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The Danes have their Elves, the English have fairies, the Irish have Leprechauns, and the "little people" of Hawai'i are called "MENEHUNE".
What elves, fairies, pixies, and other "little people" share in common is a reputation for being good - or bad! Like grown-ups, it is a continuing mystery whether the "good" that they do is really good, or the "bad" that they do is really bad. Now you must decide: are the menehune in the story below doing good? (It may help to know "Mele Kalikimaka" is "Merry Christmas" in Hawaiian, "kanaka" is an human being, and "keiki" [pronounced just like "cake" but, like talking to a baby, with an happy "EEE!" at the end!] is a child.) Finally, Hawai'i is a group of tropical islands in the Pacific Ocean, so the only "ice" on Hawaiian roads is from illegal traffic in crystal methamphetamine, a narcotic which causes permanent brain damage, resulting in the mistreatment, abandonment, or death of too many innocent Hawaiian children. |
Haunani Hau was very sad. Every boy and girl in the school already knew what they wanted for Christmas, and it wasn't yet Halloween!
Perhaps everyone was talking about Christmas because their parents wouldn't let them go trick or treating anymore. All that ice on Hawaiian streets made parents very afraid of everyone - and every thing!
When Haunani's friends asked her what she wanted for Christmas, Haunani didn't know how to answer. What she REALLY wanted was for her mom and dad to stop arguing and fighting, and be happy again.
As she walked home from school, Haunani felt so sad she decided to stop and sit under a big shady tree, so she could think about it. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there before she noticed something moving under a bush by the dusty road.
Ever so slowly, Haunani turned her head until she could plainly see a fat menehune making a jack o'lantern out of a watermelon! He was cutting out such an horrible face that the green stripes on the watermelon made it look like an escaped convict from outer space!
But the menehune was obviously delighted with his work, because he was happily singing to himself,
After he finished the carving, the menehune snatched a leaf from the bush and began polishing the watermelon with the leaf, chanting,
Haunani couldn't help but laugh at the "burps from beans" , but as soon as she did, the menehune disappeared.
She waited quite a long time for the menehune to come back for his watermelon jack o'lantern, but he didn't return, so Haunani decided to take it home to show her mom and dad.
But even before she opened the door she could hear her parents arguing again, so she quietly closed the door behind her, crept over to her bed, and put the jack o'lantern on the window cil. Suddenly she realized that horrible face was looking right at her, so she turned it around so it faced the road.
Then Haunani's dad stormed out of the house, and her mom yelled for her to come and eat before it got cold - as if cold food was more terrible than listening to two people argue and fight!
Haunani ate quietly, and her mother seemed to calm down, so as soon as she finished eating, Haunani dashed to the window to get the watermelon to show her mom. But it was gone! That jack o'lantern entirely disappeared without a trace!
Haunani was really afraid to go to sleep on Halloween night because now she knew menehune could sneak into her house, and who knew what kind of mischief a menehune could make?
Haunani dared not say anything about it to her mom and dad, because she knew that if ANYTHING - any little thing at all - went wrong, they would blame Haunani for bringing menehune into their home.
It is VERY difficult to keep sensational news quiet, so finally, Haunani told some of her friends at school. But, after several afternoons of sitting quietly under the big shade tree and never seeing any menehune at all, even her closest friends decided Haunani was just playing a joke on them, so they stopped be friends with her.
All alone, Haunani sat under the big shade tree every afternoon, and every day Christmas got nearer and nearer, but Haunani's wish of making her parents happy again did not become any clearer!
Her mom and dad went looking for ice on Thanksgiving Day, so Haunani spent the whole day under the shady tree, hoping to see the menehune again so she could apologize for taking the jack o'lantern. But it seemed like even the menehune had deserted her.
Finally, on the very last day of school before the Christmas holidays, Haunani decided she would paint a picture of her mom and dad holding hands with big, happy smiles on their faces, and give the picture to them for Christmas.
Haunani had to work very fast to finish her painting before school let out, but she finished it just in time, and was very happy when her teacher said it was the best painting she had ever done!
On her way home, Haunani kept looking at her picture and imagining how happy her parents would be, so guess what happened? She tripped and fell right into a big mud puddle! When she tried to get up, her painting was so wet it just fell apart in her hands.
Now all hope of an happy Christmas was gone, so Haunani just sat there and cried until her eyes were too dry to make tears.
A few minutes after she stopped crying, she noticed branches of the bushes were moving even though there was no breeze, so she sat very still. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a menehune step out from a bush with a toothy smile as big as a cracked coconut. Then the branches of another bush parted, and out jumped another menehune who did a little hula, chanting,
As soon as that menehune finished his hula, another menehune leapt from the bushes and began a hula, chanting,
Then another menehune came from the bushes to hula and chant:
As soon as he finished, another menehune, stepped out from the bushes and did his hula chanting,
Then the menehune sat down in a circle, and another menehune emerged from the bushes looking as grand as King Kamehameha! He sounded just like Bruddah IZ as he did his hula, chanting,
Just as he finished, a big truck raced down the road spewing a big cloud of black exhaust smoke and dust across the bushes and over the menehune. When the air cleared, there was no trace of the menehune.
Now Haunani was totally confused! What should she make of such a spectacle?
