adapted from Hawaiian Myths of Earth, Sea, and Sky by Vivian L. Thompson, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1966.
Hina was a beautiful goddess, who's husband was Aikanaka-the-Wanderer. Though Hina should have been happy when her husband came home, she wasn't. She preferred to live alone and have her son, Maui, come visit her.
Whenever Aikanaka was home, he was very demanding of Hina. He wanted new loincloths and capes made of the finest kapa cloth, and good foods cooked in the imu, and fresh water from the spring.
Aikanaka didn't help Hina prepare the things he wanted. He didn't help her catch the pig or fish for the imu, or gather bark for the kapa cloth, or fill the water gourds. Instead, he sat around and boasted to the other men about what a great hunter and warrior he was.
Hina was left to do all the work by herself, and she was growing weary. Morning Star found her making the fire for the imu. Sun beat down on her when she was making kapa cloth. Evening Star lighted her way to the spring for water. Finally, she could work no longer. She needed to rest.
Aikanaka had sent Hina to the stream to catch freshwater shrimp. When Hina reached the stream, she saw a beautiful rainbow begin to form. She looked at it with longing. If only she could climb it and go away from Aikanaka to rest.
She walked to the foot of the rainbow and set her foot upon it. It held firm. Hina began to climb the rainbow. Up, up she went into a world of cool mist and peace.
Soon though, the heat from Sun grew strong. Her skin burned and blistered. Hina grew dizzy and fell. She slipped back down the rainbow path to the earth.
All day Hina lay in the field where she'd fallen, parched with thirst and burning with fever. At last, when the cool moon shone upon her, she felt her strength returning.
Hina returned home to find Aikanaka in a terrible rage. Where were his shrimp, and why had he been forced to fill the water gourds, he yelled at her.
Aikanaka was about to strike Hina when she saw a moon rainbow forming behind him. Without a word, she grabbed her favorite kapa board and beater and went to the foot of the rainbow. She began to climb.
Aikanaka tried to grab her, but the misty rainbow wouldn't support his weight. He fell to the earth with an angry cry. Hina kept climbing. She climbed the cool rainbow path to the moon, where she could rest at last.
Hina lives there to this day. When you see soft white clouds in the sky, that is Hina's kapa cloth spread to dry. When you hear thunder, that is Hina rolling away the stones that keeps her kapa cloth in place, and when you see lightning, that is Hina shaking and folding her finished cloth.
On nights when the moon is full, you can see the beautiful goddess, Hina, resting there, her kapa board and beater beside her.
Now, click here to learn about the moon and take our virtural tour of the . . .