Fire and Water

retold here by Sam
Adapted from "Fire and Water" from Fire and Water by Barabara Lyons

This legend is about the rivalry between the fire goddess, Pele and the water goddess, Namakaokaha‘i. Hence the title, Fire and Water. The legend begins in Pele’s home, which is a small pit near Pu‘u Laina. Pele is tired of her home there and wants some large and of a more commanding height.

Finally, after her search she finds a new home and calls it Haleakalā (House of the sun). Many times before she had been pulled away from previous homes by her enemy Namakaokaha‘i, but this time she had moved on her own. As Pele was building up her fire in her new home Namakaokaha‘i spotted this, and she did not like it.

So, she sent her sea monster to attack Pele. But the sea monster would not do this task because he did not like how far away Pele's home was from his beautiful wet ocean. Namakaokaha‘i grumbled to herself about how lazy her pet sea dragon was. The sea dragon slipped away and went into hiding. Finally after looking and looking she found him under the edge of a coral and pulled him out by his tail. She sent the dragon to fight Pele, and the two had a battle of epic measurements. But, finally the sea monster had won and Pele’s limbs were spread far and wide, scattered over the islands. I hope you learned something about this legend entitled Fire and Water.