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The Three Little Pua'a
Grade 2 - Kamehameha School
Kea'au, Hawaii

by Sherry Forkum
Retold by Kamehameha Schools Hawaii Second Grade

Once upon a time three little pua'a decided to build houses on three different parts of the island of Hawaii. The first little pua'a built a house made of palm fronds and bamboo. Mo'o was watching him. Mo'o wanted to eat the little pua'a. He went to the door of the house and said “Pua'a let me come in!” Pua'a said “Not by the hair on my chinney chin chin.” The Mo'o blew down the bamboo house and the first little pua'a ran to the second little pua'a's house.

The second little pua'a built her house up high in a banyan tree at Hilo Bay. The next morning the Mo'o came and yelled “Let me come in!” The pua'a answered “Not by the hair on our chinney chin chins.” The Mo'o huffed and puffed and blew their house down. The two little pua'a ran away to the third little pua'a's house at Hapuna Beach.

The third little pua'a made his house out of pohaku. When the Mo'o came to blow the house down he couldn't do it! He tried and tried and got really tired. He wasn't watching where he was going and he fell into the imu that the three little pua'a had prepared. The mo'o got stuck in the imu but diappeared when the three little pua'a went to check on him. Inside the imu they found 'ulu. The three little pua'a ate their ulu and lived happily ever after on the sands of Hapuna Beach.

Hawaiian Word Definitions:
Pua'a – pig
Mo'o – lizard
Pohaku – rocks/stones
Imu – cooking pit in the ground
'ulu – breadfruit

 

 

 

This tale is part of the Fairy Tale/ Folk Tale CyberDictionary

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