Hawaiian legends claim that before the arrival of their divine ancestor - "Great Hawaii" on the islands, the Menehuns lived there. This is how local storytellers call tiny people surrounded by an aura of mysticism and romance.
According to Hawaiian legends, the Menehunes got along well with the locals and always helped them in various construction projects. Until now, on many islands of the Hawaiian archipelago, numerous buildings have survived, which are associated exclusively with the activities of these tireless tiny people.
Now the Menehuns are mostly an element of folklore and a tourist attraction. Their stylized images can often be seen in Hawaiian hotels.
The genealogies of the Hawaiian leaders recorded by historians have made it possible to establish that the first Polynesians landed on the coast of the Hawaiian archipelago in the XIII-XIV centuries. However, archaeologists have discovered traces of people staying here already in the II century. Thus, it turned out that the archipelago was inhabited for over a thousand years before the Polynesian settlers saw it. So who were their predecessors?
Tiny people from the past
Among the Hawaiians, there are a lot of legends about the existence of little people in the hard-to-reach areas of the archipelago. Moreover, there are many people who claim that they saw these unusual people with their own eyes and met them. It is unlikely that all the stories that have come down to us are based on reality, but there is no doubt that they did not appear by chance.
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Thus, the old Hawaiians, referring to the stories of their grandfathers, who allegedly met with the Menehuns in the thickets of the mountainous island of Kauai, described their appearance as follows. The main distinguishing feature was their height. According to some reports, it was about 60-90 centimeters, according to others, they were the size of a finger, that is, no more than 10-12 centimeters.
The most detailed description of the Menehuns was given by a certain Hawaiian Kaivi, whose grandfathers repeatedly met them in the sandalwood forests. He claimed that these forest dwellers were very strong, sturdy and muscular, their short and dense body was densely covered with hair, and their skin was red in color. Other witnesses deny the presence of body hair, but confirm the redness and ugliness of the faces of the Menehun.
By all accounts, their noses are fleshy and upturned, and matted strands of hair fall over a low, bulging forehead, touching furry eyebrows hanging over their eyes. Hard work that requires discipline makes their gaze motionless and intimidating to others. But although their appearance caused fear, they never attacked people and were good-natured and cheerful people who loved jokes, games and festivities.
Such a detailed description of the Menehun is surprising in light of the fact that the Hawaiians themselves are convinced that no one can see them except their own children. On the other hand, the islands are sure that Menehuns often fell in love with Hawaiian women and even married them. At the same time, they showed such devotion to their chosen ones that they even forgot their native tribe.
Therefore, many cliffs bear the names of those little men who, according to legends, were turned into stone by the leaders for their love of beautiful Hawaiians. Until now, some local residents, who do not differ in external beauty and gigantic growth, explain this by their origin from the "invisible" forest neighbors.
Legends say that the Menehunes were excellent walkers, fishermen and builders. But it was their passion for construction that brought them closer to people.
Tireless builders
Bizarre rocks, boulders, deep caves of the original form, heaps of stones - all this, according to legends, is the work of the Menehuns. But in Hawaii, there are still picturesque ruins of temples, "boats" carved out of stone, canals, dams and other structures, which are also attributed to these little builders.
Structures of stone attributed to the Menehun
A typical Hawaiian temple was a fenced square area with an altar inside. Usually the fence was made of large boulders. It is believed that Mookini, the grandest temple on the island of Hawaii, was built overnight. It is said that 15,000 Menehuns lined up and passed stones to each other from a remote area. When the first roosters crowed, the construction was completed: the temple had walls more than 6 meters high and 2.5 meters thick! The dimensions of the fence reached 90 by 40 meters!
Mookini wall
Hawaiians are convinced that the Menehunes only work one night. During this time, they either complete the work, or leave it unfinished. Of the ten temples that were built by the Menehuns on the island of Kauai, only one remained unfinished. The reason for this was the owl and the dogs, which attacked the night builders and interfered with their work.
Local irrigation facilities, according to foreigners, were made "with such great skill, as if they were designed by the most ingenious engineer."
Our compatriot Kotzebue described one of them as follows: “Artificial fields planted with tarot roots, which could conveniently be called lakes, aroused all my attention. Each of these forms a regular quadrangle and, like our pools, is laid out around with stones … Each field is equipped with two sluices, in order to let water in on one side, and on the other to release it onto a neighboring field … The fields are gradually decreasing, so that the same water … irrigates vast plantations …"
Menehun caves
Legends traditionally attribute the creation of the most famous ditches and dams to the same Menehuns. Thus, the monumental aqueduct in the Waimea Valley (in Kauai) was named the "Moat of Menehune". It is a sloping wall of huge polished boulders. At its top, a gutter was laid, along which water flowed from the top of the cliff to the fields.
In addition to irrigation dams, the Menehuns also built ponds for fish farming for people. So, for the leader Ola, they lined the walls of a pond on the island of Kauai. But the day came before the menechunes finished their work, and there were two holes in the wall. But this is an exception. To their credit, it should be noted that of all their numerous construction projects, they left only four unfinished!
The people of the legend?
In 1951, the workers of a quarry near Honolulu, seeing that someone spoiled everything they had done during the day at night, were terribly frightened and blamed the menehunes for this. To get them to continue working, the overseer even advised them to call the local Hawaiian sorcerer (kahun) and find out what the little men were angry about.
It would seem ridiculous. Such prejudices in the 20th century! But there is no smoke without fire! The birth of so many legends and traditions, with amazing details describing the appearance and manners of Menehuns, must be based on a certain reality. And there are real facts.
Captain Cook, who visited Tahiti, saw the Menehuns there and even mentioned them in his notes. There are also two brief reports that they were last heard about 1700, when another tribe drove them out of the fortifications. From them it can be understood that the Menehunes offered stubborn resistance. Around the end of the 18th or early 19th century, a population census was carried out. The scribes conscientiously reacted to the commission and found a community of 65 Menehun in the wilderness of Kauai.
All in all, according to the storytellers, their number was many times greater than the number of Hawaiians. Only on Kauai, this "citadel of Menehuns", there were once more than 500 thousand people (902 Menehuns per square mile)! There were so many of them that they could line up in two rows for 50 kilometers. But they lived on other islands of the archipelago. However, by the time of the reign of the last independent leader of the island of Kauai, only 10 thousand of them remained.
Thus, there are historical sources that allow us to assert that the Menehuns really existed. Both Hawaiian and foreign scholars suggest that this people was the indigenous population of the islands. Subsequently, it was conquered by another people, and the Menechuns were either exterminated or eventually assimilated. This is evidenced by the multi-ton stones of ancient Hawaiian temples and irrigation facilities.
Stories about invisible men were the simplest and most accessible explanation of their origin. But, most likely, behind this grandiose construction are not fabulous dwarf builders, but quite real people - simple and skillful inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands, the distant ancestors of modern Hawaiians!
Evgeny YAROVOY