The Shark-Man of Waipio Valley

retold here by Kelsi
Adapted from "The Shark Man of Waipio Valley" from Hawaiian Legends Ghost and Ghost Gods by William D. Westervelt.

In Waipio Valley there was a chief named Kamohoalii. He was a shark man and a god of all sharks. One day he met a beautiful woman named Kalei.They fell in love and married. When their son was born they named him Nanaue. He was born with an opening in his back which grew into a shark mouth.

One day Nanaue came on shore with his kapa cloak covering the shark mouth, when all of a sudden a towns man became suspicious and yanked the cloak from his back. Everyone was frightened so Nanaue swam off to the island of Maui.

He had been there unoticed until one day he took a woman out to sea and ate her. All the Hawaiians had seen so they paddle out to sea, beating Nanaue with clubs but he escaped. Finally he swam to Moloka’i. A fisherman had been keeping an eye out for this shark man. When he saw Nanaue he stabbed him until the ocean was bloody and red.

So the fisher man cut nanaue into tiny pieces and burned him. Nanaue died that day and every one remembered him as the shark man of Waipio Valley.