Note: The adventure of the demi-god Kama-puaa has been given in “The Legends of Old Honolulu.” But because it is one of the most widely told of the Pele stories, it is repeated here.
Kama-puaa was born on the island of Oahu, where he was known as a very powerful and destructive monster, also as a peculiarly handsome and even lovable chief. He was a kupua—a being who could appear at will as an animal or man. He usually appeared as a man, but when his brutal desires to destroy overcame him or when he wished to hide from any one he adopted the form of a hog. He had the two natures, human and brutal. He had been endowed with super-human powers, according to the legends, and was many times called Puaa-akua (Hog-god) of Oahu.
There is a curiously marked fish with an angular body and very thick skin, which is said by the Hawaiians to sometimes utter a grunting sound. It is named the Humuhumu-nukunuku-a-puaa (The-grunting-angular-pig). It [[46]]was claimed that the hog-man could change himself into this fish as easily as into a hog.
An ancient chant thus described him:
“O Kama-puaa!
You are the one with rising bristles.
O Rooter! O Wallower in ponds!
O remarkable fish of the sea!
O youth divine!”