The Despotic Chiefs of Kau are folktales from Hawaii which depicts three chieftains that were cruel to their people. The story of Halaea is about a chieftain who would constantly take fish from the fisherman of his land and would leave them with scraps. The people of his land were enraged and plotted to end his reign. By the time the season of fish came about the fisherman took everything they needed to catch as much fish as they could and came to an agreement that every single fish they caught would be stored in the chieftains canoe. As the chief ordered the fisherman to store more fish into his canoe he realized that his canoe was overflowing with fish and that it was sinking which eventually lead to his demise.

Koihala was the second chieftain of Kau who ordered his people to arrange a feast on his arrival to Ko-na. His servants would setup the feast but as they saw him approach the land he would deviate from his route and go to another island. The servants saw this and setup the feast on the island that he was landing on but Koihala would once again change his route and went to another island. The servants were annoyed and ate the food that was originally supposed to be for the chief. The chief saw this and rushed to the island but was killed by his servants as they stoned him to death.

Kohaikalani was the last chieftain of the despotic chiefs who commanded his people to build a temple. When the people gathered all the stone to build the temple, two priests warned them that the chieftain was planning to use them as sacrifices after it was built and the way to prevent this was to ask the chieftain to choose a tree which was the last piece section of the temple and to get it himself. Knowing the intention of their chief, the workers convinced the chief to choose an ohia tree and as he was lifting it up the cliff the workers responsible for pulling it up dropped it on him.

The stories about the three despotic chieftains of Kau are a lesson about greed, indecisiveness, and deception. In the same way that the people of France revolted against their oppressors for all the transgressions they committed. Each story described how the people were being wronged in one form or another and that the reign of their oppressor was shortly lived as the people rose up and deposed them.