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Hawaiian Folk Tales - A Collection of Native Legends by Various
page 99 of 265 (37%)
was; the Menehunes, having finished the canoe, were ready to pull
it to the sea. He directed them to look sharp, and two men would be
noticed holding the ropes at the _pu_ (or head) of the canoe. One of
them would leap from one side to the other; he was the director of the
work and was called _pale_. There would be some men farther behind,
holding the _kawelewele_, or guiding-ropes. They were the _kahunas_
that superintended the construction of the canoe. He reminded them
to remember these directions, and when they saw these men, to give
them orders and show them the course to take in pulling the canoe to
the sea.

Kekupua followed all these instructions faithfully. He waited
at Puunui till dusk, when he heard a hum as of many voices, and
proceeding farther up near the slope of Alewa he saw these wonderful
people. They were like ordinary human beings but diminutive. He
directed them to pull the canoe along the _nae_, or farther side of
the Puunui stream. By this course the canoe was brought down as far
as Kaalaa, near Waikahalulu, where, when daylight came, they left
their burden and returned to Waolani. The canoe was left in the ditch,
where it remained for many generations, and was called Kawa-a-Kekupua
(Kekupua's canoe), in honor of the servant of the chief Kakae.

Thus, even with the help of the Menehunes, the wife of Kakae was not
satisfied in her desire.



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