Post #19900 by Turbogod on Thu, Jan 16, 2003 9:31 AM

Iole

Iole The Rat And Pueo The Owl A Hawaiian Legend:

Iole the Rat and Pueo the Owl were kupua who lived in Kohala. Pueo was a farmer. Every night he worked, and when the sun rose he rested, for his eyes were blinded by the sunlight. Iole, on the other hand, was an ill-bred fellow who depended on his wit in thievery. He constantly stole sweet potatoes from Pueo, who watch to pounce upon him.

Iole at last realized that Pueo was carefully watching his steps to the potato patch, so he dug an underground passage which reached the garden and ate the potatoes until he was satisfied.

Not seeing Iole coming to steal, Pueo concluded that he had gone away and began to be careless. One night, Pueo went to pull potatoes for himself and saw that the greater number of them were gone and many of those remaining had been eaten away except for the small portion attached to the stem.

Great was his wrath, and he sought a way to revenge himself. So he watched for the human keeper, who was filling a gourd with water for Iole. When the water gourd was filled, Pueo flew to the gourd and pecked a hole in it. The man seized a stick of wood and struck Pueo, and one of his legs was broken.

Pueo waited until his leg was well and sought a way to injure Iole. He went among those who were skilled at rat shooting but found none who could destroy this upstart. Then he heard of a certain rat shooting wizard on Oahu named Pikoi, the son of Alala the Crow. Pueo went and made friends with Pikoi and told him about the thievery of Iole. Pikoi loved to hunt rats so they both set sail for Hilo. Pikoi went to the top of Kauiki hill and looked toward Kohala. He saw Iole and shoot an arrow at him. As Iole the rat lay tranquilly dreaming, never thinking of danger, he was struck by Pikoi's arrow and instantly killed. The place where he died was named Iole and retains that name to this day.