The Battle of the Wailuku River

“There is a Hawaiian mo’olelo (story) that tells of events and places along the Wailuku River and how these places got their names. The Dept. of Land and Natural Resources does a really nice job of places plaques around the islands.

Hina, mother of the demigod Maui, lived in the cave behind Rainbow Falls along the Wailuku River. She and her women made-kapa, a cloth created by beating the bark from the mulberry bush. A mo’o or giant lizard named Kuna lived along the Wailuku River and frequently tormented Hina by sending torrents of water, logs, and other debris over the falls. But Hina did not worry because she was well protected in her cave and her son, Maui.

One night there was a huge storm and rain filled the gorge. Kuna decided that he would take advantage of this storm and placed a huge boulder to blow the river just below Hina’s cave, where she was asleep. As the water rose, the cave started to flood. Now awake, Hina became alarmed and called to her son:

O Maui, fisher of islands

O Maui, slower of the sun

Listen! It is Hina who calls.

Come quickly, O Maui my son

Come with your swift canoe.

Come with your mighty war club.

Save us from Kuna Mo’o.

Maui heard his mother’s call, faintly as in a dream. He looked about the night sky and saw his mother’s small bright cloud above Hawaii. From the slopes of Haleakala on the island of Maui, he sprang into his canoe and paddled to Hilo. He saw no water flowing in the Wailuku River and knew that it had been dammed. With his mighty club, Maui rushed up the river and struck the riverbank to make water-way around the rock. Again, the water was able to flow toward the ocean.

Kuna fled to a hiding place in the gorge above Rainbow Falls with Maui in pursuit. When Maui found the mo’o, he struck the rocks until the earth trembled and the mo’o rushed out looking for another place to hide. After a long chase, Kuna dove into the pools just below the Boiling Pots overlook in hopes to escape Maui’s rage.

Frustrated that he could not get a good shot at the mo’o in these potholes, Maui called upon Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, to provide him with some hot stones to throw into the river. She quickly provided them and Maui was able to make the river boiling hot.

Kuna was forced to leave the water and fled downstream. Kuna and Maui fought above Rainbow Falls. After being struck by Maui’s club, the mo’o fell over the falls. The giant mo’o still lies where he fell, a great rock in the Wailuku River. Today, Kuna is beaten by stones and logs flooded by the water just as he tried to beat and drown Hina.

As for the deep pool above the falls, the waters of the Boiling Pots still bubble and boil as if remembering the mighty battle of Maui and Kuna.

“The Battle of the Wailuku River from the Tales of the Menehune, compiled by Mary Kawena Pukui and retold by Caroline Curtis. Illustration by Robin Burningham, Kamehameha Schools Press, 1985.”