Story of Punahou

Chief Kahaakea lived in the Ka-ala Mountains with his wife. They had twins, a boy and a girl. The boy was called Kauawa-ahila which means the Wa-ahila Rain. (Wa-ahila is the name of the ridge on the eastern side of Manoa Valley). The girl was called Kauaki-owao, or the Mountain Mist. Kahaakea had a tender bond with his children, that was emphasized since their mother died while giving birth to them

The relatives of the twins' mother prayed, fasted and performed rituals. Awa, black pig, red fish and other foods of the gods had been carefully prepared and offered in order to fortify her in the afterlife so that she might look over her children.

Although these provisions were made, Kahaakea felt that the twins needed a stepmother to provide care for them. While the twins were still very young, Kahaakea remarried.

Kahaakea's new wife was called Hawea. She brought with her a son who was misshapen and ugly. When she took the children out, all remarked on how beautiful the twins were, while their eyes passed over the ugly child. Hawea became jealous and resentful. In Kahaakea's presence, she was kind toward the twins. But as time passed, Hawea's resentment turned to hatred.

The twins grew up happily despite their stepmother's false love. Hawea was so skilled in her deceit, that when it came time for Kahaakea to travel to the island of Hawaii for a long period of time, he did so with confidence that his children would be well cared for. The twins were only about ten years old at the time.

As soon as Kahaakea departed, Hawea openly expressed her contempt for the twins. As time went on, her abuse of them became more severe. They were denied food, water and clothing, and were made to suffer much humiliation. The spirit of the children's mother assisted and protected them as much as she could, but the persecution by Hawea continued. When they could endure no more, the twins escaped in the night to the mountains. They hid above the Nuuanu Pali on a peak called Konahuanui.

It was not long before Hawea found the twins and they fled to the head of Manoa Valley. Hawea searched for them to no avail. Then she began to notice the rainbows that constantly appeared at the head of Manoa Valley, as they always do in the presence of rain and mist. The children were once again discovered and driven out from their hiding place. Again they escaped, this time making their way to Kukaoo Hill which is adorned by a heiau (temple), said to have been built by the menehune. (This heiau is still standing today at 2859 Manoa Rd.) They found a cave on the side of the hill where they settled for a time. For sustenance, they tended a sweet potato patch and found edible greens and grasshoppers. They cooked the greens using the puholoholo method of rolling them around in a covered gourd with hot stones in order to steam them.

After harvesting their sweet potato, Kauawa-ahila would dig the double imu (earth oven) so that they could cook their food separately. The cave was also divided in two, for in those days, a woman could not enter a man's eating place.

The twins' peace was soon broken for as the crops began to ripen, Hawea managed to find them again. She drove them from their hideaway and took all the crops for herself. This time, the children found a home in the rocky hills just back of Punahou. There were two caves close to one another and they settled into these. At this time, the land in the area was covered with thickets of ilima, aheahea and popolo among others. The twins were able to harvest fruits, flowers and shoots to eat along with grasshoppers and occassionally a wild duck.

Some time passed in peace, but Kauaki-owao longed to have a bath. She approached her brother and complained that there was no body of water near their home that she could bathe in. Kauawa-ahila promised to look for water. He knew of a large pond called Kanawai, that was fed by rain, but it was too far East of their hiding place. However, he had met the Kakea water god who was an ancestor of his, and who appeared as a mo-o or lizard. Since this god controlled the water sources of Manoa and Makiki Valleys, Kauawa-ahila went to him to ask if he would help in opening a watercourse from the pond, to a place near the caves in which he and his sister resided.

The god agreed to help and even divided the water supply of Wailele spring so that it would run into Kauawa-ahila's watercourse in order to give it a continuous supply of water. To create the watercourse, the water god opened an underground passage from the Kanawai pond and Kauawa-ahila dove in and swam through the passage until the water burst up through the ground. Then he excavated a pond in time for his sister to swim in it when she awoke from her afternoon nap.

Kauaki-owao loved her bathing pond, but that was not all the new watercourse was used for. Her brother cultivated kalo (taro) patches and the area's fertility became apparent. People were attracted to the land and settled nearby, becoming vassals to the twins. More kalo patches sprung up and the area developed into a little village called Ka Punahou, taking it's name from the twins' spring.

It was at this time that Kahaakea returned from Hawaii. When he heard of the suffering his children had endured during his absence, he was heartbroken. He killed Hawea, and then himself. The children's home was named after him and is now known as Rocky Hill. The very name of Hawea ever after invoked images of a cruel stepmother in the Hawaiian mindset.

The twins returned to Ka-ala for a time, still visiting their other residences at Konahuanui and upper Manoa Valley. Their rain and mist forms can often be seen in those areas to this day. They sometimes visited Punahou until the land and spring fell into foreign hands and became polluted. No one honored the twins anymore, who had offered their protection over the land. The Kanawai pond is now dry, and the thickets that had yielded sustenance to the twins have disappeared. It is said that there is nothing to attract the gentle rain of Uaki-owao and Uawa-ahila to the now barren land.

Story of Punahou
By Genesis