Hawaiian-themed, rhyming stories; culturally and scientifically educational.
1. The Spirit of Aloha. 2. A Story About the Hawaiian Islands. 3. The Journey of the First Hawaiians. 4. The Adventures of Koa Kalakaua. 5. Hawaiian Surf Story.
6. The Story of Hawaiian Hula.
7. A Story of Two Turtles—Phil and Myrtle. 8. A to Z Hawai‘i.
Part II. Hawaiian Childrens’ Stories
Somewhat silly, Hawaiian-themed, rhyming stories.
1. The Great Gecko Invasion.
2. Harry the Happyface Spider.
3. Kailani the Humpback Whale.
4. Neal the Eel.
5. The Gecko and the Seal.
6. Al the Famous Whale and the Pig on the Moon.
7. Dawn Patrol. 8. Sam the Surfing Turtle. 9. Hello Little Birdie.
Part III. Hawaiian Childrens’ Stories Two Short Stories 1. The Little Surfer and the Shama Thrush Bird.
2. Leilani—A Hawaiian Surf Story.
Chapter 19—Part I. Hawaiian Childrens’ Stories
Hawaiian-themed, rhyming stories; culturally and scientifically educational.
1. The Spirit of Aloha. 2. A Story About the Hawaiian Islands. 3. The Journey of the First Hawaiians. 4. The Adventures of Koa Kalakaua. 5. Hawaiian Surf Story.
6. The Story of Hawaiian Hula.
7. A Story of Two Turtles—Phil and Myrtle. 8. A to Z Hawai‘i.
1. The Spirit of Aloha Aloha is in your happy smile Think about that for a while Share it with your family and your friends Aloha is your love for them
Aloha is saying thank you and being nice Telling stories and eating shave ice Aloha is with you every day In everything you do and say
Aloha is in the warm tropical breeze In the green plants and in the tall trees Aloha is in the birds and flowers In the sunshine and cool rainshowers
Aloha is at the top of tall mountain peaks And down at the bottom of the blue ocean deeps Aloha is in the moon and in the stars It is everywhere near and far
Aloha is such a wonderful thing You feel it when you laugh and sing Aloha is in the colors of the rainbow And in the rushing river’s flow
Aloha is a happiness you feel inside It shows in your smile big and wide Aloha is in the water and on the land On the beach and in the warm sand
Aloha is everywhere around you In every sight and every sound too And most of all, it’s inside your heart So remember to share it right from the start
Aloha is your love for one another For all people and for each other
2. A Story About the Hawaiian Islands
This is a story about beautiful islands All surrounded by fine white sands Green mountains rise from the ocean blue With tropical breezes blowing through
These eight little islands are known as Hawai‘i Eight little islands surrounded by sea If you ask you’ll find everyone agrees Hawai‘i is a wonderful place to be
Rainbows fill the tropical skies And beautiful colors dazzle the eyes The Hawaiian Islands are so very fine You really should come and visit sometime!
There are many amazing things about Hawai‘i From the fish that swim to the birds that fly Waterfalls tumble into rivers and streams And flow through the valleys and down to the sea
Hawaiian volcanoes are quite a sight With red hot lava that lights up the night The lava shoots up high and then higher Erupting in great explosions of fire
Sometimes these fantastic volcanic eruptions Flow down to the ocean without interruption Lava crackles! and pops! when it reaches the sea How much more exciting could an island be?
Many birds fly in Hawaiian skies Some live in the forest, some by the seaside Some lay their eggs high on the cliffs Some dive into the ocean to catch a fish
Hawaiian owls soar through moonlit sky You must wake up early to see one fly by Or stay up real late, because they hunt at night Then return to their nest by the morning light
One bird lives high on Hawaiian volcanoes If you live in Hawai‘i you probably know The bird is the nēnē, I am sure you have heard The nēnē is Hawai‘i’s state bird
The ‘i‘iwi bird has a long, curving beak That fits into flowers with nectar it seeks Building its nest near the mountain peaks And sounding like a door hinge that creaks
Frigatebirds fly high above the ocean Then dive down fast in one swooping motion To scare other birds into dropping their food Which they grab from midair if it looks any good
Albatross birds do dances on the land Their cute fuzzy babies grow bigger and then They stumble as they try to learn to fly And then finally fly up high in the sky
Plovers are gold and brown head to tail They come from Alaska, just like the whales They fly to Hawai‘i from their nesting grounds And their two-noted whistle is a clear sweet sound
High above the water a tropicbird flies Gliding through blue Hawaiian skies The tropicbird has a long streaming tail And wings that allow it to smoothly sail
A coot in a taro patch stands perfectly still Near a gray moorhen with a white tail green feet and red bill A black-necked stilt stands tall on long legs Eating fish and worms and sometimes crabs
Seabirds dive into the ocean to catch fish Eating tasty fish meals, unless they miss The fish swim in schools, and some have learned How to dodge and dart and twist and turn
To avoid the birds plunging down from above A slow fish might need a friendly shove!]
In the ocean there are many different creatures With fins and flippers and other ocean features Flying fish soar through the air then dive under Are they birds or fish, some people wonder?
Humpback whales weigh more than forty tons They come from Alaska and sing whale songs They jump from the sea in spectacular breaches Delighting the people on the island beaches
Sea turtles swim near shore to feed Near the coral reefs they eat limu seaweed The sea turtles lay their eggs on the shore They dig in the sand and then dig some more
They bury their turtle eggs deep in the sand Then return to the water, leaving the land When the eggs hatch the babies crawl to the water Little sea turtle sons and sea turtle daughters
These sea turtle babies are so very small So small they are hard to see at all So small it would fit in the palm of your hand Watch it scurry across the sand
Coral reefs underwater are amazing places With colorful caverns and fish with strange faces There are hundreds of fish of all different colors So many fish you might want to holler
Lobsters and crabs and shrimp and more Crawl along the deep sea floor Octopi have eight arms with suction cups Which come in handy when picking things up
Eels hide deep in the coral caves As spinner dolphins ride the waves The dolphins leap up high from the sea Jumping with joy and spinning with glee
Also on the waves are surfers on surfboards The whole scene is just too beautiful for words Monk seals with whiskers and cute little noses Rest on the beaches in sleepy seal poses
These eight little islands are known as Hawai‘i These eight little islands all surrounded by sea You will find that everyone agrees Hawai’i is a wonderful place to be
Rainbows fill the tropical skies With beautiful colors that dazzle the eyes The Hawaiian Islands are so very fine You really should come and visit sometime!
3. The Journey of the First Hawaiians
This is the story of the first Hawaiians Who came to the Islands in ancient times These first Hawaiians were the Polynesians They sailed to Hawai‘i on the Pacific Ocean
They built voyaging canoes from giant trees and wove the canoe’s sails from hala leaves They captured the energy of the ocean breeze and sailed across the deep blue sea
The Polynesians left their island homes To sail toward distant shores unknown They were guided by the sun and stars in the sky As they sailed to the islands of Hawai‘i
Their voyaging canoes reached Hawaiian shores More than one thousand years ago The Hawaiians grew taro near flowing streams And built their homes from Hawaiian trees
Gathering fruits and flowers and seeds They collected shells and fished the sea Living beneath mountains and waterfalls The land and sea provided food for them all
Those first settlers were the Polynesians Sailing to Hawai‘i on the Pacific Ocean They were the very first Hawaiians Crossing the ocean in ancient times.
4. The Adventures of Koa Kalakaua My name is Koa Kalakaua I was born in Hawai‘i and I live here now I am happy to live in the Hawaiian Islands With beautiful beaches and warm, white sand
I dive into the ocean on sunny days And swim with my friends and laugh and play I like to surf on the ocean waves And explore the many shoreline caves
Rainbows are always amazing to see Shining out colors so brilliantly Purple and red, orange and yellow and green The most beautiful colors you have ever seen
Sometimes I swim near the coral reefs I wear fins and a mask and dive real deep And I always see the most amazing fish As many fish as you could possibly wish
Big fish and small fish and fish of all types Fish with dots and spots and stripes Fish with big lips and fish with teeth Fish with fine feathery fins underneath
Some fish are long and narrow and thin And some have just one really big fin Some fish are short and some are round And some disappear and can’t be found
Some fish have long red streaming tails And swirls of colors that look like snails Some have big eyes and really long fins Some are very strange-looking things
These amazing fish are everywhere around I can’t even say how many fish I have found They often catch you by surprise Some have rings around their eyes
Some fish are shy and some fish are brave Some fish hide in the coral caves One fish swam down in the deep blue sea Then I saw another one looking at me!
There are also dolphins and turtles and seals And whales and crabs and sharks and eels The ocean is full of many creatures All with different ocean features
As we paddle canoes across the bay A whales breaches and blows out spray As the tropical tradewinds blow gently by And tropicbirds soar through clear blue sky
Seabirds run across the sand As palm trees sway in the gentle winds Hawai‘i is a wonderful place to be So much to do, so much to see
Sometimes we hike to the top of the mountains And swim beneath waterfalls streaming down them The mountains are green and the water is warm I love living here on my island home
Well that is all I wanted to say So thank you for sharing my story today Someday you should visit the Hawaiian Islands With beautiful beaches and warm, white sand Aloha!
5. Hawaiian Surf Story
Hello everyone, how do you do My name is Koa and I am pleased to meet you I live on a tropical island called Kaua‘i That is the northernmost island of Hawai‘i
The mountains are steep and tall and green The most beautiful mountains you have ever seen Waterfalls flow down from up high on the land And the beaches are lined with golden sand
My home is close to a big sandy beach So close that the sounds of the breaking waves reach Over the sand and to my home so near And in through my window and right to my ears
I wake up to the sounds of the waves outside It is still dark so I roll over and close my eyes And I fall back asleep for a few moments more Then wake up again to the sounds from the shore
I sit up in bed, and in the dark I listen I remember last night how the water glistened In the evening when the sun went down With the waves breaking all around
The sounds of the waves mean just one thing It is time for my sister and I to go surfing So I knock on her door and quietly shout “Surf’s up, Leilani, let’s go check it out”
The waves are breaking along the shore And out at the point there are even more The wind is calm and the conditions are right It is a perfect morning after a perfect night
So we go outside and grab our surfboards Then walk to the ocean hardly saying a word The stars disappear as it slowly gets light And the birds start singing after a long, quiet night
We wax up our surfboards so our feet don’t slip We wax up our surfboards from the tail to the tip Then we walk across the sandy shore And wade into the water and hop on our boards
We paddle our surfboards and paddle some more Then a wave comes and Leilani turns toward shore And suddenly the wave pushes her forward She quickly jumps up and stands on her board
Leilani zooms down the face of the wave I ride a wave too and I feel really brave The wave is twice as tall as me I ride the wave and yell, “Yipeeeeeee!”
The top of the wave throws forward and out I go deep in the barrel and let out a shout I am surfing and so can you I love to surf in the ocean blue
Suddenly I’m somersaulted upside down Pushed underwater and spun around Then I float up above the foamy white sea And I see another wave coming at me
Leilani is riding the wave’s steep face Speeding along in the perfect place She disappears in the tube and comes out It is so amazing that I have to shout
Then I notice the colors of the rising sun The sunrise sure is a beautiful one! We better head home because Mama is waiting Wow, look at all the colors the sunrise is creating!
At home Mama looks for her son and daughter They are not home because they went to the water She looks in their bedrooms and looks in their beds But they are not sleeping—they are surfing instead
Mama isn’t worried, she knows they are okay They often leave early to surf the bay On the way home Koa and Leilani hurry Just in case their Mama is worried
Leilani says, Mama we had so much fun! The clear blue water was warmed by the sun A cool rainshower made a rainbow appear Mama I’m so glad we live right here
Surfing is something anyone can do It is great exercise and super fun too people surf waves all over the world surfers old and young, surfers boys and girls
Surfers ride all different sizes of boards From five feet long to ten feet and more Some boards have three fins and some have just one But all of these surfboards are lots of fun
Hawaiians surf waves and so can you If you want to be a surfer, here is what to do First you must learn to swim real well That is the best advice I have to tell
Swimming every day will make you stronger Practice so that you can stay in the water longer Always be careful and respect the sea And be as safe as you can be
6. The Story of Hawaiian Hula
On a grassy hill high above the ocean Hula dancers move with gentle swaying motions Perfectly together they dance across the ground Their graceful bodies move in rhythm to the sounds
Hula dancers are trained in this ancient art And are often very young when they first start Learning the dances and the hula motions Telling stories of the mountains and the ocean
Hula dances tell stories of Hawaiian history It is the Hawaiian way of sharing the mysteries Of how the ocean and earth and sky came to be And how volcanoes became islands in the sea
A halau is a school where hula is learned Tradition is passed down and respect is earned As dancers study the meanings and the movements Of the dances they perform as hula students
Hula dancers make motions with their hands To illustrate the meanings of the chants And they use the movements of their bodies To express the words of island stories
In ancient Hawai‘i they did not write down words Instead their stories were told and heard In rhythmic chants that were said aloud By Hawaiians strong and proud
The dances tell tales of animals and birds And things that can’t be said in words Stories of when the Polynesians arrived What they ate and how they survived
They sailed to Hawai‘i on voyaging canoes Using the stars in the sky as clues Following the wind and the water’s motion As they sailed over the Pacific Ocean
Hula dancers wear skirts made of green ti leaves And leis of fragrant flowers they weave Into necklaces and bracelets made with ferns And mountain plants whose history they learn
They travel into the forest to find these plants Stopping first to offer up their thanks Together they prepare for the hula dance Performing to the rhythm of the chants
Flowers encircle their ankles and arms And their heads with long hair flowing down As the cliffs behind them echo with the sounds And the beauty of Hawai‘i all around
Hula dances of aloha and love Giving thanks to the heavens above Thanks for the rainbows and waterfalls Thanks for the people one and all
That is the story of the hula dance And mele, the ancient Hawaiian chants Hula is very beautiful to see It is the dance of Hawai‘i’s history
7. A Story of Two Turtles—Phil and Myrtle This is the story of two sea turtles a Hawksbill sea turtle named Phil and a Green sea turtle named Myrtle
Hello said Myrtle, how do you do I just happened to be passing through I'm heading up to my nesting grounds I'll be here a while, then I'll see you around
Hello, said Phil, quite excitedly we’re both sea turtles, that's plain to see yet some things are different between you and me
Myrtle looked around looked up and looked down happy about the new friend she had found
yes, said Myrtle, we're both sea turtles but I am a she and you are a he so you have a tail, being a turtle male and I do not I guess we're born what we're born and we got what we got
you know what else I’ve noticed Myrtle we are two totally different turtles there are different kinds of turtles in this world and we’re more different than just boys and girls
I can see we are different, it’s really quite easy Hey, you and I are two different turtle species!
