Post by Okwes on Jun 10, 2008 11:42:57 GMT -5
Legend Of The Recumbent Coconuts Of Kalapana - Hawaiian
Long ago two young chiefs of Puna named Hinawale and Owalauahi(-wahie) who were cousins and intimates stole away incognito to tour the island. Returning after several months they joined a group of men who were testing their strength by attempting to bend to earth two full-grown coconut trees. Unrecognized they waited until all had failed, then they too made the attempt. Hinawale grasped one tree, Owalauahi the other, and with a strong downward pull laid them low. The people shouted applause. Upon discovering that the men were their own chiefs their joy knew no bounds.
The mother of Mrs. Pukui, who tells the tale, is descended from one of these two chiefs. Visitors to the coconut grove to-day are shown Naniu-moe-o-Kalapana (The recumbent coconut trees of Kalapana) still flourishing as of old, although it is said that the two original trees have been since replaced. The story is told of Queen Emma that when she found the trees dead and asked her men to bend two more to take their place none could do so until the queen herself held a leaf of each, when they were easily bent. A San Cristoval account of the passage to the land of the dead tells how, at Hauihaiha, the souls are supposed to bend down the fronds of a coconut called Niu-tarau (Coconut of crossing). 47 Although not so stated, the task is probably a test of chief rank. The play of words in the Hawaiian is upon the word moe, which denotes the rank of a high tapu chief and also refers to the position of the growing trunks as they lie as if sleeping (moe) along the ground.
A good deal of lore centers about the origin of food plants or other plants useful in the economic life. Stories are told to explain certain tapus upon them or customs connected with them which are observed in particular families. A common folktale is that of the relief of famine out of the body of a god who is living on earth in human form and takes pity upon his starving family. Sometimes he provides an oven of food out of his own body, himself emerging unhurt. Sometimes a plant springs from his body at death, which is his spirit body.
Hawaiian Mythology, by Martha Beckwith, Yale University Press [1940, copyright not renewed] and is now in the public domain.
Long ago two young chiefs of Puna named Hinawale and Owalauahi(-wahie) who were cousins and intimates stole away incognito to tour the island. Returning after several months they joined a group of men who were testing their strength by attempting to bend to earth two full-grown coconut trees. Unrecognized they waited until all had failed, then they too made the attempt. Hinawale grasped one tree, Owalauahi the other, and with a strong downward pull laid them low. The people shouted applause. Upon discovering that the men were their own chiefs their joy knew no bounds.
The mother of Mrs. Pukui, who tells the tale, is descended from one of these two chiefs. Visitors to the coconut grove to-day are shown Naniu-moe-o-Kalapana (The recumbent coconut trees of Kalapana) still flourishing as of old, although it is said that the two original trees have been since replaced. The story is told of Queen Emma that when she found the trees dead and asked her men to bend two more to take their place none could do so until the queen herself held a leaf of each, when they were easily bent. A San Cristoval account of the passage to the land of the dead tells how, at Hauihaiha, the souls are supposed to bend down the fronds of a coconut called Niu-tarau (Coconut of crossing). 47 Although not so stated, the task is probably a test of chief rank. The play of words in the Hawaiian is upon the word moe, which denotes the rank of a high tapu chief and also refers to the position of the growing trunks as they lie as if sleeping (moe) along the ground.
A good deal of lore centers about the origin of food plants or other plants useful in the economic life. Stories are told to explain certain tapus upon them or customs connected with them which are observed in particular families. A common folktale is that of the relief of famine out of the body of a god who is living on earth in human form and takes pity upon his starving family. Sometimes he provides an oven of food out of his own body, himself emerging unhurt. Sometimes a plant springs from his body at death, which is his spirit body.
Hawaiian Mythology, by Martha Beckwith, Yale University Press [1940, copyright not renewed] and is now in the public domain.