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Hawaiian Folk Tales
A Collection of Native Legends
Compiled by
Thos. G. Thrum
With sixteen illustrations from photographs
Chicago
A. C. McClurg & Co.
1907
Copyright, 1907
By
A. C. McClurg & Co.
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England
Published March 1, 1907
The Lakeside Press
R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company
Chicago
PREFACE
It is becoming more and more a matter of regret that a larger amount
of systematic effort was not established in early years for the
gathering and preservation of the folk-lore of the Hawaiians. The
world is under lasting obligations to the late Judge Fornander,
and to Dr. Rae before him, for their painstaking efforts to gather
the history of this people and trace their origin and migrations;
but Fornander's work only has seen the light, Dr. Rae's manuscript
having been accidentally destroyed by fire.
The early attempts of Dibble and Pogue to gather history from Hawaiians
themselves have preserved to native and foreign readers much that
would probably otherwise have been lost. To the late Judge Andrews we
are indebted for a very full grammar and dictionary of the language,
as also for a valuable manuscript collection of _meles_ and antiquarian
literature that passed to the custody of the Board of Education.
There were native historians in those days; the newspaper articles
of S. M. Kamakau, the earlier writings of David Malo, and the later
contributions of G. W. Pilipo and others are but samples of a wealth
of material, most of which has been lost forever to the world. From
time to time Prof. W. D. Alexander, as also C. J. Lyons, has furnished
interesting extracts from these and other hakus.
The Rev. A. O. Forbes devoted some time and thought to the collecting
of island folk-lore: and King Kalakaua took some pains in this line
also, as evidenced by his volume of "Legends and Myths of Hawaii,"
edited by R. M. Daggett, though there is much therein that is wholly
foreign to ancient Hawaiian customs and thought. No one of late years
had a better opportunity than Kalakaua toward collecting the _meles_,
_kaaos_, and traditions of his race; and for purposes looking to
this end there was established by law a Board of Genealogy, which
had an existence of some four years, but nothing of permanent value
resulted therefrom.
Fornander's manuscript collection of _meles_, legends, and genealogies
in the vernacular has fortunately become, by purchase, the property
of the Hon. C. R. Bishop, which insures for posterity the result of
one devoted scholar's efforts to rescue the ancient traditions that
are gradually slipping away; for the _haku meles_ (bards) of Hawaii
are gone. This fact, as also the Hawaiian Historical Society's desire
to aid and stimulate research into the history and traditions of this
people, strengthens the hope that some one may yet arise to give us
further insight into the legendary folk-lore of this interesting race.
T. G. T.
_Honolulu_, January 1, 1907.
NOTE
In response to repeated requests, the compiler now presents in book
form the series of legends that have been made a feature of "The
Hawaiian Annual" for a number of years past. The series has been
enriched by the addition of several tales, the famous shark legend
having been furnished for this purpose from the papers of the Hawaiian
Historical Society.
The collection embraces contributions by the Rev. A. O. Forbes,
Dr. N. B. Emerson, J. S. Emerson, Mrs. E. M. Nakuina, W. M. Gibson,
Dr. C. M. Hyde, and others, all of whom are recognized authorities.
T. G. T.
_Honolulu_, January 1, 1907.
CONTENTS
I. Legends Resembling Old Testament History.
Rev. C. M. Hyde, D.D. 15
II. Exploits of Maui.
Rev. A. O. Forbes
I. Snaring the Sun 31
II. The Origin of Fire 33
III. Pele and the Deluge.
Rev. A. O. Forbes 36
IV. Pele and Kahawali.
From Ellis's "Tour of Hawaii" 39
V. Hiku and Kawelu.
J. S. Emerson 43
Location of the Lua o Milu 48
VI. Lonopuha; or, Origin of the Art of Healing in Hawaii.
Translated by Thos. G. Thrum 51
VII. A Visit to the Spirit Land; or, The Strange Experience of
a Woman in Kona, Hawaii.
Mrs. E. N. Haley 58
VIII. Kapeepeekauila; or, The Rocks of Kana.
Rev. A. O. Forbes 63
IX. Kalelealuaka.
Dr. N. B. Emerson 74
X. Stories of the Menehunes: Hawaii the Original Home of the
Brownies.
Thos. G. Thrum 107
Moke Manu's Account 109
Pi's Watercourse 110
Laka's Adventure 111
Kekupua's Canoe 114
As Heiau Builders 116
XI. Kahalaopuna, Princess of Manoa.
Mrs. E. M. Nakuina 118
XII. The Punahou Spring.
Mrs. E. M. Nakuina 133
XIII. Oahunui.
Mrs. E. M. Nakuina 139
XIV. Ahuula: A Legend of Kanikaniaula and the First Feather Cloak.
Mrs. E. M. Nakuina 147
XV. Kaala and Kaaialii: A Legend of Lanai.
W. M. Gibson 156
XVI. The Tomb of Puupehe: A Legend of Lanai.
From "The Hawaiian Gazette" 181
XVII. Ai Kanaka: A Legend of Molokai.
Rev. A. O. Forbes 186
XVIII. Kaliuwaa. Scene of the Demigod Kamapuaa's Escape from
Olopana.
From "The Hawaiian Spectator" 193
XIX. Battle of the Owls.
Jos. M. Poepoe 200
XX. This Land is the Sea's. Traditional Account of an Ancient
Hawaiian Prophecy.
Translated from Moke Manu by Thos. G. Thrum 203
XXI. Ku-ula, the Fish God of Hawaii.
Translated from Moke Manu by M. K. Nakuina 215
XXII. Aiai, Son of Ku-ula. Part II of the Legend of Ku-ula,
the Fish God of Hawaii.
Translated from Moke Manu by M. K. Nakuina 230
XXIII. Kaneaukai: A Legend of Waialua.
Thos. G. Thrum 250
XXIV. The Shark-man, Nanaue.
Mrs. E. M. Nakuina 255
XXV. Fish Stories and Superstitions.
Translated by M. K. Nakuina 269
Glossary 277
ILLUSTRATIONS
Hawaiian Girl of the Old Régime Frontispiece
A Lava Cascade 40
View in Wainiha Valley, Kauai 66
Scene in Olokele Gulch, Makaweli, Kauai 86
"The Deep Blue Palis of Koolau" 104
Scene from the Road over Nuuanu Pali 112
View at the Head of Manoa Valley, Oahu 120
The Favorite Sport of Surf-Riding 130
Hawaiian Arrayed in Feather Cloak and Helmet 150
The Ceremony of the Hula 158
The Hula Dance 162
Kuumana, the Rain God of Kau 196
A Grass House of the Olden Time 210
Making Ready the Feast 228
Hawaiian Fisherman Using the Throw-Net 246
Coast Surf Scene 262
I
LEGENDS RESEMBLING OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY
_Rev. C. M. Hyde, D.D._
In the first volume of Judge Fornander's elaborate work on "The
Polynesian Race" he has given some old Hawaiian legends which closely
resemble the Old Testament history. How shall we account for such
coincidences?
Take, for instance, the Hawaiian account of the Creation. The
_Kane_, _Ku_ and _Lono:_ or, Sunlight, Substance, and Sound,--these
constituted a triad named _Ku-Kaua-Kahi_, or the Fundamental Supreme
Unity. In worship the reverence due was expressed by such epithets as
_Hi-ka-po-loa, Oi-e,_ Most Excellent, etc. "These gods existed from
eternity, from and before chaos, or, as the Hawaiian term expressed
it, '_mai ka po mia_' (from the time of night, darkness, chaos). By
an act of their will these gods dissipated or broke into pieces the
existing, surrounding, all-containing _po_, night, or chaos. By this
act light entered into space. They then created the heavens, three in
number, as a place to dwell in; and the earth to be their footstool,
_he keehina honua a Kane_. Next they created the sun, moon, stars,
and a host of angels, or spirits--_i kini akua_--to minister to
them. Last of all they created man as the model, or in the likeness
of Kane. The body of the first man was made of red earth--_lepo ula_,
or _alaea_--and the spittle of the gods--_wai nao_. His head was made
of a whitish clay--_palolo_--which was brought from the four ends of
the world by Lono. When the earth-image of Kane was ready, the three
gods breathed into its nose, and called on it to rise, and it became
a living being. Afterwards the first woman was created from one of
the ribs--_lalo puhaka_--of the man while asleep, and these two were
the progenitors of all mankind. They are called in the chants and in
various legends by a large number of different names; but the most
common for the man was Kumuhonua, and for the woman Keolakuhonua
[or _Lalahonua_].
"Of the creation of animals these chants are silent; but from the
pure tradition it may be inferred that the earth at the time of its
creation or emergence from the watery chaos was stocked with vegetable
and animal. The animals specially mentioned in the tradition as having
been created by Kane were hogs (_puaa_), dogs (_ilio_), lizards or
reptiles (_moo_).
"Another legend of the series, that of _Wela-ahi-lani_, states
that after Kane had destroyed the world by fire, on account of the
wickedness of the people then living, he organized it as it now is,
and created the first man and the first woman, with the assistance
of Ku and Lono, nearly in the same manner as narrated in the former
legend of Kumuhonua. In this legend the man is called Wela-ahi-lani,
and the woman is called Owe."
Of the primeval home, the original ancestral seat of mankind,
Hawaiian traditions speak in highest praise. "It had a number of
names of various meanings, though the most generally occurring,
and said to be the oldest, was _Kalana-i-hau-ola_ (Kalana with
the life-giving dew). It was situated in a large country, or
continent, variously called in the legends Kahiki-honua-kele,
Kahiki-ku, Kapa-kapa-ua-a-Kane, Molo-lani. Among other names
for the primary homestead, or paradise, are _Pali-uli_ (the blue
mountain), _Aina-i-ka-kaupo-o-Kane_ (the land in the heart of Kane),
_Aina-wai-akua-a-Kane_ (the land of the divine water of Kane). The
tradition says of Pali-uli, that it was a sacred, tabooed land; that
a man must be righteous to attain it; if faulty or sinful he will not
get there; if he looks behind he will not get there; if he prefers his
family he will not enter Pali-uli." "Among other adornments of the
Polynesian Paradise, the Kalana-i-hau-ola, there grew the _Ulu kapu
a Kane_, the breadfruit tabooed for Kane, and the _ohia hemolele_,
the sacred apple-tree. The priests of the olden time are said to
have held that the tabooed fruits of these trees were in some manner
connected with the trouble and death of Kumuhonua and Lalahonua,
the first man and the first woman. Hence in the ancient chants he is
called _Kane-laa-uli, Kumu-uli, Kulu-ipo_, the fallen chief, he who
fell on account of the tree, or names of similar import."