I am a Hawksbill sea turtle, and you are a Green and there are some obvious differences I have seen like where we nest, and what we eat and my shell is different, and I have a pointed beak
one particular thing I have often seen is the straighter walking of the Green now excuse me, Phil, this may get me into trouble but I noticed when you walk on land you wobble
Yes, it's true I have a different walk but if I were you I wouldn't talk because to me it’s your walk that seems strange and it's also odd how far you range
Green sea turtles swim and then swim some more to the northwest islands’ sandy shores but Hawksbills lay eggs right next door on Maui or Hawai‘i’s Big Island beaches but you swim northwest to Hawai‘i’s farthest reaches
hey can you tell me something Phil why is it you’re called Hawksbill
silly Myrtle, just take a peek it’s because of the pointed shape of my beak
of course I see, she said, it’s true and I bet it helps when you're getting food Myrtle asked, what do Hawksbill turtles eat? and Phil said, I feed near the coral reefs I eat sponges and tasty anemones and I must say, I have quite good taste I like to feast on invertebrates
then Myrtle said wow, maybe I should go out to the reef to find some food at the coral reef the food sounds good but near the shore is where I go eating limu seaweed is all I know its quite delicious, that’s for sure and that’s what Green sea turtles prefer
hey Phil, Myrtle asked, how many eggs do Greens lay well Myrtle, Phil said, several hundred a day females lay them on shore deep in the sand and then in two or three weeks they do it again up to six times in one season they repeat this process and laying eggs can be tiring, I must confess
then Myrtle said, I do that too I lay eggs in the sand just like you
I climb above the high tide line that’s where I dig and I take my time to excavate a proper nest I dig a while and then I rest
and then, since I don’t have hands I reach in with my flippers as deep as I can and I scrape and dig and scoop out the sand I make a hole about two feet deep so the eggs don’t get eaten as a treat
then I position my backside over the pit almost like I'm going to sit but instead I begin to lay them all the eggs look just like ping-pong balls! And into the pit the groups of eggs fall
first one, then five, then twenty more until there's over one hundred eggs stored deep in the underground chamber I made in just 20 minutes all the eggs have been laid in a hole in the sand, and that’s where they’ll stay
covering them with sand may take an hour by then I'm quite tired and have just enough power to smooth over the surface so no one can tell that under the sand are turtles in shells
I bury the eggs to keep them safe And protect them for the special day When the baby turtles have grown in the shells So there’s a turtle in every egg that fell
when I’m done laying eggs I return to the sea where I wait for babies that look like me yes, after I cover the eggs with sand I return to the ocean, leaving the land but my eggs remain to incubate under the sand they await their fate
in two months the eggs are quite a sight all of them have baby turtles inside who shake their shells with all their might until one by one the turtle eggs begin to crack with a boom! and a pow! and a smack! and a whack!
underneath the sand the babies greet one another and it’s dark and cool, and they’re practically smothered so they all work together to climb out from under the sand and they all pass sand from hand to hand or flipper to flipper really (since that's what they have)
it really puts the turtles to the test as they try to find their way out of their nest they pass the sand from the ceiling to the floor they move some sand and then move some more
then they all stop when there’s just one inch of sand left to wait for darkness is the best so they pause, and wait, and get some rest before they emerge from their sandy nest
yes, nighttime is the right time to dash for the sea because there’s more dangers around here than you can believe
you see, once all the turtle eggs are hatched the babies are easy for crabs to catch and seabirds and other dangerous creatures that lurk on the beach in the night when the hatchlings emerge and the moon and the stars reflect off the sea the babies are drawn toward the light, instinctively
each turtle hatchling measures just an inch and a half they’re so small and cute, when you see them you laugh but it’s not funny when you're being chased so they head for the water, no time to waste
so wouldn’t you know to the ocean they go yes, that's where they run but it's not too much fun
because some can't take it and many don’t make it and at this point a turtle can’t fake it!
go turtle! go turtle! dash for the sea! they all hope to make it, it’s a sight to see as they scurry and scamper and rush and hurry chased by things with shells and things furry
birds with feathers try to swoop down and grab them and all kinds of animals are happy to nab them well Phil, that is how Green sea turtles nest then when we reach the ocean, well... you know the rest
thank you Myrtle, I like that story those hatchlings go through quite a worry you’re a Green sea turtle Phil, and you told that well us Hawksbill sea turtles also have tales to tell
it is nice that sea turtles are still able to survive because it’s not always easy to stay alive with so many things in the ocean to fear I'm glad so many of us are still here and I’m sad that sea turtles are so endangered and I’m glad you’re my friend and not a stranger
hey look, there goes a Hawaiian monk seal I’ve seen them eat octopus, lobster and eels at 400 pounds and seven feet long I'll bet you that seal is plenty strong still I can’t imagine eating an eel hey, that reminds me, I could use a meal
well good luck Phil, and I'm sure that you will find plenty of food and you will get your fill I must go now too and that makes me blue because I’m happy to meet a nice turtle like you but now I must swim to my nesting grounds so maybe next year I’ll see you around
I’ll miss you, Myrtle, do you know what I mean You’re the keenest Green I’ve ever seen
but before you go, I really must know why is it that you swim so far it’s too bad you cannot drive a car don't you get tired or sad or bored swimming 600 miles in the ocean or more
you swim to the northwest Hawaiian Islands just to lay your turtle eggs in the sand
well, I must tell you Phil it really feels quite natural it's what my species has always done and actually I think it’s kind of fun
the northwest Hawaiian Islands are so very fine you must come up and visit sometime and I’ll tell you another turtle rhyme
I would like that Myrtle, you're a very nice turtle you look like me but differently we’re similar, but quite distinct we’re both sea turtles, it’s our common link
except you eat different things and have different habits hey, we’re kind of like hares and rabbits they look the same until you get real near and see that hares have longer ears
Hawksbills nest here at the southeast end of the Hawaiian chain, on the Big Island now Myrtle, will you tell me again where is it you go northwest of here
I go far from these Hawaiian Islands so dear well Phil, I fulfill my turtle nesting role and to do that I must reach my ultimate goal a small island known as French Frigate Shoals
northwest of the eight main Hawaiian Islands it’s really quite small, and has nice white sand that’s where Green sea turtles prefer to nest I know that I do, and so do the rest
so Philly, you silly, do you really like it here on Big Island shores with volcanoes so near?
of course I do Myrtle, you funny turtle I like these shores and then I like them some more at night I see the red hot lava flow high up on the volcano I see it glow sometimes it flows right down to the coast I like that the most, it's so awesome to see it’s so red and hot when it hits the sea
lava crackles! and booms! when it hits the water you know once I had to protect my daughter she swam too close, the water was boiling I yelled, baby stop, come back this way if you go to far you'll be flambé’
you'll never recoup you will be turtle soup she swam back to safety, her body red-hot you see, some water is nice... and some is not
wow, thank you for telling me that Phil I'll be quite careful near shore, but still It is amazing to see the red lava flow and I'll always remember your Hawksbill nose
it is such a fine beak that the Hawksbill has though my beak also has pizzazz
Now as far as turtles go I think that I have come to know That a Green is a Green and a Hawksbill is a Hawksbill we're quite related and for that I'm elated yet we are very different creatures with different turtle features
I have noticed Phil, that all over the world animals are different, wherever you go it's fun to see them and learn what they’re like so I hope people help keep animals alive and help endangered species survive
if I could talk to humans today here is exactly what I would say
please help us keep the oceans clean and keep beaches safe where turtles are seen and help protect coral reefs where you live for then you have given all you can give to protect the Hawaiian sea turtles' home and keep turtles happy wherever they roam.
8. A to Z Hawai‘i A is for Albatross flying over the ocean Soaring high above with graceful motions On the land the albatross does silly bird dances One puts up its beak while the other one prances
B is for Bats diving through the air They swoop down fast and give you a scare Hawaiian bats come out at night to fly If the moon is out you might see one fly by
C is for Coral Reefs full of fish In every shape and color you wish Fish with dots and spots and stripes Fish of every different type
D is for dolphins jumping in the sea Diving back into the water with glee Leaping from the water joyfully
E is for Eels underwater in caves Swim down and see one if you feel brave They are long and thin and colorful creatures Sharp teeth are one of their eel features
F is for Frigate Birds flying above the ocean Swooping down from above in one smooth motion They scare other birds into dropping their food Which they catch from mid-air if it looks any good
G is for Geckos walking upside down They are small and green and make funny sounds With green heads and tails and cute gecko toes They run very fast, just watch them go!
H is for Honu, the turtle in the sea Swimming around in the ocean free Sea turtles have beautiful green shells
I is for ‘I‘iwi birds with long curving beaks Landing on flowers with nectar they seek They use their beak to feed on the flowers and then hide during tropical rainshowers
J is for Jellyfish floating in the sea They float on the surface and are hard to see Be careful, because their tentacles sting! Getting stung can be a painful thing
K is for the Kamehameha butterfly Fluttering through the Hawaiian sky With colorful wings that are orange and black First they fly one way, then they fly back
L is for Lava flowing into the sea Lychee fruits as tasty as can be
Red hot Lava flowing into the sea Limu seaweed growing near the shore
Lau (leaf) lehua (flower of OL) Leis of flowers so beautiful
M is for Monk Seals swimming near shore They sleep on the beach, and sometimes snore! The seals swim down into the ocean deep And then feed on fish near the coral reef
N is for Nēnē, Hawai‘i’s state bird The Nēnē is a goose, if you haven’t heard They fly in flocks, you really should know They like to walk on old lava flows
O is for Octopus on the ocean bottom When it grabs a fish it has really got him If an octopus is scared it squirts out ink Then hides beneath coral that is pink
P is for the bird called the Plover Look up and you will see one fly over They come from Alaska, and to make the flight Plovers fly all day and all night
Q is for Queen Lili‘uokalani She was the last queen of Hawai‘i She liked to wear leis of flowers And she held all the royal power
R is for Rainbows coloring the sky Red, green and purple dazzle the eyes The beautiful colors are a sight to see Arcing through the sky so magically
S is for surfing on the ocean waves Catch a big wave if you feel real brave Then ride the wave on your new surfboard Surf the wave all the way to shore
T is for Tropicbirds flying so high Look up and see them soar in the sky They have pretty feathers and very long tails See them spread their wings and sail
U is for the ‘Ukulele, invented in Hawai‘i It is a musical instrument everyone should try If you practice you can learn how to use it And play beautiful Hawaiian music
V is for Volcanos with red-hot lava flowing At night you can see them erupting and glowing The lava flows all the way down to the sea Crackling and popping, as noisy as can be
W is for Whales jumping from the sea A breaching whale is a sight to see They use their fins to swim very fast Then jump from the water and land with a splash
X is for the X-ray of the whale You can see its bones from its head to its tail The skeleton is huge but it is very light If you think it is big, then you are right
Y is for young children playing by the sea At the beach in Hawai‘i is the place to be The water is warm and crystal clear Go swimming and see the fish by the pier
Z is for Zebras, but they don’t live in Hawai‘i But zebrafish do! Okay then, bye, bye!
Chapter 19—Part II. Hawaiian Childrens’ Stories
Somewhat silly, Hawaiian-themed, rhyming stories.
1. The Great Gecko Invasion.
2. Harry the Happyface Spider.
3. Kailani the Humpback Whale.
4. Neal the Eel.
5. The Gecko and the Seal.
6. Al the Famous Whale and the Pig on the Moon.
7. Dawn Patrol. 8. Sam the Surfing Turtle. 9. Hello Little Birdie.
1.The Great Gecko Invasion I was sitting at the kitchen table When a tiny gecko appeared I don’t know what he wanted But I saw him move his ears
He wasn’t very big But he was definitely green He ran across the ceiling Then across the window screen
Then I saw two more geckos Running up the wall They were upside down above me I thought that they would fall
Suddenly five more geckos Appeared all in a row Three ran up the wall Then two more ran below
The geckos ran around the room As more came through the door They came in through the window And ran across the floor
One gecko fell right on my head And then ran across my hair It ran down over my nose And hopped onto my chair
There were lots of little geckos It really was exciting! Two poked their heads up above the clock I guess that they were hiding
Suddenly there were geckos Everywhere I looked Geckos on my desk And geckos on my books
All around the kitchen And up and down the hall Geckos running back and forth Geckos big and small
Geckos on the table And geckos on the chairs Geckos on the couch Geckos everywhere!
