Hawaiian Legends Index

About the Hawaiian Legends Index Online

The Hawaiian Legends Index offers access to subjects from 77 books, including mythological and historical figures, places, plants, animals, geographical figures, human characteristics, objects and activities. The Index also includes links to online texts where available.

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Hawaiian Legends Index

Update: See below for a complete list of books in the Hawaiian Legends Index, 2010 ed. that are available in the UH Hilo: Hawaiian Collection at Mookini Library, the HSPLS Hilo Public Library, and online.

Books Indexed (Hawaiian Legends Index, 2010 ed.)

Alameida, Roy Kakulu, and Betty Dunford. Nā Moʻolelo Hawaiʻi O Ka Wā Kahiko = Stories of Old Hawaiʻi: A Literary Companion to the Hawaiians of Old. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1997.
UH HILO Call Number: DU624.65 .A42 1987
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 AL

Allen, Betty. Legends of Old Hawaii as Told by Tutu to Her Grand-Children. Illustrated by Herbe Shade. Honolulu: Tongg, 1944.
UH HILO Call Number: PZ8.1.A45 Le
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Al

Armitage, George T., and Henry P. Judd. Ghost Dog and Other Hawaiian Legends. Illustrated by Juliette May Fraser. Honolulu: Advertiser Publishing Co., 1944.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385 H3 A7
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 AR5

Ashdown, Inez MacPhee. Recollections of Kahoʻolawe. Honolulu: Topgallant, 1979.
UH HILO Call Number: DU628 .K25 A77
HSPLS Call Number: H 919.6922 A

Cartwright, Bruce. The Legend of Hawaii-Loa. New Plymouth, New Zealand: T. Avery, 1929. From vol. 38, no. 2, Journal of the Polynesian Society, no. 150, June, 1929.
UH HILO Call Number: (Available soon)
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 C24
Available Online

Colum, Padraic. At the Gateways of the Day. Illustrated by Juliette May Fraser. Tales & Legends of Hawaii. New Haven: Published for the Hawaiian Legend & Folklore Commission by the Yale University Press, 1924.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 C6
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 C

Colum, Padraic. Legends of Hawaii. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960. Originally published in 1937.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 C64
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 C

Colum, Padraic. The Bright Islands. Illustrated by Juliette May Fraser. Tales & Legends of Hawaii. New Haven: Published for the Hawaiian Legend & Folklore Commission by the Yale University Press, 1925.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 C63
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Co

Day, Emily Foster. The Menehunes: Their Adventures with the Fisherman and How They Built the Canoe. Illustrated by Spencer Wright. San Francisco: Paul Elder, 1905.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 D3 2017
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Tr
Available Online

Day, Emily Foster. The Princess of Manoa, and Other Fairy Tales of Old Hawaii. Hilo: Petroglyph Press,1972. Originally published in 1906 as The Princess of Manoa, and Other Romantic Tales from the Folklore of Old Hawaii.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 D33 1972
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 D
Available Online

De Vis-Norton, Lionel W. The Story of the Naha Stone, Adapted from the Translation of an Old Document. Hilo: The Board of Trade of Hilo, n.d.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385 .D48
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 D49S

Emerson, Nathaniel Bright. Pele and Hiiaka: A Myth from Hawaii. Honolulu: ʻAi Pōhaku Press, 1993. Originally published in 1915, and reprinted by multiple publishers.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 E55 2015
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 E
Available Online

Eskridge, Robert Lee. Umi, the Hawaiian Boy Who Became a King. Philadelphia: John C. Winston, 1936.
UH HILO Call Number: PZ7.E746 Um
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 E

Fornander, Abraham. Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-Lore: The Hawaiian Account of the Formation of Their Islands and Origin of Their Race, with the Traditions of Their Migrations, Etc., as Gathered from Original Sources. 3 vols. (Memoirs of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. Millwood, NY:Kraus Reprint, 1985. Originally published 1916 1920, and reprinted by multiple publishers. Text in Hawaiian and English on opposite pages. The translation of Fornander's Hawaiian accounts are uncredited, but were edited by Thomas G. Thrum. Volumes 4 and 5 are indexed here).
UH HILO Call Number: GN670 .B45
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 F
Available Online Vol.4
Available Online Vol.5

