Legend of the Ohia Tree -Guest Heart Thursday

This drawing was inspired by a recent blog entry, by my sweet young friend Maria Kristina Maano.  She wrote,"I saw many dull and short trees with bright red blossoms. I wondered what a contrast! Then learned about a legend of beautiful Lehua flowers on Ohia tree."

It is a beautiful, but tragic story.  There once was an uncommonly handsome young man named Ohia.

He loved a beautiful girl called Lehua.  They had pledged their lives to one another.

But one day Pele, the goddess of the volcano caught sight of him and because of Ohia's beauty, she wanted the young man for herself. She appeared to him in all her glory--a stunning woman with flashing eyes and glowing red hair waving to her knees.  But Ohia refused Pele's love, saying, "My heart already belongs to Lehua."

Pele had an explosive temper.  Because her love had been spurned, it turned into hatred.  In fierce anger, she turned Ohia into an ungainly, ugly tree with gnarled silvery bark.  When Lehua saw what the goddess had done, she fell upon her knees to beg Pele to be merciful and give Ohia back his human form.  But Pele held a great grudge against the young man and would not relent.

So day after day Lehua sat at the wooden feet of her lover, arms entwined about the twisted silvery trunk of the tree.  There she stayed, weeping and wasting away.

Seeing the girl's deep devotion and terrible anguish, the gods took pity upon Lehua and turned her into a red blossom on the Ohia tree.  In this way the two were reunited for all time.

It is said if anyone separates these lovers by plucking the flowers, 

they begin to weep and their tears turn to rain.  ~Copyright ©2013 by Beth L. Niquette

Maria writes, "...I think many pluck these flowers and hence it rains all the time!"

For more heart art, photography and altogether fabulous heart stuff from around the world, visit Clytie at Random Hearts for Guest Heart Thursday.