Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 7, 1 July 2012 — Lessons from the Menehune [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Lessons from the Menehune

By Claire Ku'uleilani Hughes, Dr. PH„ R.D.

\ot long ago, kūpuna and mākua told mo'olelo of how Menehune helped kanaka maoli. Menehune lived in Hawai'i before Hawaiians arrived, kūpuna explained. The tall Hawaiians frightened the Menehune, who were only about 3 feet tall, so they moved deep into the forests. Menehune were strong, stocky and very hardworking. Most Menehune didn't speak, but those who did had deep, gruff voices. However, their delightful

laughter could be heard for miles. Menehune worked together in large numbers, accomplishing mighty deeds, in just one night . . . like building roads, heiau or fishpond walls. Menehune ceased work upon the first rooster's crowing at dawn. One Menehune mo'olelo tells of Laka's eanoe. Laka selected a tall, straight, strong tree in the koa forest for his eanoe. He prayed for permission before chopping with his stone adze. He worked all day before the great tree fell. Laka went home to eat and sleep for the night. He thought about the work ahead, trimming the branches, shaping the eanoe and hollowing it. He prayed for guidance before returning to the forest the next day. Laka could not find his tree. He retumed to the village to seek the counsel of his grandmother. The next day, Laka retumed to the

forest with his adze and a digging stick. He dug a little ditch next to a tree he selected. He cut the tree so it fell over the ditch. Darkness had already fallen when he finished. Laka crawled under the leaves of the tree into the ditch. Soon, he heard voices, then a command: "Now! Take your places." The Menehune were preparing to lift the tree back into plaee. Laka scrambled from under the tree. The Menehune ran in fright, but Laka managed to catch two Menehune. Laka complained angrily about the hme and effort wasted because they replaced the first tree. The Menehune chief was fearless. He confronted Laka about his laek of canoe-build-ing skill, as weil as a plan to haul the eanoe to the shore. "If you set us free, we ean shape the eanoe and haul it to the shore," the Menehune chief said.

"I will release you, but if I do, and you finish and deliver the eanoe, what would I do for you? I have nothing for gifts," Laka said. The Menehune chief asked Laka to build a eanoe shed near the shoreline and to prepare a feast for the Menehune. Laka agreed and hurried home. Early the next morning, Laka began preparations for the feast and started building the shed. He framed the shed then thatched a roof of coconut leaves. Laka kept wondering if the Menehune had completed the eanoe during the night. He scurried up the mountain and peeked at the beautiful eanoe! Laka hurried back to finish preparing the feast. He caught shrimp and pounded poi from the taro he had cooked. It was growing dark when he finished and laid out the food on the eating mat. Exhausted, Laka stumbled into bed. Soon a humming sound eame from the koa forest as the Menehune lifted the eanoe. The humming grewlouder,

until it fiiled the viilage with sound as the eanoe was placed in the shed. There were sounds of finishing tools, as the Menehune did the final assembly of the eanoe. Sounds changed to low taiking as the Menehune feasted. Then, the humming resumed as the Menehune departed for the forest. The next moming, Laka and his stunned neighbors admired Laka's new eanoe. As keiki, we learned when you worklike Menehune, enormous tasks heeame manageable and ean be eompleted in record hme. When working in unison with many others, almost anything ean be accomplished, kūpuna explained. The mo'olelo planted seeds of hope that one's own acts of generosity and good might be assisted by Menehune. Sadly, tales of the Menehune have given way to folk heroes of the 21st century, like a cartoon man made of sponge. Auwē! It is sad to lose such a delightful and positive cultural tradition. ■

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