Then I looked outside the window And as far as I could see Geckos and more geckos Stretching to infinity!
I didn’t know just what to do I started getting scared There must have been 100 geckos Running up the stairs
Then suddenly... I woke up...in bed And I was looking at the ceiling And there was just one single gecko there And I had the strangest feeling
Everything was quiet Then the gecko made a sound I guess I had been dreaming So I turned... and looked around
[[code]]
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There was just one gecko I could see</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So I closed my eyes, and went back to sleep.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Good night.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 14pt;">2. //Harry the Happyface Spider//</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is the story of a spider</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">A Happyface spider named Harry</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Though he has a happy face on him</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Some people find him scary</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Perhaps I should say right now</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I guess you really must know</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Happyface spider is me</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And here is how my story goes</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I really try not to be scary</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I try to make spider friends</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Why people find me frightening</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I just don’t understand</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I live in the tropical forest</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And walk from leave to leave</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The things I see in an average day</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">You just would not believe</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Yesterday a pig ran by</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Snorting and honking and squealing</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then a banana fell on me</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It was old and rotten and peeling</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I survived those situations</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And then there was another</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Two birds came diving down at me</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I think that they were brothers</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I managed to crawl down in a hole</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And there I saw a mouse</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I used all eight of my spider legs</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">To hurry up out of his house</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So now you know</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">As you can see</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’s not easy</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Being me</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am just a friendly spider</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And I think that you should know</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I try to make new friends</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Wherever it is I go</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So if you ever see me</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Please smile and say hello</span>**
=====**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am just a friendly spider</span>**=====
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And now I have to go</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Good-bye.</span>**
**//Fact about the Happyface Spider://**
**The Hawaiian Happyface spider (//Theridion grallator//) is about ½-inch long. On the spider’s abdomen (back) are black and red marks that form a smile on the spider’s yellow body. The Hawaiian word for spider is lanalana.**
===== =====
=====**<span style="font-size: 14pt;">3. //Kimo the Humpback Whale//</span>**=====
=====**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hello, I am Kimo the humpback whale</span>**=====
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I have a roundish head and a very flat tail</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">From my head to my tail I am nearly 50 feet long</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I swim in the ocean and sing whale songs</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I sing whale songs in the deep blue sea</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I sing my whale songs happily</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am just as happy as I can be</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">as I swim from Alaska to Hawai‘i</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And another thing about humpback whales</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have big heads and we have big tails</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have big bodies and we have big fins</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Big eyes and mouth and everything!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Hawaiian Islands are my winter home</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Where tropical waters are safe and warm</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I return each year with great devotion</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">To these tropical islands in the ocean</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Swimming from nation to nation</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Is known as animal migration</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I breathe in through holes on top of my head</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you are above my blowholes you will get very wet</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">From the spray and the mist shooting up high</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Like a fountain of water into the sky</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">On the sides of my body are my pectoral fins</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Over fifteen feet long and very thin</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">They help me turn, and they help me swim</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">They help me with just about everything</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I have big eyes and I have a big head</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And barnacles on my back, yes that is what I said</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eventually the barnacles fall off in the sea</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then other barnacles attach onto me</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the north in the summer I feed on fish</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When winter comes I have just one wish</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">To swim toward Hawaiian tropical seas</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">If I didn’t then I would surely freeze</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">These are humpback whales, now tell me please</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Have you ever seen such whales as these?</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I must say, as far as animals go</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Whales can put on quite a show</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And when they jump from the water...whoooaa!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In Alaskan waters humpbacks feed</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">On tiny little fish, and to get all we need</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">We eat over one ton of food each day</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Yes that is why we weigh what we weigh</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And we weigh a lot you know, up to fifty tons</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That is one hundred thousand heavy whale pounds!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">[Gecko side of page insert:]</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is odd that the ocean’s biggest whales</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Eat the smallest creatures in the sea, called krill</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Instead of teeth I have baleen</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is the strangest stuff you have ever seen</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Baleen is hard, like your fingernails</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And it traps in the fish, like the bars of a jail</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And all of this happens inside my mouth</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the northern ocean, before I head south</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">To Hawai‘i where the water is warm</span>**
**And where my humpback babies are born**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Humpback babies weigh nearly two tons</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">They swim and jump and have lots of fun</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Their parents come to Hawaiian waters</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and give birth to their whale sons and daughters</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Barnacle farnacle foo</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This whale is bigger than you</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bigger than a mouse, as big as a house</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Farnacle barnacle boo!]</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hey, by the way, I really should say</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I just got to the Hawaiian Islands today</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I swam here all the way across the sea</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There is no place I would rather be</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am Kimo the humpback whale</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and that is my story...</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I swim in the ocean and sing whale songs</span>**
===== =====
=====**<span style="font-size: 14pt;">4. //Neal the Eel//</span>**=====
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hello, my name is Neal</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am a moray eel</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I swim beneath the sea</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">As happy as can be</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">My colors are orange and blue</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">With yellow and purple too</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">You might be very surprised</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When you see my big green eyes</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sometimes I hide in coral caves</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Or dive down deep beneath the waves</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I bend and turn and swim around</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And never even make a sound</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’s hard to tell where my eel head ends</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And where my long eel body begins</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">You will never forget me if you see me</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In Hawaiian I am known as puhi</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is true my teeth can bite</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But please don’t fret or fright</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am actually very friendly</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am just a friendly moray eel</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">A moray eel whose name is Neal</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I swim beneath the sea</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">As happy as can be.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 14pt;">5. //The Gecko and the Seal//</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hello everyone, how do you do?</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There is a story I want to tell you</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Yes I am a Gecko with a story to tell</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">My story is about a time when I fell</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Yes, I fell off a ship, believe it or not</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I fell after climbing up to the top</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">of a tall sailboat rocking to and fro</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And like a silly Gecko I just had to go</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So I crawled to the tippy tiptop of the mast</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then fell in the water with a great Gecko splash!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I just wanted to have a look around</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But that was foolish—I nearly drowned!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">After I fell from the tall sailing ship.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I opened my eyes and I couldn’t believe it</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I was sinking down into the deep blue sea</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And I saw a seal looking at me</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The first time I saw the seal</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I wasn’t sure the seal was real</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It really was a big surprise</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When I looked in his big seal eyes</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The second time I saw the seal</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I knew for sure the seal was real</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then it swam away with zeal</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The seal was chasing a meal!</span>**
=====**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The third time it swam right near me</span>**=====
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Clearly this seal did not fear me</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He actually seemed very curious</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But I was scared, I’m serious</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The seal looked me in the eyes</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Swam around me low and around me high</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then he stopped, and I could clearly see</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">One silly seal and the seal could see me!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Hello seal,” I said, “I think I see</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">You are of the monk variety</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now I never expected to talk to a monk</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When I fell off the boat and sunk.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“But here you are, what a surprise</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">With your fins and flippers and two big eyes</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And your whiskers and your roundish head</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Oh seal, oh seal, oh seal,” I said.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I must say, you look well fed.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I am,” he said, “I am, I am</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Just like every other seal</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I’m searching for a tasty meal</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Perhaps a lobster or an eel.”</span>**
=====**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“But not a Gecko, you’ve made a mistake</span>**=====
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">What kind of wrong turn did you take?</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Geckos can’t swim, for heaven’s sake</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">What a silly sight you make!”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The seal was an amazing sight to see</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">With his cute little nose and shiny white teeth</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And then with his flippers he scooped me up</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Like I was his own little monk seal pup</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He lifted me up onto his big seal back</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And we swam for the beach just like that</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He turned so I could see his big seal head</span>**
=====**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He looked at me and in his seal voice said</span>**=====
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“You silly green Gecko, I have a strange feeling</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That you can walk upside down on the ceiling.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“You are right,” I said, “I can walk up walls</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And walk on the ceiling and not even fall</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hey seal, what do you eat in the ocean blue?</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">What do you swallow, what do you chew?”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I eat eels sometimes, and I also eat fish</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Do you know what, Gecko, do you know what I wish?”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“No, what do you wish you silly seal?</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">What do you wish, what do you feel?”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I wish there was a magic potion</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">To let me swim with you deep in the ocean.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Well, I wish that too my Gecko friend</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And I wish our friendship would never end</span>**
=====**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">We could swim together and laugh and play</span>**=====
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And stay together throughout the day.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Oh I would love that seal, I really would</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I would love to swim with you if only I could</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">We are the same, you and I</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">We both have mouths and we both have eyes.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“But you have fins and you swim in the sea</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and I live on land and climb up in trees.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Well Mr. Gecko, believe you me</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’s very fun to live in the sea</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I swim around near coral reefs</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And swim in the ocean really deep.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Sometimes I crawl up onto the land</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And rest on the warm Hawaiian sand</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But in the water is where I usually stay</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">With my little seal pups as they swim and play.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I rode on the seal as he swam around</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And I held on tight as he swam up and down</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He brought me to shore, safe and sound</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And I was so happy about the friend I had found</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“There you go my little Gecko friend,”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He said as he set me down on the sand.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Now remember before you fall of a boat</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">You are a gecko and geckos don’t float.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I’ll miss you Gecko, be careful next trip</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And don’t crawl to the tippy tiptop of the ship</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I know you just wanted to look around</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But if you climb high you might fall down.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Thank you seal, thank you seal,” I said,</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I could have drowned but you saved me instead</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am so very lucky that you rescued me</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is very scary to fall in the sea</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now I know not to fall off a boat</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Because I am a Gecko and Geckos don’t float!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Good-bye seal, and thank you again</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">For giving me a ride and being my friend.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">...and that is how I met the seal — The End.</span>**