Fornander, Abraham. Selections from Fornander's Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-Lore. Illustrated by Jean Charlot. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1959. In Hawaiian and English, on opposite pages. Reprinted from volumes IV and V of the Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-lore, published by the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in 1917, 1918, and 1919.
UH HILO Call Number: GN670 .F73s
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 FO

Gay, Lawrence Kainoahou. True Stories of the Island of Lanai. Honolulu: Mission Press, 1965.
UH HILO Call Number: DU628 L3 G3
HSPLS Call Number: H 996.923 Ga

Gay, Roland L. Hawaii: Tales of Yesteryear: A Collection of Legends and Stories. Honokaa, Hawaiʻi: R. Gay, 1977.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 G3
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 G

Gowen, Herbert H. Hawaiian Idylls of Love and Death. New York: Cochrane Publishing Co., 1908.
UH HILO Call Number: PS1759.G88 H33 (VAULT)
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 G74
Available Online

Green, Laura S. Folk-Tales from Hawaii. Publications of the Folk-Lore Foundations. Poughkeepsie, NY: Vassar College, 1926. In Hawaiian and English, on opposite pages. Reprinted in 1928.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385 .H3 G7
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 G82F

Green, Laura S. Hawaiian Stories and Wise Sayings. Publications of the Folk-Lore Foundation No.3. Poughkeepsie, NY: Vassar College, 1923. In Hawaiian and English, on opposite pages.
UH HILO Call Number: (Available soon)
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 G82H

Green, Laura S., Mary Kawena Pukui, and Martha Warren Beckwith. The Legend of Kawelo: And Other Hawaiian Folk Tales. Honolulu, 1936.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385 .L35
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 L52L

Haleʻole, S. N., and Martha Warren Beckwith. The Hawaiian Romance of Laieikawai. 33rd Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1919. (Originally published in Hawaiian by S. N. Haleʻole in book form in 1863; republished with modern diacritical marks in 2001. This 1919 English translation by Martha Beckwith has been reprinted in 1918 (not sure why the reprintʻs date pre-dates the original), and in 1997. English and Hawaiian are printed on opposite pages. Pagination of the 1918 publication is different from the 1919 and 1997 publications. Beckwith's English translation was extensively re-edited in 2006. Two abridged versions of the story, for children, have also been published, one in English and the other in Hawaiian and English).
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 B42
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 La
Available Online

Hapai, Charlotte. Hilo Legends. Illustrated by Jan Moon. Hilo: Petroglyph Press, 1966. Originally published in 1920 as Legends of the Wailuku.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385 .S654
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 H
Available Online

Hapai, Charlotte. Legends of the Wailuku, as Told by Old Hawaiians. Honolulu: Charles R. Frazier, 1920. Re-published in 1966 as Hilo Legends.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385 .S655 (VAULT)
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 H
Available Online

Irwin, Bernice Piilani Cook. In Menehune Land. Honolulu: Printshop, 1936.
UH HILO Call Number: PZ8.I81 In 1938 (VAULT)
HSPLS Call Number: n/a

Kalakaua, David, and Rollin Mallory Daggett. The Legends and Myths of Hawaii: The Fables and FolkLore of a Strange People. New York: C. L. Webster, 1888. Reprinted by multiple publishers.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 K3 1990
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Ka
Available Online

Kamakau, Samuel Manaiakalani. Tales and Traditions of the People of Old = Na Moolelo O Ka Poe Kahiko. Translated by Mary Kawena Pukui. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1991. Published again in 1993 and "retroactively designated" as no. 94 in the Bishop Museum Special Publication series.
UH HILO Call Number: DU624.5 .K145 1991
HSPLS Call Number: H 572 Ka

Kaopio, Matthew. Hawaiian Family Legends. Honolulu: Mutual, 2003.
UH HILO Call Number: GR110.H38 K66 2003
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Ka

Kawaharada, Dennis, and Esther T. Mookini. Hawaiian Fishing Legends: With Notes on Ancient Fishing Implements and Practices. Translated by Esther T. Mookini. Honolulu: Kalamaku Press, 1992.
UH HILO Call Number: GR110.H38 H3 1992
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 H

