A long time ago, there was a very dry time on the island of O`ahu. No rains fell. All the streams were dry. Because there was no rain, the crops were not able to grow and the people were becoming worried.

At the foot of Rocky Hill, at the base of Mānoa Valley, lived an old couple and these dry times were hard on them…

Every day, Mukaka, the husband would walk up to Mānoa Valley to get ti roots and ferms for food. His wife, Kealoha, would walk down to Ka-Mo`ili`ili where the stream flowed. She would fill her water gourds there and carry them up the long, rough trail to her home near Rocky Hill…

One day, the trip seemed more difficult than ever so Kealoha stopped to rest on a rock. Water was very important so she knew she needed to go to Ka-Mo`ili`ili each day. But she was very tired, and didn’t want to continue…

She got up and lifted her carrying pole. It was a windy day, and the wind almost blew her down, but she struggled to walk back home. Mukaka was preparing food when she arrived home, but she was too tired to eat. She laid down on her mats and cried because she was so weary. When she finally got to sleep, she had a dream…

In the dream, a man stood by her and asked, “why are you crying?”

Kealoha answered that she was very weary because of the long, hot, dusty path she had to take every day to Ka-Mo`ili`ili and that she was too tired…

The man told Kealoha that she didn’t need to go to Ka-Mo`ili`ili every day because under a hala tree near her home there was a spring. And there she could fill her gourds… Then the man was gone.

In the morning, Kealoha told Mukaka about her dream. But he didn’t think it was true. He thought it was an empty dream that came about because she was thirsty…

Mukaka began to walk toward the upland mauka, and Kealoha watched him wondering why he didn’t do what the dream said: to pull up the hala tree to search for the spring… She went to look at the tree and saw that the ground was dry and hard, so maybe there wasn’t any water there. The dream must have been empty.

But that night as they were sleeping, Mukaka had a dream. In his dream, a man sat by him and told Mukaka that there was water under the tree. The man told Mukaka what to do. Mukaka had to catch some red fish and cook them in an `imu, then make an offering. Only then would Mukaka have the strength to pull the hala tree out of the ground to fill the spring…

When Mukaka got up the next morning, he realized he had the same dream as his wife; he knew he needed to do what the man in the dream said to…

So Mukaka and a friend went to Waikiki to fish. They were able to catch some red fish; Mukaka knew that the god, Kāne, was with them. They rushed home to heat the `imu. When the fish were cooked, Mukaka prayed. Then they ate. And after that, Mukaka told his friend about the two dreams he and his wife had had. Now it was time to pull up the hala tree to see if there was any truth to the dream. The two men grabbed the hala tree and they pulled hard. Their muscles strained, and sweat poured down their bodies… They stopped for a while, then tried again, but the tree didn’t move. The friend looked at the ground and said that there couldn’t be any water here…

Mukaka said that he knew the dream was true. He knew Kāne was with them. So he had to try again… So the two men began to pull again, and this time, the tree began to move. They pulled harder and harder and finally, the tree came out of the ground. And they saw water moistening the earth. Mukaka ran to get his digging stick, his o`o, to clear away the dirt and stones. A tiny stream began to gush out. The three people stared and Kealoha shouted, “Ka Punahou! The new spring!”

Now there was water for the entire neighborhood! Kealoha didn’t have to walk to Ka-Mo`ili`ili. Water soaked the ground. Walls were built, and taro was planted. Through these taro patches, lo`i kalo, water flowed steadily. Fish, i`a, were brought there. The i`a and kalo grew so the spring provided food as well as water. The people thanked the gods, Kāne and Lono, the gods of agriculture. Now their lives were good…

Many years later, a school, Punahou, was built beside that spring. And it bears the name Kealoha shouted in joy. The school seal is a hala tree, with water and kalo leaves. The founders of Punahou said that the school would be a spring for wisdom, a fountain of learning. As the hala tree stands firm through wind or storm, so shall the children of this school stand strong and brave through joy and sorrow. As the hala has many uses, so shall these children be useful to Hawai`i.

How did you come across this folklore: “This is a narrated version of the legend that I did, an adapted version of the one written down by Mary Kawena Pukui, a Hawaiian teacher and linguist.”

The legend of Ka Punahou––although it may be dismissed by outsiders to the Punahou community as just that, a legend––is an integral part of education at Punahou School, and a story passed down generations through faculty and students that is frequently reenacted. Everyone at Punahou must know the story and will see it performed/have to perform it at some point in her Punahou experience. At this point, it could even be folklorismus, as maybe it was invented just for the purposes of a school creation story, but it keeps getting told and the vast majority of the Punahou community would argue in favor of its plausibility and value to the institution.