How the Hawaiians Discovered Their Paradise

Adapted by Talia from a story that was told to us by a friendly local in an anchorage on the North Shore of Moloka’i

Long long ago in the South Pacific a clan of sailors left their home on a long voyage. They were searching for new islands. The sailors valued the plants and animals they brought with them above themselves, because they knew that if they found land they could not survive without food. There were eleven families aboard the sailboats, and they all gave their water to the plants and animals. It was not pretty. People starved and went mad. Finally they got so desperate that they reached out to their God, Kane, for advice on how to survive and find land.

God told them to ask their older sisters and brothers, the animals. The sailors asked the dogs, pigs, and chickens aboard their boats for knowledge. The dogs and pigs opened up and told them all about how to eat healthy so as never to get sick. The chickens told them to wake up early in the morning and pray for a good day, and maybe then Kane would give it to them. After the animals shared their wisdom, they told the sailors to ask the older brothers and sister of the animals, the plants. The sailors followed their advice and asked the banana and taro plants aboard for knowledge. These plants were even older and wiser than the animals. The plants told the sailors all about love, peace, spirituality, and compassion. Then, after the plants shared all they knew, they told the sailors to talk to the first born, the earth and rocks.

Kane created the metamorphic kingdom long before plants and animals. Using the advice they had learned, the sailors found the Hawaiian Islands and landed on the southeastern point of the Big Island. When they went ashore for the first time, they immediately spoke to the rocks on the beach. “Tell us how we can survive and find peace in this land,“ they asked. The rocks told them that they couldn’t take their plants and animals ashore to settle until they found the Sacred Waters of Kane. If they found these waters, they could live peacefully in paradise. The rocks gave the sailors nineteen clues to help them find the waters.

The sailors traveled all around the Hawaiian Islands scouring the land for the Sacred Waters of Kane. Finally they found what they were looking for, in Wailau Valley and Halawa Bay. These two places were thought to be sisters who both lived adjacent to each other on the North Shore of Moloka’i. This is where the sailors settled and stayed until they spread throughout the islands and became the Hawaiian people. To thank Kane for guiding them they built a huge temple, the biggest in Hawaiian history, from only the rocks on the beach at Wailau. They named the temple “small” because they felt it was only a small tribute to the God that had helped them so much. Because of their respect for animals, plants, and Kane, the sailors were able to find paradise.