According to those legends of Kumuhonua and Wela-ahi-lani, "at the
time when the gods created the stars, they also created a multitude
of angels, or spirits (_i kini akua_), who were not created like
men, but made from the spittle of the gods (_i kuhaia_), to be their
servants or messengers. These spirits, or a number of them, disobeyed
and revolted, because they were denied the _awa_; which means that
they were not permitted to be worshipped, _awa_ being a sacrificial
offering and sign of worship. These evil spirits did not prevail,
however, but were conquered by Kane, and thrust down into uttermost
darkness (_ilalo loa i ka po_). The chief of these spirits was called
by some Kanaloa, by others Milu, the ruler of Po; Akua ino; Kupu ino,
the evil spirit. Other legends, however, state that the veritable and
primordial lord of the Hawaiian inferno was called Manua. The inferno
itself bore a number of names, such as Po-pau-ole, Po-kua-kini,
Po-kini-kini, Po-papa-ia-owa, Po-ia-milu. Milu, according to those
other legends, was a chief of superior wickedness on earth who was
thrust down into Po, but who was really both inferior and posterior to
Manua. This inferno, this Po, with many names, one of which remarkably
enough was _Ke-po-lua-ahi_, the pit of fire, was not an entirely
dark place. There was light of some kind and there was fire. The
legends further tell us that when Kane, Ku, and Lono were creating
the first man from the earth, Kanaloa was present, and in imitation
of Kane, attempted to make another man out of the earth. When his
clay model was ready, he called to it to become alive, but no life
came to it. Then Kanaloa became very angry, and said to Kane, 'I
will take your man, and he shall die,' and so it happened. Hence the
first man got his other name _Kumu-uli_, which means a fallen chief,
_he 'lii kahuli_.... With the Hawaiians, Kanaloa is the personified
spirit of evil, the origin of death, the prince of Po, or chaos, and
yet a revolted, disobedient spirit, who was conquered and punished by
Kane. The introduction and worship of Kanaloa, as one of the great
gods in the Hawaiian group, can be traced back only to the time of
the immigration from the southern groups, some eight hundred years
ago. In the more ancient chants he is never mentioned in conjunction
with Kane, Ku, and Lono, and even in later Hawaiian mythology he never
took precedence of Kane. The Hawaiian legend states that the oldest
son of Kumuhonua, the first man, was called Laka, and that the next
was called Ahu, and that Laka was a bad man; he killed his brother Ahu.
"There are these different Hawaiian genealogies, going back with
more or less agreement among themselves to the first created man. The
genealogy of Kumuhonua gives thirteen generations inclusive to Nuu,
or Kahinalii, or the line of Laka, the oldest son of Kumuhonua. (The
line of Seth from Adam to Noah counts ten generations.) The second
genealogy, called that of Kumu-uli, was of greatest authority among
the highest chiefs down to the latest times, and it was taboo to teach
it to the common people. This genealogy counts fourteen generations
from Huli-houna, the first man, to Nuu, or Nana-nuu, but inclusive,
on the line of Laka. The third genealogy, which, properly speaking,
is that of Paao, the high-priest who came with Pili from Tahiti,
about twenty-five generations ago, and was a reformer of the Hawaiian
priesthood, and among whose descendants it has been preserved, counts
only twelve generations from Kumuhonua to Nuu, on the line of Kapili,
youngest son of Kumuhonua."
"In the Hawaiian group there are several legends of the Flood. One
legend relates that in the time of Nuu, or Nana-nuu (also pronounced
_lana_, that is, floating), the flood, _Kaiakahinalii_, came upon
the earth, and destroyed all living beings; that Nuu, by command of
his god, built a large vessel with a house on top of it, which was
called and is referred to in chants as '_He waa halau Alii o ka Moku_,'
the royal vessel, in which he and his family, consisting of his wife,
Lilinoe, his three sons and their wives, were saved. When the flood
subsided, Kane, Ku, and Lono entered the _waa halau_ of Nuu, and told
him to go out. He did so, and found himself on the top of Mauna Kea
(the highest mountain on the island of Hawaii). He called a cave
there after the name of his wife, and the cave remains there to this
day--as the legend says in testimony of the fact. Other versions of the
legend say that Nuu landed and dwelt in Kahiki-honua-kele, a large and
extensive country." ... "Nuu left the vessel in the evening of the day
and took with him a pig, cocoanuts, and _awa_ as an offering to the
god Kane. As he looked up he saw the moon in the sky. He thought it
was the god, saying to himself, 'You are Kane, no doubt, though you
have transformed yourself to my sight.' So he worshipped the moon,
and offered his offerings. Then Kane descended on the rainbow and
spoke reprovingly to Nuu, but on account of the mistake Nuu escaped
punishment, having asked pardon of Kane." ... "Nuu's three sons were
Nalu-akea, Nalu-hoo-hua, and Nalu-mana-mana. In the tenth generation
from Nuu arose Lua-nuu, or the second Nuu, known also in the legend
as Kane-hoa-lani, Kupule, and other names. The legend adds that by
command of his god he was the first to introduce circumcision to be
practised among his descendants. He left his native home and moved a
long way off until he reached a land called Honua-ilalo, 'the southern
country.' Hence he got the name Lalo-kona, and his wife was called
Honua-po-ilalo. He was the father of Ku-nawao by his slave-woman Ahu
(O-ahu) and of Kalani-menehune by his wife, Mee-hewa. Another says
that the god Kane ordered Lua-nuu to go up on a mountain and perform
a sacrifice there. Lua-nuu looked among the mountains of Kahiki-ku,
but none of them appeared suitable for the purpose. Then Lua-nuu
inquired of God where he might find a proper place. God replied to
him: 'Go travel to the eastward, and where you find a sharp-peaked
hill projecting precipitously into the ocean, that is the hill for
the sacrifice.' Then Lua-nuu and his son, Kupulu-pulu-a-Nuu, and his
servant, Pili-lua-nuu, started off in their boat to the eastward. In
remembrance of this event the Hawaiians called the back of Kualoa
_Koo-lau_; Oahu (after one of Lua-nuu's names), _Kane-hoa-lani_;
and the smaller hills in front of it were named _Kupu-pulu_ and
_Pili-lua-nuu_. Lua-nuu is the tenth descendant from Nuu by both the
oldest and the youngest of Nuu's sons. This oldest son is represented
to have been the progenitor of the _Kanaka-maoli_, the people living
on the mainland of Kane (_Aina kumupuaa a Kane_): the youngest was the
progenitor of the white people (_ka poe keo keo maoli_). This Lua-nuu
(like Abraham, the tenth from Noah, also like Abraham), through his
grandson, Kini-lau-a-mano, became the ancestor of the twelve children
of the latter, and the original founder of the Menehune people,
from whom this legend makes the Polynesian family descend."
The Rev. Sheldon Dibble, in his history of the Sandwich Islands,
published at Lahainaluna, in 1843, gives a tradition which very
much resembles the history of Joseph. "Waikelenuiaiku was one of ten
brethren who had one sister. They were all the children of one father,
whose name was Waiku. Waikelenuiaiku was much beloved by his father,
but his brethren hated him. On account of their hatred they carried him
and cast him into a pit belonging to Holonaeole. The oldest brother
had pity on him, and gave charge to Holonaeole to take good care of
him. Waikelenuiaiku escaped and fled to a country over which reigned a
king whose name was Kamohoalii. There he was thrown into a dark place,
a pit under ground, in which many persons were confined for various
crimes. Whilst confined in this dark place he told his companions to
dream dreams and tell them to him. The night following four of the
prisoners had dreams. The first dreamed that he saw a ripe _ohia_
(native apple), and his spirit ate it; the second dreamed that he saw
a ripe banana, and his spirit ate it; the third dreamed that he saw a
hog, and his spirit ate it; and the fourth dreamed that he saw _awa_,
pressed out the juice, and his spirit drank it. The first three dreams,
pertaining to food, Waikelenuiaiku interpreted unfavorably, and told
the dreamers they must prepare to die. The fourth dream, pertaining to
drink, he interpreted to signify deliverance and life. The first three
dreamers were slain according to the interpretation, and the fourth
was delivered and saved. Afterward this last dreamer told Kamohoalii,
the king of the land, how wonderful was the skill of Waikelenuiaiku in
interpreting dreams, and the king sent and delivered him from prison
and made him a principal chief in his kingdom."
Judge Fornander alludes to this legend, giving the name,
however, _Aukelenui-a-Iku_, and adding to it the account of
the hero's journey to the place where the water of life was
kept (_ka-wai-ola-loa-a-Kane_), his obtaining it and therewith
resuscitating his brothers, who had been killed by drowning some
years before. Another striking similarity is that furnished to Judge
Fornander in the legend of _Ke-alii-waha-nui_: "He was king of the
country called Honua-i-lalo. He oppressed the Menehune people. Their
god Kane sent Kane-apua and Kaneloa, his elder brother, to bring the
people away, and take them to the land which Kane had given them, and
which was called _Ka aina momona a Kane_, or _Ka one lauena a Kane_,
and also _Ka aina i ka haupo a Kane_. The people were then told to
observe the four Ku days in the beginning of the month as _Kapu-hoano_
(sacred or holy days), in remembrance of this event, because they
thus arose (_Ku_) to depart from that land. Their offerings on the
occasion were swine and goats." The narrator of the legend explains
that formerly there were goats without horns, called _malailua_,
on the slopes of Mauna Loa on Hawaii, and that they were found there
up to the time of Kamehameha I. The legend further relates that after
leaving the land of Honualalo, the people came to the _Kai-ula-a-Kane_
(the Red Sea of Kane); that they were pursued by Ke-alii-waha-nui;
that Kane-apua and Kanaloa prayed to Lono, and finally reached the
_Aina lauena a Kane_.
"In the famous Hawaiian legend of _Hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele_, it
is said that when Hiiaka went to the island of Kauai to recover
and restore to life the body of Lohiau, the lover of her sister,
Pele, she arrived at the foot of the Kalalau Mountain shortly before
sunset. Being told by her friends at Haena that there would not be
daylight sufficient to climb the _pali_ (precipice) and get the body
out of the cave in which it was hidden, she prayed to her gods to keep
the sun stationary (_i ka muli o Hea_) over the brook Hea, until she
had accomplished her object. The prayer was heard, the mountain was
climbed, the guardians of the cave vanquished, and the body recovered."
A story of retarding the sun and making the day longer to accomplish
his purpose is told of Maui-a-kalana, according to Dibble's history.
Judge Fornander alludes to one other legend with incidents similar to
the Old Testament history wherein "Na-ula-a-Mainea, an Oahu prophet,
left Oahu for Kauai, was upset in his canoe, was swallowed by a whale,
and thrown up alive on the beach at Wailua, Kauai."
