Hawaiians revere, love, worship and dread their sharks. It’s almost always a complicated relationship for they believe some of them are protectors and sometimes they even dedicate dead people to sharks hoping that the departed ones become one. Such a shark, they believe, would become their aumakua , a personal deity who would even bump off an enemy , if need be. But our shark boy here is of a different kind…
Kalei was a very attractive girl who lived in the picturesque Waipio valley in Hawaii. Kalei loved shellfish and would often go to the spot where the Waipio river emptied itself into the sea. The sea was often rough here and her friends were afraid to accompany her. But young Kalei would go alone in the evenings to pick up some for dinner.
The waters from the Waipio fell into a large pool which opened out to the sea and also happened to be a favoured haunt of Kamohoalii, the shark god. He watched her expertly jump from the top of the waterfall and swim in the moonlight. No surprise here that he soon fell in love with the maiden.
The shark gods were shape shifters and transforming himself into a handsome young man, Kamohoalii appeared before her. Claiming to be a chief from a faraway island, he proposed marriage. The girl took him back to her village, where he impressed her parents and kinsmen alike. Very soon, the young couple were wed and lived happily in the valley.
In due course, they were expecting their first child and Kamohoalii realised sadly that his time was up. “I’m afraid it’s time for me to go Kaeli, and go I must. The child born to you will be a boy and when the time comes make sure you have the child alone. Take good care as he grows up and one thing — never ever feed him meat!”
Kaeli tearfully watched as her husband jumped down the waterfall of the Waipio and disappeared mysteriously into the swirling waters.
Following her husband’s instructions Kaeli chose to have her baby in a secluded place. One stormy night a beautiful baby was born to her. He was angelic to look at, a mirror image of his mother but on his back between his shoulder blades was an open hole, which resembled a fish’s mouth. Kaeli quickly wrapped the infant in a kapa (traditional cloth made of tree bark) and shed silent tears. She understood now why her husband wanted her to have the baby alone. This would be their secret, she told herself as she gently rocked the infant in her arms. She named him Nanaue.
Nanahue grew up among his mother’s people and when the boy was old enough, his grandfather took him to dine with the men in the family (according to custom, men and women ate in separate areas). Although Kaeli had given her father strict instructions about Nanahue, that he could not be fed meat, the old man encouraged the boy to eat pork and dog meat. A growing boy needed to eat meat to make him big and strong, thought the grandfather, who had dreams of his little grandson becoming a warrior serving in King Umi’s army.
The boy ate the forbidden food with such relish and wiped his plate clean in seconds, demanding more, much to his grandfather’s delight. And that was when rows of sharp teeth began to appear in that hole on his back.
Kalei discovered this one night when he removed his kapa which he wore at all times when outside his home. She was horrified but worse was to come when they went to the pool to bathe.
Kaeli was always careful to take her son to the water when nobody else was around for she knew prying eyes would spot that deformity on his otherwise perfect body. This time when he dived into the pool, he turned into a young shark.
Kaeli watched him from the banks, chasing smaller fish and other sea creatures, devouring them with his frightfully huge teeth. He certainly had a big appetite.
As he grew into a young man, Nanaue kept mostly to himself and never played games or indulged in any activity with the other boys in their village.
This was because he was afraid that his kapa would slip accidentally and his secret would be discovered.
Nanaue’s appetite increased too. All the meat served at home and the fish in the sea he caught were not enough to quell his hunger. That’s when he began to prey on unsuspecting people who went to the sea alone.
All day he would work in his mother’s taro and potato patch and everyone thought him to be a hardworking and good son to his poor mother.
Whenever he would see someone making their way to the sea alone, to fish or bathe, he would greet them cheerfully.
He would ask them where they were going and when they would respond saying “To the sea,” he would wave and say “Careful... or you may disappear head and tail.” Often these people never returned from the sea.
Nanahue would follow the unsuspecting man or woman, and once he was sure there was no one else in sight, he would follow them into the sea. On entering the water, the shape shifter boy would turn into a deadly shark and attack his hapless victim.
People of Waipoi began to get alarmed at the increasing shark attacks and were wary of going even to take a dip in the pool for they began to realise that no one who went alone ever came back alive.
But Nanahue, the strange young recluse continued to spend many hours in the water, perfectly happy to swim and splash about all by himself.
To be continued…