#menehune

MENEHUNE

Race of small people who once lived on the Hawaiian Islands and are often described as fairies. According to lore they lived there for centuries before the Hawaiian settlers arrived and the places where they lived are thought to be haunted. Historians believe that menehune comes from the Tahitian menahune, or 'commoner', and refers to a race of people who were small in social rather than physical stature.

Whatever their past the menehune have emerged as playful elves—pot bellied, naked, hairy and muscular with bushy eyebrows and hair over large eyes and a short nose with a trace of the mischievousness of their European counterparts. According to lore they are between four inches and two feet high. They enjoy singing, dancing and archery and are strong workers who prefer to work at night to avoid people. Legend has it that they are engineers who build walls, ponds and temples, but they lose interest in a project quickly and if a job is not completed in one night they are unlikely to return to finish it. If the menehune approve of a project they are said to help the construction process at night, but if they disapprove or if offerings of food are not left out for them, they will attempt to disrupt work with mysterious breakdowns and happenings.

A Mo’o (Hawaiian draconic lizard shapeshifter)

An `Ōlohe (Skilled warriors but also seen as a sort of canine-esque lycanthrope with martial arts capabilities)

A Menehune (Noctrunal craftsmen that are good at architecture and fishing)

Niihau Ogre (from a myth about flesh eating winged monsters Niihau)

A Kasha (Japanese youkai, but has been sighted in Oahu back in 1942)

A Paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy/cowgirl)

A Shrine Maiden (goes without saying if you know Touhou)

Also my friend is working on a drawing of my wahine hiʻu iʻa OC. Y’know the mermaid with a jellyfish tail.

Legends and myths about trees

Forest spirits and natives (3)

Menehune - Legendary dwarves who live in the deep forests of Hawaii

Menehune are a mythological race of dwarf people in tradition who are said to live in the deep forests and hidden valleys of the Hawaiian Islands, hidden and far away from human settlements.

The Menehune are described as superb craftspeople. They built temples (heiau), fishponds, roads, canoes, and houses. Some of these structures that Hawaiian folklore attributed to the Menehune still exist. They are said to have lived in Hawaii before settlers arrived from Polynesia many centuries ago. Their favorite food is the maiʻa (banana), and they also like fish. Legend has it that the Menehune appear only during the night hours to build masterpieces. But if they fail to complete their work in the length of the night, they’ll leave it unoccupied. No one but their children and humans connected to them can see the Menehune.

While archaeologists have never found remains of a distinctively small race of ancient people in Hawaii, many think the Menehune legend may well have a basis in fact. In 2003, a species of dwarf human was discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores. Homo floresiensis was only about 1 meter in height and fully bipedal. The skull has human-like teeth with a receding forehead and no chin.

Fossils have been discovered from 38,000 to 18,000 years ago, though archeological evidence suggests it lived on Flores between at least 95,000 and 13,000 years ago. It used stone tools and fire, and hunted pygmy elephants, Komodo dragons, and the giant rats found on Flores. Its discoverers believe that h. floresiensis is a dwarf form of Homo erectus. It is not uncommon for dwarf forms of large mammals to evolve on islands. Modern humans arrived on Flores between 55,000 and 35,000 years ago, and presumably interacted with h. floresiensis (Refrence: “The Three Menehune of Ainahou (Maui)” by Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr).

木にまつわる伝説・神話

森の精霊たちと原住民 (3)

メネフネ 〜 ハワイの深い森に住む伝説の小人族

メネフネとは、ハワイに伝わる神話上の小人族で、ハワイ諸島の深い森や隠れた谷に住み、人里から遠く離れたところに住んでいると言われている。

メネフネ族は、優れた職人で、神殿 (ハワイ語:ﾍｲｱｳ)、養魚池 (メネフネ養魚池)、道路、カヌー、家などを建設した。ハワイの民間伝承では、メネフネのものとされるこれらの建造物は、今でもいくつか残っている。彼らは、何世紀も前にポリネシアから入植者たちがやってくる以前からハワイに住んでいたと言われている。好物はバナナ (ハワイ語: ﾏｲｱ) で、魚も好物である。伝説によると、メネフネたちは夜の間だけ現れ、傑作を作り上げると言われている。しかし、夜の長さの中で作品を完成させることができなければ、その作品は無人のまま放置される。彼らの子供と彼らにつながることが出来る人間以外には、メネフネを見ることはできない。

ハワイでは、考古学者が小人類の遺跡を発見したことはないが、メネフネ伝説には根拠があると考える人は多い。2003年、インドネシアのフローレス島で、小人の一種が発見された。ホモ・フロレシエンシスは、身長が1メートルほどしかなく、完全な二足歩行であった。頭蓋骨には人間のような歯があり、額は後退し、顎はない。

Cryptid of the Day: Menehune

Image by Hugo Solis, © Frog God Games. Accessed at the artist's deviantArt page here

[This is art from an actual Pathfinder product! These menehune appeared in Razor Coast, a long delayed (and sadly, not very good) 3pp Pathfinder module. The mechanics that game used for menehune was as a variant of gnomes, which makes a certain amount of sense, with fire themed powers, which doesn't. That kind of sums up all of Razor Coast: it was more interested in stereotypes about Pacific Islanders and riffing on vaguely Hawaiian themes (like Pele and volcanoes) than it was about actual Pacific Island cultures.

Interestingly, there's a fair amount of debate about the age and origins of menehune legends. Some folklorists believe that they're syncretic, a combination of Native Hawaiian stories with European fairy lore. Others say that, because "manahune" is Tahitian for "commoner", that the original menehunes were an ethnic minority that was disenfranchised and displaced following Tahitian immigration to Hawaii. I was unable to find a scholarly or semi-scholarly reference to the idea that menehune use arrows, Cupid style, to make people fall in love, but it's commonly reported on Hawaiian tourism websites. Plus, it gives them a unique ability.]

Menehune CR 4 CN Fey This little humanoid is stout and heavily muscled, with red hair and a mischievous twinkle in their eyes.

Menehune are especially human-like fey who live on tropical islands. They are expert craftsmen and builders, and their monuments and achievements crop up overnight. Literally—menehune are strangely perfectionist, and if a construction job takes them more than a single night, they will abandon it. Fortunately, they work with supernatural speed, and a team of menehune can create roads, aquifers or ramparts in a matter of hours. Menehune dislike being interrupted or observed in this work. Menehune sleep during the day and work at night, typically in hollow trees, caves or other places that are comfortably dark. They are omnivorous, and feed on a diet of fruit, tubers and fish. Bananas are a particular favorite. Menehune are afraid of owls.

Few menehune relish a fight, but their incredible strength makes them relatively skilled combatants.  If interlopers attempt to spy on their work, the menehune will usually flee, although they may fire magical charming arrows as they go. These arrows do not charm the struck creature to the menehune, but instead cause brief, rapturous love towards the first compatible person the victim sees. If the menehune are pursued, or if their constructions are damaged, they may well respond with lethal force.

A menehune stands between two and three feet tall. Most have brown skin and red hair. They may be mistaken for especially burly halflings, especially at a distance.