Kahuku, the land now under past and present lava flows, was at one time luxuriant and beautiful. The sugar-cane and taro beds were bordered by flowers and shaded by long-branching trees. Villages here and there marked the population which supported the chiefs of Kahuku.
Two of the young chiefs were splendid specimens of savage manhood. They both excelled in the sports and athletic feats which were the chief occupation of those days. Wherever a hillside was covered with grass and the ground properly sloping, holua races were carried on. Very narrow sleds (holua) with long runners were used in these races.
Maidens and young men vied with each other in mad rushes over the holua courses. Usually the body was thrown headlong on the sled as it was pushed over the brink of the little hill at the beginning of the slide. Sometimes the more courageous riders would rest on hands and knees while only the very skilful dared stand upright during the swift descent.
Pele, the goddess of fire, loved this sport and often appeared as a beautiful and athletic princess. She carried her sled with her to Kahuku to the holua hillside, and easily surpassed all the women in grace and daring.
Soon the two handsome young chiefs saw her and challenged her to race with them. For hours they sported together, the chiefs led captive by the charms of the goddess.
Jealous of each other, they strove to win Pele each to his own home. Thus the days passed by, filled with sports and pleasures.
At last the young men became suspicious of their companion; her love was so fitful and capricious, sometimes burning with a raging fire toward her friends and sometimes filled with hot anger on very slight provocation.
At last a warning came that this beautiful stranger might be the goddess Pele from the other side of the island; that her home was in Halemaumau (The Continuing House) of the volcano Kilauea; her attendants the always-leaping flames; the caves filled with rolling waves of fire her dwelling-rooms; that she carried the control of the fires of the underworld with her wherever she went.
The young chiefs talked together concerning their experiences and then began to draw away from their dangerous visitor.
But Pele made it difficult for them to escape from her presence. She continually called them to race with her.
At last the grass began to die. The soil became warm, and the heat intense. Slight earthquakes made themselves felt. The tides were more snappy as they cast their surf waves along the beach.
The chiefs became afraid. Pele saw it and was overcome with anger. Her appearance changed. Her hair floated out in tangled masses, touched by the breath of hot winds. Her arms and limbs shone as if enwrapped with fire. Her eyes blazed like lightning, and her breath poured forth in volumes of smoke. In great terror the chiefs rushed toward the sea.
Pele struck the ground heavily with her feet. Again and again she stamped in wrath. Earthquakes swept the lands of Kahuku. Then the awful fiery flood broke from the underworld, and swept down over Kahuku. On the crest of the falling torrent of fire rode Pele, flashing the fires of her anger in great explosions above the flood.
The chiefs tried to flee toward the north, but Pele hurled the fiercest torrents beyond them to turn them back. Then they fled toward the south, but Pele again forced them back upon their own lands.
Then they hurried down to the beach, hoping to catch one of their canoes and escape on the ocean. Quickly these young men leaped on. Swiftly came the fiery flood behind them. Pele was urging the underworld forces to their utmost speed. Shrieking like fierce, whistling winds, tearing her hair and throwing it away in bunches, Pele sped after the chiefs. The floods of lava, obeying the commands of the goddess, spread out over all the land of the chiefs so that from the mountain to the sea the luxuriant lands became desolate.
Nearer and nearer to the sea came the swift runners. It seemed as if they had found the way of escape, for the surf waves waited eagerly to welcome them, and a canoe lay near the beach.
But Pele leaped from the flowing lava and threw her burning arms around the nearest one of her former lovers. In a moment the lifeless body was thrown to one side. The lava piled itself up around it, while at the command of Pele a new gush of lava rose up like a fresh crater and swallowed up all that was left.
The other chief was petrified by fear and horror. In a moment Pele seized him and called for another outburst of lava, which rose up rapidly around them. In a few minutes the Hills of Pele were built.
Thus the lovers of Pele died and thus their tombs were made. For many years, even from ancient times, they have marked the destruction of the beautiful lands of Kahuku.
Later lava flows have turned aside to spare the monuments of the chiefs with whom Pele played for a time, and the two hills of Pele are still seen near the shore of the ocean.
