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Overview
Thrum’s Kaneaukai chapter presents fishermen at Mokuleia praying for a plentiful catch. They find a log resembling a human figure and keep it in their hut. A handsome young man later joins their modest meal, identifies himself as Kaneaukai and recognizes the wood as his image. He shares their awa and directs them to Keawanui, where they obtain fish. Their subsequent abundance permits gifts to neighbours. At Waimea, another pair of fishermen repeatedly catches a stone with a pilot fish. After the third haul they set up the stone in an enclosure. Kaneaukai appears there as a young man and requests the wooden image from Mokuleia. Grandsons undertake the dark journey, with a meteor guiding them past dangerous river ground, and place the two images together.
The chapter preserves a different account from an unnamed aged local resident. Here the fishermen dream of Kaneaukai in a distant land, then learn that the stone found and honoured at Kehauapuu is already his presence at their shore. Continued honour and offerings promise fishing success; no wooden-image retrieval is required in this telling. Thrum also mentions a Waialua deacon who cited an old man’s statement that his own grandfather had helped bring the wooden image from Mokuleia. These are different channels of narrated authority, not identified eyewitnesses to a divine appearance.
Thrum distinguishes the disappeared wooden image from a surviving stone and reports continued offerings despite prohibitions. He cautiously proposes that the wood may have been destroyed during Kaahumanu’s tour after conversion, rather than documenting its destruction firsthand. The ending records beliefs that a road supervisor’s damage to the stone brought later misfortune. Those consequences are attributed interpretations. The chapter’s dismissive colonial vocabulary is not adopted as a description of the people or their religion.
Origins & earliest records
Located in XXIII, Kaneaukai: A Legend of Waialua, pp. 250–254, of Thomas G. Thrum’s Hawaiian Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1907).
Records & interpretation
The selected historical account supplies the actions and transformations described here. Named sites and ritual objects are narrative and cultural witnesses; attributed supernatural explanations remain source-specific.
In the literature
“Accounts differ, various narrators giving the story some embellishments of their own.”
XXIII Kaneaukai: A Legend of Waialua, hosted printed-page marker 253 · Not separately identified in inspected chapter
Two poor fishermen at Mokuleia find a human-shaped wooden log and keep it. Kaneaukai appears as a young man, identifies the object as his image and shares their meal. He directs them to obtain fish; a later large catch supplies neighbours as well. Two other fishermen at Waimea repeatedly net a stone and pilot fish. They keep the stone, release the fish and establish an enclosure. Kaneaukai later tells them to bring the wooden image from Mokuleia; their grandsons travel by a meteor’s guidance through hazardous river crossings and return with it. The images are installed together. The author says the wooden object was later destroyed, probably during Kaahumanu’s anti-idol campaign, while the stone survived. A deacon supports the tale through an old man’s claim that a fetcher was his grandfather. An aged resident gives a different dream-centred account: the honoured stone is Kaneaukai himself and fishing success follows. A concluding episode reports a road supervisor damaging it and neighbours interpreting later misfortunes as vengeance.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Hawaiian Folk Tales, XXIII, Kaneaukai: A Legend of Waialua
pp. 250–254; complete selected chapter, including its final outcome.
- 02
Hawaiian Folk Tales — XXIII Kaneaukai: A Legend of Waialua
Hawaiian Folk Tales: A Collection of Native Legends, Chicago: A.C.McClurg,1907; inspected digital title and copyright page explicitly published1March1907. Complete selected named chapter and footnotes read in Gutenberg18450; heading attributes chapter author separately from compiler. No full collection, original-language transcript or separately cited witness review claimed.
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.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Hawaiian Folk Tales, XXIII, Kaneaukai: A Legend of Waialua
Hawaiian Folk Tales: A Collection of Native Legends, Chicago: A.C.McClurg,1907; inspected digital title and copyright page explicitly published1March1907. Complete selected named chapter and footnotes read in Gutenberg18450; heading attributes chapter author separately from compiler. No full collection, original-language transcript or separately cited witness review claimed.
- Two poor fishermen at Mokuleia find a human-shaped wooden log and keep it. Kaneaukai appears as a young man, identifies the object as his image and shares their meal. He directs them to obtain fish; a later large catch supplies neighbours as well. Two other fishermen at Waimea repeatedly net a stone and pilot fish. They keep the stone, release the fish and establish an enclosure. Kaneaukai later tells them to bring the wooden image from Mokuleia; their grandsons travel by a meteor’s guidance through hazardous river crossings and return with it. The images are installed together. The author says the wooden object was later destroyed, probably during Kaahumanu’s anti-idol campaign, while the stone survived. A deacon supports the tale through an old man’s claim that a fetcher was his grandfather. An aged resident gives a different dream-centred account: the honoured stone is Kaneaukai himself and fishing success follows. A concluding episode reports a road supervisor damaging it and neighbours interpreting later misfortunes as vengeance.
XXIII Kaneaukai: A Legend of Waialua, complete hosted markers 250–254
Complete chapter250–254 read. Dream-centred variant is not harmonised with the young-man encounters. Meteor guides the grandsons but is not explicitly identified as Kaneaukai’s own transformed body. Grandfather testimony is reported through the deacon, not independently verified genealogy. Wooden-image destruction is expressly probable; subsequent misfortune is local interpretation, not proven causation. Thrum’s disparaging missionary-era labels are not adopted.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textHawaiian Folk Tales, XXIII, Kaneaukai: A Legend of WaialuaResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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