Trees with Flat Tops

Trees with Flat Tops 

 (A Legend from Hawaii)

Most of the trees on Hawaii are fiat on top. An old Hawaiian story explains why. The story says that long ago when the First People lived in Hawaii, the sky was very close to the earth. It was so near to the ground that people could not straighten up. When they wanted to go from one place to another, they had to crawl on their hands and knees. And the days and nights were very hot, for there was no room under the sky for the winds to blow. 

All this made Mau-i (that Great One) very unhappy. He did not like to creep about on his hands and knees, and he did not like to be so hot all the time. He said to himself, "If the sky did not lie so close to the earth, men would not have to crawl about like lizards on the lava rocks. Besides that, the sea winds could blow over the land and cool it. If only I were strong enough, I would lift the sky, so that it would be high up above the earth!” 

Now among the black cinder cones of the volcano called Ha-le-a-ka-la, on the Island of Mau-i, there lived an old woman who had a calabash (a kind of jug) in which she kept a magic drink. Mau-i knew that if he could find her and have a drink from her calabash, he would become strong enough to lift the sky up off the Earth. 

But before Mau-i began to hunt for the Old One, he placed a magic tattoo, or mark, on his arm so that she would not be frightened when she saw him. He knew that if she were frightened, she would take her calabash and run away. 

Then Mau-i went to Ha-le-a-ka-la and crawled all around the big, bowl-shaped crater of the volcano, searching for the Old One. At last he found her sitting in the shadow of a cinder cone. She was holding the calabash in her lap. 

When the Old One saw Mau-i, she started to scurry away like a little animal. But Mau-i stretched out his arm to stop her, and she saw the magic tattoo. Then she knew that he was no ordinary human being. 

  

“What do you want?” she asked fearfully. 

“Do not be afraid,” said Mau-i. “I just want a drink from your magic calabash.” 

The Old One hugged the jug close to her. “Why do you want it, young man?” she asked. 

“Old One,” said Mau-i, “the sky is too close to the earth. I want to become so strong that I can lift it high up above the world. Then men can stand straight and tall—and you will not have to hop about like a toad in this crater. Only your magic can help me. Please let me drink from your calabash!”   

The Old One liked what Mau-i said. With trembling hands she held out the calabash. Mau-i lifted it to his lips and drank. At once the wonderful magic went racing through his body. He felt his chest grow big. He felt his arms and hands and legs and back become strong as steel. 

Mau-i thanked the Old One and gave her back the calabash. Then, with the heavy sky still pressing on him, he crawled quickly away toward Pu-na. 

Now in the valley of Pu-na there is a hill called Kau-i-ki. Mau-i crawled to the top of Kau-i-ki. With his arms he brushed away the white clouds that clung to its summit. Then, resting on his hands and knees, he arched his back up in a strong curve. Pressing up with all his might, he began the job of pushing the sky away from the earth with his back. He pushed and pushed against the low-lying heavens. 

The strong magic in the Old One’s calabash helped him. Bit by bit the sky began to give way. Suddenly it billowed up overhead like the top of a great bubble. The wind came rushing into the space that was left and felt fresh and cool against Mau-i’s face. Then, for the first time in his life, Mau-i stood up on his feet. He stretched his arms above his head. He had pushed the sky so high he could not touch it! 

  

Only the edges of the sky still hung unevenly down over the sea. Mau-i lifted them and tucked them down beyond the ocean over the rim of the world. 

Today the sky over the Island of Mau-i is bluer than the sea. Only in the early morning do the dark storm clouds press down upon the crater of Ha-le-a-ka-la. Even then, they do not stay long. They are afraid that Mau-i will see them and hurl them off the earth. And in Pu-na, on the top of the hill called Kau-i-ki, there are only soft, white, cottony clouds. No dark storm clouds dare to gather there. In Pu-na the sky is very tall and blue. 

Along the Ko-na coast, beyond the coral reefs, the sea is no longer smooth and flat. The waves have room to pile high. They break over the reefs and rush onto the sand or crash against the lava rocks on the shore. The air that blows in from the sea is moist and cool and pleasant. 

But before the time when Mau-i pushed the sky high overhead, many of the trees had grown used to stretching their branches out sideways. Low and wide and green, they gave shelter from the sun and the rain to man and bird and beast. So when the sky no longer pressed down on them, they did not change their habits and grow tall and slim, like the pines and the fir trees. They stayed flat on top. And that’s the way they are today—all because once upon a time the sky was too close to the earth. 

 

 

Source: 

Hawaiian tales 

Helen Lamar Berkey 

1968 

Pages: 61-65