Are you interested in Hawaiian myths and legends? If so, you will enjoy our collection entitled Hawaiian Myths and Legends of Volcanoes.

The stories in this collection have been gathered from Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (Mythology) by W.D. Westervelt.

Of all the noteworthy groups of islands of fire rock in the Pacific Ocean, the Hawaiian islands are usually considered to be the most stupendous.

The crack in the floor of the ocean upon which they are built extends from the large island Hawaii northwesterly about 2,000 miles toward Japan.

The islands for the first 400 miles are large and mountainous, but as the chain is followed toward the end, the islands quickly become mere bluffs rising out of the sea, or low coral islands which have been built on the rims of submerged volcanoes.

The fire rock, breaking through the floor of the ocean to form the Hawaiian chain of islands, lost its power first in the far northwest and cooled and hardened from island to island, until it is now making its last appearance on the largest and most southeasterly of all the group, the island known by the name Hawaii. 

The early Hawaiians incorporated in their legends various theories to explain these great phenomena of nature, many of which are included in this volume, especially those legends which cluster around Pele, the great goddess of fire.

The publication contains the following Hawaiian myths and legends:

• Introduction: The Hawaiian Islands
• AI-Laau, the Forest Eater
• How Pele Came to Hawaii
• Pele and the Owl Ghost-God
• The Hills of Pele
• Pele and the Chiefs of Puna
• Pele’s Tree
• Pele and Kaha-Wali