Читать книгу Pearl Harbor Child - Dorinda MD Nicholson - Страница 6

Ka’ehu iki mano o Pu’uloa

Ka’ehu was a little yellow shark whose home was in the clear and gentle waters of the Bay of Pu’uloa, known today as Pearl Harbor. The bay was a quiet, peaceful spot in those faraway days when only outrigger canoes were seen, and where the children of Hawaii played along the shores.

Now, although Ka’ehu’s family spoke of him as the little yellow shark, he was not so small. But he was called little because he was young in years. Yes, Ka’ehu was young and also strong, but he was also old with wisdom, for he was a descendant of the shark-god Kamailiili, who had given him wonderful magic powers and had made him very wise.

Ka’ehu had many friends and playmates in the big bay, but sometimes he was filled with longing for his childhood home off the Puna coast on the southern end of the big island of Hawaii. One day he grew so homesick that he called his shark friends together and told them he was going back to visit his old home. They decided to go with him, and so began the journey from Pearl Harbor along the Oahu shores to the open sea.

While swimming along outside the reef at Waikiki, Ka’ehu and his friends met a shark visitor from Maui. His name was Pehu and he was a very different kind of shark from Ka’ehu and his friends. This Maui shark was dangerous, for he was a Man-Eater!

“Why do you swim in just one spot?” asked the little yellow shark although he knew the answer because he was so very wise. He knew that Pehu was eagerly waiting for some unsuspecting surfrider to come out far enough so that he might catch him and have a fine meal for himself.

“I am looking for a crab for my breakfast,” Pehu coyly replied. Of course Ka’ehu knew the evil shark was not telling the truth, but he said in a friendly way, “We will help you catch your breakfast. You go and wait and hide yourself alongside the coral reef. My friends and I will go even farther out into the open sea. When the surfriders come, we will drive them toward the shore, and then you can easily catch what you call crab.” This greatly pleased the Maui shark, so he went close to the reef and hid himself in its deep shadows.

Then Ka’ehu swam back to his friends and said, “We must destroy this man-eater who will kill our good people. We will all go and push Pehu into the shallow water.” Then he and his friends planned how they would save the surfers from the man-eating shark.

There were many surfriders laughing on their surfboards out in the surf, waiting for a rolling wave to ride into shore. Pehu called from his hiding place in the coral reef for the other sharks to come and help him capture his prize. But Ka’ehu called back, “Not yet! Not yet! We must wait for a better chance!” Ka’ehu had his eyes on two men and the enormously high wave that was bringing them toward shore from out where the high surf begins.

Ka’ehu called, “Now!” as he signalled for his friends to help. Ka’ehu had planned that he and his shark friends would rush in under the enormous wave as it passed over Pehu, and move the men and their surfboards over to one side out of reach of the man-eating shark. And this is just what they did! As Pehu leaped to catch one of the men, the sharks hurled Pehu over the reef and into the shallow water. How they tossed him...over and over, until he plunged deeper and deeper into the sand and could not escape.

The surfriders hurried into shore and breathlessly told everyone what had happened, and that the evil shark who had been destroying some of their people was trapped in the shallow waters. They swam armed with sharp knives to destroy wicked Pehu. When they cut open his body, they found human hair and bones inside the man-eater, proof enough that this was the shark who had been killing some of their people.

The two men who had been surfing and had seen the wonderful feats of the other sharks now understood that the leader of them all was Ka’ehu, the little yellow shark from Pu’uloa or Pearl Harbor, whose ancestors were wise and kind and powerful. Ka’ehu loved the people of Oahu and hated all evil which could harm them. The men knew then how he had banded together the other good sharks and had used the powers and wisdom given him by the great shark god Kamailiili.

When the body of Pehu was brought ashore, it was cut into pieces and put into baskets. The baskets were carried from Waikiki to Pelelua, an ancient ceremonial spot, known today as where Nu’uanu and Beretania streets meet in downtown Honolulu.

A large area was cleared to build an immense imu, or oven. The Hawaiian chiefs and village peoples including the kei-ki (Hawaiian name for little children), gathered around the imu and when the fire was an angry red, in went the remains of wicked Pehu. They danced around the fire and chanted old me-le (Hawaiian legends and stories in song), in honor of the occasion where they no longer needed to fear the terrible man-eater. They also chanted their gratitude to Ka’ehu for his good deed. The celebration lasted until the imu fire was nothing but ashes.

All those who saw or heard that the man-eating shark had been captured and killed, knew that it was because of Ka’ehu’s cleverness and his love for the people of Oahu. They never forgot the little yellow shark who lived in the blue waters of Pu’uloa, and how he had saved them!

Author’s note:

The hole in the coral reef off Waikiki where evil Pehu was trapped? It is still known today to many of the old time Hawaiian fishermen.