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EX LIBRIS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 JOHN HENRY NASH LIBRARY 
 
 <S> SAN FRANCISCO <$> 
 
 PRESENTED TO THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 ROBERT GORDON SPROUL, PRESIDENT. 
 > BY" <*> 
 
 Ma.AM)MR$.MILTON S.RAY 
 CECILY, VIRGINIA AND ROSALYN RAY 
 
 AND THE 
 
 RAY OIL BURNER ODMPANY 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO 
 NEW YORK 
 
THE ME-NE-HU-NES 
 
THE MENEHUNES 
 
 THEIR ADVENTURES WITH 
 THE FISHERMAN AND HOW 
 THEY BUILT THE CANOE 
 
 EMILY FOSTER DAY 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
 SPENCER WRIGHT 
 
 PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS, SAN FRANCISCO 
 
Copyright, 1905 
 
 by PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 The Tomoye Press 
 San Francisco 
 
Let me introduce to you 'The Me-ne-hu- 
 nes. Every one in Hawaii knows them, 
 and now that they are "annexed" to the 
 United States, with the rest of the beautiful 
 little country, and are good, loyal Ameri- 
 cans, you should know them too. 
 
 To the best of my knowledge none of my 
 friends even my Hawaiian friends 
 have actually seen the mysterious little 
 people of the rocks, but the ancient folk- 
 lore of the islands is full of tales of their 
 wonderful works; and if any one wants 
 more proof why, there is the great water- 
 course of Kauai, cut through the .solid 
 rock, no man knows by whom else, and 
 the Hill of the Shrimps where the Mene- 
 hunes received their reward from good 
 King Ola and his wise high priest. But 
 that would make another tale. . F. D. 
 
^ ^-"-^^^yi^ 
 
 THE MENEHUNES | 
 
 Some one had committed a mon- 
 strous crime! Deep in the heart of 
 the forest of Hilo one of the gigantic 
 old koa trees, whose leaves were shaped 
 like the new moon, lay prone on the 
 ground, its mighty branches crushed, 
 its sturdy roots hacked and torn from 
 the soil. 
 
 For hours it had lain in the blister- 
 ing heat of the tropical sun, its life-sap 
 dripping from the ragged wounds, its 
 beautiful leaves hanging limp on shriv- 
 eled stems. At last the lengthening 
 shadows grew thick and dusky, the 
 amber glow faded from the sky, and 
 cool, gentle night wrapped the fallen 
 giant in sheltering darkness. 
 
 Then through the still forest there 
 stole a sound like the rustle of dry 
 
THE MENEHUNES 
 
 mur- 
 
 leaves stirred by the wind. The 
 mur grew, it spread through the woods, 
 and up into the highest reaches of the 
 mountains; the ferns and long grasses 
 swayed in the breathless air, and from 
 the rocks and mossy coverts poured a 
 hurrying throng of Menehunes, the 
 tiny dwarf folk of Hawaii, who planted 
 every tree and fern and shrub in the 
 great, w T ide woods. Gesticulating wildly 
 the little brown people swarmed about 
 the prostrate tree like fallen leaves caught 
 in a whirlwind. They scrambled into 
 the branches and scolded, they perched 
 on the upturned roots and denounced 
 the vandal who had committed the 
 dreadful deed. From root to crown 
 they covered the massive trunk, and still 
 the forest rustled with their coming. 
 
TH E MEN EH u N E s 
 
 " It is the work of a canoe builder," 
 said the one with the cloak and helmet 
 of fine yellow feathers. " I know, for 
 they cut the roots below the ground so 
 as to lose none of the length of the 
 tree." But his voice was scarcely heard 
 above the wrathful clamor. 
 
 Then suddenly the noise ceased and 
 the Menehunes scattered through the 
 forest in all directions. Some sped down 
 over the lower hillsides gathering the 
 long grass, and as they ran they wove it 
 into strong, tough cords; others swiftly 
 hewed and trimmed away the broken 
 branches, and bound the oozing cuts 
 with loam; still others dug the soil 
 from about the maimed roots till they 
 rested above a deep hole in the ground; 
 and at midnight they were ready for 
 
THE MENEHUNES 
 
 the real work. To every twig on 
 every branch on the upper side of the 
 fallen tree they tied a tiny rope, and 
 passed them all over the stoutest limbs 
 of the tallest trees, and scores and scores 
 of the little people laid hold of each 
 line. They braced their feet against 
 the rocks, and tugged and pulled till 
 their round eyes bulged and their cheeks 
 puffed out like balloons. Under the 
 great trunk hundreds of little backs 
 bent to the utmost strain. Slowly, 
 very slowly, the old koa tree rose from 
 the ground, an inch, then an ell. The 
 moon came out from behind a cloud 
 to watch, and the stars forgot to wink 
 in the tense excitement. Up, up, every 
 man pulling his hardest; at last the 
 great roots dropped into the hole, and 
 
 //! 
 
the lines suddenly loosening, the Mene- 
 hunes turned somersaults till they landed 
 in a heap in the bed of a tiny stream. 
 
 While the morning star still shone in 
 the heavens, the little people stood tri- 
 umphantly about the tree that again 
 towered skywards, and mopped their 
 hot faces with the cool leaves of the 
 ferns. But as the gray-blue sky began 
 to redden at the approach of the sun, 
 they drifted away out of sight, and the 
 whole forest drowsed in the sleepy dawn. 
 
 Hardly, though, had the last Mene- 
 hune disappeared when Laka, the canoe 
 builder, strode through the forest jun- 
 gle and paused in the koa grove, looking 
 about him in dubious wonder. Every 
 tree stood in stately dignity; and so far 
 as mortal eyes could see, not a stone 
 
THE MENEHUNES 
 
 had been turned for ages, not a handful 
 of earth disturbed since the first fallen 
 leaves changed to mold, for the Mene- 
 hunes work well, and they work without 
 hurry. 
 
 Down the brown back of the man 
 crept a chill of fear; then he shrugged 
 his shoulders defiantly, and again choos- 
 ing a tree that suited his purpose, one 
 after another he slashed off the long 
 roots where they dug deep into the 
 soil, and before the sun set another hale 
 old giant of the woods lay quivering 
 on its torn branches. 
 
 It was a hard day's work, and the 
 tired man shouldered his ax and trudged 
 down the mountain to his cabin by the 
 sea. But when in the morning he re- 
 turned to the forest to trim the log to 
 
THE MENEHUNES 
 
 the length of a canoe, not even a chip 
 of all those that had fallen from his ax 
 the day before remained to mark the 
 spot. The trees all stood in their 
 primeval grandeur, grave, august, stu- 
 pendously wise; for again the little 
 people of the forest had perfectly done 
 their work. 
 
 Laka was angry. With a swinging 
 blow of his ax that awoke the rolling 
 echoes, he attacked another big tree 
 with the moon-shaped leaves, and so 
 savage were the blows he rained upon 
 it that, long before the day was done, 
 it, too, crashed to the earth. Then he 
 took his calabash out of the net in 
 which he had hung it from a branch, 
 and sat down to his meager supper of 
 poi and dried fish. By and by, after he 
 
 1 
 
THE MENEHUNES 
 
 had finished and there was nothing more 
 to do but wait, he crept into the shelter 
 of the thick leaves and fell asleep. 
 
 When he awoke it was still early. 
 The southern cross was barely above 
 the horizon, though the last ray of the 
 short twilight had long ago hidden 
 away in the rift between the sea and 
 the sky. Across the heavens like a 
 tattered veil streamed the Milky Way, 
 and the stars, set deep in the blue vault, 
 seemed to crackle and snap, so still and 
 dark and silent lay the island world 
 beneath them. 
 
 Even in the highest reaches of the 
 mountain forest the leaves of the trees 
 and the giant ferns hung motionless 
 under the spell of the witching night, 
 and here and there in the clear patch 
 
 es 
 
among the trees the starlight glistened 
 along the loop of a wet vine or lit up 
 a hanging dewdrop like a tiny lamp. 
 
 Laka lay still in his leafy shelter 
 and watched while the moon rose and 
 flooded the space about the fallen tree 
 with a clear, silvery light. Stealthily 
 the first rustle of a hurrying host again 
 sounded through the woods; the soft 
 patter grew till it filled the air like the 
 hum of a teakettle over a fire, and be- 
 fore his eyes the Menehunes bounded 
 through the thickets and crowded into 
 the open about his hiding-place, chat- 
 tering angrily at this new outrage. 
 
 Laka waited till they were well 
 within his reach, then he snatched 
 three of the little men and popped 
 them, one after the other, into the 
 
 V 
 

 calabash and drew the net over them. 
 Like shadows the band melted away, 
 but from every shelter he saw the 
 round, bright eyes watching him anx- 
 iously. He crawled out from under 
 the branches and set the calabash down 
 before him. 
 
 "Now," he said, "let us talk a little 
 about this affair of the trees." 
 
 "We can't talk in this hole," said 
 one of the little men, indignantly. 
 "You didn't wash your calabash after 
 supper!" 
 
 "Oh, you'd like to get out and run 
 away, wouldn't you!" exclaimed Laka, 
 with a triumphant grin. 
 
 "We couldn't run if we were out," 
 said another of the three. "We are 
 so covered with your sticky /><?/ that we'd 
 
^^c&s^sS 
 
 ( '+*&2*&w&;&]zy 4 
 
 ;T 'li : 2itl 
 
 / / / (. ' \~?.?:t-* v ?: V 4 ' 1 
 \/ ' N Hx 
 
THE MENEHUNES 
 
 gather stones and leaves like a ball of 
 snow rolled from the top of Mauna 
 Kea. Besides, we give you our word, 
 and that a Menehune never breaks." 
 
 When Laka removed the net the 
 three little men clamored stiffly from the 
 bowl, and each sat carefully down on a 
 clean fern frond. A ripple of derisive 
 laughter floated out from the shadows. 
 
 " Do you know," said Laka, sternly, 
 "you little people have wasted two 
 whole days for me?" 
 
 "But the forest is ours, and you 
 are wasting our trees!" they exclaimed, 
 angrily. 
 
 "Ay, I know, but a canoe I must 
 have," stubbornly answered Laka ; " one 
 large enough and strong enough to 
 cross the stormy channel. We on the 
 
THE MENEHUNES 
 
 ra 
 
 coast are fishermen, and our canoes are 
 small. Last week a storm arose while 
 my father was on the sea. He never 
 returned, and our wise men say that his 
 boat was blown across to the Maui 
 shore. My mother weeps on the sand 
 by the edge of the waves and will not 
 eat. I must bring my father back or 
 she will die. Three times with great 
 labor I have felled a tree, and I have 
 yet to hew the canoe." 
 
 While Laka spoke, the Menehunes, 
 reassured, crept out from their hiding- 
 places and stood about him in a half- 
 circle, listening with sympathy in their 
 big, somber eyes. 
 
 "It is a good cause," said one of the 
 captured three, glancing stiffly around 
 at his companions. 
 
THE MENEHUNES 
 
 "Even a tree could serve no better 
 purpose," another said with imposing 
 dignity, though much of it was undoubt- 
 edly due to the quality and quantity of 
 the pot on. his back; and the third, who 
 seemed of high importance, though his 
 helmet stuck fast to one ear, said: 
 
 "We, the little people of the forest, 
 will make your canoe. Return to the 
 village by the sea and build a shelter 
 of cocoanut leaves on the beach. Spread 
 a supper for us under the shed, for we 
 shall be hungry by the time we have 
 carried your boat down the mountain, 
 and the night will be too far spent for 
 us to find our own food. Also, see to 
 it that no one spies upon us. Aloha!" 
 And all of the Menehunes said in cho- 
 rus, "Aloha nui!" 
 
 V 
 
THE MENEHUNES 
 
 "Aloha!" said Laka, picking up his 
 calabash. He looked regretfully at the 
 three who were smeared all over with 
 the dull gray poi 9 but they waved him 
 away, and he left the forest without 
 once looking back, for that would have 
 been most impolite according to the 
 customs of the forest,, 
 
 When the three little men who had 
 been in the calabash rose from the 
 ground, the fern leaves clung to their 
 backs, for poi holds fast what it touches. 
 Then, for full five minutes by the 
 Menehunes' clock in the sky, the cap- 
 tives writhed and twisted; but the fern 
 stems were tough, and not one among 
 all their friends held out a helping 
 hand. Instead, they stood around in a 
 circle and laughed till their little knees 
 
 
THE MENEHUNES 
 
 
 
 weakened; then they dropped on the 
 ground and rocked themselves in breath- 
 less glee until, at last, the three broke 
 their bonds, fell upon the foremost of 
 the mocking crowd, and pummeled 
 them well. 
 
 Just how the Menehunes fashioned 
 the canoe, no one knows, but the next 
 morning, when Laka went to the beach, 
 there in the shelter he had built lay 
 the slim, graceful craft, perfect from 
 stem to stern ; and every morsel of the 
 feast that Laka had spread for the 
 Menehunes was gone.