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">6. Al the Famous Whale and The Pig On The Moon</span>
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am a fish with a story to tell</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">My story is about a famous whale</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The whale is named Al</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And he has a big tail</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Al uses his tail to flip fish into the air</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then uses his blowhole to keep them there</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Fish came to ride Al, they came from all around</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">They came to ride Al the friendly whale they found</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">We all liked to ride atop Al’s spout</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">We would ride atop the spout and shout</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yahoo!, yippee!, this is so much fun!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hey, come up for a ride everyone”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then suddenly the spouting stopped</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But when it stopped there was a fish on top</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And down the fish fell into the whale’s blowhole</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Down the fish fell yelling out... “Noooooo!”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That fish was as scared, as scared as can be</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And you know how I know...that fish was me!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then suddenly a great explosion was heard</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And the sound was not a plane or a bird</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It was Al’s blowhole blasting me into the sky</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I didn’t think that I would survive</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Al’s spout was spouting, and not a moment too soon</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And he spouted all the way up to the moon!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Where I saw a cow flying over, and a big one too</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I knew it was a cow because I heard it moo!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So I yelled to the cow, “Hey, can I have a ride?”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The cow looked up and down and looked to the side.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“A fish on the moon?” he said. “Sure, hop on.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then we flew down to Earth, right to the cow’s barn.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Can you take me to the ocean,” I asked the cow.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Ask that pig,” said the cow. “Ask him right now.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Hey pig,” I said, “can I have a ride to sea?”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yes of course,” said the pig, “most certainly.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So off we went to the ocean together</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And I was so happy when we finally got there.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Thank you pig,” I said when we got to the sea.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Now I have something you really must see.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“You must come and see Al, the famous whale,</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He flips fish up into the air with his tail.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Then he lets the fish ride atop his spout</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’s so very fun! You must check it out.”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So we both went to see Al the famous whale</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And Al flipped the pig in the air with his tail</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Up the pig flew to the top of the spout</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And the pig began to oink and shout</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“It’s fun up here,” yelled the pig to everyone.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yippee!,” said the pig, “This is so much fun!”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The pig had never been on top of a spout</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now laughter was coming out of his snout</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then all of the sudden the spouting stopped</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And down the pig fell, down the pig plopped</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The pig’s snout stuck right into the blowhole of the whale</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And straight up in the air stuck his curly pig tail</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">What happened next I’m sure you must know</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Al the whale began to fill with air and grow</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Al the whale grew larger and larger and larger</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then suddenly released a fantastic spout skyward!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And up flew the pig, right to the moon!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And that is why there is a pig on the moon.</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 14pt;">7.</span>****//<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Dawn Patrol</span>//**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Early in the morning</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When the sun is just rising</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I like to go surfing</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Is that so surprising?</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I surf before I go to school</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sometimes I surf at noon</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I’m surfing when the sun goes down</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I surf by the light of the moon</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I often surf when it’s cloudy out</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And when it’s sunny and warm</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I surf when it’s raining cats and dogs</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And during thunderstorms</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I surf at the beach break and at the point</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And at secret spots with my friends</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I like to catch all types of waves</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And I ride each wave to the end</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I just got done surfing</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Soon I’ll go surfing again</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I’d surf all night if I could</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But I can’t so I’ll sleep till then</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There is just one thing I know for sure</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Tomorrow when the rooster crows</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I’ll be waxing up my surfboard</span>**
=====**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">For another dawn patrol</span>**=====
**<span style="font-size: 14pt;">8. //Sam the Surfing Turtle//</span>**
**This story is about a sea turtle named Sam**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sam sees a surfboard on the beach in the sand</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Attached to the surfboard is a long, thin cord</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’s called a leash, and connects the surfer to the board</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sam the Turtle decides to use his turtle beak</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">To grab the leash and drag the board across the beach</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He drags the board into the water toward the waves</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sam the turtle is slow, but Sam the Turtle is brave</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Just then a huge wave arrives</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And Sam the Turtle is very surprised</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The wave is so big he can’t believe his eyes</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I wonder,” says Sam, “can I take the surfboard for a ride?”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then Sam crawls right up onto the surfboard</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And aims all four of his turtle feet forward</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">You would think that Sam the Turtle would be scared</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But instead he laughs like he doesn’t care</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then Sam the turtle pulls a cutback move</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Does a 360 spin and finds his groove</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He pulls a huge air off the lip</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then walks his turtle feet right to the tip</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sam goes zooming down the face of the wave</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then the wave curls over into the shape of a cave</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And into the barrel Sam is sent</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Yes, deep into the tube the turtle went</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Later on that very same day</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here is what Sam has to say</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I almost wiped out, I almost fell</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Water was bouncing off of my shell!”</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So that is the story of the turtle named Sam</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Who found a surfboard lying on the sand</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And then took the board surfing in the sea</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">A surfing turtle, what a sight to see!</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 14pt;">9. //Hello Little Birdie//</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hello little birdie</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sitting in the tree</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I love the way you sing out loud</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Tweety tweety tweet</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the morning and in the evening</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">You sing your birdie song</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Tweety tweety tweet</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I think I’ll sing along</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hello little spider</span>**
**Sitting on the ground**
**I love the way you spin your web**
**Around and around and around**
**In the morning and the evening**
**You spin your spider webs**
**Spinning, spinning, spinning**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hello little crab</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sitting in the sand</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Oh, you’re not sitting down</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That’s just how you stand</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When you walk you move sideways</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Scooty scooty scoot</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I love the way you walk so fast</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I think you are kind of cute</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hello little fishy</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Swimming in the sea</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I love all your bright colors</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">As pretty as can be</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and I like the way you swim</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">in the ocean blue</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hello little gecko</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">walking up the wall</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">it is amazing you walk upside down</span>**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and do not even fall</span>**
**__<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Chapter 19</span>__****__<span style="font-size: 14pt;">—</span>__****__<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Part III. Hawaiian Childrens’ Stories</span>__**
**//<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Two Short Stories</span>//**
**<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> 1. </span>****<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Little Surfer and the Shama Thrush Bird.</span>**
=====**<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> 2. Leilani—A Hawaiian Surf Story.</span>**=====
<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="display: block; text-align: center;">**//<span style="font-size: 14pt;">The Little Surfer and the Shama Thrush Bird</span>//**</span></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Can I go surfing with you?” Leilani asked her older brother, Kanoa. </span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Not today Leilani,” Kanoa answered, “the waves are too big and you are too little.” </span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Leilani was sad they wouldn’t take her with them. She knew that if she was just given a chance she could surf too, just like her older brothers. But now it was too late, because the boys had already grabbed their surfboards and gone to the beach, once again leaving her behind.</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Leilani went outside to the back of the house where her family kept all their surfboards, and she looked around to find one that she liked. A big ten-foot surfboard was leaning up against the house, and a rack against the wall held several medium-sized surfboards that her brothers used, and also her mother’s nine-foot surfboard. </span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Leilani chose her mother’s surfboard, which she liked because of the colorful flowers painted on it. She carefully picked it up—she could barely lift it—and she carried the surfboard out onto the grass in the back yard. Leilani laid down on the board and pretended to paddle over the ocean waters. </span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Here it comes,” Leilani yelled out as she looked back to see a huge, imaginary wave. Then she jumped up onto her feet and pretended she was riding the big wave. Again and again she laid down on the board and pretended to paddle real fast, then jumping up and yelling with excitement like she was really riding a wave.</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The next day when her brothers went surfing Leilani asked if she could come too, but again they said no. She pleaded with them to take her surfing, but they said it wasn’t safe, and that she would have to wait until she was older. “Silly girl,” they said, “you’re too small.” “Maybe someday,” they said, “...maybe someday.” But as far as Leilani was concerned, “someday” meant never. </span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Leilani’s brothers left to go surfing, and so she went out in the back yard again and practiced standing up on the surfboard and pretending to ride waves. Just then Leilani saw a little baby bird fly over and flutter down onto the ground next to her. It was a little baby Shama thrush, and it made the sweetest little sound, like Shama thrushes do. </span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Tweet-tweet. Tweety-tweet-tweet,” said the little birdie.</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Oh little birdie,” Leilani said, “you are so cute. And I bet you are just learning to fly. What a beautiful sound you make.” </span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Tweet-tweet. Tweety-tweet-tweet,” the bird answered back to Leilani, who felt like she had made a new little friend. </span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Oh what should I do Shama?” asked Leilani, “What should I do? They won’t let me go surfing with them. It would be so fun to surf on the waves!”</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Tweet-tweet. Tweety-tweet-tweet,” said the little birdie.</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The visit from the little bird inspired Leilani, who decided that she would have to take matters into her own hands if she was ever going to be able to surf the waves. She wanted so badly to soar down the face of the waves just like the little bird flew so effortlessly through the air. Leilani knew she could surf, just like her older brothers, and she was going to prove it to them all!</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The next day the whole family went to the beach and the boys were out surfing as usual on the bigger waves while all the little kids, including Leilani, had to stay near shore. Leilani decided it was time to try to talk her family into letting her go surfing. When her brothers came in to take a break and eat some lunch, Leilani called her whole family together, saying she had something very important she needed to announce. </span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Hello family,” Leilani said, “I have something to say. I am ready to go surfing!”</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">They all laughed and shook their heads. Then her mother said, “You are too young to surf, Leilani, you need to wait until you are older.” Her father nodded in agreement. Leilani’s brothers made jokes about the two-foot tall girl on the twenty-foot tall wave. </span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Mama, I am not too young to surf,” said Leilani. I am a really strong swimmer and I can easily ride my body board in the waves near shore. I understand that the ocean can be very dangerous, Mama, and I will be extra careful. I know that I am ready to surf, Mama, and I really, really want to surf the waves, please, pleeease??” “Please Papa? Please Mama?” “Pleeeeassseee,” Leilani begged with her most hopeful voice.</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I don’t know, Leilani,” said her mother. “Well, maybe if one of your brothers would keep you very close to you and watch after you... very close!”</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Leilani’s eyes suddenly lit up. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? She quickly looked over at her brothers and could see they weren’t very excited about the idea of looking after their little sister in the ocean waves, which may sometimes be very dangerous. But they also knew Leilani was an excellent swimmer for someone so young, and she had spent lots of time on the ocean with her father fishing in their boat.</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Suddenly Kanoa said, “Okay, Leilani, I will take you surfing, but you must promise to be very careful.”</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” said Leilani, so happy she would finally be able to go surfing with her brothers. Leilani ran and got her mother’s surfboard, and then they all paddled out to the waves.</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Over here, Leilani,” said Kanoa, “motioning to his sister to paddle over to the best spot to catch a wave. Leilani paddled into position just as a wave was arriving. “Paddle, paddle,” said Kanoa, encouraging his little sister to try to catch the wave.</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Leilani paddled as hard as she could and suddenly felt the wave arrive and sweep her away. Everything happened so very fast, too fast, and Leilani fell off the board and somersaulted through the air, plunging underwater as the wave crashed down on top of her. Leilani didn’t panic though, and swam up to the surface and got back on her board.</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Are you okay?” asked Kanoa, “do you want to go back to shore Leilani?”</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“No, I am fine, Kanoa,” said Leilani, “I want to keep trying, I can do it,” said Leilani, a little bit scared but determined to ride a wave. When the next wave came, it was even bigger than the one before. Leilani paddled as hard as she could to try to catch the wave, and this time she was ready. As the wave sent her speeding forward, Leilani jumped up onto her feet and then suddenly she was riding down the steep face of the wave, just like she had always wanted to do!</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Leilani was so excited that she could hardly breathe. She sped along the face of the wave and felt like she was flying over the ocean. Just then Leilani looked up and who did she see flying above her... it was the little Shama bird! </span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Tweet-tweet. Tweety-tweet-tweet,” said the Shama.</span>
