu arose Lua-nuu, or
the second Nuu, known also in the legend as Kane-hoa-lani, Kupule,
and other names. The legend adds that by command of his god he was
the first to introduce circumcision to be practised among his
descendants. He left his native home and moved a long way off until he
reached a land called Honua-ilalo, 'the southern country.' Hence he got
the name Lalo-kona, and his wife was called Honua-po-ilalo. He was
the father of Ku-nawao by his slave-woman Ahu (O-ahu) and of
Kalani-menehune by his wife, Mee-hewa. Another says that the god
Kane ordered Lua-nuu to go up on a mountain and perform a sacrifice
there. Lua-nuu looked among the mountains of Kahiki-ku, but none of
them appeared suitable for the purpose. Then Lua-nuu inquired of God
where he might find a proper place. God replied to him: 'Go travel to
the eastward, and where you find a sharp-peaked hill projecting
precipitously into the ocean, that is the hill for the sacrifice.' Then
Lua-nuu and his son, Kupulu-pulu-a-Nuu, and his servant, Pili-lua-nuu,
started off in their boat to the eastward. In remembrance of this event
the Hawaiians called the back of Kualoa Koo-lau; Oahu (after one of
Lua-nuu's names), Kane-hoa-lani; and the smaller hills in front of it
were named Kupu-pulu and Pili-lua-nuu. Lua-nuu is the tenth
descendant from Nuu by both the oldest and the youngest of Nuu's sons.
This oldest son is represented to have been the progenitor of the
Kanaka-maoli, the people living on the mainland of Kane (Aina
kumupuaa a Kane): the youngest was the progenitor of the white
people (ka poe keo keo maoli). This Lua-nuu (like Abraham, the tenth
from Noah, also like Abraham), through his grandson, Kini-lau-a-mano,
became the ancestor of the twelve children of the latter, and the original
founder of the Menehune people, from whom this legend makes the
Polynesian family descend."

The Rev. Sheldon Dibble, in his history of the Sandwich Islands,
published at Lahainaluna, in 1843, gives a tradition which very much
resembles the history of Joseph. "Waikelenuiaiku was one of ten
brethren who had one sister. They were all the children of one father,
whose name was Waiku. Waikelenuiaiku was much beloved by his
father, but his brethren hated him. On account of their hatred they
carried him and cast him into a pit belonging to Holonaeole. The oldest
brother had pity on him, and gave charge to Holonaeole to take good
care of him. Waikelenuiaiku escaped