1. In these stories, characters often have magical or supernatural help in achieving their goals. Is this extraordinary help more important than their own human efforts?

2. Many lovers in these stories are parted, and several are later brought together again. For example, consider "Ha-le-ma-no and the Princess Kama" and "The Arrow and the Swing." What factors cause the lovers' partings? What factors lead to their reconciliations?

3. What activities and qualities typify young men of the chieftain and warrior class? Which of these qualities does their society deem to be most important?

Why?

4. Describe Polynesian religious beliefs as they are reflected in these stories.

What are the gods like? How do they relate to people? What is the nature of death?

5. How do men and women relate to one another in these stories? Is one or the other of the sexes consistently dominant?

6. Colum felt that...