The Shark Who Came For Poi

retold here by Ty
Adapted from "The Shark Who Came For Poi" from Hawaii Legends by Mary Kawena

This story consists of three main characters. They are the big shark, Aukai, and the old man. One day Aukai and his friends went paddling along the Kona coastline. They noticed a shark was following them so they stopped and gave the shark poi. The shark didn’t eat it, instead the shark swam into a small bay. The shark repeated this process and finally Aukai decided to follow it.

Aukai followed the shark into the bay and saw an old man pick up the bundle of poi. Aukai met the man and they talked.Over time, they became friends. Aukai went back to his home in Kohala and shared this story with his family and his friends. One week, Aukai never saw the shark and got curious. This kept on happening, the shark not coming, so one day Aukai decided to go to the old man's house. Nobody was there, so Aukai asked the neighbor what happend to the old man and his family. The neighbor said that the old man had passed away and his family went to a neighboring village to stay with their relatives. From that day on no one saw the huge shark again and only Aukai knew the reason why.