Kama-puaa

Role: demi-god · First appears: Chapter VIII · Pele and Kama-puaa · Part 1

In Chapter VIII, Pele’s sister suggested that Kama-puaa might marry one of the sisters if Pele freed him from her tabu. Pele attacked him with sulphur-smoke and boiling lava, but he checked the eruption and stood unharmed; she then sent Kane-hoa-lani to speak to him, beginning their reconciliation. For a time they lived as husband and wife in various parts of Puna, and a son, Opelu-haa-lii, was born but lived only a short while. Their marriage ended amid quarrels and strife. When Kama-puaa summoned ocean waters that quenched Pele’s lava and drove her inland, she returned to her spirit home in Kilauea’s pit.

In another account in Chapter VIII, Kama-puaa flooded the crater until Pele was almost drowned, but she and her allies drove him back with eruptions and lava. He changed himself into grass to escape the lava, then into a fish and gave up the battle. The account says he fled to foreign lands, married a high chiefess, and lived with his family for many years. During his adventure in Pele’s domains, the two demi-gods divided the islands and swore an oath to keep their territories. When Pele asked him to return and share the land, he refused to break it.

Chapter X lists Kama-puaa among Pele’s four husbands, each of whom lived with her for a time.