“Hi Shama!” said Leilani, so happy that she was surfing, and now doubly happy to see her little Shama friend. “I am doing it, Shama, I am surfing!” said Leilani happily to the little bird. And that is the story of how Leilani learned to surf, and her friend the little Shama bird.
===== =====
===== =====
=====**//Leilani//**=====
A Hawaiian Surf Story
[[code]]
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> “Wow! That fish is bigger than you!,” Leilani’s father said as he put his hand on her shoulder. “Way to go, Leilani”. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> They all looked at the huge Yellowfin ‘Ahi she had just reeled in. Her mother and brothers congratulated her on the catch. They were especially glad since there had been no ‘Ahi runs lately and their cousins were coming from the south side to spend the weekend with them on the northshore. Everyone was happy that now there would be plenty of fish for the barbecue. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani’s father returned to the steering wheel to guide their small fishing boat back toward home. The sun was about to set on the western horizon, and in the opposite sky a rainbow arced over the island. There would be just enough light to make it back to Hanalei Bay before dark.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">...</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Right then Leilani awakens. For a moment, there in the predawn dark, she is incredibly happy—having just been so close to her father, having just felt his gentle touch upon her shoulder—but it was all in a dream. Alone in the still quiet of morning, Leilani feels a deep sadness, a pain inside that brings tears to her eyes, soft tears that flow down her cheeks and onto her pillow. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> She wants to talk to him, to hear his voice again. She wants to fish with him, ride horses in the upcountry meadows and surf the beach break like they used to do. Even if only just once more, she thinks, she would like to spend some time with her father, tell him how much she loves him, say goodbye to him like she was never able to. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> It’s still an hour before sunrise, but Leilani knows she will sleep no more this morning. She rolls over and props herself up on her elbows. As she has become used to doing each morning, she talks to her father for a few moments, her eyes closed. “Thank you dad, thank you for being such a wonderful father, for everything you did for me. I love you dad, I love you so much.” </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> She wants to say more to him, but the tears continue and she doesn’t know how to say what she feels, there is no way to express it. Today there is something missing. She needs somehow to see him, be with him, to get closer to his spirit, to his living soul.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> It rained hard last night but now the sky is clear and she can smell in the tropical morning mist the flowers growing outside of her window. In the distance she can hear the loud rhythm of the ocean. The shoreline is only about 100 yards away, but the breaking waves are much farther out. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> She heard yesterday that a big swell was coming, and the sounds outside tell her that the waves have now arrived in full force.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani hops out of bed, puts on her surf shorts and top, and walks outside to look at the sea. Going around to the side of the house where her surfboards are, she chooses a 9-foot board with a shape and length suitable for medium to big waves. She tucks a bar of wax in her pocket, grabs her board and begins to walks toward the ocean.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> As she rounds the corner, the outer surf spot comes into view, barely visible now in the first morning light. She stops in her tracks at the sight of a wave breaking in the distance. The waves are extremely large, and she wonders where she will surf, and if she has the right board.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani walks to the back of the house where all of the family’s surfboards are stored, and she looks quizzically at the many boards assembled along the side of the house. She uncovers one particular surfboard that is leaning behind several others. It is ten feet long and comes to a point on the front and back. This board is known as a gun, or spear, and is suitable for only one thing, the absolute biggest of waves—this was her father’s board.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani applies some wax to the deck of the surfboard, and minutes later she is knee deep in the water. Pushing forward with three quick steps, she jumps onto her board and glides away from shore. Her arms move with confidence, repeatedly reaching up and forward and then down again into the water as she paddles away from land.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani moves with the water, swaying ever so slightly with each passing swell. Instinct allows her to make subtle corrections that maximize her speed over the water’s surface. Many years of swimming and surfing have given Leilani a natural balance as effortless as it is efficient.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The last stars are now disappearing in the morning light, and the orange glow of sunrise fills the eastern sky. Leilani moves up onto her knees, now leaning forward and stroking both arms down into the water at once. This paddling position utilizes different muscles and provides a higher vantage point from which to view the sea.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani moves steadily toward the long white lines she can now see far in the distance as they appear and reappear above the crystal blue of the ocean. With each arriving set, the whole horizon seems to warp and bend before flowering into the snowy white color of the break. But that is far away, at the surf break. Around her the water’s surface is calm and smooth, and so transparent she can see the fluorescent glow of the reef below. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Pausing for a moment, Leilani cups her hands together on the surface, and places her eyes just above the water. This allows her to see underwater as if she is wearing a snorkeling mask. A colorful school of fish glides and darts over the reef as a white-spotted moray eel pokes its head out of a coral cavern. All the life on the reef makes Leilani feel not so alone.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Looking up again toward the surf break, Leilani thinks of how soft and inviting the waves seem from this distance. Yet she can tell they are giant! She is aware that few people have ever ridden such large waves, though some have known the terror of unsuccessful attempts. Only during the biggest of winter swells do waves like these appear at the outer reefs, and even more rarely at the Cloudbreak formation she is now paddling toward. It takes an exceptional northern storm to generate a breaking wave at such a deep-water reef. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> No one has ever surfed Cloudbreak during the largest of swells, when the surf break takes on a completely different character and produces a wave rarely seen on Earth. Two men once tried to surf Cloudbreak on a huge day, but neither was able to ride a wave. One of the surfers was pounded mercilessly onto the reef, lost his board, and barely made it to shore over an hour later. The other positioned himself for a takeoff, but thought better of it at the last moment and then paddled near shore to look for his friend.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">...</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> He’e nalu—to ride the waves. This goes back to the time of the ancient Hawaiians. Leilani knows deep within her that with proper respect, effort, and determination, there is a possibility she may taste the kindness of the largest Cloudbreak waves. Years of effort are a prerequisite to even attempting such a thing. She also knows it is only something that will occur if she is worthy of it. This has always been the attitude of her and her brothers, who she has surfed with now for many years, and of her parents, who raised her with the love that now fills her heart.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani looks up to see an ‘iwa bird as it banks against an invisible current of air and then dives toward the water to catch a meal. She recognizes its 7-foot wingspan and pterodactyl-like shape. The huge red pouch below its throat reveals that it is a male in mating season. Far in the distance are several large albatross circling over a school of fish and shearwaters skimming the surface.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Above it all a lone tropicbird soars so high that its long red tail feathers can barely be seen trailing across the blue Hawaiian sky. Leilani sits up on her surfboard, stretches her arms wide and feels the breeze, and then she closes her eyes and feels for a moment like a bird soaring through the heavens. Focusing again on her goal, she lays down on her board and begins to paddle. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Almost effortlessly, Leilani’s arms reach forward and gracefully scoops down and pulls back through the water, moving her toward the surf break. As she paddles, her mind travels backward in time—she thinks again of her father, misses the time they spent together, the trips to the west side beaches, and into the mountains where they walked and talked and camped on the peaks of the island’s mountains. Deep in her heart she longs to see him. She feels an emptiness and constantly misses him, wants to hear his voice again, give him a hug and talk to him. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani is now almost a mile out to sea. The current is sweeping south along the coastline in one broad band of moving water that winds around the point. It’s as if the sea is shifting all together in an area that stretches so far it cannot be seen or felt because the current is too wide and deep compared to the minuscule surfer on the surface, a tiny person carried along in the vast ocean’s imperceptible flow. Being in such a broad oceanic current is like being on a liquid tectonic plate, unable to sense the greater movement, with the shoreline so distant it cannot be used to gauge any relative change, and so it seems as if the water is not moving at all.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani does sense the strong current, however. She has spent her life in and near the sea, and so she is able to sense the movement of the water in relation to the land and sky and her own body. Based upon her intuition she knows instinctively how to move. Each arm-stroke is naturally balancing her, aiming her properly in relation to her goal and carrying her efficiently over the surface.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> During the last year, Leilani has spent much of her time in the ocean—surfing with her brothers, swimming and paddling in the water, or just floating and thinking. She is familiar with the ocean now in a way she did not even a year ago, a way that has now deeply become a part of her.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> In one respect, Leilani feels this has been the best year of her life, being so close to the sea and her family. But in another way, and much more profoundly, it has been her hardest year ever. With all of her heart she misses her father, and it seems that every day, at some time or another, she cries. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Her father’s disappearance at sea while out fishing could not be explained, can never be explained. She knows this is something the people of her seafaring culture have always had to accept, but she doesn’t yet accept it. She finds herself paddling harder as the moistness again surges into her eyes and makes the sea glimmer in the morning sunlight.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani notices the subtle shifts in the wind’s character—its direction, speed, and rhythm—and she feels too the wind’s effect upon the surf. Sensing the increase in the swell just since she’s been in the water, Leilani anticipates how the wave shape is changing as she nears the surf break. She thinks for a moment of the Aleutian Islands thousands of miles north of the Hawaiian Islands where these swells are generated—she can tell it is probably a distant low pressure zone moving out of the Gulf of Alaska that has created these waves. She recalls how these particular north-northwest trending swells react when they reach the outermost reefs and form into waves. She remembers distinctly the biggest of such days some years ago when many people gathered on the shore just to look at the surf. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> In the Hawaiian sea and air, Leilani feels a certain connection to those distant waters where the waves were generated. She knows it really is all the same ocean, and the energy of these waves links her to that distant place. Leilani can feel in the water the pulse of the distant storm as its energy flows toward Hawaiian shores.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> She thinks about how all things are connected, all land and water and sky, from the Golden plovers that fly from the Arctic each year to feed in the Hawaiian Islands, to the whales that also come from there each year to mate and give birth in Hawaiian bays. She thinks of how her father is still connected with her and all that is around her. He so much loved the sea, and he often shared with her his thoughts and wisdom about the ocean and so many other things. She feels his presence now in the air and water and everywhere around her. She talks to him again—she reaches out and touches the sea as if touching his hand.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">...</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Perceiving patterns on the water and in the clouds, Leilani continues to paddle toward the reef break. She notices certain things about the changing wave conditions. Perhaps most importantly, she knows how little she knows, and that nothing is certain—the sea may be unpredictable and unforgiving.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Everything is moving, and Leilani acts and reacts in unison with the water. She aims far to the right of her goal knowing the current will sweep her closer to the surf break as she paddles. Distinctive patterns on the water’s surface reveal the shape of the coral reef beneath, including the reef outcroppings and coral caves that form the underwater contour of the ocean bottom. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The tide’s strong pull is now apparent with each ebb and surge of the swell’s larger sets. Particularly noticeable to Leilani now is how the pull of the changing tide is affecting the shape of the waves at Cloudbreak, where the water depth abruptly changes causing the massive waves to break over the coral reef. The drastic drop off in the reef causes a sudden sucking out of the water above the coral. This creates a critical area beyond the initial peak of the wave where, if Leilani does ride a wave, she will need to shoot out over the shallow reef formation that is causing these breaking waves.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Tidal movement, direction of swell, wave speed and height, time between waves and between sets—Leilani is acutely aware of all of these things as she nears the Cloudbreak. She sees now what the bigger sets are doing, and how this too is changing with the wind. Leilani forms a visual picture of the underwater reef in her mind. She has looked at the reef with mask and snorkel on calmer days, and she understands how this particular seafloor topography affects the shape of the giant breaking waves.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Deeply attuned to the ocean, Leilani thinks of all of these aspects not separately but as a whole, not analytically but more as if she has internalized all of the factors and naturally assesses the situation in a way that considers everything at once. She is guided by an internal knowing, and her knowledge has grown from a life near and a love for the sea. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Today, however, Leilani feels that love is confused in some indescribable way by the loss of her father to the vast and mysterious ocean. All things happen for a reason, she tries to tell herself, but still she does not, cannot understand. She is full of thankfulness for her life and her family, yet she cannot, comprehend why this has happened to them, to him, to her. She grasps for reasons, trying to understand.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">...</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> As Leilani gets closer to the surf break, she further studies the patterns of water movement and tries to perceive and interpret the complex dynamics of everything occurring around her. The shape of the breaking waves in front of her is amazingly perfect now, though on a scale almost beyond her comprehension. Down the line of the breaking wave, however, she cannot see how she would finish the ride as it throws into one long wall that comes furiously and suddenly crashing down onto the sharp reef. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> On a day like today, a surfer would have to at least ride the wave out of the initial breaking area (the impact zone) or have little chance of survival. The alternative is a wipeout on the takeoff. If that happens, the surfer is first subjected to the initial brutal pummeling and extended hold-down beneath the water. Then the hapless surfer is left stranded on the jagged outcroppings of the inside reef flats where repeated and ferocious walls of water would sweep her over the sharp coral reef. Encountering the next wave, and the one behind that would be near impossible—thousands upon thousands of tons of water heaving as high as buildings and landing directly on your head, driving you down and disorienting you in cataclysmic explosions that send you reeling through a dark abyss.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Being driven down onto the reef is most likely to occur if you fall while riding the face. Then the dredging wave pulls you up into its peak and throws you forward out into empty space. You land in the simmering trough from which all the water has been drained upward, and then the whole mass of the wave, with all its momentum and force, comes crashing down upon you. Like an infinitesimal speck in an infinite sea, you’re driven down into the water even as it drains away, leaving only razor-sharp coral. Then the emptied sea fills in again, coming down right on top of you, pounding you into the reef, hurling and tumbling you through the tumultuous water while inarguably and totally denying any chance for a simple breath of air. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Successive waves of the set arrive one after another, relentless. The worst is to be held down so long that the next wave arrives before you reach the surface to take a breath. On big days at big spots, no one survives such a double hold down occurrence.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani does think of this possibility, but she considers it only briefly and then puts it out of her mind. She has felt the wrath of the waves many times on smaller waves, and on many waves not so small. Scared but strong, her fears are tempered into a deep respect of the sea. Her heart tells her now that she is ready. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani’s senses are attuned to every nuance of the ocean’s rhythms, and she is now at a point where her mind and body and beliefs converge. She knows these waves may be profound inspiration or brutal punishment, gentle or deadly, cradle or jaws. To taste the kindness of such large and intense waves, to be at one with their powerful concave forms and to tap into and feel their focused energy, Leilani must be prepared also to meet death itself—no training or persistence or good intentions will ever remove that truth.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Directly ahead of her the rising peaks and thick overhanging ledges are crashing and tumbling, exploding into billows of mist and foam and whitewater surges. She remembers her father saying, “Cloudbreak—it only breaks when it’s 25 feet or bigger.” She knows that for Hawaiians, “25 feet” refers to the back of the wave, which translates to 50 or 60 foot wave faces—a rare event, but an event occurring this very day!</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">...</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> From Leilani’s earliest days the ocean has been a way of life—fishing with her father, walks with her mother along shoreline gathering limu and ‘opihi, paddling canoes with the family down the Nā Pali coast to Miloli‘i and Kalalau and the other hidden valleys where waterfalls tumble from the high seacliffs. She loves this coastline where colorful rainbows greet her eyes each day, where she can feel the warmth in the water and taste the scents of the land in the ocean mist, from the gingers and jasmines of the river mouths to the passion flowers blooming in the upland valleys. