What is the Hawaiian legend that speaks of an ancient friendship that proves love is more powerful than death?

Answer 1

The legend is called: "Ka Moolelo O Hiiakaikapoliopele"

A new Hawaii publishing house called Awaiaulu Press, in its first major project, has issued limited edition Hawaiian and English versions of a Hawaiian text not widely seen since 1906.

The epic tale of Hiiaka and Pele called "Ka Moolelo O Hiiakaikapoliopele" was translated by Puakea Nogelmeier and illustrated by Solomon Enos. Its publication concluded three years of work by five people who sifted through and translated hundreds of pages of a legend, currently only on microfilm, that had been unnoticed and unread for a century. It is the first major book produced completely by Awaiaulu.

"'Ka Moolelo O Hiiakaikapoliopele' is but one of scores of major texts -- legends, history, cultural descriptions -- that most people today don't even know exist," said Nogelmeier, executive director of Awaiaulu Foundation, "and Awaiaulu wants to change that."

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, newspapers contained nearly 2 million pages of material written by Hawaiians. Today less than 5 percent of that material is available in published translations while much is not readily accessible.