Kawaharada, Dennis. Storied Landscapes: Hawaiian Literature & Place. Honolulu: Kalamakū Press, 1999.
UH HILO Call Number: GR110.H38 K39 1999
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.232 Ka

Knudsen, Eric A. Spooky Stuffs: Hawaiian Ghost Stories. Illustrated by Guy Buffet. Waipahu, Hawaiʻi: Island Heritage, 2003. (Originally published in 1974).
UH HILO Call Number: PZ7 .K59
HSPLS Call Number: H Knudsen

Knudsen, Eric A. Teller of Hawaiian Tales. Honolulu: Mutual, 1946. Issued in serial format as Hawaiian Tales Told by Teller of Hawaiian Tales, ca. 1945; published as Teller of Hawaiian Tales in 1945. (Pagination is different for all).
UH HILO Call Number: GR385 .K59 1946 (READ Collection)
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 K

Landgraf, Anne Kapulani, and Kalani Meinecke. Nā Wahi Pana ʻo Koʻolau Poko = Legendary Places of Koʻolau Poko. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994.
UH HILO Call Number: DU628. O3 L36 1994 (Hawaiian Grandfolio)
HSPLS Call Number: H 919.693 L

Lawrence, Mary Stebbins. Stories of the Volcano Goddess: With a Brief Description of the Volcano and How to Get There. Honolulu: Crossroads Bookshop, 1912.
UH HILO Call Number: GR510 .L39 (VAULT)
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 L43

Legend of Hiku I Kanahele. Honolulu: Advertiser Pub. Co., 1942. Authored by "Mauricio," i.e. Patrick Maurice McMahon.
UH HILO Call Number: n/a
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 M22

Levin, Wayne, Rowland B. Reeve, Franco Salmoiraghi, and David Ulrich. Kahoʻolawe: Nā Leo O Kanaloa: Chants and Stories of Kahoʻolawe. Honolulu: ʻAi Pōhaku Press, 1995.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 K34 1995
HSPLS Call Number: H 996.922 KA

Loebel-Fried, Caren. Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits. Illustrated by Caren Loebel-Fried. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2002.
UH HILO Call Number: PZ8.1.L934 Haw 2002
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Lo

Lyons, Barbara. Fire and Water, and Other Hawaiian Legends. Illustrated by Betty Rice. Rutland, Vermont: C. E. Tuttle, 1973.
UH HILO Call Number: PZ8.1 L978 Fi
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 L

Lyons, Barbara. Maui, Mischievous Hero. Illustrated by Betty Rice. Hilo, Hawaiʻi: Petroglyph Press, 1969.
UH HILO Call Number: GR410 L96
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 L

Maguire, Eliza D. Kona Legends. Illustrated by Eva Anderson. 2nd ed. Hilo, Hawaiʻi: Petroglyph Press, 1999. (Earlier editions published in 1926 and 1966).
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 M34 1999
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Ma

Manu, Moses, and Mary Kawena Pukui. Keaomelemele: He Moolelo Kaao No Keaomelemele. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 2002.
UH HILO Call Number: GR110.H38 K43 2002
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.20996 Ke

Metzger, Berta. Tales Told in Hawaii. Illustrated by Verna Tallman. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1929.
UH HILO Call Number: PZ8.1 M569 Ta1
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 M56

Nakuina, Emma M. Hawaii, Its People, Their Legends. Honolulu: Territory of Hawaii, 1904.
UH HILO Call Number: DU623 .N16
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Na
Available Online

Nakuina, Emma M. Nanaue the Shark Man & Other Hawaiian Shark Stories. Honolulu: Kalamakū Press,1994.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 N14 1994
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 N
Available Online

Ne, Harriet, and Gloria L. Cronin. Tales of Molokai: The Voice of Harriet Ne. Illustrated by Terry Reffell. Lāʻie, Hawaiʻi: Institute for Polynesian Studies, Brigham Young University-Hawaii, 1992.
UH HILO Call Number: GR110.H38 N4 1992
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Ne