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani fell in love with the sea before she can remember, but these recent days she doesn’t know how to feel. She is so lonely for her father, so deep is the pain of missing him. The breaking waves rise up all around her now, and all the air is full of their roaring sounds.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The waves are of such thickness, of such form and size and power, that when the wave’s lip throws outward, a hollow space the size of a building is created. This deep barrel resonates with the most powerful of all elemental energy, like a hurricane, tornado, and avalanche all in one. No one has ever ridden such massive waves.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Fully risen now, the sun refracts through the spray of each wave’s feathering crest creating an arc of colors above the sea. This halo of energized spray heralds each pinnacle for just a moment before it dissipates as the complete mass of the wave comes booming down with a violent thunder.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The swell, so large already, is still on the increase. The tide is also rising, and the winds are settling into steady offshore trades. The swell direction, north-northwest, is arriving at a perfect angle to form surfable waves at Cloudbreak reef. As her friends would say, “it’s going off!”</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani does not think about the fact that these giant Cloudbreak waves have never been ridden. She is aware of that, of course, but thoughts of conquest, or of proving something to others, is not the way she thinks. Her nature, and that of her culture is to give to others, to help one another. When the giant winter waves arrive at on Hawai‘i’s shores each year, rarely is there any other girl at the biggest wave spots around the island, but she does not think in that dimension either—she is a surfer, a Hawaiian, a young woman, but she does not distinguish herself as different or better. She just surfs, and has the same fears and hopes and joys as her friends. Today, however, she is alone, just as her father was the day he disappeared.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Yet Leilani does not feel alone, as she is acutely aware of all the life around her, above and beneath her, and in the very energy of the water. Now arcing and gliding toward her are some dolphins, probably curious about what other creature might be moving over the ocean’s surface on such a day. A four-foot long yearling dolphin suddenly flies up from the water and flips twice head over tail before splashing down—these are the spinner dolphins known for their joyful acrobatics. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The dolphin pod, six in all including two very young dolphins, continues its fast approach toward her and then suddenly they all turn and curve around her in a wide circle. Leilani feels their echolocation pulses reverberating through the water. Putting her head underwater she hears their sounds, a chorus of squeaks and clicks, each of which is actually hundreds of high frequency pulses that dolphins use to communicate in a range beyond human hearing. For a moment, Leilani feels directly connected to these dolphins, feels their energy, quite literally, in the vibrations that tingle her skin. And she knows they feel her energy also as they bounce their high-pitched echolocation pulses off of her body.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> “Aloha nai‘a!,” Leilani sings out to the dolphins with a happy smile as she calls them by their Hawaiian name. Another dolphin flies up and somersaults head over tail before splashing down onto the water’s surface. Leilani feels a kinship with these beautiful sea animals—she too feels like a dolphin and she wants to swim with them as they circle playfully, arcing and gliding out of the water, jumping and flipping above the surface. Soon the dolphins disappear into the distance and Leilani continues to paddle toward her goal.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Down the coast Leilani can now see the tall Lighthouse atop the rocky bluff of Kilauea Point. A quarter mile out from the Lighthouse she sees the jagged, stony outcropping known as Mokulaie‘a, which means //“Smoky mist rising over the water,”// named for the hundred-foot sprays that shoot upward as waves smash into the islet’s rocks and the water is funneled up into great fountaining geysers. Today the waves are breaking all along the island’s northern shore, and every bay and point is alive with the energy of the sea. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> As on all big-wave days, the air is filled with a thick sea mist that hovers over the shoreline along the length of the sandy crescent of Hanalei Bay. This rarefied water vapor is distilled from the massive power of waves being expended all along the shoreline. This wave energy arrives from northern seas thousands of miles away where a low pressure system fuels a distant winter storm.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> As Leilani nears her destination, she feels strongly the mana, the spiritual energy that inheres within this land and sea. Her Hawaiian beliefs respect this mana—in the volcanic rocks, in the water, earth, sky and ocean, and in the diversity of life all around her—the monk seals that sleep on the beach, the tropicbirds soaring high overhead, the pueo owl she saw at sunrise, the colorful reef fish she saw near the shoreline when she was first paddling out, and the huge sea turtles floating at the surface like stepping stones across the river mouth—species respected by her culture as ‘aumakua, spirit guardians that may appear at times to warn or protect, and an integral part of her world. Leilani has a deep appreciation of all of her surroundings, and it reminds her of the miracle of her own life and how thankful she is for her loving family.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani sees now in the distance another graceful animal, a humpback whale that has arrived from its summer feeding grounds near Alaska. Suddenly, less than a mile out to sea, the whale leaps fully from the water, spinning 180 degrees and then crashing down on its back amidst a chaotic splash and a great booming sound that Leilani can hear and even feel transmitted through the water. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Then Leilani sees something else, a young whale now imitating the same aerial leap. The newborn calf clumsily practices breaching as she mimics her mother. Leilani smiles at the frolicking whales, remembering the many stories her father used to tell her about fish and whales and stories of the sea. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani knows in a deep way that this sea itself is alive with a force that is as beautiful as it is unexplained, a power as mysterious as it is awesome. In a way she has never before experienced, Leilani feels this in her whole body, in her very blood, as she approaches the long lines of waves that curl into perfect hollow tubes. Leilani has never seen such large waves from so close. Her whole body is now alive with this possibility, her mind focused toward this goal.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> She works her way around to the back of the waves, staying clear out to sea in anticipation of the next set. Far off in the direction from which the swell is arriving, she can see the horizon seem to warp and bend. A darkening form continues to grow until she realizes it is a set even bigger than what she expected. Leilani paddles out furiously, straight toward the arriving wave, hoping desperately to get over the giant moving mountains of water before they break on top of her.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Paddling furiously, Leilani is almost certain she will not make it over the approaching wave, yet she keeps stroking her arms to paddle as hard as she can through the water. The wave is rising too fast too soon, and it seems she won’t make it over the top. Leilani keeps her mental presence and taps into her deepest strength as she continues to paddle with all her might. The colossal wall of water towers up in front of her, and with powerful strokes she paddles as hard as possible as she is drawn up the face and flies off the top of the lip just as the wave throws forward and breaks onto the sharp reef.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Continuing to paddle as she lands on the back of the wave, Leilani can feel the tremendous pull, but she has made it over. She hears the thunderous roar of the breaking wave as it fills the air behind her, even as she sees the next oncoming wave of the set, and paddles as hard as she can, digging deep, stroke after stroke. This next arriving wave is even bigger, but Leilani has about 30 seconds to paddle out to sea further, and with every muscle straining she powers her body forward, completely focused.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> From her observations, Leilani knows the sets of the biggest waves are coming in groups of three, with the second wave usually the biggest. The second set wave she sees coming now exceeds the first one’s size by far. She continues to paddle out as fast as possible, again unsure whether she can avoid being caught inside the break, a situation that would almost certainly be fatal due to the wave’s giant size and the razor-sharp reef.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Suddenly, instinctively, Leilani turns her board around and takes five strong strokes in the direction the wave is moving. She quickly grabs the side rails of her board with both hands and springs to her feet. She is up! She is riding the wave! The wave’s face is already nearly vertical beneath Leilani as she begins her steep descent. There appears before her now a different world, as if she is looking off a sea cliff to the ocean below.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> There is in this moment perfect attunement, clarity, self-control—all power and performance are joined—as if all the world is a question and the blue wedge of water below holds the answer. Without thinking, she feels her father’s love for her, hears in the sounds of the water the sound of his voice, and it somehow helps her deal with her fear, to be strong in the face of what is before her.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Fear is realized as a feeling that either overcomes or energizes the body and mind. Right now it is simply absorbed by Leilani and funneled into the most concentrated natural performance of her life. Her board barely skims the water as she goes into a free fall descending over seventy feet down the face of the wave. As fast as she moves down, however, the wave rushes up from beneath her, tons upon tons of water being pulled up into the wave’s crest as the luminous sea speeds by in a blur of motion. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani can feel the water’s surface through her board, and can sense how her subtle movements affect her direction and speed. Then, as if in slow motion, she sees the reflections on the glassy face of the wave, and again this brings memories of her father that now flood over her, turn her fear into strength as she flies down the wave’s gigantic face. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Now nearing sixty miles per hour, Leilani finally finds herself reaching the bottom of the wave. She leans hard to the inside and sets the edge of her board into a long carving bottom-turn. Amidst the tremendous pressures of the turn, her leaning body is now almost parallel to the water, and the extreme downward force upon her legs requires all of her strength to hold. Her surfboard slices through the sea and sends up a huge arcing spray of water.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani’s powerful turning motion catapults her down the line of the wave with a burst of speed like a rocket. Far above her now, the top of the wave throws over in a thick mass that blocks all light. Suddenly she is in a cave, a monumental cavern that now seems to her like the most sacred temple, a holy space filled with the booming tones of a thunderous choir. Her body is infused with the feelings of speed and the resonating sounds, and she is surrounded by a translucent blue light that transports her again into her father’s world, a world full of all the love he gave to her.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> In split seconds that seem to take minutes, Leilani carves upward and then drops again to the bottom, keeping a low center of gravity as she rises again to the middle of the wave’s face and speeds over the ocean’s surface enclosed in a tube that flows up and over her. From behind she feels the vortex of the wave, the pressure generated deep inside the hollow barrel. It suddenly shoots outward with a tremendous power, creating what surfers know as a spitting barrel, and the thick mist of this spray blasts Leilani forward, as if she is shooting out of a cannon. She flies through the air toward the end of the break, all her momentum propelling her toward the reef zone. Three times her board skips off the surface and she barely retains control, digging her board’s edge into the steep face in an attempt to steer.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani now faces the important decision on how to exit this giant wave she sees about to close out ahead of her. It is crucial to escape being caught by the breaking wave and pummeled onto the jagged reef. She carves down through another turn and then strains to hold her footing through the roar and upward curve.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani can see now, in the very edge of her concentrated vision, a gap in the throwing lip high above, and so without hesitation and with all of her generated speed she aims directly up the face of the wave. She’s overtaken by the feeling of speeding up a cliff, an enormous mountain, and like a rocket she shoots straight up the wave’s face and off the vertical lip, propelling her high into the air. In just an instant she is over 30 feet above the water. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> For a moment, all seems perfectly still and quiet. As if suspended from the sky, she sees the land in the distance and the water below. Then, as fast as she flew into the air, she falls back toward the sea, diving through the surface and plunging into another world. Eyes open, Leilani sees the wave energy beneath the aerated sea, and she sees the rays of light beaming down from above. Swimming upward, she finally pops up above the surface, and then quickly swims to her board and hops on, points it outward, and then paddles again with all her energy, just making it over the lip of the last set wave—she is safe!</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">...</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Hours later, slowly paddling toward shore, Leilani looks thankfully toward her island home. Golden sands line the water, mountains wrap around the whole coastline and high seacliffs hold waterfalls that glimmer in the day’s last sunlight. Balmy trade winds blow in from the ocean, flowing in over the lowlands and then climbing the hills where they cool and condense into rain. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Several small clouds are forming now over the two mountain peaks atop the long ridge rising up behind Hanalei. Leilani knows these peaks by their ancient names, Alealeau and Anianau, after two legendary sisters. To the right is another ridge, the Wainiha Pali, stretching into the distance beneath a single, large cumulus cloud that releases its quarry of moisture as a double rainbow bathes the shoreline in radiant tropical light.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> During magical moments like these, Leilani thinks this place can only be heaven. She thinks again and again of heaven as she thinks of her father—she talks to him there, talks to him closely and deeply, and hears his voice in return. Though she still does not understand why, and though she still will miss him always and sometimes be sad, Leilani has found a sort of peace now. She feels deeply her father’s love, his presence around her, and deep in her heart.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The whole rest of the day Leilani floats in the current outside the break, adrift in the open ocean—reflecting, wondering, thinking. She sees the dolphins again and she smiles, and sings out to them. Looking to the edge of the Nā Pali coast she sees the high grass meadow where the hula heiau is visible. That is the place where, after gathering and weaving ferns from the upper valleys, she has danced the hula, giving beautiful form to the ancient Hawaiian chants. </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> She remembers how her father would chant the ‘oli, the ancient poetry that recounts the history of her island people. His deep bass tones would echo through the whole valley. She feels strongly the expressions of that hula dance, and hears the tones of his sacred stories, feels the progression of another line now added to that ancient verse.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Now the sunset turns the sky a fiery red, ablaze with mystical hues. Leilani looks to the shoreline, which seems to glow like she has never seen it before—or perhaps she just sees things a bit different now. Paddling toward the beach she continues to reflect on her life in the islands, and her family. She is deeply fulfilled by all that surrounds her, all that is within her.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> As she nears the land she can see her brothers onshore waiting for her, and they wave to her. Leilani waves back to them, and then extends her thumb and small finger in a shaka sign—they giver her shaka signs in return. She motions toward the sky with her eyes, which have suddenly welled up with tears, though still she is smiling. They understand what she means, what she is feeling now, and they feel it also.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Leilani paddles strongly until she reaches the shoreline. Her youngest brothers, Keola and Kaleo, run into the water and splash her, trying to jump up onto the board with her and tipping it over. Then Keola carries the board for Leilani as she walks up onto the beach, her arms around her little brothers.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">...</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> “That was a wonderful story,” little Leilani says, hopping up off her grandmother’s lap and then pulling at her hand so she’ll lean over for a hug. Looking into little Leilani’s beautiful brown eyes, her grandmother says, “...and so that is the story of my mother, whose name was Leilani, just like yours, sweetheart.” In her precious granddaughter she sees the living beauty of her own mother and father, whose enduring lives she sees and feels in the infinite beauty of this young one before her now.</span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> “May I go down to the beach now with Kaleo, grandma?” </span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> “Yes, Leilani, you may go,” she says as she kisses Leilani softly on the cheek. “I will come too.”</span>
Part I. Hawaiian Childrens’ Stories
Hawaiian-themed, rhyming stories; culturally and scientifically educational.
1. The Spirit of Aloha.2. A Story About the Hawaiian Islands.
3. The Journey of the First Hawaiians.
4. The Adventures of Koa Kalakaua.
5. Hawaiian Surf Story.
6. The Story of Hawaiian Hula.
7. A Story of Two Turtles—Phil and Myrtle.8. A to Z Hawai‘i.
Part II. Hawaiian Childrens’ Stories
Somewhat silly, Hawaiian-themed, rhyming stories.
1. The Great Gecko Invasion.2. Harry the Happyface Spider.
3. Kailani the Humpback Whale.
4. Neal the Eel.
5. The Gecko and the Seal.
6. Al the Famous Whale and the Pig on the Moon.
7. Dawn Patrol.8. Sam the Surfing Turtle.
9. Hello Little Birdie.
Part III. Hawaiian Childrens’ Stories
Two Short Stories
1. The Little Surfer and the Shama Thrush Bird.
2. Leilani—A Hawaiian Surf Story.
Chapter 19—Part I. Hawaiian Childrens’ Stories
Hawaiian-themed, rhyming stories; culturally and scientifically educational.
1. The Spirit of Aloha.2. A Story About the Hawaiian Islands.
3. The Journey of the First Hawaiians.
4. The Adventures of Koa Kalakaua.
5. Hawaiian Surf Story.
6. The Story of Hawaiian Hula.
7. A Story of Two Turtles—Phil and Myrtle.8. A to Z Hawai‘i.
1. The Spirit of Aloha
Aloha is in your happy smile
Think about that for a while
Share it with your family and your friends
Aloha is your love for them
Aloha is saying thank you and being nice
Telling stories and eating shave ice
Aloha is with you every day
In everything you do and say
Aloha is in the warm tropical breeze
In the green plants and in the tall trees
Aloha is in the birds and flowers
In the sunshine and cool rainshowers
Aloha is at the top of tall mountain peaks
And down at the bottom of the blue ocean deeps
Aloha is in the moon and in the stars
It is everywhere near and far
Aloha is such a wonderful thing
You feel it when you laugh and sing
Aloha is in the colors of the rainbow
And in the rushing river’s flow
Aloha is a happiness you feel inside
It shows in your smile big and wide
Aloha is in the water and on the land
On the beach and in the warm sand
Aloha is everywhere around you
In every sight and every sound too
And most of all, it’s inside your heart
So remember to share it right from the start
Aloha is your love for one another
For all people and for each other
2. A Story About the Hawaiian Islands
This is a story about beautiful islandsAll surrounded by fine white sands
Green mountains rise from the ocean blue
With tropical breezes blowing through
These eight little islands are known as Hawai‘i
Eight little islands surrounded by sea
If you ask you’ll find everyone agrees
Hawai‘i is a wonderful place to be
Rainbows fill the tropical skies
And beautiful colors dazzle the eyes
The Hawaiian Islands are so very fine
You really should come and visit sometime!