Judge Fornander says that, when he first heard the legend of the two
brother prophets delivering the Menehune people, "he was inclined to
doubt its genuineness and to consider it as a paraphrase or adaptation
of the Biblical account by some semi-civilized or semi-Christianized
Hawaiian, after the discovery of the group by Captain Cook. But a
larger and better acquaintance with Hawaiian folk-lore has shown that
though the details of the legend, as interpreted by the Christian
Hawaiian from whom it was received, may possibly in some degree, and
unconsciously to him, perhaps, have received a Biblical coloring, yet
the main facts of the legend, with the identical names of persons and
places, are referred to more or less distinctly in other legends of
undoubted antiquity." And the Rev. Mr. Dibble, in his history, says
of these Hawaiian legends, that "they were told to the missionaries
before the Bible was translated into the Hawaiian tongue, and before
the people knew much of sacred history. The native who acted as
assistant in translating the history of Joseph was forcibly struck
with its similarity to their ancient tradition. Neither is there
the least room for supposing that the songs referred to are recent
inventions. They can all be traced back for generations, and are
known by various persons residing on different islands who have had
no communication with each other. Some of them have their date in
the reign of some ancient king, and others have existed time out of
mind. It may also be added, that both their narrations and songs are
known the best by the very oldest of the people, and those who never
learned to read; whose education and training were under the ancient
system of heathenism."
"Two hypotheses," says Judge Fornander, "may with some plausibility be
suggested to account for this remarkable resemblance of folk-lore. One
is, that during the time of the Spanish galleon trade, in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, between the Spanish Main and Manila,
some shipwrecked people, Spaniards and Portuguese, had obtained
sufficient influence to introduce these scraps of Bible history
into the legendary lore of this people.... On this fact hypothesis
I remark that, if the shipwrecked foreigners were educated men, or
only possessed of such Scriptural knowledge as was then imparted to
the commonality of laymen, it is morally impossible to conceive that
a Spaniard of the sixteenth century should confine his instruction to
some of the leading events of the Old Testament, and be totally silent
upon the Christian dispensation, and the cruciolatry, mariolatry,
and hagiolatry of that day. And it is equally impossible to conceive
that the Hawaiian listeners, chiefs, priests, or commoners, should have
retained and incorporated so much of the former in their own folk-lore,
and yet have utterly forgotten every item bearing upon the latter.
"The other hypothesis is, that at some remote period either a body
of the scattered Israelites had arrived at these islands direct, or
in Malaysia, before the exodus of 'the Polynesian family,' and thus
imparted a knowledge of their doctrines, of the early life of their
ancestors, and of some of their peculiar customs, and that having
been absorbed by the people among whom they found a refuge, this is
all that remains to attest their presence--intellectual tombstones
over a lost and forgotten race, yet sufficient after twenty-six
centuries of silence to solve in some measure the ethnic puzzle of
the lost tribes of Israel. In regard to this second hypothesis, it
is certainly more plausible and cannot be so curtly disposed of as
the Spanish theory.... So far from being copied one from the other,
they are in fact independent and original versions of a once common
legend, or series of legends, held alike by Cushite, Semite, Turanian,
and Aryan, up to a certain time, when the divergencies of national
life and other causes brought other subjects peculiar to each other
prominently in the foreground; and that as these divergencies hardened
into system and creed, that grand old heirloom of a common past became
overlaid and colored by the peculiar social and religious atmosphere
through which it has passed up to the surface of the present time. But
besides this general reason for refusing to adopt the Israelitish
theory, that the Polynesian legends were introduced by fugitive or
emigrant Hebrews from the subverted kingdoms of Israel or Judah,
there is the more special reason to be added that the organization
and splendor of Solomon's empire, his temple, and his wisdom became
proverbial among the nations of the East subsequent to his time;
on all these, the Polynesian legends are absolutely silent."
In commenting on the legend of _Hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele_, Judge
Fornander says: "If the Hebrew legend of Joshua or a Cushite version
give rise to it, it only brings down the community of legends a little
later in time. And so would the legend of _Naulu-a-Mahea_,... unless
the legend of Jonah, with which it corresponds in a measure, as well
as the previous legend of Joshua and the sun, were Hebrew anachronisms
compiled and adapted in later times from long antecedent materials,
of which the Polynesian references are but broken and distorted echoes,
bits of legendary mosaics, displaced from their original surroundings
and made to fit with later associations."
In regard to the account of the Creation, he remarks that "the Hebrew
legend infers that the god Elohim existed contemporaneously with
and apart from the chaos. The Hawaiian legend makes the three great
gods, Kane, Ku, and Lono, evolve themselves out of chaos.... The
order of creation, according to Hawaiian folk-lore, was that after
Heaven and earth had been separated, and the ocean had been stocked
with its animals, the stars were created, then the moon, then the
sun." Alluding to the fact that the account in Genesis is truer to
nature, Judge Fornander nevertheless propounds the inquiry whether
this fact may not "indicate that the Hebrew text is a later emendation
of an older but once common tradition"?
Highest antiquity is claimed for Hawaiian traditions in regard to
events subsequent to the creation of man. "In one of the sacrificial
hymns of the Marquesans, when human victims were offered, frequent
allusions were made to 'the red apples eaten in Naoau,' ... and to the
'tabooed apples of Atea,' as the cause of death, wars, pestilence,
famine, and other calamities, only to be averted or atoned for by the
sacrifice of human victims. The close connection between the Hawaiian
and the Marquesan legends indicates a common origin, and that origin
can be no other than that from which the Chaldean and Hebrew legends
of sacred trees, disobedience, and fall also sprang." In comparison of
"the Hawaiian myth of Kanaloa as a fallen angel antagonistic to the
great gods, as the spirit of evil and death in the world, the Hebrew
legends are more vague and indefinite as to the existence of an evil
principle. The serpent of Genesis, the Satan of Job, the Hillel of
Isaiah, the dragon of the Apocalypse--all point, however, to the
same underlying idea that the first cause of sin, death, evil, and
calamities, was to be found in disobedience and revolt from God. They
appear as disconnected scenes of a once grand drama that in olden
times riveted the attention of mankind, and of which, strange to
say, the clearest synopsis and the most coherent recollection are,
so far, to be found in Polynesian traditions. It is probably in vain
to inquire with whom the legend of an evil spirit and his operations
in Heaven and on earth had its origin. Notwithstanding the apparent
unity of design and remarkable coincidence in many points, yet the
differences in coloring, detail, and presentation are too great to
suppose the legend borrowed by one from either of the others. It
probably descended to the Chaldeans, Polynesians, and Hebrews alike,
from a source or people anterior to themselves, of whom history now
is silent."
II
EXPLOITS OF MAUI
_Rev. A. O. Forbes_
I.--SNARING THE SUN
Maui was the son of Hina-lau-ae and Hina, and they dwelt at a place
called Makalia, above Kahakuloa, on West Maui. Now, his mother Hina
made _kapas_. And as she spread them out to dry, the days were so
short that she was put to great trouble and labor in hanging them
out and taking them in day after day until they were dry. Maui,
seeing this, was filled with pity for her, for the days were so
short that, no sooner had she got her kapas all spread out to dry,
than the Sun went down, and she had to take them in again. So he
determined to make the Sun go slower. He first went to Wailohi, in
Hamakua, on East Maui, to observe the motions of the Sun. There he
saw that it rose toward Hana. He then went up on Haleakala, and saw
that the Sun in its course came directly over that mountain. He then
went home again, and after a few days went to a place called Paeloko,
at Waihee. There he cut down all the cocoanut-trees, and gathered the
fibre of the cocoanut husks in great quantity. This he manufactured
into strong cord. One Moemoe, seeing this, said tauntingly to him:
"Thou wilt never catch the Sun. Thou art an idle nobody."
Maui answered: "When I conquer my enemy, and my desire is attained,
I will be your death." So he went up Haleakala again, taking his
cord with him. And when the Sun arose above where he was stationed,
he prepared a noose of the cord and, casting it, snared one of the
Sun's larger beams and broke it off. And thus he snared and broke off,
one after another, all the strong rays of the Sun.
Then shouted he exultingly: "Thou art my captive, and now I will kill
thee for thy going so swiftly."
And the Sun said: "Let me live, and thou shalt see me go more slowly
hereafter. Behold, hast thou not broken off all my strong legs,
and left me only the weak ones?"
So the agreement was made, and Maui permitted the Sun to pursue
its course, and from that time on it went more slowly; and that is
the reason why the days are longer at one season of the year than at
another. It was this that gave the name to that mountain, which should
properly be called _Alehe-ka-la_ (sun snarer), and not _Haleakala_.
When Maui returned from this exploit, he went to find Moemoe, who
had reviled him. But that individual was not at home. He went on in
his pursuit till he came upon him at a place called Kawaiopilopilo,
on the shore to the eastward of the black rock called Kekaa, north
of Lahaina. Moemoe dodged him up hill and down, until at last Maui,
growing wroth, leaped upon and slew the fugitive. And the dead body
was transformed into a long rock, which is there to this day, by the
side of the road.
II.--THE ORIGIN OF FIRE
Maui and Hina dwelt together, and to them were born four sons, whose
names were Maui-mua, Maui-hope, Maui-kiikii, and Maui-o-ka-lana. These
four were fishermen. One morning, just as the edge of the Sun lifted
itself up, Maui-mua roused his brethren to go fishing. So they
launched their canoe from the beach at Kaupo, on the island of Maui,
where they were dwelling, and proceeded to the fishing ground. Having
arrived there, they were beginning to fish, when Maui-o-ka-lana saw the
light of a fire on the shore they had left, and said to his brethren:
"Behold, there is a fire burning. Whose can this fire be?"
And they answered: "Whose, indeed? Let us return to the shore, that
we may get our food cooked; but first let us get some fish."
So, after they had obtained some fish, they turned toward the shore;
and when the canoe touched the beach Maui-mua leaped ashore and ran
toward the spot where the fire had been burning. Now, the curly-tailed
_alae_ (mud-hens) were the keepers of the fire; and when they saw
him coming they scratched the fire out and flew away. Maui-mua was
defeated, and returned to the house to his brethren.
Then said they to him: "How about the fire?"
"How, indeed?" he answered. "When I got there, behold, there was
no fire; it was out. I supposed some man had the fire, and behold,
it was not so; the alae are the proprietors of the fire, and our
bananas are all stolen."
When they heard that, they were filled with anger, and decided not
to go fishing again, but to wait for the next appearance of the
fire. But after many days had passed without their seeing the fire,
they went fishing again, and behold, there was the fire! And so they
were continually tantalized. Only when they were out fishing would
the fire appear, and when they returned they could not find it.
This was the way of it. The curly-tailed alae knew that Maui and
Hina had only these four sons, and if any of them stayed on shore
to watch the fire while the others were out in the canoe the alae
knew it by counting those in the canoe, and would not light the
fire. Only when they could count four men in the canoe would they
light the fire. So Maui-mua thought it over, and said to his brethren:
"To-morrow morning do you go fishing, and I will stay ashore. But do
you take the calabash and dress it in kapa, and put it in my place
in the canoe, and then go out to fish."
