Calling a meeting of Hawaii's chiefs and strong men Maui informed them of a plan to draw all the islands together. He told them he would need their help in pulling the islands, but no matter how hard or how long they pulled they must never look back to see how much was being accomplished until the islands were firmly joined together.
The men solemnly promised to obey Maui and at once proceeded to their new task. The island now known as Maui was selected for the first attempt. Maui fastened his magic fish-hook into that part of the land nearest Hawaii, and at his command the strong men and chiefs paddled with all their might. Slowly the island moved behind them.
No one dared look around, though all were burning with curiosity to see the result of their struggles. Long and steadily they paddled until the two islands were only a few feet apart. Then one of the chiefs could no longer control his curiosity and looked around.
In an instant the charm was broken. The island slid back through the sea to its former position in spite of all that Maui, chiefs and strong men could do to stop it. Only a small piece of land was left—that in which the fish-hook was still deeply imbedded. Today that bit of land is covered with lauhala trees and coconut palms, and is known as Coconut Island.
So great was Maui's disappointment at this his first failure in any important enterprise that he would not try again. He said his fish-hook had lost its charm and sorrowfully he took it away with him in his canoe. He carried it up the Wailuku River to his home behind Rainbow Falls, where he grieved for many days over the unsuccessful attempt. Later, having no more use for the hook, he carried it away from the cave and threw it into the forest near his home, where it lay undisturbed until the haole came.
To those early settlers the magic fish-hook of Maui was of less interest as such than as material for masonry, and not a piece of it remains. At the forks of the Piihonua-Kaumana road one may, however, see the peculiar-shaped depression where it lay for so long before civilization's vanguard swept the tangled jungle of Maui's time from its hiding-place.
Drawn by Will Herwig. Paradise Eng.
But the Strange Woman Smiled and Told Them to Uncover the Imu.
HINA KEAHI.