ʻAlakoko and Kalālālehu
There were two royal children who lived in the valley along a river mouth with Kīpū on the mountainside and Niumalu on the ocean side. The siblings lived there together as brother and sister, the brother named ʻAlakoko and the sister named Kalālālehua. Their chiefly features were quite beautiful, and it was for them whom the Menehune built the fisponds for. The Menehune marched to build these fishponds for the royal children of Niumalu. When the fishponds for the royal children were being built, ʻAlakoko's (the brother) was built on the river mouth of Niumalu and Kalālālehua's (the sister) was built on the Kīpū side. Strangely, the kuapā (fishpond wall) belonging to ʻAlakoko was completed, but the same could not be said for the fishpond belonging to Kalālālehua. It is said that the fishpond belonging to ʻAlakoko was completed in a single night, but that Kalālālehua's was never completed. There was only a small portion remaining to complete the fishpond belonging to Kalālālehua, but daybreak arrived and the Menehune departed as they do during the day. Kalālālehua saw that her fishpond was not completed and began to cry, but ʻAlakoko was very happy that his was completed. The rocks that were stacked for Kalālālehua are still located within the rivermouth to this day. As for these royal children, ʻAlakoko and Kalālālehua, born in a valley along the rivermouth, remain in the area where the rainbow continues to be seen arching today. The twin peaks that are prominent on the Kīpū moutain range are said to be the siblings, ʻAlakoko and Kalālālehua watching over their fishponds. The people of this place that are familiar with this area where the rainbows arch would often say, “here indeed are the beautiful chiefs.”
Source: James H. Kuhau Kaiwi, “Moolelo o ka lahui kanaka i kapaia menehune, o kauai,” Transcribed and translated by Tiele-Lauren Doudt, Niumalu: Mālama Hulēʻia, 2021. Original publication by Thomas George Thrum, “STORY OF THE RACE OF PEOPLE CALLED THE MENEHUNES, OF KAUAI (A HAWAIIAN TRADITION),” The Journal of the Polynesian Society 29, no. 2 (June 1920): 70–75.
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