HAWAIIAN LEGENDS OF TRICKSTERS AND RIDDLERS

Twelve trenchant little tales of one-upmanship in old Hawaii, songful, mellow, inventively shaped, and imaginatively shadowed in tri-color khakis. Twelve crafty heroes pitting wits or skills or both against forces of evil in spirits and people--in spear-throwing, ball-hurling, and riddling contests to save face. . . or lives. Solving the Sphinx riddle keeps a man's head from baking in an oven; erecting an effigy of a god-protector frightens wicked islanders away; proving the food-value of a day's field-labor earns a wayward youth a reprieve; and out-guessing the very highest chieftain puts the victor on his throne. From the knowledgeable author of Hawaiian Myths of Earth, Sea, and Sky (1966), provocative prefaces capsuling background information and a glossary at the end of the book. Pleasant and different (there's none such extant)--Hana hou! Do it again!