The Little People of Minehune

THE LITTLE PEOPLE OF MINEHUNE By Elder Lee N. Taylor, a Missionary in Kapaa, Kauai, T. H. Kauai was originally called the island of Minehune, the place of Hawaii's legendary little people. Numerous fables or sagas are told of their prowess as ditch-builders and builders of break-waters, etc. In most of these stories the elves are represented as having done their work mischievously, ending in benefit to man. According to the stories I have heard, the Minehunes worked only at night. Starting soon after dark, they are said always to have completed a given job before morn, or before the second crowing of the rooster. The Minehunes once made a trip to Kona, where they had a number of jobs to do. The leader of the little men pointed out a large hill, upon their arrival, to some of his captains, and requested that the hill be moved from its resting place to a point some three miles down the mountain side to the seashore. He urged that his men must move as fast as possible, since they were undertaking a large task for one night. He also told them to be sure to stop their labors at the second crow of the rooster, as he did not wish to. be discovered in action. The Minehunes set to work with a will. They cut down some huge trees and shoved them through the hill, with ends pro- jecting out at both sides. At the leader's command, thousands of the little men stationed at the projecting tree trunks hoisted their heavy burden and carried it slowly down the mountain side. Now there was one Kamoa Kane who lived just above the side of the hill which the Minehunes undertook to carry away. He was a mischievous rooster and had a bad reputation among his fellows for his sometimes harmful tricks. He was out looking for trouble on the night the Minehunes decided to move the hill and, in his character- istic way, managed to hear their plans for carrying it away. The hill had not been carried half the distance intended when loud and clear the crowing of the first cock was heard! The Mine- hunes looked surprised, and turned inquiringly to their captains, but were only told to increase their speed. The little men; continued to toil with all their might to reach the seashore before the signal to quit. Little did they suspect that Kamoa Kane intended that they should never complete their work. They had but a few more yards to go when the second crow sounded. There was nothing for them to do but to drop their load and scamper away. They were so rushed that none of them noticed the triumphant chuckle at the end of the crowing. The roosters of the neighborhood, however, did not an- swer the early crow, as they knew who had startled them from their mid-night slumber, but the Minehunes had left for good, and they

520 IMPROVEMENT ERA were ashamed to return. They failed to complete their work before the second crow of the cock. You don't believe the story? Well, how do you account for that lone hill away down there by the seashore with the tree trunks sticking out at each side? A fault, you say? Ua pololei no ka moolelo; o oe no ka mea hupo. (The story is correct; you are the dumb one.) I wish I could tell you the story as the Hawaiian told it to me. His telling carried the spirit of conviction. The Smoker's Rights In an editorial in The Commercial Bulletin, of Boston, December 4, 1926, the attitude of the smoker towards his fellows was given a most interesting "airing." Reference was made to the new plan lately adopted for the regulation of smoking on the underground railways of London, by which a few compartments on each train are reserved for non-smokers, and smoking allowed in all other compartments; instead of forbidding smoking, as formerly, in all cars except those designated as "smoking cars." "It seems quite an innovation," the editor says, "for the London railways to make smoking cars the rule and non-smoking cars the exception." From the many interesting paragraphs, we quote the following: "They enter a car, light a pipe and smoke up, regardless of any regula- tions, and they will probably light their pipes in compartments for non- smokers in the future just as they have done in the past. * * * But women and men who do not enjoy being fumigated by smoke from pipe, cigar or cigarette in the poorly ventilated little compartments of the underground railway, will have to yield to the selfish will of the majority. "The smoker resents being called selfish when he thinks only of his own pleasure and disregards the rights and comfort of others. He enjoys the sensation of smoke in his nose, mouth and throat, and he can not understand why tobacco smoke should be obnoxious and even cause pain to others, any more than a poodle dog just out of the water can understand why people move away as he shakes the water from his fur. "The smoker does not understand that the smoke he -loves may cause pain and hoarseness in the throat of a singer who is not a smoker, and when he has filled a room with tobacco smoke, he would ridicule the idea that it is a hardship for any man or woman to have to sleep in that room after he has left the house. "As majorities rule, it is obvious that a man who does not smoke is a crank with no rights to pure air and comfort that a smoker need respect. Among the few places left as sanctuaries from tobacco smoke are the church and the powder magazine, but a man can not be expected to spend all his time in such places, for if he is a business man, he has to go to his office occasionally. "When you ask men or women if they object to your smoking in house or office, they will urge you to smoke because they are polite, but if they are not smokers, the chances are a hundred to one that they would be much better pleased if you would forego your pleasure for a time rather than cause dis- comfort to others."