There are many amazing things about Hawai‘i
From the fish that swim to the birds that fly
Waterfalls tumble into rivers and streams
And flow through the valleys and down to the sea
Hawaiian volcanoes are quite a sight
With red hot lava that lights up the night
The lava shoots up high and then higher
Erupting in great explosions of fire
Sometimes these fantastic volcanic eruptions
Flow down to the ocean without interruption
Lava crackles! and pops! when it reaches the sea
How much more exciting could an island be?
Many birds fly in Hawaiian skies
Some live in the forest, some by the seaside
Some lay their eggs high on the cliffs
Some dive into the ocean to catch a fish
Hawaiian owls soar through moonlit sky
You must wake up early to see one fly by
Or stay up real late, because they hunt at night
Then return to their nest by the morning light
One bird lives high on Hawaiian volcanoes
If you live in Hawai‘i you probably know
The bird is the nēnē, I am sure you have heard
The nēnē is Hawai‘i’s state bird
The ‘i‘iwi bird has a long, curving beak
That fits into flowers with nectar it seeks
Building its nest near the mountain peaks
And sounding like a door hinge that creaks
Frigatebirds fly high above the ocean
Then dive down fast in one swooping motion
To scare other birds into dropping their food
Which they grab from midair if it looks any good
Albatross birds do dances on the land
Their cute fuzzy babies grow bigger and then
They stumble as they try to learn to fly
And then finally fly up high in the sky
Plovers are gold and brown head to tail
They come from Alaska, just like the whales
They fly to Hawai‘i from their nesting grounds
And their two-noted whistle is a clear sweet sound
High above the water a tropicbird flies
Gliding through blue Hawaiian skies
The tropicbird has a long streaming tail
And wings that allow it to smoothly sail
A coot in a taro patch stands perfectly still
Near a gray moorhen
with a white tail
green feet
and red bill
A black-necked stilt stands tall on long legs
Eating fish and worms and sometimes crabs
Seabirds dive into the ocean to catch fish
Eating tasty fish meals, unless they miss
The fish swim in schools, and some have learned
How to dodge and dart and twist and turn
To avoid the birds plunging down from above
A slow fish might need a friendly shove!]
In the ocean there are many different creatures
With fins and flippers and other ocean features
Flying fish soar through the air then dive under
Are they birds or fish, some people wonder?
Humpback whales weigh more than forty tons
They come from Alaska and sing whale songs
They jump from the sea in spectacular breaches
Delighting the people on the island beaches
Sea turtles swim near shore to feed
Near the coral reefs they eat limu seaweed
The sea turtles lay their eggs on the shore
They dig in the sand and then dig some more
They bury their turtle eggs deep in the sand
Then return to the water, leaving the land
When the eggs hatch the babies crawl to the water
Little sea turtle sons and sea turtle daughters
These sea turtle babies are so very small
So small they are hard to see at all
So small it would fit in the palm of your hand
Watch it scurry across the sand
Coral reefs underwater are amazing places
With colorful caverns and fish with strange faces
There are hundreds of fish of all different colors
So many fish you might want to holler
Lobsters and crabs and shrimp and more
Crawl along the deep sea floor
Octopi have eight arms with suction cups
Which come in handy when picking things up
Eels hide deep in the coral caves
As spinner dolphins ride the waves
The dolphins leap up high from the sea
Jumping with joy and spinning with glee
Also on the waves are surfers on surfboards
The whole scene is just too beautiful for words
Monk seals with whiskers and cute little noses
Rest on the beaches in sleepy seal poses
These eight little islands are known as Hawai‘i
These eight little islands all surrounded by sea
You will find that everyone agrees
Hawai’i is a wonderful place to be
Rainbows fill the tropical skies
With beautiful colors that dazzle the eyes
The Hawaiian Islands are so very fine
You really should come and visit sometime!
3. The Journey of the First Hawaiians
This is the story of the first HawaiiansWho came to the Islands in ancient times
These first Hawaiians were the Polynesians
They sailed to Hawai‘i on the Pacific Ocean
They built voyaging canoes from giant trees
and wove the canoe’s sails from hala leaves
They captured the energy of the ocean breeze
and sailed across the deep blue sea
The Polynesians left their island homes
To sail toward distant shores unknown
They were guided by the sun and stars in the sky
As they sailed to the islands of Hawai‘i
Their voyaging canoes reached Hawaiian shores
More than one thousand years ago
The Hawaiians grew taro near flowing streams
And built their homes from Hawaiian trees
Gathering fruits and flowers and seeds
They collected shells and fished the sea
Living beneath mountains and waterfalls
The land and sea provided food for them all
Those first settlers were the Polynesians
Sailing to Hawai‘i on the Pacific Ocean
They were the very first Hawaiians
Crossing the ocean in ancient times.
4. The Adventures of Koa Kalakaua
My name is Koa Kalakaua
I was born in Hawai‘i and I live here now
I am happy to live in the Hawaiian Islands
With beautiful beaches and warm, white sand
I dive into the ocean on sunny days
And swim with my friends and laugh and play
I like to surf on the ocean waves
And explore the many shoreline caves
Rainbows are always amazing to see
Shining out colors so brilliantly
Purple and red, orange and yellow and green
The most beautiful colors you have ever seen
Sometimes I swim near the coral reefs
I wear fins and a mask and dive real deep
And I always see the most amazing fish
As many fish as you could possibly wish
Big fish and small fish and fish of all types
Fish with dots and spots and stripes
Fish with big lips and fish with teeth
Fish with fine feathery fins underneath
Some fish are long and narrow and thin
And some have just one really big fin
Some fish are short and some are round
And some disappear and can’t be found
Some fish have long red streaming tails
And swirls of colors that look like snails
Some have big eyes and really long fins
Some are very strange-looking things
These amazing fish are everywhere around
I can’t even say how many fish I have found
They often catch you by surprise
Some have rings around their eyes
Some fish are shy and some fish are brave
Some fish hide in the coral caves
One fish swam down in the deep blue sea
Then I saw another one looking at me!
There are also dolphins and turtles and seals
And whales and crabs and sharks and eels
The ocean is full of many creatures
All with different ocean features
As we paddle canoes across the bay
A whales breaches and blows out spray
As the tropical tradewinds blow gently by
And tropicbirds soar through clear blue sky
Seabirds run across the sand
As palm trees sway in the gentle winds
Hawai‘i is a wonderful place to be
So much to do, so much to see
Sometimes we hike to the top of the mountains
And swim beneath waterfalls streaming down them
The mountains are green and the water is warm
I love living here on my island home
Well that is all I wanted to say
So thank you for sharing my story today
Someday you should visit the Hawaiian Islands
With beautiful beaches and warm, white sand
Aloha!
5. Hawaiian Surf Story
Hello everyone, how do you doMy name is Koa and I am pleased to meet you
I live on a tropical island called Kaua‘i
That is the northernmost island of Hawai‘i
The mountains are steep and tall and green
The most beautiful mountains you have ever seen
Waterfalls flow down from up high on the land
And the beaches are lined with golden sand
My home is close to a big sandy beach
So close that the sounds of the breaking waves reach
Over the sand and to my home so near
And in through my window and right to my ears
I wake up to the sounds of the waves outside
It is still dark so I roll over and close my eyes
And I fall back asleep for a few moments more
Then wake up again to the sounds from the shore
I sit up in bed, and in the dark I listen
I remember last night how the water glistened
In the evening when the sun went down
With the waves breaking all around
The sounds of the waves mean just one thing
It is time for my sister and I to go surfing
So I knock on her door and quietly shout
“Surf’s up, Leilani, let’s go check it out”
The waves are breaking along the shore
And out at the point there are even more
The wind is calm and the conditions are right
It is a perfect morning after a perfect night
So we go outside and grab our surfboards
Then walk to the ocean hardly saying a word
The stars disappear as it slowly gets light
And the birds start singing after a long, quiet night
We wax up our surfboards so our feet don’t slip
We wax up our surfboards from the tail to the tip
Then we walk across the sandy shore
And wade into the water and hop on our boards
We paddle our surfboards and paddle some more
Then a wave comes and Leilani turns toward shore
And suddenly the wave pushes her forward
She quickly jumps up and stands on her board
Leilani zooms down the face of the wave
I ride a wave too and I feel really brave
The wave is twice as tall as me
I ride the wave and yell, “Yipeeeeeee!”
The top of the wave throws forward and out
I go deep in the barrel and let out a shout
I am surfing and so can you
I love to surf in the ocean blue
Suddenly I’m somersaulted upside down
Pushed underwater and spun around
Then I float up above the foamy white sea
And I see another wave coming at me
Leilani is riding the wave’s steep face
Speeding along in the perfect place
She disappears in the tube and comes out
It is so amazing that I have to shout
Then I notice the colors of the rising sun
The sunrise sure is a beautiful one!
We better head home because Mama is waiting
Wow, look at all the colors the sunrise is creating!
At home Mama looks for her son and daughter
They are not home because they went to the water
She looks in their bedrooms and looks in their beds
But they are not sleeping—they are surfing instead
Mama isn’t worried, she knows they are okay
They often leave early to surf the bay
On the way home Koa and Leilani hurry
Just in case their Mama is worried
Leilani says, Mama we had so much fun!
The clear blue water was warmed by the sun
A cool rainshower made a rainbow appear
Mama I’m so glad we live right here
Surfing is something anyone can do
It is great exercise and super fun too
people surf waves all over the world
surfers old and young, surfers boys and girls
Surfers ride all different sizes of boards
From five feet long to ten feet and more
Some boards have three fins and some have just one
But all of these surfboards are lots of fun
Hawaiians surf waves and so can you
If you want to be a surfer, here is what to do
First you must learn to swim real well
That is the best advice I have to tell
Swimming every day will make you stronger
Practice so that you can stay in the water longer
Always be careful and respect the sea
And be as safe as you can be
6. The Story of Hawaiian Hula
On a grassy hill high above the oceanHula dancers move with gentle swaying motions
Perfectly together they dance across the ground
Their graceful bodies move in rhythm to the sounds
Hula dancers are trained in this ancient art
And are often very young when they first start
Learning the dances and the hula motions
Telling stories of the mountains and the ocean
Hula dances tell stories of Hawaiian history
It is the Hawaiian way of sharing the mysteries
Of how the ocean and earth and sky came to be
And how volcanoes became islands in the sea
A halau is a school where hula is learned
Tradition is passed down and respect is earned
As dancers study the meanings and the movements
Of the dances they perform as hula students
Hula dancers make motions with their hands
To illustrate the meanings of the chants
And they use the movements of their bodies
To express the words of island stories
In ancient Hawai‘i they did not write down words
Instead their stories were told and heard
In rhythmic chants that were said aloud
By Hawaiians strong and proud
The dances tell tales of animals and birds
And things that can’t be said in words
Stories of when the Polynesians arrived
What they ate and how they survived
They sailed to Hawai‘i on voyaging canoes
Using the stars in the sky as clues
Following the wind and the water’s motion
As they sailed over the Pacific Ocean
Hula dancers wear skirts made of green ti leaves
And leis of fragrant flowers they weave
Into necklaces and bracelets made with ferns
And mountain plants whose history they learn
They travel into the forest to find these plants
Stopping first to offer up their thanks
Together they prepare for the hula dance
Performing to the rhythm of the chants
Flowers encircle their ankles and arms
And their heads with long hair flowing down
As the cliffs behind them echo with the sounds
And the beauty of Hawai‘i all around
Hula dances of aloha and love
Giving thanks to the heavens above
Thanks for the rainbows and waterfalls
Thanks for the people one and all
That is the story of the hula dance
And mele, the ancient Hawaiian chants
Hula is very beautiful to see
It is the dance of Hawai‘i’s history
7. A Story of Two Turtles—Phil and Myrtle
This is the story of two sea turtles
a Hawksbill sea turtle named Phil
and a Green sea turtle named Myrtle
Hello said Myrtle, how do you do
I just happened to be passing through
I'm heading up to my nesting grounds
I'll be here a while, then I'll see you around
Hello, said Phil, quite excitedly
we’re both sea turtles, that's plain to see
yet some things are different between you and me
Myrtle looked around
looked up and looked down
happy about the new friend she had found
yes, said Myrtle, we're both sea turtles
but I am a she and you are a he
so you have a tail, being a turtle male
and I do not
I guess we're born what we're born
and we got what we got
you know what else I’ve noticed Myrtle
we are two totally different turtles
there are different kinds of turtles in this world
and we’re more different than just boys and girls
I can see we are different, it’s really quite easy
Hey, you and I are two different turtle species!
