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Our Fake History

Episode #206- Were Magical Dwarves the First Hawaiians?

Our Fake History

PodcastOne

Education, Talk Radio, Society & Culture, History

4.73.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2024

⏱️ 79 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

There are few pieces of Hawaiian folklore as beloved as the tales of the Menehune. This group of pint-sized magical wonderworkers have been given credit for building a number of Hawaii's oldest structures. Legend has it that this group of dwarves were contracted by early Hawaiian chiefs to complete great feats of engineering in just one night. While these magical tales may seem fantastic, some have argued that they may contain kernels of historical truth. Were the Menehune actually the first Hawaiian settlers whose achievement have been literally dwarfed through storytelling? Or is there something else going on in this tradition? Tune-in and find out how shrimp payments, tiny Neanderthals, and mythical invasive species all play a role in the story.

Transcript

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0:00.0

There's a story that a long time ago there was a Hawaiian leader named Waih Iloa, highest chief from the island of Maui.

0:17.0

On one auspicious day, the chief's wife, Hina Hawaii, gave birth to a healthy baby boy that the couple named Laca.

0:27.6

Both parents were completely smitten with their new son.

0:31.2

The chief was so overcome with paternal love that he swore that he would get for his son the most incredible gift for the child to use as a toy.

0:40.0

This gift would be no less than a treasure prized by the gods.

0:46.0

It was described by some as a sacred rainbow kept on the big island of Hawaii.

0:54.0

So not long after the birth of his first son, the chief set off in his canoe to find this wonderful gift.

1:02.0

Many days and nights passed and the chief did not return.

1:08.1

Soon word was sent that chief Waheiloa was dead. He had been killed by an unknown attacker while exploring a cave

1:17.0

on the Big Island. When young Laka came of age, he started asking about his long lost father.

1:26.1

His wise grandmother told him the whole story. His father had been gone many years,

1:32.2

and the last anyone had heard he had been

1:35.0

murdered, murdered. But the truth of this had never been confirmed.

1:39.0

If the chief was dead,

1:41.0

then his remains needed to be returned to Maui, where they could be properly honored.

1:47.0

So Laka swore a solemn oath that he would travel to the big island of Hawaii and either bring his

1:54.3

kidnapped father home or find his sacred remains. His grandmother approved of

2:00.6

this but she told her impetuous grandson that if he was serious about this

2:05.2

quest, he was going to need to build a canoe that was seaworthy enough to endure the journey

2:11.0

from Maui to the Big Island. To do this, Laka's grandmother told him

2:16.6

that he needed to travel to the mountains and there search for a tree that had leaves

2:21.7

shaped like a crescent moon. He should then cut down this tree and

...

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