The ancient Hawaiians were not inventive. They did not study new
methods of house-building or farming. They did not seek new tools or
new weapons. They could live comfortably as their ancestors lived. But
they were imaginative and therefore told many a wonderful tale of gods
and goblins and men. Some of these stories were centuries old, and were
closely akin to legends told in Tahiti, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand and
many other islands of the Pacific Ocean. Most of them were of course
limited to the locality from which they came. The Honolulu legends
belong to this class almost entirely, although a student of Polynesian
mythology will find many traces of connecting links with the mythology
of far distant islands.
The legends of Old Honolulu have been compiled from stories told by the
old Hawaiians. Some of them came from those still living, but many have
been found in the files of papers published from 1850 to 1870.
The first alphabet for Hawaiians was prepared in 1821. The Hawaiians
were taught to read and write their histories and ancient stories as
rapidly as possible. This was the result of the labors of the American
missionaries. Some of the missionaries, notably Mr. Dibble, sent their
pupils out to write down and preserve the old legends and traditions.
Between thirty and forty years after the first lesson in the alphabet
the Hawaiians were writing articles for papers published regularly in
their own language—such as Ka Hae Hawaii (The Hawaiian Flag), Ke Kuokoa
(The Independent), Ka Hoku Pakipika (The Star of the Pacific). These
were followed by many papers down to the present time edited solely by
Hawaiians.
Careful research through these papers brings many stories of the past
into the hands of students. It is chiefly in this way that these
legends of Old Honolulu have been gathered together. This is the result
of several years’ work of note-taking and compilation.
These legends belong of course to Honolulu people, and will be chiefly
interesting to them and those who are acquainted with the city and the
island of Oahu. It is hoped that the folk-lore lovers the world over
will also enjoy comparing these tales with those of other lands.
Sometimes these old stories have been touched up and added to by the
Hawaiian story-teller who has had contact with foreign literature, and
the reader may trace the influence of modern ideas; but this does not
occur frequently.
The legend of “Chief Man-eater” comes the nearest to historic times.
Cannibalism was not a custom among the ancient Hawaiians. These are
unquestionably sporadic cases handed down in legends.
These legends have been printed in the following papers and magazines:
The Friend, The Paradise of the Pacific, The Mid-Pacific, Thrum’s
Hawaiian Annual, Historical Society Reports, The Advertiser and Star
Bulletin, published in Honolulu.
The Author.