At the gateways of the day

by Padraic Colum

O my younger brothers, I wish there were some amongst us, the Hawaiians of to-day, who knew the Me-ne-hu-ne of the mountains and who could go to them. All the work that it takes us so long to do, they could do in a night. Here we go every day to cut sandalwood for our King. We go away from our homes and our villages, leaving our crops unplanted and untended. We are up in the mountains by the first light of the morning, working, working with our axes to cut the sandalwood. And we go back at the fall of night carrying the loads of sandalwood upon our shoulders the whole way down the mountain-side. Ah, if there were any amongst us who knew the Me-ne-hu-ne or who knew how to come to them! In one night the Me-ne-hu-ne would cut all the sandalwood for us! And the night after they would carry it down on their shoulders to the beach, where it would be put on the ships that would take it away to the land of the Pa-ke. But only those [[157]]who are descendants of the Me-ne-hu-ne can come to them.

A long time ago a King ruled in Kau-ai whose name was Ola. His people were poor, for the river ran into the stony places and left their fields without water. “How can I bring water to my people?” said Ola the King to Pi, his wizard. “I will tell you how you can do it,” Pi said. And then he told the King what to do so as to get the help of the Me-ne-hu-ne.

Pi, the wise man, went into the mountains. He was known to the Me-ne-hu-ne who had remained in the land, and he went before their Chief, and he asked him to have his people make a water-course for Ola’s people: they would have to dam the river with great stones and then make a trench that would carry the water down to the people’s fields—a trench that would have stones fitted into its bed and fitted into its sides.

All the work that takes us days to do can be done by the Me-ne-hu-ne in the space of a night. And what they do not finish in a night is left unfinished. “Ho po hookahi, a ao ua pau,” “In one night and it is finished,” say the Me-ne-hu-ne.

Well, in one night all the stones for the dam and the water-course were made ready: one division went and gathered them, and another cut and shaped them. The stones were all left together, and the Me-ne-hu-ne called them “the Pack of Pi.” [[158]]

Now King Ola had been told what he was to have done on the night that followed. There was to be no sound and there was to be no stir amongst his people. The dogs were to be muzzled so that they could not bark, and the cocks and the hens were to be put into calabashes so that there should be no crowing from them. Also a feast was to be ready for the Me-ne-hu-ne.

Down from the mountain in the night came the troops of the Me-ne-hu-ne, each carrying a stone in his hand. Their trampling and the hum of their voices were heard by Pi as he stayed by the river; they were heard while they were still a long way off. They came down, and they made a trench with their digging tools of wood. Then they began to lay the stones at the bottom and along the sides of the trench; each stone fitted perfectly into its place. While one division was doing this the other division was building the dam across the river. The dam was built, the water was turned into the course, and Pi, standing there in the moonlight, saw the water come over the stones that the Me-ne-hu-ne had laid down.

Pi, and no one else, saw the Me-ne-hu-ne that night: half the size of our men they were, but broad across the chest and very strong. Pi admired the way they all worked together; they never got into each other’s way, and they never waited for some one else to do something or to help them out. They finished their work just at daybreak; and then Pi [[159]]gave them their feast. He gave a shrimp to each; they were well satisfied, and while it was still dark they departed. They crossed the water-course that was now bringing water down to the people’s taro patches.

And as they went the hum of their voices was so loud that it was heard in the distant island of Oahu. “Wawa ka Menehune i Puukapele, ma Kauai, puoho ka manu o ka loko o Kawainui ma Koolaupoko, Oahu,” our people said afterwards. “The hum of the voices of the Me-ne-hu-ne at Pu-u-ka-pe-le, Kau-ai, startled the birds of the pond of Ka-wai-nui, at Ko’o-lau-po-ko, Oahu.”

Look now! The others from our village are going down the mountain-side, with the loads of sandalwood upon their backs. It is time we put our loads upon our shoulders and went likewise. As we go I will tell you the only other story I know about the Me-ne-hu-ne.