“O Mother, play with me!”
“I have no time. See, I am making dye to dye this kapa. Play by yourself.”
The little girl began to whimper. When she saw her mother still busy with the dye she started toward the sweet potato patch. “Father,” she called as she came near. “Come and play with me.”
“I am weeding the potatoes,” her father said. “I have no time to play.”
Again the child began to whimper. “You don’t love me,” she said crossly. “No one loves me. I guess I’ll go away.”
Her father went on weeding.
Looking about, the child saw a great lizard sunning on the rock above the waterfall. “The mo‘o would be kinder to me than you are,” she said.
Still her father did not answer, but went on pulling weeds.
“The mo‘o has time,” the little girl remarked. “He doesn’t work. He has time to play with me.”
“Then go and live with him!” exclaimed the father, annoyed by the child’s teasing.
There was no more crying that afternoon. The parents were glad their child had gone off to play. She was a bother with her whimpering and teasing when they had work to do. But as darkness fell they looked for her. They called and hunted. No one had seen her. All night the parents searched.
In the morning a neighbor came. “I have seen your child,” he told them. “She seems safe and happy. Come.” He led them toward their garden. From there they could see the waterfall, and on the rocks above it, touched by the morning sun, lay the great mo‘o. Nestled happily against him they saw their child.
The father called to her. Startled by the sound the great lizard leaped over the fall and disappeared into a cave behind it. The child ran to a small opening above the fall, and she too disappeared into the cave.
“Don’t worry!” said the mother. “She will come for food.”
But the child did not come. Often they saw her sunning beside the mo‘o or quietly playing with him. Since she seemed well fed and happy, they let her stay.
But as she grew they said, “That is not a good life for a girl. She must learn the work of women. She must have friends about her and learn their ways.” Again they called to her and urged her to return to them. But always, startled by the calls, the mo‘o leaped over the fall and disappeared into the cave while the girl ran to the smaller opening above.
At last the parents went to a kahuna. The father followed his advice and brought a net. As the strange friends lay sunning on the rock he stole behind them, fastened the net in the small opening, then hid.
The mother called, “O daughter, we want you to come home!”
The mo‘o leaped over the fall and disappeared behind it. The girl ran to the small opening, but was stopped by the net. In a moment the father had her in his arms.
The family moved from Waimea Valley to the village. At first their girl was a wild, unwilling prisoner. But soon she came to love the sports and friendship of other girls. She learned to work beside her mother and was content. But all her life people called her the girl who lived with the mo‘o.
Told by W. H. Rice in Hawaiian Legends and used by permission of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum