These legends have been selected with the thought that, in length and content, they are suitable to be told or read to young children as well as to be read by older ones. Some are very old legends, common to many Pacific islands, and others are of recent origin.
The menehune were the little people of Hawaiian tales. As they lived in the mountain forests and only came to the lowland at night, they were not often seen. Yet the Hawaiians could describe them. They were two or three feet tall, the stories said, thickset and hairy. Some of them were never heard to talk while others talked with deep, gruff voices. The Hawaiians said their talk sounded like the low growl of a dog, and their laughter could be heard far away. The mū, a bananaeating people, were a tribe of the menehune.
These little people worked at night. They worked together and in great numbers. In a single night they could accomplish mighty deeds such as building a road or heiau or walling in a fishpond. Once they even took a spring from its rocky bed and carried it, bundled in ti leaves, down to the lowland so that villagers might have its water for their taro patches. At cock-crow all work must stop for that was menehune law, and a job must be finished in a single night. Men still point to certain walls left unfinished when morning came too quickly.
The menehune ate bananas, poi, small fish, and shrimps. They liked to eat the whole of any food so that no part would be left as there might be if they feasted on large fish or pork. In little hollow places on the cliffs they planted bananas, taro, and sweet potatoes. On the cliffs of Kaua‘i their trails are still pointed out. Sometimes Hawaiian men, spending a night in an upland forest, roasted bananas in hot coals. At such times the menehune had been known to steal close in the shadows and reach for the bananas with sharp-pointed poles.
The Hawaiians learned that a man who was unkind to a menehune would be punished by these little people, while one who showed them friendship might be rewarded by the work of many, many hands.
One sport the menehune loved was to build a little hill and then roll down its slope. Their shouts and laughter at such a time sounded over the whole island. Another favorite sport was jumping from a cliff into the sea. The little men would bring stones from the mountains until they had a large pile on the cliff. Then a good swimmer would throw a stone into the water and leap after it, trying to catch it as it sank.
Once, as they played this game, a shark attacked them. ‘A‘aka, one of the men, was almost caught. The menehune gathered in an excited group.
“Let us punish that shark,” said one.
“Let us kill him!” said ‘A‘aka angrily.
“Yes, let us kill that man-eater, so that never again can he harm menehune or Hawaiian.”
Soon the shark smelled food, swam after it, and found himself caught in a trap basket of beach-morning-glory vines. The shark was killed. But the menehune never again swam in that bay.
Once a boastful menehune told his companions he could catch the moon. They laughed at him, and he climbed a hill to make good his boast. But when the moon rode high in heaven he came down empty-handed. He was punished for his boastfulness by being turned to stone. Many stones are found which legends say were once disobedient menehune or bad Hawaiians who tried to harm the little people.
Told by W. H. Rice in Hawaiian Legends and used by permission of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum