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Overview
In Westervelt’s Oʻahu telling, Hau-pu is a powerful Kauaʻi chief whose birth is marked by lightning, heavy rain and a rainbow. He defeats opponents with a spear or uprooted tree, but the narrator emphasizes his rash anger. “Giant” describes extraordinary force; the episode supplies no measured bodily height.
Half-awake on a mountainside, he mistakes torchlit canoes across the channel for an attacking fleet. He swings and throws a huge boulder toward them. They actually belong to Kaena’s night fishing party, whose lights and shouting drive fish into nets. The impact wrecks the canoes and kills Kaena and others. The tale explains the cape’s name and the offshore Pohaku-o-Kauai rock, without identifying an archaeological event.
Origins & earliest records
William Drake Westervelt, collected and translated account in Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Boston: Geo. H. Ellis; London: Constable, 1915). Individual narrator and earlier manuscript not identified in this chapter.
Records & interpretation
Complete selected chapter read. Colonial explanatory judgments are not adopted as descriptions of contemporary Hawaiian belief.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Legends of Gods and Ghosts, Chapter III, pp. 21–25
Selected complete chapter; source spelling retained alongside Hawaiian place names.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary collected narrativeLegends of Gods and Ghosts, Chapter III, pp. 21–25Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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