First published in 1907, Hawaiian Folk Tales is one of the foundational collections of traditional Hawaiian mythology and oral storytelling available in English.

Compiled by publisher and historian Thomas G. Thrum from nineteenth-century Hawaiian-language sources and earlier collectors, it brings together stories of Māui, Pele, shark gods, shape-shifters, spirits, tricksters, origin myths and heroic voyages. While many of these narratives remain central to Hawaiian cultural memory, the collection also reflects the complexities of its time, preserving traditions through the editorial lens of the colonial period.

Today the book is valued both as a rich introduction to Hawaiian cosmology and as a historical document in its own right. Readers interested in Polynesian mythology, comparative folklore, anthropology, Indigenous storytelling and Pacific history will find an abundance of remarkable narratives, while contemporary readers should approach the collection with an awareness that its translations and editorial framing belong to an earlier era of ethnographic publishing.

Paperback. Eighth printing (February 2024) published by Mutual Publishing. Light shelf wear to covers; clean pages and a tight, sound binding.