The list of contributions to the literature of Kaua’i by legend collector and teller Frederick Bruce Wichman is continuing to grow. Wichman grew up on Kaua’i and as a young man began to collect legends and place names from native
The list of contributions to the literature of Kaua’i by legend collector and teller Frederick Bruce Wichman is continuing to grow.
Wichman grew up on Kaua’i and as a young man began to collect legends and place names from native Hawaiians. He began to write for an audience in the 1940s when he wrote feature stories for The Garden Island during the editorship of Charlie Fern. Since his return from a career on the Mainland over a decade ago, Wichman has been publishing books of legends and place names.
His latest work is “Pele Ma”, the fourth title in his popular series of Hawaiian legends books from Bamboo Ridge Press.
Wichman is scheduled to speak at Borders Books and Music on Sunday, March 3 at 2 p.m. The writing of “Pele Ma” will be the focus of his talk. He will be joined by Kaua’i artist Christine Fay, the illustrator who has provided the distinctive pen and ink drawings for the book series.
From his home on Kaua’i’s North Shore Wichman has provided insights into his writing, his books and his life in an interview with The Garden Island.
TGI: Tell us about your writing and your life:
BW: I suppose my resume belongs to my retirement years. After twenty-five years of teaching, I returned to Kaua’i and began to write. I now have five books in print: “Kauai Tales”, “Polihale”, “More Kauai Tales”, and “Pele Ma”, all published by Bamboo Ridge Press, and “Kaua’i: Ancient Place Names and Their Sources” published by UH Press, which is also preparing “Na Pua Ali’i, The Ruling Chiefs of Kaua’i” for publication later this year.
“The Kaua’i Historical Society is about to issue “Touring the Legends of Koke’e,” a collection of stories for the kama’aina and malihini. There is also a “Touring the Legends of the North Shore” in manuscript.
In 1999 the Kauai Museum named me a “Living Treasure” and I am trying to live up to the name. I grew up at Pihanakalani in Wailua-uka at a time when families entertained themselves with story-telling. I’ve always enjoyed writing and in the summer of 1948, I worked for Charlie Fern and The Garden Island writing feature articles which he assigned me. So the circle now comes around again.
TGI: What legends are included in “Pele Ma”?
BW: “Pele Ma”, for the first time, contains stories concerning a small group of people who lived or visited Kaua’i at the same time, Pele, Kapo, Hi’iaka, Wahine’omao, Lohi’au, Paoa and Kamapua’a. The adventures of these people on other islands are better known and for the first time, their Kaua’i experiences are gathered together in one place.
TGI: Where do you find your legends that appear in your book?
BW: I have found these legends in many places: William Hyde Rice’s “Hawaiian Legends;” Emerson’s “Pele and Hi’iaka,” and his “Unwritten Literature;” Fornander’s “Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-lore;” and above all, tales told by my grandfather Charles A. Rice as we rode over the trail to Kipukai, and Jacob Maka as we would visit Ke’e where Pele first met Lohi’au.
Although this book (“Pele Ma) contains, except for one story, events that happened on Kaua’i, it is designed to be enjoyed by anyone who likes a good story.
TGI: What will you speak about on Sunday?
BW: At Borders I will read one of the stories and then be open to questions. I claim to be able to talk no more than eight hours without notes!
TGI: Tell us about the staging of “Pele Ma” at the Kauai Museum.
BW: For me, to see my stories and words come back to me as a staged play was extraordinary. The people I’d lived with for so long suddenly came to life. I will never again think of Kamapua’a without seeing in my mind’s eye the actor who brought him to life. I found that there was a great deal more humor in these stories than I thought there was. The students of John Wat did a magnificent job, as did he, and I am very grateful for the experience.
TGI: Why did you start writing down the legends you have collected?
BW: I began to write these stories because I found that most of them had been forgotten and my own children urged me to retell the legends so that they and their children would remember them. Since then, I have watched happily as some of these have been told by professional story-tellers, read onto cassette tape, turned into hula, been translated into Hawaiian, and an animated cartoon was made of one story (“Homai ka wa’a”). Best of all, I’ve had people tell me a story that obviously was learned from one of my books. These legends and stories have come back to life!
TGI: What will your new book be about?
BW: At the moment, the University of Hawai’i Press is preparing “Na Pua Ali’i o Kaua’i” for their printer. I took the genealogy of the ruling chiefs of this island and gathered everything I could find about each chief, so all the legends are now listed in chronological order. I am working on the legend of Kawelo-lei-makua who lived some time near 1700 A.D., a rich and complex legend of enmity between Kawelo and his cousin Aikanaka. I also have written about a third of another book of tales, and have outlined the legends swirling around Mo’ikeha (circa 1100 A.D.), his sister Ha’inakolo, his adopted son La’a-mai-kahiki, his son Kila and his granddaughter Ka-‘ili-lau-o-ke koa. I haven’t run out of things to do yet.
TGI: You’ve done extensive research and writing about the place names of Kaua’i. Why have you focused on this area of the Hawaiian language?
BW: When I returned to Kaua’i after my retirement from teaching, I heard people referring to places with English names which meant nothing to me. Then I realized that these places had Hawaiian names and began to look these up in the hopes they’d be used as they had been for thousands of years. From the first place name, I found a second, and, like eating peanuts, I could never stop. I have searched through old maps, place names lists buried in the files of Bishop Museum and the State Archives, the entire mahele records of 1850. For each entry, I give the Hawaiian name, a possible English translation, state what exactly is being named, any story I’ve learned about that place or a comment if it is, for example, the name of a tree, and the sources where I have found this name. I am still working on this collection.
