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Overview
The narrative begins with an egg born to Kauhao, which her grandmother Kapālama preserves and takes to Oʻahu. From it hatches a bird with richly coloured feathers. Lepe-a-moa grows under her grandparents’ care, swims in a prepared pool and later reveals a beautiful human body. Her radiance and changing forms mark her extraordinary nature, while gathering food for her grandparents gives her an everyday family role.
Later episodes bring her brother Kauilani and a battle with the formidable Ke-au-hele-moa. Different bird bodies, family assistance and protection against an icy mist shape the contest. Lepe-a-moa ultimately destroys the opponent’s ability to return in another body. This profile follows the selected account’s bird-child and family narrative; its transformations are neither a biological developmental sequence nor a reason to classify Hawaiian ancestors as a fictional race.
Origins & earliest records
Westervelt’s chapter XXIV, published in 1916, supplies the selected extended account. Its opening identifies transmission through Hawaiian bards, but that statement does not provide a datable oral origin. The publication records an edited English presentation; earlier Hawaiian texts and alternate family relationships should be compared before asserting a comprehensive genealogy. The linked witness is the second edition; its copyright page separately retains the earlier 1915 date.
Records & interpretation
The inspected birth, first transformation and combat passages support the egg, bird-human bodies, radiance and changing battle forms. They provide literary and oral-derived evidence of the figure’s portrayal. They are not zoological observations of a chicken becoming human, and the high-chief signs described by the collector remain narrated cultural associations.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Legends of Old Honolulu, XXIV: Lepe-a-moa
Selected inspected passages; edited witness, not a comprehensive bibliography. Linked title page is dated 1916 and labels the book Second Edition; its copyright page also records 1915.
- 02
Legends of Old Honolulu (Mythology)
Second edition, Boston Ellis Press / London Constable,1916; work first published1915.
Family, evolution & connections
Lepe-a-moa and Kauilani in Westervelt’s account
Legends of Old Honolulu XXIV, The Chicken-Girl of Palama.
Scroll sideways to see all branches. With a keyboard, focus the tree and use the arrow keys.
- Keahua and Kauhao (joint parents)
- Kauilani (younger brother)
Named parents and repeatedly explicit sibling relationship support the two-child branch. Ke-ao-lewa is an ancestress of unspecified distance and excluded from immediate branches. Grandparent fostering and Kamamo’s adoption are separate relationships. No animal phylogeny implied.
Kauilani
Westervelt’s chapter XXIV repeatedly identifies Kauilani as Lepe-a-moa’s younger brother, including his own statement when she finally recognizes him. Their shared magical activities follow that kinship. This records the sibling connection in the selected publication, without treating her bird forms and his human appearance as different biological species or extending the family to unrelated figures with similar names.
Keahua and Kauhao
Chapter XXIV introduces Keahua and his wife Kauhao, then describes their egg-born daughter being taken to Oahu by her maternal grandparents. Kauilani is later explicitly named as their child and Lepe-a-moa’s brother. This source-specific parentage supports the small family tree; the story’s unusual birth and changing bodies are not used to assign ordinary animal ancestry or modern human biological categories.
Ke-ao-lewa
Westervelt calls Ke-ao-lewa the bird-child’s ancestress and describes her interventions from the sky. The text establishes a family association without an exact chain of parents between them. This edge preserves that limit, so Ke-ao-lewa is not assigned as Lepe-a-moa’s mother or grandmother in the tree, and their shared bird forms are not substituted for documentary parentage.
Rupe
Lepe-a-moa recognizes Kauilani after he holds onto her during flight and the grandmother’s chant identifies their relationship. In Grey’s Rupe episode, Hinauri recognizes her brother as a pigeon and exchanges laments with him. These distinct stories use bird form and sibling recognition in different ways. The comparison does not establish transmission between Hawaiian and Māori traditions or biological kinship between the figures.
Ravòrombé
Westervelt’s Lepe-a-moa account begins with an egg-born child cared for by maternal grandparents. Sibree’s translated Malagasy story describes Ravòrombé’s egg-born daughter Ramaitsoanala and a bird-mother’s continuing help. The egg and supernatural bird association are comparable motifs, but the parental roles and narrative settings differ. Neither resemblance nor the comparison demonstrates a shared origin or historical borrowing.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Legends of Old Honolulu (Mythology)
Second edition, Boston Ellis Press / London Constable,1916; work first published1915.
- Lepe-a-moa hatches as a chicken with multicolored feathers.
- Lepe-a-moa changes her bird form into a human girl.
- Lepe-a-moa’s beauty radiates like fire and shines through mist in rainbow colors.
Documents this credited English collected version, not a universal account of Hawaiian tradition. European terms such as crocodile are historical translator choices, not evidence of native fauna. Collector racial or cultural generalizations are not adopted.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textLegends of Old Honolulu, XXIV: Lepe-a-moaResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