They did so, and when they went out to fish the next morning, the alae
counted and saw four figures in the canoe, and then they lit the fire
and put the bananas on to roast. Before they were fully baked one of
the alae cried out: "Our dish is cooked! Behold, Hina has a smart son."
And with that, Maui-mua, who had stolen close to them unperceived,
leaped forward, seized the curly-tailed alae and exclaimed: "Now
I will kill you, you scamp of an alae! Behold, it is you who are
keeping the fire from us. I will be the death of you for this."
Then answered the alae: "If you kill me the secret dies with me,
and you won't get the fire." As Maui-mua began to wring its neck, the
alae again spoke, and said: "Let me live, and you shall have the fire."
So Maui-mua said: "Tell me, where is the fire?"
The alae replied: "It is in the leaf of the a-pe plant" (_Alocasia
macrorrhiza_).
So, by the direction of the alae, Maui-mua began to rub the leaf-stalk
of the a-pe plant with a piece of stick, but the fire would not
come. Again he asked: "Where is this fire that you are hiding from me?"
The alae answered: "In a green stick."
And he rubbed a green stick, but got no fire. So it went on, until
finally the alae told him he would find it in a dry stick; and so,
indeed, he did. But Maui-mua, in revenge for the conduct of the alae,
after he had got the fire from the dry stick, said: "Now, there is
one thing more to try." And he rubbed the top of the alae's head till
it was red with blood, and the red spot remains there to this day.
III
PELE AND THE DELUGE
_Rev. A. O. Forbes_
All volcanic phenomena are associated in Hawaiian legendary lore
with the goddess Pele; and it is a somewhat curious fact that to
the same celebrated personage is also attributed a great flood that
occurred in ancient times. The legends of this flood are various,
but mainly connected with the doings of Pele in this part of the
Pacific Ocean. The story runs thus:
Kahinalii was the mother of Pele; Kanehoalani was her father; and
her two brothers were Kamohoalii and Kahuilaokalani. Pele was born
in the land of Hapakuela, a far-distant land at the edge of the sky,
toward the southwest. There she lived with her parents until she was
grown up, when she married Wahialoa; and to these were born a daughter
named Laka, and a son named Menehune. But after a time Pele's husband,
Wahialoa, was enticed away from her by Pele-kumulani. The deserted
Pele, being much displeased and troubled in mind on account of her
husband, started on her travels in search of him, and came in the
direction of the Hawaiian Islands. Now, at that time these islands were
a vast waste. There was no sea, nor was there any fresh water. When
Pele set out on her journey, her parents gave her the sea to go with
her and bear her canoes onward. So she sailed forward, flood-borne by
the sea, until she reached the land of Pakuela, and thence onward to
the land of Kanaloa. From her head she poured forth the sea as she
went, and her brothers composed the celebrated ancient mele:
O the sea, the great sea!
Forth bursts the sea:
Behold, it bursts on Kanaloa!
But the waters of the sea continued to rise until only the highest
points of the great mountains, Haleakala, Maunakea, and Maunaloa,
were visible; all else was covered. Afterward the sea receded until it
reached its present level. This event is called the _Kai a Kahinalii_
(Sea of Kahinalii), because it was from Kahinalii, her mother, that
Pele received the gift of the sea, and she herself only brought it
to Hawaii.
And from that time to this, Pele and all her family forsook their
former land of Hapakuela and have dwelt in Hawaii-nei, Pele coming
first and the rest following at a later time.
On her first arrival at Hawaii-nei, Pele dwelt on the island of
Kauai. From there she went to Kalaupapa, [1] on the island of
Molokai, and dwelt in the crater of Kauhako at that place; thence
she departed to Puulaina, [2] near Lahainaluna, where she dug out
that crater. Afterward she moved still further to Haleakala, where
she stayed until she hollowed out that great crater; and finally she
settled at Kilauea, on the island of Hawaii, where she has remained
ever since. [3]
IV
PELE AND KAHAWALI
_From Ellis's "Tour of Hawaii"_
In the reign of Kealiikukii, an ancient king of Hawaii, Kahawali,
chief of Puna, and one of his favorite companions went one day to
amuse themselves with the _holua_ (sled), on the sloping side of a
hill, which is still called _ka holua ana o Kahawali_ (Kahawali's
sliding-place). Vast numbers of the people gathered at the bottom of
the hill to witness the game, and a company of musicians and dancers
repaired thither to add to the amusement of the spectators. The
performers began their dance, and amidst the sound of drums and the
songs of the musicians the sledding of Kahawali and his companion
commenced. The hilarity of the occasion attracted the attention of
Pele, the goddess of the volcano, who came down from Kilauea to witness
the sport. Standing on the summit of the hill in the form of a woman,
she challenged Kahawali to slide with her. He accepted the offer,
and they set off together down the hill. Pele, less acquainted with
the art of balancing herself on the narrow sled than her rival, was
beaten, and Kahawali was applauded by the spectators as he returned
up the side of the hill.
Before starting again, Pele asked him to give her his _papa holua_,
but he, supposing from her appearance that she was no more than a
native woman, said: "_Aole!_ (no!) Are you my wife, that you should
obtain my sled?" And, as if impatient at being delayed, he adjusted his
papa, ran a few yards to take a spring, and then, with this momentum
and all his strength he threw himself upon it and shot down the hill.
Pele, incensed at his answer, stamped her foot on the ground and
an earthquake followed, which rent the hill in sunder. She called,
and fire and liquid lava arose, and, assuming her supernatural form,
with these irresistible ministers of vengeance, she followed down
the hill. When Kahawali reached the bottom, he arose, and on looking
behind saw Pele, accompanied by thunder and lightning, earthquake, and
streams of burning lava, closely pursuing him. He took up his broad
spear which he had stuck in the ground at the beginning of the game,
and, accompanied by his friend, fled for his life. The musicians,
dancers, and crowds of spectators were instantly overwhelmed by the
fiery torrent, which, bearing on its foremost wave the enraged goddess,
continued to pursue Kahawali and his companion. They ran till they
came to an eminence called Puukea. Here Kahawali threw off his cloak
of netted ki leaves and proceeded toward his house, which stood near
the shore. He met his favorite pig and saluted it by touching noses,
then ran to the house of his mother, who lived at Kukii, saluted her by
touching noses, and said: "_Aloha ino oe, eia ihonei paha oe e make ai,
ke ai mainei Pele._" (Compassion great to you! Close here, perhaps,
is your death; Pele comes devouring.) Leaving her, he met his wife,
Kanakawahine, and saluted her. The burning torrent approached, and she
said: "Stay with me here, and let us die together." He said: "No; I go,
I go." He then saluted his two children, Poupoulu and Kaohe, and said,
"_Ke ue nei au ia olua_." (I grieve for you two.) The lava rolled near,
and he ran till a deep chasm arrested his progress. He laid down his
spear and walked over on it in safety. His friend called out for his
help; he held out his spear over the chasm; his companion took hold of
it and he drew him securely over. By this time Pele was coming down
the chasm with accelerated motion. He ran till he reached Kula. Here
he met his sister, Koai, but had only time to say, _"Aloha oe!"_
(Alas for you!) and then ran on to the shore. His younger brother had
just landed from his fishing-canoe, and had hastened to his house to
provide for the safety of his family, when Kahawali arrived. He and
his friend leaped into the canoe, and with his broad spear paddled
out to sea. Pele, perceiving his escape, ran to the shore and hurled
after him, with prodigious force, great stones and fragments of rock,
which fell thickly around but did not strike his canoe. When he had
paddled a short distance from the shore the _kumukahi_ (east wind)
sprung up. He fixed his broad spear upright in the canoe, that it
might answer the double purpose of mast and sail, and by its aid he
soon reached the island of Maui, where they rested one night and then
proceeded to Lanai. The day following they moved on to Molokai, thence
to Oahu, the abode of Kolonohailaau, his father, and Kanewahinekeaho,
his sister, to whom he related his disastrous perils, and with whom
he took up his permanent abode.
V
HIKU AND KAWELU
_J. S. Emerson_
Not far from the summit of Hualalai, on the island of Hawaii, in
the cave on the southern side of the ridge, lived Hina and her son,
the _kupua_, or demigod, Hiku. All his life long as a child and a
youth, Hiku had lived alone with his mother on this mountain summit,
and had never once been permitted to descend to the plains below to
see the abodes of men and to learn of their ways. From time to time,
his quick ear had caught the sound of the distant _hula_ (drum) and
the voices of the gay merrymakers. Often had he wished to see the
fair forms of those who danced and sang in those far-off cocoanut
groves. But his mother, more experienced in the ways of the world,
had never given her consent. Now, at length, he felt that he was a
man, and as the sounds of mirth arose on his ears, again he asked
his mother to let him go for himself and mingle with the people
on the shore. His mother, seeing that his mind was made up to go,
reluctantly gave her consent and warned him not to stay too long,
but to return in good time. So, taking in his hand his faithful arrow,
_Pua Ne_, which he always carried, he started off.
This arrow was a sort of talisman, possessed of marvellous powers,
among which were the ability to answer his call and by its flight to
direct his journey.
Thus he descended over the rough clinker lava and through the groves of
koa that cover the southwestern flank of the mountain, until, nearing
its base, he stood on a distant hill; and consulting his arrow, he shot
it far into the air, watching its bird-like flight until it struck
on a distant hill above Kailua. To this hill he rapidly directed his
steps, and, picking up his arrow in due time, he again shot it into the
air. The second flight landed the arrow near the coast of Holualoa,
some six or eight miles south of Kailua. It struck on a barren waste
of _pahoehoe_, or lava rock, beside the waterhole of _Waikalai_,
known also as the _Wai a Hiku_ (Water of Hiku), where to this day all
the people of that vicinity go to get their water for man and beast.
Here he quenched his thirst, and nearing the village of Holualoa, again
shot the arrow, which, instinct with life, entered the courtyard of
the _alii_ or chief, of Kona, and from among the women who were there
singled out the fair princess Kawelu, and landed at her feet. Seeing
the noble bearing of Hiku as he approached to claim his arrow, she
stealthily hid it and challenged him to find it. Then Hiku called
to the arrow, "_Pua ne! Pua ne!_" and the arrow replied, "_Ne!_"
thus revealing its hiding-place.
This exploit with the arrow and the remarkable grace and personal
beauty of the young man quite won the heart of the princess, and she
was soon possessed by a strong passion for him, and determined to
make him her husband.
With her wily arts she detained him for several days at her home,
and when at last he was about to start for the mountain, she shut
him up in the house and thus detained him by force. But the words
of his mother, warning him not to remain too long, came to his mind,
and he determined to break away from his prison. So he climbed up to
the roof, and removing a portion of the thatch, made his escape.