Paki, Pilahi. Legends of Hawaii: Oahu's Yesterday. Illustrated by Francis Haar. Honolulu: Victoria Publishers, 1972.
UH HILO Call Number: DU628 .O3 P34
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 P

Pukui, Mary Kawena, and Caroline Curtis. Hawaiʻi Island Legends: Pikoi, Pele and Others. Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press, 1996. Originally published in 1949 as Pikoi and Other Legends of the Island of Hawaii. This edition includes modern diacritical marks in Hawaiian words, and is paginated differently from the 1949 edition.
UH HILO Call Number: PZ8.1.P937 Ha 1996
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Ha Available Online

Pukui, Mary Kawena, and Caroline Curtis. Tales of the Menehune. Illustrated by Robin Burningham. Rev. ed. Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press, 1994. (Originally published in 1960 as Tales of the Menehune: And Other Short Legends of the Hawaiian Islands. This edition includes modern diacritical marks and is paginated differently from the original. This edition was reprinted in 1994).
UH HILO Call Number: GR110.H3 P84 1994
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Pu
Available Online

Pukui, Mary Kawena, and Caroline Curtis. The Water of Kāne: And Other Legends of the Hawaiian Islands. Illustrated by Oliver C. Kinney. Rev. ed. Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools, 1994. Originally published in 1951 and reprinted in 1961. This edition includes modern diacritical marks and is paginated differently from 1951 and 1961 editions.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385 .P8 1994
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Pu
Available Online

Pukui, Mary Kawena, and Laura S. Green. Folktales of Hawaiʻi = He Mau Kaʻao Hawaiʻi. Illustrated by Sig Zane. Bishop Museum Special Publication. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1995. In English and Hawaiian, with explanatory notes.
UH HILO Call Number: AS763 .B62s 1995
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Fo

Raphaelson, Rayna. The Kamehameha Highway, 80 Miles of Romance. Illustrated by Juliette May Fraser. Honolulu: Percy M. Pond,1925.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385 .R35
HSPLS Call Number: H 919.69 R18

Rice, William Hyde. Hawaiian Legends. Illustrated by Boone Morrison. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication. Honolulu: Bishop Museum, 1977. Originally published in 1923.
UH HILO Call Number: GFOLIO GR385.H3 R5 1977 (VAULT)
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 R
Available Online

Skinner, Charles M. Myths & Legends of Our New Possessions & Protectorate. Philadelphia & London: J.B. Lippincott, 1900. UH HILO Call Number: GR112 .S5 1900 (VAULT)
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 S
Available Online

Smith, Walter J. Legends of Wailua. Līhuʻe, Kauai: Kauai Printers, 1955. Published twice in 1955, by Garden Island Publishing, and by Kauai Printers. (The text of each is substantially the same, with minor variations. The photo illustrations are similar but vary).
UH HILO Call Number: GR385 .S68 1955a
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 S

Tava, Rerioterai, and Moses K. Keale. Niihau, the Traditions of a Hawaiian Island. Honolulu: Mutual, 1989.
UH HILO Call Number: DU628.N5 T39 1989
HSPLS Call Number: H 996.942 T

Thompson, Vivian Laubach. Hawaiian Legends of Tricksters and Riddlers. Illustrated by Patricia A. Wozniak. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1991. (Originally published in 1969).
UH HILO Call Number: PZ8.1.T3785 Hau 1990
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 T

Thompson, Vivian Laubach. Hawaiian Myths of Earth, Sea, and Sky. Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1988. (Originally published in 1966).
UH HILO Call Number: BL2630.H38 T46 1988
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Th

Thompson, Vivian Laubach. Hawaiian Tales of Heroes and Champions. Illustrated by Herbert Kawainui Kane. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1986. (Originally published in 1971).
UH HILO Call Number: PZ8.1 .T3785 Hay
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 T

Thorpe, Cora Wells. In the Path of the Trade Winds. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1924.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 T37
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Th

Thrum, Thomas G. Hawaiian Folk Tales: A Collection of Native Legends. Translated by various translators. Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1907. (Re-published in 1912 with a revised glossary. Both the 1907 and 1912 editions have been reprinted by multiple publishers).
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 T4 1998
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Th Available Online

