Menehune / Alekoko Fish Pond

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distance of 25 miles/40km by standing in a line and passing them from hand to hand. According to legend, they insisted that no one watched them carrying out the work - but the prince and princess climbed the mountainside overlooking the pond and secretly watched them. However, the Menehune spotted the royal couple and changed them into pillars of rock, which can still be seen above the south side of the pond. The Menehune, legendary builders of temples and fish ponds, are seen as the original inhabitants of Hawaii. They are supposed to have lived on the Hawaiian islands and, above all on Kauai, even before the first Polynesians. Dwarf-like people, somewhat like goblins or gnomes, the Hawaiians called them keiki o ka'aina, which roughly means "children of the country". One of their characteristics was that they were only active at night.

Many Hawaiians still believe in their existence today. In the 18th c. King Kaumualii of Kauai reported that 65 Menehune were to be found in his kingdom, apparently living in Wainiha Valley on the north coast of Kauai. Their size was given as between 2ft/60cm and 2ft 71/2in/80cm, their bodies were very muscular and hairy. They could not speak but could only make sounds which resembled barking dogs. Excellent stonemasons, they built temples and moats overnight and disappeared before daybreak.

Other South Sea Islands know similar beings to the Hawaiian Menehune by such names as Manahune, Manahua or Makahua (this word is said to be of Tahitian origin) and even the Maoris in New Zealand have similar night creatures which they call Patupai-arehe. The similarity of such legends owes much to the relationship of the Hawaiians with the other Polynesian tribes.