As there was practically no difference between married and unmarried
women in Hawaii, it is not strange that cases of abduction of wives
should have occurred. The following story, related in Kalakana's book,
probably suffered no great change at the hands of the recorder. I give
a condensed version of it:
In the twelfth century, the close of the second era of
migration from Tahiti and Samoa, there lived a girl
named Hina, noted as the most beautiful maiden on the
islands. She married the chief Hakalanileo, and had two
children by him. Reports of her beauty had excited the
fancy of Kaupeepee, the chief of Haupu. He went to test
the reports with his own eyes, and saw that they were
not exaggerated. So he hovered around the coast of Hilo
watching for a chance to abduct her. It came at last.
One day, after sunset, when the moon was shining, Hina
repaired to the beach with her women to take a bath. A
signal was given--it is thought by the first wife of
Hina's husband--and, not long after, a light but
heavily manned canoe dashed through the surf and shot
in among the bathers. The women screamed and started
for the shore. Suddenly a man leaped from the canoe
into the water. There was a brief struggle, a stifled
scream, a sharp word of command, and a moment later
Kaupeepee was again in the canoe with the nude and
frantic Hina in his arms. The boatmen lost no time to
start; they rowed all night and in the morning reach
Haupu.
Hina had been wrapped in folds of soft _kapa_, and she
spent the night sobbing, not knowing what was to become
of her. When shore was reached she was borne to the
captor's fortress and given an apartment provided with
every luxury. She fell asleep from fatigue, and when
she awoke and realized where she was it was not without
a certain feeling of pride that she reflected that her
beauty had led the famous and mighty Kaupeepee to
abduct her.
After partaking of a hearty breakfast, she sent for him
and he came promptly. "What can I do for you ?" he
asked. "Liberate me!" was her answer. "Return me to my
children!" "Impossible!" was the firm reply. "Then kill
me," she exclaimed. The chief now told her how he had
left home specially to see her, and found her the most
beautiful woman in Hawaii. He had risked his life to
get her. "You are my prisoner," he said, "but not more
than I am yours. You shall leave Haupu only when its
walls shall have been battered down and I lie dead
among the ruins."
Hina saw that resistance was useless. He had soothed
her with flattery; he was a great noble; he was gentle
though brave. "How strangely pleasant are his words and
voice," she said to herself. "No one ever spoke so to
me before. I could have listened longer." After that
she hearkened for his footsteps and soon accepted him
as her lover and spouse.
For seventeen years she remained a willing prisoner. In
the meantime her two sons by her first husband had
grown up; they ascertained where their mother was,
demanded her release, and on refusal waged a terrible
war which at last ended in the death of Kaupeepee and
the destruction of his walls.