Thrum, Thomas G. Hawaiian Traditions; Stories of the Menehunes. Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1910.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 T47 (VAULT)
HSPLS Call Number: n/a Available Online

Thrum, Thomas G. More Hawaiian Folk Tales: A Collection of Native Legends and Traditions. Translated by various translators. Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1923. (Reprinted by multiple publishers).
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 T5 (VAULT)
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Th

Thrum, Thomas G. Tributes of Hawaiian Tradition: The Pali and Battle of Nuuanu; Kaliuwaa Falls and Kamapuaa, the Demigod (Revised from the Hawaiian Annual and Hawaiian Folk-Tales). Honolulu, 1920.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 T54 2015
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 T
Available Online

Westervelt, W. D. Around the Poi Bowl and Legend of Paao. Honolulu: Paradise of the Pacific Print, 1913.
UH HILO Call Number: n/a
HSPLS Call Number: n/a

Westervelt, W. D. Hawaiian Historical Legends. Honolulu: Mutual, 1998. Originally published in 1923, and reprinted by multiple publishers.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 W32 1977
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 We
Available Online

Westervelt, W. D. Hawaiian Legends of Ghosts and Ghost-Gods. Honolulu: Mutual, 1998. (Originally published in 1915 as Legends of Gods and Ghosts, re-published in 1963 as Legends of Ghosts and Ghost-Gods, and in 2001 as Legends of Gods and Ghosts).
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 W35 1998
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 We
Available Online

Westervelt, W. D. Hawaiian Legends of Old Honolulu. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1963. (Originally published in 1915 as Legends of Old Honolulu and re-published by multiple publishers. Published in 1963 as Hawaiian Legends of Old Honolulu, and re-published by multiple publishers).
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 W45 1963
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 We
Available Online

Westervelt, W. D. Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes. Honolulu: Mutual, 1999. (Originally published in 1916, and reprinted by multiple publishers).
UH HILO Call Number: GR950.V8 W4 1999
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 We
Available Online

Westervelt, W. D. Legend of the Ghosts of the Hilo Hills. Honolulu: Privately printed, 1943. (Variant title: Ghosts of the Hilo Hills)
UH HILO Call Number: GR510 .W44
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 W

Westervelt, W. D. Legends of Ma-Ui, a Demi God of Polynesia and of His Mother Hina. Kessinger Publishing, 2007. (Originally published in 1910, and in 1912 with a different index. Both editions have been reprinted by multiple publishers. This is a reprint of the 1910 ed).
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 W4 1979
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 W
Available Online

Wheeler, Post. Hawaiian Wonder Tales. New York: Beechhurst Press, 1953.
UH HILO Call Number: PZ8.1 W566 H33
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 W

Wichman, Frederick B. Kauaʻi: Ancient Place-Names and Their Stories. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1998.
UH HILO Call Number: GR110.H38 W47 1998
HSPLS Call Number: H 919.6941 Wi

Wichman, Frederick B. Kauai Tales. Illustrated by Christine Fayé. Bamboo Ridge. Honolulu: Bamboo Ridge Press, 1985.
UH HILO Call Number: GR385.H3 W53 1985
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 W

Wichman, Frederick B. More Kauaʻi Tales. Illustrated by Christine Fayé. Bamboo Ridge. Honolulu: Bamboo Ridge Press, 1997.
UH HILO Call Number: GR110.H38 W52 1991
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 W

Wichman, Frederick B. Pele Mā: Legends of Pele from Kauaʻi. Illustrated by Christine Fayé. Bamboo Ridge. Honolulu: Bamboo Ridge Press, 2001.
UH HILO Call Number: PS571.H3 B35 no.80
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Wi

Wichman, Frederick B. Polihale and Other Kauaʻi Legends. Illustrated by Christine Fayé. Bamboo Ridge. Honolulu: Bamboo Ridge Press, 1991.
UH HILO Call Number: GR110.H38 W5 1991
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 W

Yates, Katherine M. A Tale from the Rainbow Land. San Francisco: Paul Elder, 1914.
UH HILO Call Number: PZ7 .Y275 Ta
HSPLS Call Number: H 398.2 Y2
Available Online