leprechaun in his pot of gold

Well, back home in Hawaii, we kids grew up looking for menehune, the tiny native folk who also do mysterious things, like build fish ponds and other stone structures in the middle of the night.

There are also a lot of lava caves around for them to live in. I remember as a child on long car trips, looking eagerly for a glimpse of one of those little menehune coming out of the numerous lava tubes/caves along the side of the road of the Big Island. We had lots of rainbows on Hawaii Island, but no gold deposits anywhere (being as it’s volcanic).

One of my high school friends told me that once as a young boy on a cub scout hike, his troop came across very small footprints in the mud of our hilly, rural area of the Big Island. He says they excitedly followed the footprints for a while, which were spaced only a few inches apart. They looked like tiny baby foot impressions in the mud, along a dirt road next to a sugar cane field. Then the Cub Scout Master became scared (probably as he realized these may have been spirits), and they left the area immediately. Who knows? He told me he thought they were menehune footprints.

By the way, one of my friends in town is Hawaiian singer Ernie Menehune (originally from Kauai), who still sings at luaus and sometimes at the Kon Tiki, 4625 E. Broadway.

Anyway, celebrate St. Patrick’s Day today by wearing green (I am) and hoping to find that Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. I know I’m still looking for it.

May the luck of the Irish be with you today.

Erin go braugh!