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Overview
The Ku-ula account calls Koona a large puhi associated with Wailau on Molokai and revered by people there. Before the main pond episode, it describes Koona fighting a great shark: the struggle causes a cliff to fall, kills the shark, and leaves a cave roughly five fathoms deep near Kapeepeekauila. Koona later moves to a cave at Kapukaulua, off the Alau rocks near Aleamai on Maui, and steals fish from Ku-ula’s pond. This places the eel in named coastal waters and makes its appetite a direct threat to a household that supplies the surrounding community.
After discovering the raids, Ku-ula and Hinapukuia instruct Aiai in the capture. People from Aleamai and Haneoo take part, with ropes and canoes, while Aiai locates the eel’s cave and uses the named hook manaiaakalani. The Aleamai party succeeds in hauling Koona ashore at Lehoula. Other people cannot kill it, but Aiai kills it by throwing three ala stones at it. The eel is cooked, and the account identifies its jaw and backbone with rocks left in the landscape. These are narrated correspondences between remains and local formations, rather than an anatomical identification of fossils. Koona’s keeper dreams that the spirit has died, travels from Wailau to confirm it and eventually provokes the king’s attack on Ku-ula’s family. The eel’s death therefore remains consequential beyond the capture itself.
Origins & earliest records
Moke Manu’s Maui-centred account, translated by M. K. Nakuina, chapter XXI of Hawaiian Folk Tales, 1907, pp. 215–229.
Records & interpretation
The primary narrative identifies Koona as a puhi, gives two cave locations, an earlier shark struggle and a completed capture. Reverence, dream communication and rock remains are attributed to this account.
In the literature
“he sought to accomplish their death.”
XXI Ku-ula, the Fish God of Hawaii, hosted printed-page marker 220 · M. K. Nakuina (Moses Kuaea Nakuina)
Koona, a great eel from Wailau, Molokai, fights a shark near Kapukaulua. Its movement brings down a cliff and kills the shark, leaving a large cave. It raids Ku-ula’s pond at Hana. Aiai maps the submerged cave with weighted dives, lowers the inherited manaiaakalani hook and signals two shore groups to haul it in. Aleamai wins the contest to land the eel. Ordinary attempts to kill it fail; Aiai does so with three stones. The cooked head and long backbone become named landscape resemblances. Koona’s spirit tells its keeper of the death in a dream. The keeper visits Hana, learns who killed it and makes a false report about Ku-ula’s fish instructions to the king, precipitating the burning order.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Hawaiian Folk Tales, XXI, Ku-ula, the Fish God of Hawaii
Koona’s Wailau cave, Kapukaulua raid, Aiai’s capture and the keeper’s response
- 02
Hawaiian Folk Tales — XXI Ku-ula, the Fish God of Hawaii
Hawaiian Folk Tales, compiled Thomas G. Thrum; Chicago: A. C. McClurg,1907, digital copyright page published 1 March 1907. Both selected chapters expressly credit Translated from Moke Manu by M. K. Nakuina. First chapter says translation somewhat condensed and Maui version transmitted through old people of that island. Complete XXI215–229 and XXII230–249 read; markers hosted in Gutenberg18450, original scan pagination not independently collated.
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, XXI, Ku-ula, the Fish God of Hawaii
Hawaiian Folk Tales, compiled Thomas G. Thrum; Chicago: A. C. McClurg,1907, digital copyright page published 1 March 1907. Both selected chapters expressly credit Translated from Moke Manu by M. K. Nakuina. First chapter says translation somewhat condensed and Maui version transmitted through old people of that island. Complete XXI215–229 and XXII230–249 read; markers hosted in Gutenberg18450, original scan pagination not independently collated.
- Koona, a great eel from Wailau, Molokai, fights a shark near Kapukaulua. Its movement brings down a cliff and kills the shark, leaving a large cave. It raids Ku-ula’s pond at Hana. Aiai maps the submerged cave with weighted dives, lowers the inherited manaiaakalani hook and signals two shore groups to haul it in. Aleamai wins the contest to land the eel. Ordinary attempts to kill it fail; Aiai does so with three stones. The cooked head and long backbone become named landscape resemblances. Koona’s spirit tells its keeper of the death in a dream. The keeper visits Hana, learns who killed it and makes a false report about Ku-ula’s fish instructions to the king, precipitating the burning order.
XXI Ku-ula, the Fish God of Hawaii, hosted page markers 217–221 within complete215–229
Complete containingXXI215–229 read, not only eel paragraph. Stone head and backbone are narrated rock resemblances, not independently measured animal remains. The quoted intention belongs to Koona’s keeper, not the eel itself. Dream report is explicitly the eel’s spirit. King’s reported instructions are distorted by the keeper; no biological relationship invented.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textHawaiian Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1907), XXI, Ku-ula, the Fish God of HawaiiResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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