When his flight was discovered by Kawelu, the infatuated girl was
distracted with grief. Refusing to be comforted, she tasted no food,
and ere many days had passed was quite dead. Messengers were despatched
who brought back the unhappy Hiku, author of all this sorrow. Bitterly
he wept over the corpse of his beloved, but it was now too late; the
spirit had departed to the nether world, ruled over by Milu. And now,
stung by the reproaches of her kindred and friends for his desertion,
and urged on by his real love for the fair one, he resolved to attempt
the perilous descent into the nether world and, if possible, to bring
her spirit back.
With the assistance of her friends, he collected from the mountain
slope a great quantity of the _kowali_, or convolvulus vine. He also
prepared a hollow cocoanut shell, splitting it into two closely fitting
parts. Then anointing himself with a mixture of rancid cocoanut and
kukui oil, which gave him a very strong corpse-like odor, he started
with his companions in the well-loaded canoes for a point in the sea
where the sky comes down to meet the water.
Arrived at the spot, he directed his comrades to lower him into the
abyss called by the Hawaiians the _Lua o Milu_. Taking with him his
cocoanut-shell and seating himself astride of the cross-stick of the
swing, or kowali, he was quickly lowered down by the long rope of
kowali vines held by his friends in the canoe above.
Soon he entered the great cavern where the shades of the departed were
gathered together. As he came among them, their curiosity was aroused
to learn who he was. And he heard many remarks, such as "Whew! what
an odor this corpse emits!" "He must have been long dead." He had
rather overdone the matter of the rancid oil. Even Milu himself,
as he sat on the bank watching the crowd, was completely deceived by
the stratagem, for otherwise he never would have permitted this bold
descent of a living man into his gloomy abode.
The Hawaiian swing, it should be remarked, unlike ours, has but one
rope supporting the cross-stick on which the person is seated. Hiku
and his swing attracted considerable attention from the lookers-on. One
shade in particular watched him most intently; it was his sweetheart,
Kawelu. A mutual recognition took place, and with the permission of
Milu she darted up to him and swung with him on the kowali. But even
she had to avert her face on account of his corpse-like odor. As they
were enjoying together this favorite Hawaiian pastime of _lele kowali_,
by a preconcerted signal the friends above were informed of the success
of his ruse and were now rapidly drawing them up. At first she was too
much absorbed in the sport to notice this. When at length her attention
was aroused by seeing the great distance of those beneath her, like
a butterfly she was about to flit away, when the crafty Hiku, who was
ever on the alert, clapped the cocoanut-shells together, imprisoning
her within them, and was then quickly drawn up to the canoes above.
With their precious burden, they returned to the shores of Holualoa,
where Hiku landed and at once repaired to the house where still lay
the body of his beloved. Kneeling by its side, he made a hole in the
great toe of the left foot, into which with great difficulty he forced
the reluctant spirit, and in spite of its desperate struggles he tied
up the wound so that it could not escape from the cold, clammy flesh
in which it was now imprisoned. Then he began to _lomilomi_, or rub
and chafe the foot, working the spirit further and further up the limb.
Gradually, as the heart was reached, the blood began once more to flow
through the body, the chest began gently to heave with the breath
of life, and soon the spirit gazed out through the eyes. Kawelu was
now restored to consciousness, and seeing her beloved Hiku bending
tenderly over her, she opened her lips and said: "How could you be
so cruel as to leave me?"
All remembrance of the Lua o Milu and of her meeting him there had
disappeared, and she took up the thread of consciousness just where she
had left it a few days before at death. Great joy filled the hearts of
the people of Holualoa as they welcomed back to their midst the fair
Kawelu and the hero, Hiku, from whom she was no more to be separated.
LOCATION OF THE LUA O MILU
In the myth of Hiku and Kawelu, the entrance to the Lua o Milu
is placed out to sea opposite Holualoa and a few miles south of
Kailua. But the more usual account of the natives is, that it was
situated at the mouth of the great valley of Waipio, in a place called
Keoni, where the sands have long since covered up and concealed from
view this passage from the upper to the nether world.
Every year, so it is told, the procession of ghosts called by the
natives _Oio_, marches in solemn state down the Mahiki road, and at
this point enters the Lua o Milu. A man, recently living in Waimea,
of the best reputation for veracity, stated that about thirty or more
years ago, he actually saw this ghostly company. He was walking up this
road in the evening, when he saw at a distance the _Oio_ appear, and
knowing that should they encounter him his death would be inevitable,
he discreetly hid himself behind a tree and, trembling with fear, gazed
in silence at the dread spectacle. There was Kamehameha, the conqueror,
with all his chiefs and warriors in military array, thousands of heroes
who had won renown in the olden time. Though all were silent as the
grave, they kept perfect step as they marched along, and passing
through the woods down to Waipio, disappeared from his view.
In connection with the foregoing, Professor W. D. Alexander kindly
contributes the following:
"The valley of Waipio is a place frequently celebrated in the songs
and traditions of Hawaii, as having been the abode of Akea and Milu,
the first kings of the island....
"Some said that the souls of the departed went to the _Po_ (place
of night), and were annihilated or eaten by the gods there. Others
said that some went to the regions of Akea and Milu. Akea (Wakea),
they said, was the first king of Hawaii. At the expiration of his
reign, which terminated with his life at Waipio, where we then were,
he descended to a region far below, called Kapapahanaumoku (the island
bearing rock or stratum), and founded a kingdom there. Milu, who was
his successor, and reigned in Hamakua, descended, when he died, to
Akea and shared the government of the place with him. Their land is
a place of darkness; their food lizards and butterflies. There are
several streams of water, of which they drink, and some said that
there were large kahilis and wide-spreading kou trees, beneath which
they reclined." [4]
"They had some very indistinct notion of a future state of happiness
and of misery. They said that, after death, the ghost went first to
the region of Wakea, the name of their first reputed progenitor, and
if it had observed the religious rites and ceremonies, was entertained
and allowed to remain there. That was a place of houses, comforts,
and pleasures. If the soul had failed to be religious, it found no
one there to entertain it, and was forced to take a desperate leap
into a place of misery below, called Milu.
"There were several precipices, from the verge of which the unhappy
ghosts were supposed to take the leap into the region of woe; three in
particular, one at the northern extremity of Hawaii, one at the western
termination of Maui, and the third at the northern point of Oahu." [5]
Near the northwest point of Oahu is a rock called Leina Kauhane, where
the souls of the dead descended into Hades. In New Zealand the same
term, "Reinga" (the leaping place), is applied to the North Cape. The
Marquesans have a similar belief in regard to the northermost island
of their group, and apply the same term, "Reinga," to their Avernus.
VI
LONOPUHA; OR, ORIGIN OF THE ART OF HEALING IN HAWAII
_Translated by Thos. G. Thrum_
During the time that Milu was residing at Waipio, Hawaii, the year
of which is unknown, there came to these shores a number of people,
with their wives, from that vague foreign land, Kahiki. But they were
all of godly kind (_ano akua nae_), it is said, and drew attention
as they journeyed from place to place. They arrived first at Niihau,
and from there they travelled through all the islands. At Hawaii
they landed at the south side, thence to Puna, Hilo, and settled at
Kukuihaele, Hamakua, just above Waipio.
On every island they visited there appeared various diseases, and
many deaths resulted, so that it was said this was their doings,
among the chiefs and people. The diseases that followed in their
train were chills, fevers, headache, _pani_, and so on.
These are the names of some of these people: Kaalaenuiahina,
Kahuilaokalani, Kaneikaulanaula, besides others. They brought
death, but one Kamakanuiahailono followed after them with healing
powers. This was perhaps the origin of sickness and the art of healing
with medicines in Hawaii.
As has been said, diseases settled on the different islands like an
epidemic, and the practice of medicine ensued, for Kamakanuiahailono
followed them in their journeyings. He arrived at Kau, stopping at
Kiolakaa, on the west side of Waiohinu, where a great multitude of
people were residing, and Lono was their chief. The stranger sat on a
certain hill, where many of the people visited him, for the reason that
he was a newcomer, a custom that is continued to this day. While there
he noticed the redness of skin of a certain one of them, and remarked,
"Oh, the redness of skin of that man!"
The people replied, "Oh, that is Lono, the chief of this land, and
he is a farmer."
He again spoke, asserting that his sickness was very great; for
through the redness of the skin he knew him to be a sick man.
They again replied that he was a healthy man, "but you consider him
very sick." He then left the residents and set out on his journey.
Some of those who heard his remarks ran and told the chief the
strange words, "that he was a very sick man." On hearing this,
Lono raised up his _oo_ (digger) and said, "Here I am, without any
sign of disease, and yet I am sick." And as he brought down his _oo_
with considerable force, it struck his foot and pierced it through,
causing the blood to flow freely, so that he fell and fainted away. At
this, one of the men seized a pig and ran after the stranger, who,
hearing the pig squealing, looked behind him and saw the man running
with it; and as he neared him he dropped it before him, and told him
of Lono's misfortune, Kamakanuiahailono then returned, gathering on
the way the young popolo seeds and its tender leaves in his garment
(_kihei_). When he arrived at the place where the wounded man was
lying he asked for some salt, which he took and pounded together with
the popolo and placed it with a cocoanut covering on the wound. From
then till night the flowing of the blood ceased. After two or three
weeks had elapsed he again took his departure.
While he was leisurely journeying, some one breathing heavily
approached him in the rear, and, turning around, there was the chief,
and he asked him: "What is it, Lono, and where are you going?"
Lono replied, "You healed me; therefore, as soon as you had departed I
immediately consulted with my successors, and have resigned my offices
to them, so that they will have control over all. As for myself,
I followed after you, that you might teach me the art of healing."
The _kahuna lapaau_ (medical priest) then said, "Open your mouth." When
Lono opened his mouth, the kahuna spat into it, [6] by which he
would become proficient in the calling he had chosen, and in which
he eventually became, in fact, very skilful.
As they travelled, he instructed Lono (on account of the accident
to his foot he was called Lonopuha) in the various diseases, and the
different medicines for the proper treatment of each. They journeyed
through Kau, Puna, and Hilo, thence onward to Hamakua as far as
Kukuihaele. Prior to their arrival there, Kamakanuiahailono said
to Lonopuha, "It is better that we reside apart, lest your healing
practice do not succeed; but you settle elsewhere, so as to gain
recognition from your own skill."
For this reason, Lonopuha went on farther and located in Waimanu,
and there practised the art of healing. On account of his labors here,
he became famous as a skilful healer, which fame Kamakanuiahailono and
others heard of at Kukuihaele; but he never revealed to _Kaalaenuiahina
ma_ (company) of his teaching of Lonopuha, through which he became
celebrated. It so happened that _Kaalaenuiahina ma_ were seeking an
occasion to cause Milu's death, and he was becoming sickly through
their evil efforts.
When Milu heard of the fame of Lonopuha as a skilful healer, because
of those who were afflicted with disease and would have died but for
his treatment, he sent his messenger after him. On arriving at Milu's
house, Lonopuha examined and felt of him, and then said, "You will
have no sickness, provided you be obedient to my teachings." He then
exercised his art, and under his medical treatment Milu recovered.
