One day, the fiery goddess Pele fell into a deep sleep for nine days and nights, watched over by her youngest sister Hi'iaka. Her dreaming self followed the powerful drumming and chanting of the hula across Hawai'i Island, over each of the islands in turn, until at last she came to Kaua'i, where her spirit took the form of a strong, beautiful, young enchantress. She followed the drumbeat to a feast at the hale of Lohi'au, the handsome high chief of the island. Pele was eagerly welcomed by the entranced Lohi'au, who quickly proposed a union with Pele.

After consummating their joining, another feast took place, with delicious foods, hula, games, and sports. Pele laid a kapu on Lohi'au, so that he remain faithful only to her. In attendance were the three shapeshifters of great power known as mo'o, who took the form of lovely young women. The chief dragon woman rose to dance and, in so doing, to draw the attention of Lohi’au. She was interrupted by Pele, who demonstrated her formidable powers by calling upon the winds, causing the sea to churn and the sky to fill. Enraged, Kilinoe threw a challenge at Pele, who to all appearances was merely a high-ranking woman. Pele, not to be outdone, again called to the winds, bringing down wrathful gales and angry thunder and lightning, a furious storm destroying trees and structures and causing the sea to boil. The three mo'o, fearful that Pele would direct the winds to them, fled.

As the winds fell still, Pele heard Hi'iaka's voice calling to her from across the seas. Pele, reminding him to be faithful, bid Lohi’au a tearful farewell and promised to send for him. In thanks for her watchfulness, Pele allowed Hi'iaka to stay with her friend Hopoe, a human woman who lived in an ohi'a lehua grove. Pele returned to Kilauea volcano and, longing to be reunited with her beloved, asked her sisters to fetch Lohi’au. They all refused, fearing Pele's legendary jealousy and monumental anger. Pele finally called for Hi'iaka, who had been residing with Hopoe, learning ancient hula and lei making as well as frolicking in the waves and fishing. Pele impatiently instructed Hi'iaka to leave at once for Kaua'i, taking no more than 40 days and 40 nights for the journey, and forbidding her to so much as hug Lohi'au. In exchange for undertaking this journey, Hi'iaka extracted her own vow: Pele would watch over Hopoe, protecting her and keeping her from harm.

On Kaua'i, after Pele left Lohi'au, he became very distraught and fell deathly ill. By the time Hi'iaka arrived, after overcoming many delaying dangers and adventures along the way, the last breath had fled Lohi'au's body. Hi'iaka went on a quest to find his wandering spirit, undergoing numerous battles with ferocious beasts, including the three mo'o who captured his spirit high in a cave on the pali. After rescuing his spirit, Hi'iaka then had to prepare and perform a lengthy series of intricate rituals and prayers in order to reunite his body with his spirit. The 40 days had since passed.

Pele, growing steadily more agitated and impatient with the passing days and no sign of Hi'iaka and Lohi'au, became enraged. Pele's wrath brought wave after wave of earthquakes and lava and destruction to every part of the island. Finally, in a fit of jealous rage, she devoured the 'ohi'a lehua groves of Hopoe, breaking her most solemn vow. Hopoe danced her final hula as lava engulfed her. When Hi'iaka returned with Lohi’au, she saw the smoke and ruin and knew that Pele had not kept her part of the bargain. Hi'iaka, bereft of all feelings for her disloyal sister Pele, united herself with Lohi’au by hanging a lei around his neck, breaking Pele's kapu. Pele was wrought with a jealousy too fierce to contain and set a ring of lava fire around Lohi'au, encasing his body in a crust of lava.

Hi'iaka's patience was at an end. She began to tear apart Kilauea volcano, making way for the coming of the sea. Frightened and chagrined at her faithlessness in the face of Hi'iaka's faithfulness, Pele told her sister where to look for Lohi'au's spirit. His body was freed from its fiery embrace and once again reunited with his spirit. It is said that the place of this second revival is Ka'auea, which means "the act of revival of life, the re­breathing of life." Lohi'au and Hi'iaka returned to Kaua'i, where they lived in union until Lohi'au died a mortal death. Ka'auea is the site of the pa hula, where Volcano Art Center helps keep the hula, so beloved by Hi'iaka, alive to this day with a series of hula kahiko performances.