Was she supposed to learn those chants and hulas? Or were the menehune going to perform them for her mom and dad?
Should she make poi (and leave some for the menehune) or give her mom and dad leis on Christmas morning?
The only thing Haunani knew for certain was she couldn't give her mom and dad the big picture!
On Christmas Eve, after another shouting match, Haunani's dad stormed out of the house. A few minutes later, her mom shouted something, then slammed the door as she went out. After sitting alone for awhile, Haunani decided to go out to the shade tree to see if there were any menehune around.
She reached down to pick it up, but the "papaya" instantly jumped up, and ran away laughing! A menehune had been sitting right next to her and she didn't even notice him!
That menehune may have thought he was very brave to sit so close to Haunani, but Haunani was happy to know any one wanted to be close to her!
Just before Haunani fell asleep on Christmas Eve, she thought about the menehune hulas and chants "to make a Keiki's prayer come true", so jumped out of bed and prayed for her mom and dad to be happy again.
In the middle of the night, Haunani suddenly realized the menehune chants were about real life, the "see, touch, taste, hear and smell" senses of the living!
That woke Haunani up with a start, because now she knew the way to make her parents happy again was to rekindle their senses. She crept out of bed and quietly washed her face with some of her mom's special plumeria soap.
Once she was satisfied she smelled clean and sweet, she went over to her parent's bed, and saw them sleeping with their backs to each other. There was just enough space between them for Haunani, so she snuggled in between them , gently picked up her mom's hand and placed it over her heart, and put her dad's hand over her mom's hand. Then Haunani felt warm, happy, and loved, and she fell fast asleep.
Haunani awoke to an empty house. No Christmas in it. No love in it. No menehune in it. No answered prayers. It was just another day.
Eventually, Haunani got dressed and went out to the shade tree to look for Menehune. But it was so quiet, even the leaves didn't move. She lay down under the tree and looked up at a cloudless sky. Peace and quiet on Christmas morning was like being dead; her heart felt like it was frozen and just couldn't feel anything any more.
Suddenly she felt vibrations in the ground from a car racing down the road, and jumped up, hoping it was her mom and dad coming back to get her!
Happy as she could be, Haunani ran to the side of the road so they could see her, but a giant gust of dust suddenly swept across the road.
Haunani's mom and dad felt their car hit something, then laughed with relief when a big, green papaya slammed into the windshield and slowly slid down the glass like a mangled menehune.
It looked like Haunani's prayer was answered, because her mom and dad were actually holding hands, and laughing! It was Christmas, they had ice, and they were happy - until they looked into the rear-view mirror and saw Haunani lying in the road behind them. In a flash, they discovered love may melt ice, but nothing can mend a broken heart.
By then, the dust had settled. Night fell, and the light of the moon glistened through the trees and bushes like thousands of silvery ghosts searching the shadows for a lost soul.
The menehune paused to watch a shooting star fade away, then they went back to work keeping ice off the roads in Hawai'i nei.
Haunani Hau was sad no more.
Off into the night we go
Jack o'lanterns all aglow
At every house along the way
This is what we're bound to say:
"Trick or treat! Trick or treat!
Give us something good to eat!
Make it extra nice and sweet
Or dirty tricks will haunt your street!
"Green's the thing
It makes you sing
So love can bring
The gift of Spring
With lovely scenes
Where kings & queens
Can fill their jeans
With burps from beans
So .....
MELE KALIKIMAKA, KANAKA!
ALOHA, PLEASE TAKE MY SMILE WITH YOU
FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL NEEDS TO SEE IT
TO MAKE A KEIKI'S PRAYER COME TRUE!
MELE KALIKIMAKA, KANAKA!
ALOHA, PLEASE TAKE MY LEI WITH YOU
FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL NEEDS TO SMELL IT
TO MAKE A KEIKI'S PRAYER COME TRUE!
MELE KALIKIMAKA, KANAKA!
ALOHA, PLEASE TAKE MY POI WITH YOU
FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL NEEDS TO TASTE IT
TO MAKE A KEIKI'S PRAYER COME TRUE!
MELE KALIKIMAKA, KANAKA!
ALOHA, PLEASE TAKE MY LOVE WITH YOU
FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL NEEDS TO FEEL IT
TO MAKE A KEIKI'S PRAYER COME TRUE!
MELE KALIKIMAKA, KANAKA!
ALOHA, PLEASE TAKE MY SONG WITH YOU
FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL NEEDS TO HEAR IT
TO MAKE A KEIKI'S PRAYER COME TRUE!
She sat under the tree for a long time before she suddenly realized that the whole time she was there, a very large green papaya was on the ground next to her, but there was no papaya tree for miles around!
When her mom and dad woke up, they were too grumpy to really notice Haunani in their bed. They didn't even know it was Christmas morning! All they knew is they needed more ice, and off they went to get it.
Missionaries punished Hawaiian children by beating them for speaking in Hawaiian rather than in English, so you may not know "Hau-" as a prefix to a name in Hawaiian, designates a goddess ("Nani" means "beauty" or "glory"), but just the word "hau" means "ice"
A "lei" is a garland of flowers which Hawaiians freely give to each other as an expression of love or honour.
"Poi" ~ cooked taro corms ~ was the staple food of Native Hawaiians, and if you don't know what "hula" means, you haven't danced!
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