Lonopuha then said to him: "I have treated you, and you are well of
the internal ailments you suffered under, and only that from without
remains. Now, you must build a house of leaves and dwell therein in
quietness for a few weeks, to recuperate." These houses are called
_pipipi_, such being the place to which invalids are moved for
convalescent treatment unless something unforeseen should occur.
Upon Milu's removal thereto, Lonopuha advised him as follows: "O
King! you are to dwell in this house according to the length of time
directed, in perfect quietness; and should the excitement of sports
with attendant loud cheering prevail here, I warn you against these
as omens of evil for your death; and I advise you not to loosen the
_ti_ leaves of your house to peep out to see the cause, for on the
very day you do so, that day you will perish."
Some two weeks had scarcely passed since the King had been confined
in accordance with the kahuna's instructions, when noises from
various directions in proximity to the King's dwelling were heard,
but he regarded the advice of the priest all that day. The cause of
the commotion was the appearance of two birds playing in the air,
which so excited the people that they kept cheering them all that day.
Three weeks had almost passed when loud cheering was again heard in
Waipio, caused by a large bird decorated with very beautiful feathers,
which flew out from the clouds and soared proudly over the _palis_
(precipices) of Koaekea and Kaholokuaiwa, and poised gracefully
over the people; therefore, they cheered as they pursued it here and
there. Milu was much worried thereby, and became so impatient that
he could no longer regard the priest's caution; so he lifted some of
the ti leaves of his house to look out at the bird, when instantly
it made a thrust at him, striking him under the armpit, whereby his
life was taken and he was dead (_lilo ai kona ola a make iho la_).
The priest saw the bird flying with the liver of Milu; therefore, he
followed after it. When it saw that it was pursued, it immediately
entered into a sunken rock just above the base of the precipice of
Koaekea. As he reached the place, the blood was spattered around
where the bird had entered. Taking a piece of garment (_pahoola_), he
soaked it with the blood and returned and placed it in the opening in
the body of the dead King and poured healing medicine on the wound,
whereby Milu recovered. And the place where the bird entered with
Milu's liver has ever since been called Keakeomilu (the liver of Milu).
A long while afterward, when this death of the King was as nothing
(_i mea ole_), and he recovered as formerly, the priest refrained
not from warning him, saying: "You have escaped from this death;
there remains for you one other."
After Milu became convalescent from his recent serious experience,
a few months perhaps had elapsed, when the surf at Waipio became very
high and was breaking heavily on the beach. This naturally caused
much commotion and excitement among the people, as the numerous
surf-riders, participating in the sport, would land upon the beach
on their surf-boards. Continuous cheering prevailed, and the hilarity
rendered Milu so impatient at the restraint put upon him by the priest
that he forsook his wise counsel and joined in the exhilarating sport.
Seizing a surf-board he swam out some distance to the selected spot
for suitable surfs. Here he let the first and second combers pass
him; but watching his opportunity he started with the momentum of the
heavier third comber, catching the crest just right. Quartering on
the rear of his board, he rode in with majestic swiftness, and landed
nicely on the beach amid the cheers and shouts of the people. He then
repeated the venture and was riding in as successfully, when, in a
moment of careless abandon, at the place where the surfs finish as
they break on the beach, he was thrust under and suddenly disappeared,
while the surf-board flew from under and was thrown violently upon the
shore. The people in amazement beheld the event, and wildly exclaimed:
"Alas! Milu is dead! Milu is dead!" With sad wonderment they searched
and watched in vain for his body. Thus was seen the result of repeated
disobedience.
VII
A VISIT TO THE SPIRIT LAND; OR, THE STRANGE EXPERIENCE OF A WOMAN IN
KONA, HAWAII
_Mrs. E. N. Haley_
Kalima had been sick for many weeks, and at last died. Her friends
gathered around her with loud cries of grief, and with many expressions
of affection and sorrow at their loss they prepared her body for
its burial.
The grave was dug, and when everything was ready for the last rites
and sad act, husband and friends came to take a final look at the rigid
form and ashen face before it was laid away forever in the ground. The
old mother sat on the mat-covered ground beside her child, brushing
away the intrusive flies with a piece of cocoanut-leaf, and wiping
away the tears that slowly rolled down her cheeks. Now and then she
would break into a low, heart-rending wail, and tell in a sob-choked,
broken voice, how good this her child had always been to her, how her
husband loved her, and how her children would never have any one to
take her place. "Oh, why," she cried, "did the gods leave me? I am old
and heavy with years; my back is bent and my eyes are getting dark. I
cannot work, and am too old and weak to enjoy fishing in the sea,
or dancing and feasting under the trees. But this my child loved all
these things, and was so happy. Why is she taken and I, so useless,
left?" And again that mournful, sob-choked wail broke on the still
air, and was borne out to the friends gathered under the trees before
the door, and was taken up and repeated until the hardest heart would
have softened and melted at the sound. As they sat around on the mats
looking at their dead and listening to the old mother, suddenly Kalima
moved, took a long breath, and opened her eyes. They were frightened
at the miracle, but so happy to have her back again among them.
The old mother raised her hands and eyes to heaven and, with rapt
faith on her brown, wrinkled face, exclaimed: "The gods have let her
come back! How they must love her!"
Mother, husband, and friends gathered around and rubbed her hands
and feet, and did what they could for her comfort. In a few minutes
she revived enough to say, "I have something strange to tell you."
Several days passed before she was strong enough to say more; then
calling her relatives and friends about her, she told them the
following weird and strange story:
"I died, as you know. I seemed to leave my body and stand beside it,
looking down on what _was_ me. The me that was standing there looked
like the form I was looking at, only, I was alive and the other was
dead. I gazed at my body for a few minutes, then turned and walked
away. I left the house and village, and walked on and on to the next
village, and there I found crowds of people,--Oh, so many people! The
place which I knew as a small village of a few houses was a very
large place, with hundreds of houses and thousands of men, women,
and children. Some of them I knew and they spoke to me,--although
that seemed strange, for I knew they were dead,--but nearly all were
strangers. They were all so happy! They seemed not to have a care;
nothing to trouble them. Joy was in every face, and happy laughter
and bright, loving words were on every tongue.
"I left that village and walked on to the next. I was not tired, for
it seemed no trouble to walk. It was the same there; thousands of
people, and every one so joyous and happy. Some of these I knew. I
spoke to a few people, then went on again. I seemed to be on my way
to the volcano,--to Pele's pit,--and could not stop, much as I wanted
to do so.
"All along the road were houses and people, where I had never known
any one to live. Every bit of good ground had many houses, and many,
many happy people on it. I felt so full of joy, too, that my heart
sang within me, and I was glad to be dead.
"In time I came to South Point, and there, too, was a great crowd
of people. The barren point was a great village, I was greeted with
happy _alohas_, then passed on. All through Kau it was the same, and
I felt happier every minute. At last I reached the volcano. There
were some people there, but not so many as at other places. They,
too, were happy like the others, but they said, 'You must go back to
your body. You are not to die yet.'
"I did not want to go back. I begged and prayed to be allowed to stay
with them, but they said, 'No, you must go back; and if you do not
go willingly, we will make you go.'
"I cried and tried to stay, but they drove me back, even beating me
when I stopped and would not go on. So I was driven over the road
I had come, back through all those happy people. They were still
joyous and happy, but when they saw that I was not allowed to stay,
they turned on me and helped drive me, too.
"Over the sixty miles I went, weeping, followed by those cruel people,
till I reached my home and stood by my body again. I looked at it and
hated it. Was that my body? What a horrid, loathsome thing it was to
me now, since I had seen so many beautiful, happy creatures! Must I go
and live in that thing again? No, I would not go into it; I rebelled
and cried for mercy.
"'You must go into it; we will make you!' said my tormentors. They
took me and pushed me head foremost into the big toe.
"I struggled and fought, but could not help myself. They pushed and
beat me again, when I tried for the last time to escape. When I passed
the waist, I seemed to know it was of no use to struggle any more,
so went the rest of the way myself. Then my body came to life again,
and I opened my eyes.
"But I wish I could have stayed with those happy people. It was cruel
to make me come back. My other body was so beautiful, and I was so
happy, so happy!"
VIII
KAPEEPEEKAUILA; OR, THE ROCKS OF KANA
_Rev. A. O. Forbes_
On the northern side of the island of Molokai, commencing at the
eastern end and stretching along a distance of about twenty miles,
the coast is a sheer precipice of black rock varying in height from
eight hundred to two thousand feet. The only interruptions to the
continuity of this vast sea wall are formed by the four romantic
valleys of Pelekunu, Puaahaunui, Wailau, and Waikolu. Between the
valleys of Pelekunu and Waikolu, juts out the bold, sharp headland
of Haupu, forming the dividing ridge between them, and reminding one
somewhat of an axe-head turned edge upward. Directly in a line with
this headland, thirty or forty rods out in the ocean, arise abruptly
from the deep blue waters the rocks of Haupu, three or four sharp,
needle-like points of rock varying from twenty to one hundred feet in
height. This is the spot associated with the legend of Kapeepeekauila,
and these rocks stand like grim sentinels on duty at the eastern
limit of what is now known as the settlement of Kalawao. The legend
runs as follows:
Keahole was the father, Hiiaka-noholae was the mother, and
Kapeepeekauila was the son. This Kapeepeekauila was a hairy man,
and dwelt on the ridge of Haupu.
Once on a time Hakalanileo and his wife Hina, the mother of Kana,
came and dwelt in the valley of Pelekunu, on the eastern side of the
ridge of Haupu.
Kapeepeekauila, hearing of the arrival of Hina, the beautiful daughter
of Kalahiki, sent his children to fetch her. They went and said to
Hina, "Our royal father desires you as his wife, and we have come
for you."
"Desires me for what?" said she.
"Desires you for a wife," said they.
This announcement pleased the beautiful daughter of Kalahiki, and
she replied, "Return to your royal father and tell him he shall be
the husband and I will be the wife."
When this message was delivered to Kapeepeekauila, he immediately
sent a messenger to the other side of the island to summon all the
people from Keonekuina to Kalamaula; for we have already seen that
he was a hairy man, and it was necessary that this blemish should be
removed. Accordingly, when the people had all arrived, Kapeepeekauila
laid himself down and they fell to work until the hairs were all
plucked out. He then took Hina to wife, and they two dwelt together
on the top of Haupu.
Poor Hakalanileo, the husband of Hina, mourned the loss of his
companion of the long nights of winter and the shower-sprinkled
nights of summer. Neither could he regain possession of her, for
the ridge of Haupu grew till it reached the heavens. He mourned and
rolled himself in the dust in agony, and crossed his hands behind his
back. He went from place to place in search of some powerful person
who should be able to restore to him his wife. In his wanderings,
the first person to whom he applied was Kamalalawalu, celebrated for
strength and courage. This man, seeing his doleful plight, asked,
"Why these tears, O my father?"
