Koee-iti (small eel), who lives under the waterfall Vai-Ee in Hanavave, went to visit Koee-nui ("large eel"). who lived in a cave beneath the waterfall of Kuenui in Taipivai (or the waterfall in Hakaui) on Nukuhiva. The small eel ate only flowers and fruit; the big eel ate pig and human flesh. The small eel boasted of his home and his food supply and lured the big eel to Hanavave. The small eel swam up the stream of Uiha; the big eel followed and got stuck. The people of Hanavave then killed the eel, cut it up, and ate it.

The story seems to record a battle between a large number of warriors of Nukuhiva in the Northern Marquesas and a small number of warriors of Fatu Hiva in the Southern Marquesas (in one version the small eel is from Tahauku on Hiva Oa, the largest island in the Southern Marquesas). The warriors of Fatu Hiva apparently ambushed the Nukuhiva warriors in the narrow valley of Hanavave. In one version, the fantastic upcroppings of rocks that line the valley of Hanavave are said to be the remains of the big eel.

Hanavave was one of few places in the Marquesas where the water is drinkable for outsiders, as it comes from a mountain spring rather than an open stream. The children of the village seemed unafraid of swimming in the clear, shallow near-shore waters of the bay; elsewhere people seems to fear the water because of the large number of tiger and hammerhead sharks that live near shore in the nearly reef-less islands.