RETURN TO ALEKOKO TIDBITS

Ka'iwi Reminisces

Alekoko

 

"..living in the valley between Képu river and Niumalu resided 'Ale-koko, the brother, and Ka-lala-lehua, the sister, young chiefs of handsome countenance, who agreed together to construct a fishpond each for themselves. At the removal hither of the menehune they began the construction of the fishponds of these young chiefs of Niumalu aforementioned."

"In the erection of the fishponds of these young chiefs, that of the brother was built on one side of the Niumalu river, while the sister's was located on the side toward Képu; but, strange to say, the wall around the pond of 'Ale-koko, the brother, was completed, while that of Ka-lala-lehua, the sister, was not."

"It is said that the work on these fish ponds was done in one night. The stone gathering and smooth fitting of these enclosures reached from the sea beach of Makali'i, about a mile and a half from Niumalu, and declared by some to be perhaps two miles or more distant. As in the construction of the Kékéaola watercourse, done at night, so were these fishponds, the ponds of the brother completed, and that of the sister unfinished at dawn, when all the menehune returned to the mountains because they were a queer people at the approach of daylight."
B. ...this regal pair possessed supernatural powers,...the brother ['Ale-koko] assuming a shark form on his back at timesand the sister [Kalalalehua] at times changing to a lizard,...".

"...in observing closely the stones used in the work, they were large indeed, and so it is with the fishpond of 'Alekoko unto this day. The strength which they put into their work has endured to the present time, though the grass has grown among the outer stones of the enclosure of those in sight but the top stones are hidden by its thick growth." "In past years of great flood this fishpond suffered no damage by freshet, the water flowed over the wall but no part has tumbled down to this day..."
[Ka'iwi 1920:216-218]

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