Hakalanileo replied, "Thy mother is lost."
"Lost to whom?"
"Lost to Kapeepee."
"What Kapeepee?"
"Kapeepee-kauila."
"What Kauila?"
"Kauila, the dauntless, of Haupu."
"Then, O father, thou wilt not recover thy wife. Our stick may strike;
it will but hit the dust at his feet. His stick, when it strikes back,
will hit the head. Behold, measureless is the height of Haupu."
Now, this Kamalalawalu was celebrated for his strength in throwing
stones. Of himself, one side was stone, and the other flesh. As
a test he seized a large stone and threw it upwards. It rose till
it hit the sky and then fell back to earth again. As it came down,
he turned his stony side toward it, and the collision made his side
rattle. Hakalanileo looked on and sadly said, "Not strong enough."
On he went, beating his breast in his grief, till he came to the
celebrated Niuloihiki. Question and answer passed between them, as
in the former case, but Niuloihiki replied, "It is hopeless; behold,
measureless is the height of Haupu."
Again he prosecuted his search till he met the third man of fame,
whose name was Kaulu. Question and answer passed, as before, and
Kaulu, to show his strength, seized a river and held it fast in its
course. But Hakalanileo mournfully said, "Not strong enough."
Pursuing his way with streaming eyes, he came to the fourth hero,
Lonokaeho by name. As in the former cases, so in this, he received
no satisfaction. These four were all he knew of who were foremost in
prowess, and all four had failed him. It was the end, and he turned
sadly toward the mountain forest, to return to his home.
Meantime, the rumor had reached the ears of Niheu, surnamed "the
Rogue." Some one told him a father had passed along searching for
some one able to recover him his wife.
"Where is this father of mine?" inquired Niheu.
"He has gone inland," was the reply.
"I'll overtake him; he won't escape me," said Niheu. So he went after
the old man, kicking over the trees that came in his way. The old man
had gone on till he was tired and faint, when Niheu overtook him and
brought him back to his house. Then Niheu asked him, "What made you
go on without coming to the house of Niheu?"
"What, indeed," answered the old man; "as though I were not seeking
to recover thy mother, who is lost!"
Then came question and answer, as in former cases, and Niheu said,
"I fear thou wilt not recover thy wife, O my father. But let us go
inland to the foster son of Uli." So they went. But Niheu ran on ahead
and told Kana, the foster son of Uli: "Behold, here comes Hakalanileo,
bereft of his wife. We are all beat."
"Where is he?" inquired Kana.
"Here he is, just arrived."
Kana looked forth, and Hakalanileo recoiled with fear at the blazing
of his eyes.
Then spoke Niheu: "Why could you not wait before looking at our
father? Behold, you have frightened him, and he has run back."
On this, Kana, remaining yet in the house, stretched forth his hand,
and, grasping the old man in the distance, brought him back and sat
him on his lap. Then Kana wept. And the impudent Niheu said, "Now
you are crying; look out for the old man, or he will get water-soaked."
But Kana ordered Niheu to bestir himself and light a fire, for the
tears of Kana were as the big dropping rains of winter, soaking the
plain. And Kana said to the old man, "Now, dry yourself by the fire,
and when you are warm, tell your story."
The old man obeyed, and when he was warm enough, told the story of
his grief. Then said Kana, "Almost spent are my years; I am only
waiting for death, and behold I have at last found a foeman worthy
of my prowess."
Kana immediately espoused the cause of Hakalanileo, and ordered his
younger brother, Niheu, to construct a canoe for the voyage. Poor
Niheu worked and toiled without success until, in despair, he
exclaimed, upbraidingly, "Thy work is not work; it is slavery. There
thou dwellest at thy ease in thy retreat, while with thy foot thou
destroyest my canoe."
Upon this, Kana pointed out to Niheu a bush, and said, "Can you pull
up that bush?"
"Yes," replied Niheu, for it was but a small bush, and he doubted not
his ability to root it up; so he pulled and tugged away, but could
not loosen it.
Kana looking on, said, tauntingly, "Your foeman will not be overcome
by you."
Then Kana stretched forth his hands, scratching among the forests,
and soon had a canoe in one hand; a little more and another
canoe appeared in the other hand. The twin canoes were named
_Kaumueli_. He lifted them down to the shore, provided them with
paddles, and then appointed fourteen rowers. Kana embarked with his
magic rod called _Waka-i-lani_. Thus they set forth to wage war upon
Kapeepeekauila. They went on until the canoes grounded on a hard ledge.
Niheu called out, "Behold, thou sleepest, O Kana, while we all perish."
Kana replied, "What is there to destroy us? Are not these the reefs
of Haupu? Away with the ledges, the rock points, and the yawning
chasms! Smite with _Waka-i-lani_, thy rod."
Niheu smote, the rocks crumbled to pieces, and the canoes were
freed. They pursued their course again until Niheu, being on the watch,
cried out, "Why sleepest thou, O Kana? Here we perish, again. Thy
like for sleeping I never saw!"
"Wherefore perish?" said Kana.
"Behold," replied Niheu, "the fearful wall of water. If we attempt
to pass it, it will topple over and destroy us all."
Then said Kana: "Behold, behind us the reefs of Haupu. That is the
destruction passed. As for the destruction before us, smite with
thy rod."
Niheu smote, the wall of water divided, and the canoes passed safely
through. Then they went on their course again, as before. After a
time, Niheu again called out, "Alas, again we perish. Here comes a
great monster. If he falls upon us, we are all dead men."
And Kana said, "Look sharp, now, and when the pointed snout crosses
our bow, smite with thy rod."
And he did so, and behold, this great thing was a monster fish, and
when brought on board it became food for them all. So wonderfully
great was this fish that its weight brought the rim of the canoes
down to the water's edge.
They continued on their way, and next saw the open mouth of the
sharp-toothed shark--another of the outer defences of Haupu--awaiting
them.
"Smite with thy rod," ordered Kana.
Niheu smote, and the shark died.
Next they came upon the great turtle, another defence of Haupu. Again
the sleepy Kana is aroused by the cry of the watchful Niheu, and
the turtle is slain by the stroke of the magic rod. All this was
during the night. At last, just as the edge of the morning lifted
itself from the deep, their mast became entangled in the branches of
the trees. Niheu flung upward a stone. It struck. The branches came
rattling down, and the mast was free. On they went till the canoes
gently stood still. On this, Niheu cried out, "Here you are, asleep
again, O Kana, and the canoes are aground!"
Kana felt beneath; there was no ground. He felt above; the mast
was entangled in weeds. He pulled, and the weeds and earth came down
together. The smell of the fresh-torn weeds was wafted up to Hale-huki,
the house where Kapeepeekauila lived. His people, on the top of Haupu,
looked down on the canoes floating at the foot. "Wondrous is the size
of the canoes!" they cried. "Ah! it is a load of _opihis_ (shell-fish)
from Hawaii for Hina," for that was a favorite dish with her.
Meantime, Kana despatched Niheu after his mother. "Go in friendly
fashion," said the former.
Niheu leaped ashore, but slipped and fell on the smooth rocks. Back
he went to the canoes.
"What sort of a coming back is this?" demanded Kana.
"I slipped and fell, and just escaped with my life," answered Niheu.
"Back with you!" thundered Kana.
Again the luckless Niheu sprang ashore, but the long-eyed sand-crabs
(_ohiki-makaloa_) made the sand fly with their scratching till his
eyes were filled. Back to the canoes again he went. "Got it all in
my eyes!" said he, and he washed them out with sea-water.
"You fool!" shouted Kana; "what were you looking down for? The
sand-crabs are not birds. If you had been looking up, as you ought,
you would not have got the sand in your eyes. Go again!"
This time he succeeded, and climbed to the top of Haupu. Arriving at
the house, Hale-huki, where Hina dwelt, he entered at once. Being asked
"Why enterest thou this forbidden door?" he replied:
"Because I saw thee entering by this door. Hadst thou entered some
other way, I should not have come in at the door." And behold,
Kapeepeekauila and Hina sat before him. Then Niheu seized the hand
of Hina and said, "Let us two go." And she arose and went.
When they had gone about half-way to the brink of the precipice,
Kapeepeekauila exclaimed, "What is this? Is the woman gone?"
Mo-i, the sister of Kana, answered and said, "If you wish the woman,
now is the time; you and I fight."
Great was the love of Kapeepeekauila for Hina, and he said, "No
war dare touch Haupu; behold, it is a hill, growing even to the
heavens." And he sent the _kolea_ (plover) squad to desecrate the
sacred locks of Niheu; for the locks of Niheu were _kapu_, and if
they should be touched, he would relinquish Hina for very shame. So
the kolea company sailed along in the air till they brushed against
the sacred locks of Niheu, and for very shame he let go his mother
and struck at the koleas with his rod and hit their tail feathers and
knocked them all out, so that they remain tailless to this day. And
he returned to the edge of the shore, while the koleas bore off Hina
in triumph.
When Niheu reached the shore, he beat his forehead with stones till
the blood flowed; a trick which Kana perceived from on board the
canoes. And when Niheu went on board he said, "See! we fought and I
got my head hurt."
But Kana replied, "There was no fight; you did it yourself, out of
shame at your defeat."
And Niheu replied, "What, then, shall we fight?"
"Yes," said Kana, and he stood up.
Now, one of his legs was named Keauea and the other Kaipanea, and as
he stood upon the canoes, he began to lengthen himself upward until
the dwellers on top of Haupu exclaimed in terror, "We are all dead
men! Behold, here is a great giant towering above us."
And Kapeepeekauila, seeing this, hastened to prune the branches of
the kamani tree (_Calophyllum inophyllum_), so that the bluff should
grow upward. And the bluff rose, and Kana grew. Thus they strove,
the bluff rising higher and Kana growing taller, until he became
as the stalk of a banana leaf, and gradually spun himself out till
he was no thicker than a strand of a spider's web, and at last he
yielded the victory to Kapeepeekauila.
Niheu, seeing the defeat of Kana, called out, "Lay yourself along to
Kona, on Hawaii, to your grandmother, Uli."
And he laid himself along with his body in Kona, while his feet rested
on Molokai. His grandmother in Kona fed him until he became plump and
fat again. Meanwhile, poor Niheu, watching at his feet on Molokai,
saw their sides fill out with flesh while he was almost starved with
hunger. "So, then," quoth he, "you are eating and growing fat while
I die with hunger." And he cut off one of Kana's feet for revenge.
The sensation crept along up to his body, which lay in Kona, and Kana
said to his grandmother, Uli, "I seem to feel a numbness creeping
over me."
And she answered, and said, "Thy younger brother is hungry with
watching, and seeing thy feet grow plump, he has cut off one of them;
therefore this numbness."
