The Shark That Came for Poi

retold here by Pualei

Adapted from "The Shark That Came for Poi" from Hawai‘i's Island Legends by Mary PŪku‘i

It all started as the two men paddled out to the Kona Coast where they saw a great shark. The shark looked hungry so ‘Aukai threw a small bundle of poi into the ocean. When it dropped into the water, the shark did not gobble or eat it up, but pushed it to shore slowly.

This happened many times. So finally ‘Aukai followed the shark to see what was going on there. When the shark pushed the poi all the way to shore something strange happened. A man came down, picked it up, and hobbled back to his house. Then ‘Aukai went to the little home and saw that the man and his wife lived there. ‘Aukai also found out that the shark was the old man's friend. ‘Aukai did that for months until one day the shark did not come. So ‘Aukai went to the home to give the food. The man was not there. He asked a neighbor, and he said that the man was dead and the wife went to live with a relative in another village. The sharks work is done, and it was never seen again.