Menehune

Menehune

(Hawaii)

Traditions common throughout the Pacific tell of bands of small, supernatural characters who inhabit the islands and who sometimes appear to mortal beings. In Hawai'i, they are called the Menehune, in New Zealand the Ponaturi or the Patupaiarehe. Though they do not bear names dialectically related to each other, they share characteristics that are common from one island group to another. These little folk generally live in caves in the interior of the islands. They are the islands’original inhabitants, and since the coming of the Europeans, they have almost totally vanished. These elves or fairies are active only at night during which time they toil in building large stone works, canoes, or islands while singing or chattering noisily away. They are usually friendly to humans, but they do possess a magic that could cause them ill. Sometimes they annoy others by stealing objects, performing tricks, or telling jokes. More often, they frighten humans during their nocturnal peregrinations.

Menehune

In Hawai'i, stories of the Menehune are legion. They have been specially collected together in works by William Rice, Thomas G. Thrum, and Abraham Fornander. Other delightful children’s books continue to appear to show the strong belief yet today of these small pixies.

The legends of these mythical creatures date far back into the distant past; in fact, the Menehune are believed to have been the first inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands. When the first Polynesians arrived on those shores, they found monumental structures—fish ponds, heiau (temples), and dams—all presumably built by the little Menehune, who lived in caves up in the valleys of all the islands. Menehune men were attracted to the newly arrived Hawaiian women, and intermarriage frequently occurred, always to the disapproval of the Menehune chiefs. Legends also tell of the mass migration of the Menehune from the islands because of this social intercourse, and an examination of current Hawaiian genealogies will often reveal several Menehune names on pedigree charts. The belief in these little people permeated Hawaiian culture so much that a census taken early in the nineteenth century unabashedly recorded the names of sixty-five of these Menehune, who supposedly were living up in the valleys of Kaua‘i.

In modern times, these little people are normally invisible to anyone other than their own kind, but sometimes they are reported as having been unexpectedly seen by island residents. Their height, they say, ranges from two to three feet tall, and they are strong and muscular with long hair and eyebrows. Their simple diet consists of starchy puddings, fruit, berries, and taro leaves, and it is reported you can get them to work all night for you for one shrimp and a serving of poi. They play and work equally hard; they love playing old Hawaiian games—top-spinning, shooting arrows, foot races, sled races, and diving off cliffs—and they generally complete major construction jobs, such as fence walls, canoes, and temples, within a single night because of their superior strength. They often live on a mystical island called Kuaihelani, which floats in the heavens and descends at night in order for the little people to climb aboard or to disembark to carry out their various tasks. They are generally said to be serious-looking and not very handsome, but they are almost always friendly and jolly little pixies unless they are crossed. Then they can be downright nasty and malicious.

Menehune with Fish (1933)

One of the most remarkable structures attributed to the Menehune is the Menehune Ditch (sometimes called Ola’s Water Lead) on the island of Kaua‘i, a ditch that brings water from Waimea River to the taro patches on the other side of the mountain, some six miles away. The remarkable stonework used in its construction is unique and can only be found in one other place in Polynesia—the Marquesas Islands, approximately two thousand miles south of Hawai'i. One legend maintains that chief Ola could not get his own men to complete a stone wall around a fish pond, so Pi, one of Ola’s less willing workmen, bribed the Menehune to complete the work for him in exchange for some little wrapped packages of fish and poi—all in one night. Ola handsomely rewarded Pi for his work and convinced him to get the Menehune to work for him again the next night. Pi summoned his Menehune relatives, and all night long they passed stones between each other to the site in order to complete the dam and the lengthy ditch. The various narratives of the story may differ on particular names and events, but all maintain that the Menehune did the construction.

Menehune Ditch 

As time passes and the stories of ancient sites and ruins become forgotten, legends of the little people grow exponentially. In the past century, for example, villagers on Kaua‘i once knew the exact story of how their ancestors had worked to construct a particular site for their chief. Their ancestors’ names were well known and revered. Within ten years and as the older generation passed away, however, the details regarding the original story were forgotten, and the younger generation began to attribute the remarkable work to the Menehune rather than to their own ancestors. Considering reports such as this, then, one can assume that legends of the little people will never dwindle either in popularity or in number.

Sources:

Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology

Robert Dean Craig

1989

Pages: 33-34

Handbook of Polynesian Mythology

Robert Dean Craig

2004

Pages: 170-172