Kana, having at last grown strong and fat, prepared to wage war again
upon Kapeepeekauila. Food was collected in abundance from Waipio, and
when it was prepared, they embarked again in their canoes and came
back to Haupu, on Molokai. But his grandmother, Uli, had previously
instructed him to first destroy all the branches of the kamani tree
of Haupu. Then he showed himself, and began again to stretch upward
and tower above the bluff. Kapeepeekauila hastened again to trim
the branches of the kamani, that the bluff might grow as before;
but behold, they were all gone! It was the end; Kapeepeekauila was
at last vanquished. The victorious Kana recovered his sister, Mo-i,
restored to poor Hakalanileo his wife, Hina, and then, tearing down
the bluff of Haupu, kicked off large portions of it into the sea,
where they stand to this day, and are called "The Rocks of Kana."
IX
KALELEALUAKA
_Dr. N. B. Emerson_
PART I
Kaopele was born in Waipio, Hawaii. When born he did not breathe, and
his parents were greatly troubled; but they washed his body clean,
and having arrayed it in good clothes, they watched anxiously over
the body for several days, and then, concluding it to be dead, placed
it in a small cave in the face of the cliff. There the body remained
from the summer month of _Ikiki_ (July or August) to the winter month
of _Ikua_ (December or January), a period of six months.
At this time they were startled by a violent storm of thunder and
lightning, and the rumbling of an earthquake. At the same time appeared
the marvellous phenomenon of eight rainbows arching over the mouth
of the cave. Above the din of the storm the parents heard the voice
of the awakened child calling to them:
"Let your love rest upon me,
O my parents, who have thrust me forth,
Who have left me in the cavernous cliff,
Who have heartlessly placed me in the
Cliff frequented by the tropic bird!
O Waiaalaia, my mother!
O Waimanu, my father!
Come and take me!"
The yearning love of the mother earnestly besought the father to go
in quest of the infant; but he protested that search was useless,
as the child was long since dead. But, unable longer to endure a
woman's teasing, which is the same in all ages, he finally set forth
in high dudgeon, vowing that in case of failure he would punish her
on his return.
On reaching the place where the babe had been deposited, its body was
not to be found. But lifting up his eyes and looking about, he espied
the child perched on a tree, braiding a wreath from the scarlet flowers
of the _lehua_ (_Metrosideros polymorpha_). "I have come to take you
home with me," said the father. But the infant made no answer. The
mother received the child to her arms with demonstrations of the
liveliest affection. At her suggestion they named the boy Kaopele,
from the name of their goddess, Pele.
Six months after this, on the first day (_Hilo_) of the new moon, in
the month of Ikiki, they returned home from working in the fields and
found the child lying without breath, apparently dead. After venting
their grief for their darling in loud lamentations, they erected a
frame to receive its dead body.
Time healed the wounds of their affection, and after the lapse of six
moons they had ceased to mourn, when suddenly they were affrighted
by a storm of thunder and lightning, with a quaking of the earth,
in the midst of which they distinguished the cry of their child,
"Oh, come; come and take me!"
They, overjoyed at this second restoration of their child to them,
and deeming it to be a miracle worked by their goddess, made up their
minds that if it again fell into a trance they would not be anxious,
since their goddess would awake their child and bring it to life again.
But afterward the child informed them of their mistake, saying:
"This marvel that you see in me is a trance; when I pass into my deep
sleep my spirit at once floats away in the upper air with the goddess,
Poliahu. We are a numerous band of spirits, but I excel them in the
distance of my flights. In one day I can compass this island of Hawaii,
as well as Maui, Oahu, and Kauai, and return again. In my flights I
have seen that Kauai is the richest of all the islands, for it is well
supplied with food and fish, and it is abundantly watered. I intend
to remain with you until I am grown; then I shall journey to Kauai
and there spend the rest of my life." Thus Kaopele lived with his
parents until he was grown, but his habit of trance still clung to him.
Then one day he filled them with grief by saying: "I am going, aloha."
They sealed their love for each other with tears and kisses, and he
slept and was gone. He alighted at Kula, on Maui. There he engaged
in cultivating food. When his crops were nearly ripe and ready to be
eaten he again fell into his customary deep sleep, and when he awoke
he found that the people of the land had eaten up all his crops.
Then he flew away to a place called Kapapakolea, in Moanalua, on Oahu,
where he set out a new plantation. Here the same fortune befell him,
and his time for sleep came upon him before his crops were fit for
eating. When he awoke, his plantation had gone to waste.
Again he moves on, and this time settles in Lihue, Oahu, where for
the third time he sets out a plantation of food, but is prevented
from eating it by another interval of sleep. Awakening, he finds his
crops overripe and wasted by neglect and decay.
His restless ambition now carries him to Lahuimalo, still on the
island of Oahu, where his industry plants another crop of food. Six
months pass, and he is about to eat of the fruits of his labor,
when one day, on plunging into the river to bathe, he falls into
his customary trance, and his lifeless body is floated by the stream
out into the ocean and finally cast up by the waters on the sands of
Maeaea, a place in Waialua, Oahu.
At the same time there arrived a man from Kauai in search of a human
body to offer as a sacrifice at the temple of Kahikihaunaka at Wailua,
on Kauai, and having seen the corpse of Kaopele on the beach, he asks
and obtains permission of the feudal lord (_Konohiki_) of Waialua
to take it. Thus it happens that Kaopele is taken by canoe to the
island of Kauai and placed, along with the corpse of another man,
on the altar of the temple at Wailua.
There he lay until the bones of his fellow corpse had begun to fall
apart. When six moons had been accomplished, at midnight there came a
burst of thunder and an earthquake. Kaopele came to life, descended
from the altar, and directed his steps toward a light which he saw
shining through some chinks in a neighboring house. He was received
by the occupants of the house with that instant and hearty hospitality
which marks the Hawaiian race, and bidden to enter ("_mai, komo mai_").
Food was set before him, with which he refreshed himself. The old
man who seemed to be the head of the household was so much pleased
and impressed with the bearing and appearance of our hero that he
forthwith sought to secure him to be the husband of his granddaughter,
a beautiful girl named Makalani. Without further ado, he persuaded
him to be a suitor for the hand of the girl, and while it was yet
night, started off to obtain the girl's consent and to bring her back
with him.
The young woman was awakened from her slumbers in the night to hear the
proposition of her grandfather, who painted to her in glowing colors
the manly attractions of her suitor. The suit found favor in the eyes
of the girl's parents and she herself was nothing loath; but with
commendable maidenly propriety she insisted that her suitor should be
brought and presented to her, and that she should not first seek him.
The sun had hardly begun to lift the dew from the grass when our
young hero, accompanied by the two matchmakers, was brought into the
presence of his future wife. They found favor in each other's eyes,
and an ardent attachment sprang up on the instant. Matters sped
apace. A separate house was assigned as the residence of the young
couple, and their married life began felicitously.
But the instincts of a farmer were even stronger in the breast of
Kaopele than the bonds of matrimony. In the middle of the night he
arose, and, leaving the sleeping form of his bride, passed out into the
darkness. He went _mauka_ until he came upon an extensive upland plain,
where he set to work clearing and making ready for planting. This done,
he collected from various quarters shoots and roots of potato (_kalo_),
banana (_waoke_), _awa_, and other plants, and before day the whole
plain was a plantation. After his departure his wife awoke with a
start and found her husband was gone. She went into the next house,
where her parents were sleeping, and, waking them, made known her loss;
but they knew nothing of his whereabouts. Much perplexed, they were
still debating the cause of his departure, when he suddenly returned,
and to his wife's questioning, answered that he had been at work.
She gently reproved him for interrupting their bridal night with
agriculture, and told him there would be time enough for that when they
had lived together a while and had completed their honeymoon. "And
besides," said she, "if you wish to turn your hand to agriculture,
here is the plat of ground at hand in which my father works, and you
need not go up to that plain where only wild hogs roam."
To this he replied: "My hand constrains me to plant; I crave work;
does idleness bring in anything? There is profit only when a man turns
the palm of his hand to the soil: that brings in food for family and
friends. If one were indeed the son of a king he could sleep until
the sun was high in the heavens, and then rise and find the bundles
of cooked food ready for him. But for a plain man, the only thing
to do is to cultivate the soil and plant, and when he returns from
his work let him light his oven, and when the food is cooked let the
husband and the wife crouch about the hearth and eat together."
Again, very early on the following morning, while his wife slept,
Kaopele rose, and going to the house of a neighbor, borrowed a fishhook
with its tackle. Then, supplying himself with bait, he went a-fishing
in the ocean and took an enormous quantity of fish. On his way home
he stopped at the house where he had borrowed the tackle and returned
it, giving the man also half of the fish. Arrived at home, he threw
the load of fish onto the ground with a thud which waked his wife
and parents.
"So you have been a-fishing," said his wife. "Thinking you had again
gone to work in the field, I went up there, but you were not there. But
what an immense plantation you have set out! Why, the whole plain
is covered."
His father-in-law said, "A fine lot of fish, my boy."
Thus went life with them until the crops were ripe, when one day
Kaopele said to his wife, who was now evidently with child, "If the
child to be born is a boy, name it Kalelealuaka; but if it be a girl,
name it as you will, from your side of the family."
From his manner she felt uneasy and suspicious of him, and said,
"Alas! do you intend to desert me?"
Then Kaopele explained to his wife that he was not really going to
leave her, as men are wont to forsake their wives, but he foresaw
that that was soon to happen which was habitual to him, and he felt
that on the night of the morrow a deep sleep would fall upon him
(_puni ka hiamoe_), which would last for six months. Therefore,
she was not to fear.
"Do not cast me out nor bury me in the ground," said he. Then he
explained to her how he happened to be taken from Oahu to Kauai and how
he came to be her husband, and he commanded her to listen attentively
to him and to obey him implicitly. Then they pledged their love to
each other, talking and not sleeping all that night.
On the following day all the friends and neighbors assembled, and as
they sat about, remarks were made among them in an undertone, like
this, "So this is the man who was placed on the altar of the _heiau_
at Wailua." And as evening fell he bade them all _aloha_, and said
that he should be separated from them for six months, but that his
body would remain with them if they obeyed his commands. And, having
kissed his wife, he fell into the dreamful, sacred sleep of Niolo-kapu.
On the sixth day the father-in-law said: "Let us bury your husband,
lest he stink. I thought it was to be only a natural sleep, but it
is ordinary death. Look, his body is rigid, his flesh is cold, and
he does not breathe; these are the signs of death."
But Makalani protested, "I will not let him be buried; let him lie
here, and I will watch over him as he commanded; you also heard his
words." But in spite of the wife's earnest protests, the hard-hearted
father-in-law gathered strong vines of the _koali_ (convolvulus),
tied them about Kaopele's feet, and attaching to them heavy stones,
caused his body to be conveyed in a canoe and sunk in the dark waters
of the ocean midway between Kauai and Oahu.
Makalani lived in sorrow for her husband until the birth of her child,
and as it was a boy, she called his name Kalelealuaka.