A Riddle

The native Hawaiians were quite fond of riddles (with riddles similar to the riddle contest in The Hobbit). Here’s an example:

Kuu ana ula, ku lalani na koa kapa keokeo.

In my red cave stand in rows white-clad soldiers.

Here is the answer:

Teeth.

Got it? Get the idea?

Now try this one:

Kuu mau koi, nana e kalai na waa liilii ha waa kia loa.

My hatchets carve out little canoes and long-masted canoes.

 

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Bare feet, large and small, going over a trail.

(Note that a bare footprint looks a bit like a hatchet.)

Found in “Hawaiian Riddling”, by Martha W. Beckwith, American Anthropologist, Vol. 24, p. 314 (1922).

 

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