The Legend of Mele

At the beginning of time, land and sea ruled together peacefully and in harmony. But there came a time which they got into quarrels, and thus resulted in destruction and panic among the people. This is the story of one such event that caused a difficulty between the land and sea:

It came about that the sea god, Takaroa, found favor in the eyes of the supreme god, Kāne. Kāne approached Takaroa one day saying, “You have done well as ruler of the sea, and I have decided to reward you. You may choose one gift, whatever it is you desire, and I shall give it to you.”

Takaroa considered this carefully. Finally, he said, “I am grateful for your generous gift, O master. I choose my gift as this: whenever I wish for something, it must be granted to me.”

Kāne said, “It shall be. Whatever you should wish for, and wish for it with all your heart, it shall be granted to you. There is only one condition: Whatever you wish for, it cannot be undone. Make sure to heed this warning.” Kāne blessed Takaroa with his gift, and then went on his way.

Many days later, Takaroa was sitting in his realm and watching the waves lap along the shore when he saw Mele, the most beautiful woman in all of Hawaii, walking along the sand.

“I wish with all my heart to have the love of that woman!” he exclaimed. He was overcome by her beauty.

He went up to meet her on the shore, and the two immediately fell in love. He courted her with the most flattering words and extravagant gifts, and she loved him with what seemed like an endless and powerful love. And for a while, the two became inseparable.

He told Mele tales of his underwater realm, and promised to take her there if they wed. “When we are married, I shall take you to my palace,” he told her. “You shall rule with me as queen of the sea, the most beautiful queen the waters have ever seen.”

But alas, it could not be so. Mele was given her name because of her wild and rebellious spirit, and her heart could not be tamed. As she was the most beautiful girl on the island, she had many men trying to win over her favor. As Takaroa became more and more concerned with his duties out at sea, and visited her less and less, she began to get lonely. She warded the men off as long as she could, thinking of her loyalty to Takaroa and how heartbroken he would be, but eventually she could do it any longer. She began to welcome their gifts and praise without pushing them away. She almost began to forget her once unbreakable love with Takaroa.

Once Takaroa found out, he was furious and heartbroken. Mele sobbed and begged for his forgiveness, for she truly was sorry, but Takaroa would not hear it. In his grief, he cried out, “This woman has caused me nothing but trouble and heartache! I gave her everything she could have possibly wanted. What could a mortal man have to offer that was better than what I promised her?”

As he fumed and raged, he did not realize the love he still had for Mele. He only knew the breaking feeling of his heart. Still Mele begged forgiveness, but still Takaroa pushed her away. He began to think of how much better off he would be without her. “This woman was a curse to me!” he exclaimed. “She caused me pain beyond repair. I should never have given her my love, for she just threw it away as if it meant nothing! I want nothing to do with her- I only wish she were dead!”

As soon as the words crossed his lips, he realized his mistake. He looked up at the shore just in time to see his beautiful Mele collapse dead upon the sand. He cried out, with a tremor that shook the ocean floor.

He went up to the shore to gather his beautiful Mele into his arms. He called upon the great god Kāne, pleading with him to bring his beloved back. Kāne soon appeared on the shore next to Takaroa. “Please!” Takaroa cried. “Bring her back! I wish for it with all my heart!”

“Alas, my son, but this cannot be,” Kāne answered. “When you wished her dead, in that moment, the wish was from your heart. And though by now you have had a change of heart, the wish of her death cannot be undone. You must live with the consequences of it.”

“But I love her!” the stricken Takaroa pleaded. “I’ll do anything to bring her back, anything at all. Just say what is required of me. It shall be done!”

Kāne, saddened by the sea god’s heartbroken pleas, looked woefully down at Takaroa. “There is nothing to be done but what is already done,” he said. “I am sorry, my friend. You must be careful what you wish for.”

So the grief stricken Takaroa carried Mele out to sea and buried her under the ocean floor. “Now you shall rule with me as queen, the most beautiful queen the waters have ever seen,” he sobbed over his dead lover.

He turned his eyes back to the land. It was springtime, the flowers were all blooming, and new life was everywhere. The beauty hurt Takaroa’s eyes. “Nothing on Hawaii can be beautiful without Mele,” he said to himself.

So he gathered all the nearby waters in the sea, held them back, and with a loud heartbroken cry that shook the ocean floor, threw all the waters of the sea up onto the land, washing away everything in its path. The towns and homes near the shore were destroyed. The people were devastated, shocked at the horrible event. “Surely, something must have angered the sea god,” they said. They called the massive wave tsunami, or “harbor wave”.

Still residing in his ocean realm, the great sea god Takaroa mourns over his lost love. Every now and then, he will fall asleep dreaming of his days with the beautiful Mele. Once he wakes and realizes that his beautiful lover is still gone, he cries out with a terrible, pain-filled cry that shakes the ocean floor around him, and then looks at the beautiful island of Hawaii. He again gathers up all the waters in the sea and thrusts them at the island, reminding the people to be careful what they wish for.