I am a Hawksbill sea turtle, and you are a Green
and there are some obvious differences I have seen
like where we nest, and what we eat
and my shell is different, and I have a pointed beak
one particular thing I have often seen
is the straighter walking of the Green
now excuse me, Phil, this may get me into trouble
but I noticed when you walk on land you wobble
Yes, it's true I have a different walk
but if I were you I wouldn't talk
because to me it’s your walk that seems strange
and it's also odd how far you range
Green sea turtles swim and then swim some more
to the northwest islands’ sandy shores
but Hawksbills lay eggs right next door
on Maui or Hawai‘i’s Big Island beaches
but you swim northwest to Hawai‘i’s farthest reaches
hey can you tell me something Phil
why is it you’re called Hawksbill
silly Myrtle, just take a peek
it’s because of the pointed shape of my beak
of course I see, she said, it’s true
and I bet it helps when you're getting food
Myrtle asked, what do Hawksbill turtles eat?
and Phil said, I feed near the coral reefs
I eat sponges and tasty anemones
and I must say, I have quite good taste
I like to feast on invertebrates
then Myrtle said wow, maybe I should
go out to the reef to find some food
at the coral reef the food sounds good
but near the shore is where I go
eating limu seaweed is all I know
its quite delicious, that’s for sure
and that’s what Green sea turtles prefer
hey Phil, Myrtle asked, how many eggs do Greens lay
well Myrtle, Phil said, several hundred a day
females lay them on shore deep in the sand
and then in two or three weeks they do it again
up to six times in one season they repeat this process
and laying eggs can be tiring, I must confess
then Myrtle said, I do that too
I lay eggs in the sand just like you
I climb above the high tide line
that’s where I dig and I take my time
to excavate a proper nest
I dig a while and then I rest
and then, since I don’t have hands
I reach in with my flippers as deep as I can
and I scrape and dig and scoop out the sand
I make a hole about two feet deep
so the eggs don’t get eaten as a treat
then I position my backside over the pit
almost like I'm going to sit
but instead I begin to lay them all
the eggs look just like ping-pong balls!
And into the pit the groups of eggs fall
first one, then five, then twenty more
until there's over one hundred eggs stored
deep in the underground chamber I made
in just 20 minutes all the eggs have been laid
in a hole in the sand, and that’s where they’ll stay
covering them with sand may take an hour
by then I'm quite tired and have just enough power
to smooth over the surface so no one can tell
that under the sand are turtles in shells
I bury the eggs to keep them safe
And protect them for the special day
When the baby turtles have grown in the shells
So there’s a turtle in every egg that fell
when I’m done laying eggs I return to the sea
where I wait for babies that look like me
yes, after I cover the eggs with sand
I return to the ocean, leaving the land
but my eggs remain to incubate
under the sand they await their fate
in two months the eggs are quite a sight
all of them have baby turtles inside
who shake their shells with all their might
until one by one the turtle eggs begin to crack
with a boom! and a pow! and a smack! and a whack!
underneath the sand the babies greet one another
and it’s dark and cool, and they’re practically smothered
so they all work together to climb out from under the sand
and they all pass sand from hand to hand
or flipper to flipper really (since that's what they have)
it really puts the turtles to the test
as they try to find their way out of their nest
they pass the sand from the ceiling to the floor
they move some sand and then move some more
then they all stop when there’s just one inch of sand left
to wait for darkness is the best
so they pause, and wait, and get some rest
before they emerge from their sandy nest
yes, nighttime is the right time
to dash for the sea
because there’s more dangers around here
than you can believe
you see, once all the turtle eggs are hatched
the babies are easy for crabs to catch
and seabirds and other dangerous creatures that lurk
on the beach in the night when the hatchlings emerge
and the moon and the stars reflect off the sea
the babies are drawn toward the light, instinctively
each turtle hatchling measures just an inch and a half
they’re so small and cute, when you see them you laugh
but it’s not funny when you're being chased
so they head for the water, no time to waste
so wouldn’t you know
to the ocean they go
yes, that's where they run
but it's not too much fun
because some can't take it
and many don’t make it
and at this point a turtle can’t fake it!
go turtle! go turtle! dash for the sea!
they all hope to make it, it’s a sight to see
as they scurry and scamper and rush and hurry
chased by things with shells and things furry
birds with feathers try to swoop down and grab them
and all kinds of animals are happy to nab them
well Phil, that is how Green sea turtles nest
then when we reach the ocean, well... you know the rest
thank you Myrtle, I like that story
those hatchlings go through quite a worry
you’re a Green sea turtle Phil, and you told that well
us Hawksbill sea turtles also have tales to tell
it is nice that sea turtles are still able to survive
because it’s not always easy to stay alive
with so many things in the ocean to fear
I'm glad so many of us are still here
and I’m sad that sea turtles are so endangered
and I’m glad you’re my friend and not a stranger
hey look, there goes a Hawaiian monk seal
I’ve seen them eat octopus, lobster and eels
at 400 pounds and seven feet long
I'll bet you that seal is plenty strong
still I can’t imagine eating an eel
hey, that reminds me, I could use a meal
well good luck Phil, and I'm sure that you will
find plenty of food and you will get your fill
I must go now too and that makes me blue
because I’m happy to meet a nice turtle like you
but now I must swim to my nesting grounds
so maybe next year I’ll see you around
I’ll miss you, Myrtle, do you know what I mean
You’re the keenest Green I’ve ever seen
but before you go, I really must know
why is it that you swim so far
it’s too bad you cannot drive a car
don't you get tired or sad or bored
swimming 600 miles in the ocean or more
you swim to the northwest Hawaiian Islands
just to lay your turtle eggs in the sand
well, I must tell you Phil
it really feels quite natural
it's what my species has always done
and actually I think it’s kind of fun
the northwest Hawaiian Islands are so very fine
you must come up and visit sometime
and I’ll tell you another turtle rhyme
I would like that Myrtle, you're a very nice turtle
you look like me but differently
we’re similar, but quite distinct
we’re both sea turtles, it’s our common link
except you eat different things and have different habits
hey, we’re kind of like hares and rabbits
they look the same until you get real near
and see that hares have longer ears
Hawksbills nest here at the southeast end
of the Hawaiian chain, on the Big Island
now Myrtle, will you tell me again
where is it you go northwest of here
I go far from these Hawaiian Islands so dear
well Phil, I fulfill my turtle nesting role
and to do that I must reach my ultimate goal
a small island known as French Frigate Shoals
northwest of the eight main Hawaiian Islands
it’s really quite small, and has nice white sand
that’s where Green sea turtles prefer to nest
I know that I do, and so do the rest
so Philly, you silly, do you really like it here
on Big Island shores with volcanoes so near?
of course I do Myrtle, you funny turtle
I like these shores and then I like them some more
at night I see the red hot lava flow
high up on the volcano I see it glow
sometimes it flows right down to the coast
I like that the most, it's so awesome to see
it’s so red and hot when it hits the sea
lava crackles! and booms! when it hits the water
you know once I had to protect my daughter
she swam too close, the water was boiling
I yelled, baby stop, come back this way
if you go to far you'll be flambé’
you'll never recoup
you will be turtle soup
she swam back to safety, her body red-hot
you see, some water is nice... and some is not
wow, thank you for telling me that Phil
I'll be quite careful near shore, but still
It is amazing to see the red lava flow
and I'll always remember your Hawksbill nose
it is such a fine beak that the Hawksbill has
though my beak also has pizzazz
Now as far as turtles go
I think that I have come to know
That a Green is a Green
and a Hawksbill is a Hawksbill
we're quite related
and for that I'm elated
yet we are very different creatures
with different turtle features
I have noticed Phil, that all over the world
animals are different, wherever you go
it's fun to see them and learn what they’re like
so I hope people help keep animals alive
and help endangered species survive
if I could talk to humans today
here is exactly what I would say
please help us keep the oceans clean
and keep beaches safe where turtles are seen
and help protect coral reefs where you live
for then you have given all you can give
to protect the Hawaiian sea turtles' home
and keep turtles happy wherever they roam.
8. A to Z Hawai‘i
A is for Albatross flying over the ocean
Soaring high above with graceful motions
On the land the albatross does silly bird dances
One puts up its beak while the other one prances
B is for Bats diving through the air
They swoop down fast and give you a scare
Hawaiian bats come out at night to fly
If the moon is out you might see one fly by
C is for Coral Reefs full of fish
In every shape and color you wish
Fish with dots and spots and stripes
Fish of every different type
D is for dolphins jumping in the sea
Diving back into the water with glee
Leaping from the water joyfully
E is for Eels underwater in caves
Swim down and see one if you feel brave
They are long and thin and colorful creatures
Sharp teeth are one of their eel features
F is for Frigate Birds flying above the ocean
Swooping down from above in one smooth motion
They scare other birds into dropping their food
Which they catch from mid-air if it looks any good
G is for Geckos walking upside down
They are small and green and make funny sounds
With green heads and tails and cute gecko toes
They run very fast, just watch them go!
H is for Honu, the turtle in the sea
Swimming around in the ocean free
Sea turtles have beautiful green shells
I is for ‘I‘iwi birds with long curving beaks
Landing on flowers with nectar they seek
They use their beak to feed on the flowers
and then hide during tropical rainshowers
J is for Jellyfish floating in the sea
They float on the surface and are hard to see
Be careful, because their tentacles sting!
Getting stung can be a painful thing
K is for the Kamehameha butterfly
Fluttering through the Hawaiian sky
With colorful wings that are orange and black
First they fly one way, then they fly back
L is for Lava flowing into the sea
Lychee fruits as tasty as can be
Red hot Lava flowing into the sea
Limu seaweed growing near the shore
Lau (leaf)
lehua (flower of OL)
Leis of flowers so beautiful
M is for Monk Seals swimming near shore
They sleep on the beach, and sometimes snore!
The seals swim down into the ocean deep
And then feed on fish near the coral reef
N is for Nēnē, Hawai‘i’s state bird
The Nēnē is a goose, if you haven’t heard
They fly in flocks, you really should know
They like to walk on old lava flows
O is for Octopus on the ocean bottom
When it grabs a fish it has really got him
If an octopus is scared it squirts out ink
Then hides beneath coral that is pink
P is for the bird called the Plover
Look up and you will see one fly over
They come from Alaska, and to make the flight
Plovers fly all day and all night
Q is for Queen Lili‘uokalani
She was the last queen of Hawai‘i
She liked to wear leis of flowers
And she held all the royal power
R is for Rainbows coloring the sky
Red, green and purple dazzle the eyes
The beautiful colors are a sight to see
Arcing through the sky so magically
S is for surfing on the ocean waves
Catch a big wave if you feel real brave
Then ride the wave on your new surfboard
Surf the wave all the way to shore
T is for Tropicbirds flying so high
Look up and see them soar in the sky
They have pretty feathers and very long tails
See them spread their wings and sail
U is for the ‘Ukulele, invented in Hawai‘i
It is a musical instrument everyone should try
If you practice you can learn how to use it
And play beautiful Hawaiian music
V is for Volcanos with red-hot lava flowing
At night you can see them erupting and glowing
The lava flows all the way down to the sea
Crackling and popping, as noisy as can be
W is for Whales jumping from the sea
A breaching whale is a sight to see
They use their fins to swim very fast
Then jump from the water and land with a splash
X is for the X-ray of the whale
You can see its bones from its head to its tail
The skeleton is huge but it is very light
If you think it is big, then you are right
Y is for young children playing by the sea
At the beach in Hawai‘i is the place to be
The water is warm and crystal clear
Go swimming and see the fish by the pier
Z is for Zebras, but they don’t live in Hawai‘i
But zebrafish do! Okay then, bye, bye!
Chapter 19—Part II. Hawaiian Childrens’ Stories
Somewhat silly, Hawaiian-themed, rhyming stories.
1. The Great Gecko Invasion.2. Harry the Happyface Spider.
3. Kailani the Humpback Whale.
4. Neal the Eel.
5. The Gecko and the Seal.
6. Al the Famous Whale and the Pig on the Moon.
7. Dawn Patrol.8. Sam the Surfing Turtle.
9. Hello Little Birdie.
1.The Great Gecko Invasion
I was sitting at the kitchen table
When a tiny gecko appeared
I don’t know what he wanted
But I saw him move his ears
He wasn’t very big
But he was definitely green
He ran across the ceiling
Then across the window screen
Then I saw two more geckos
Running up the wall
They were upside down above me
I thought that they would fall
Suddenly five more geckos
Appeared all in a row
Three ran up the wall
Then two more ran below
The geckos ran around the room
As more came through the door
They came in through the window
And ran across the floor
One gecko fell right on my head
And then ran across my hair
It ran down over my nose
And hopped onto my chair
There were lots of little geckos
It really was exciting!
Two poked their heads up above the clock
I guess that they were hiding
Suddenly there were geckos
Everywhere I looked
Geckos on my desk
And geckos on my books
All around the kitchen
And up and down the hall
Geckos running back and forth
Geckos big and small
Geckos on the table
And geckos on the chairs
Geckos on the couch
Geckos everywhere!
Then I looked outside the window
And as far as I could see
Geckos and more geckos
Stretching to infinity!
I didn’t know just what to do
I started getting scared
There must have been 100 geckos
Running up the stairs
Then suddenly... I woke up...in bed
And I was looking at the ceiling
And there was just one single gecko there
And I had the strangest feeling
Everything was quiet
Then the gecko made a sound
I guess I had been dreaming
So I turned... and looked around
A Hawaiian Surf Story