Pele's Rival

retold here by Larissa
Adapted from "Pele's Rival" from Pele by Herb Kane

This story is about the everlasting differences between fire and ice. It is shone through Pele the fire goddess and Poli‘ahu the goddess of ice and snow.

One cause of the hatred between Pele and Poli‘ahu was their fight over an unpredictable young ali‘i named ‘Aiwohikupua. One day, ‘Aiwohikupua had a dream and in that dream, he dated a young girl from Hawai‘i named Laie. ‘Aiwohikupua had made a vow of marriage to her. When he awoke, he started on his quest to find Laie. So he sailed in his canoe from Kaua‘i to Hawai‘i, but while he sailed past the coast of Maui, he saw an attractive young woman surfing. So he beached his canoe. This girl went by the name of Hina-i-ka-malama. She got ‘Aiwohikupua’s attention and love after winning a game of konane. After spending time with Hina, ‘Aiwohikupua made up a reason to leave and he continued on sailing.

When he got to Hawai‘i, he was distracted from his mission for a second time but by a more gorgeous girl than the first. She went by the name Poli‘ahu. They became engaged and ‘Aiwohikupua asked his god to free him from his vow of marriage to Laie. Poli‘ahu and ‘Aiwohikupua sailed back to Kaua‘i but when Hina had somehow found out what had happened, she followed them back to Kaua‘i.

In a fit of rage,x Hina rudely interrupted the wedding and took back ‘Aiwohikupua. Now Poli‘ahu was the one insulted and offended. To get her revenge, Poli‘ahu forced Pele and ‘Aiwohikupua to separate by hitting them with unbearable blasts of ice and snow. Hina and Poli‘ahu return to their homes atop Kilauea and Mauna Kea. Pele and Poli‘ahu left their wandering lover, ‘Aiwohikupua, alive, unharmed and alone.