Two strangers came to Ko‘olau Loa on O‘ahu, two tall fine-looking men. The eyeball of the sun was sinking in the west, and the men were thirsty and tired. “Here are good houses,” said one, “and over there is a spring. Let us ask here for drink and rest.”
“E!” the men called. “Have you water for thirsty travelers?”
Two old people came to the doorway. “We have no water for strangers,” said the man. The travelers glanced toward the spring, which bubbled out and formed a little stream. “That is only enough for ourselves,” the old man added quickly.
“Be on your way!” called the old woman. “We want no strangers here.” And the two stood blocking their doorway.
Without a word the tall men walked away. Close to the shore they found another home. “These houses are small,” one of the men remarked. “No room for strangers here! And I don’t see any spring.”
“Aloha!” called a friendly voice. “You are welcome! Come and eat.” An old man hurried toward them from the little home.
“We are thirsty,” said the travelers, “but you have no spring.”
“Oh yes, we have a spring,” the old man answered. “It is in the ocean’s edge, and the water is a little salty, but better than none. I’ll fill the water gourds.” He led the strangers to his eating house, brought water, and set food before them.
When they had eaten, he led them to the sleeping house. “Your mats are ready,” he told them.
The two looked about. “Those are your mats,” they answered. “Where shall you sleep?”
“Right here,” said the old woman quickly, showing them a mat laid on the floor. “We like a cool place when the night is warm.”
“You are kind,” the tall men told her. “We hope you will not feel the hardness of the pebbles underneath your mat.”
The old folks did not feel the pebbles. They slept well and when they woke their guests were gone. “Why did they leave so early?” asked the man in disappointment. “I should have given them food.” He went to fill the water gourd and gave his wife a drink.
She tasted, then looked at him in surprise. “Where did this water come from?”
“From our spring, there in the ocean’s edge. Is the water very salty?”
“It is not salty at all,” she told him. “Taste it. It is cool and fresh.” He tasted, and the two looked at each other wondering.
Later they heard that the spring nearer the mountains had turned salty in the night. That was the spring of which the owner said, “Its water is only enough for ourselves.”
“Our visitors were two gods,” the kind man said to his wife. “It was well I gave them drink and food.”
“You did for them what you do for all who come,” his wife replied. “Now we shall have good water for our guests.”
The water from these springs still flows as the gods willed. The water some distance from the ocean is a little salty, while the spring in the ocean’s edge gives water which is fresh and cool.
Told to Mary Kawena Pūku‘i by a native of Hau‘ula, O‘ahu and previously printed in The Legend of Kawelo and Other Hawaiian Folk Tales by L. S. Green and M. K. Pūku‘i