Having embroiled himself with the divine and political powers of
Hawaii, Kaululaau rounded the southern point of La Lae and set sail for
Molokai. He spent a month on that island with the royal relatives of
his mother, by whom he was appropriately received and entertained. He
visited the home of Laamaomao, the wind-god, the poisoned grove of
Kalaipahoa, and the demolished fortress on the promontory of Haupu,
where the gallant Kaupeepee, of whose blood he was, met his dramatic
death. He then set sail for Oahu.
The island of Oahu was at that period one of the most prosperous in
the group. It was under the government of Kalona-iki, one of the two
sons of Mailikukahi, who during his reign had instituted a code of
laws giving better protection to the poor, making theft punishable
with death, and claiming as the wards of the government the first-born
male children of all families, without regard to rank or condition.
Kalona continued the peaceful and intelligent policy of his father,
and his court was noted alike for the brilliancy of its chiefs and
the beauty of its women. His principal place of residence was Waikiki,
although he had sumptuous temporary resorts at Ewa and Waialua.
Kaululaau first touched at Waialua, but, learning that the king was
at Waikiki, he ordered his canoe to proceed around to the south side
of the island in charge of his chief navigator, while he and Kamakaua
concluded to make the journey overland. Dispensing with all insignia of
rank, and habited like simple commoners, the prince and his companion
started unattended for Waikiki. Both were armed with javelins, but
the one borne by Kaululaau was tipped with the charmed point of Lono.
Proceeding along the foot of the Kaala range of mountains, in the
afternoon they sat down to rest in the shade of a hala tree. In a
ravine below them five or six men were working, and scattered along its
banks were a number of huts. Soon a tumult of screams reached them,
and men, women and children were seen running hither and thither in
a state of great excitement.
The travelers sprang to their feet, and as they did so a gigantic
bird swept immediately over their heads and winged its way toward the
hills. It passed so closely that the branches of the hala tree were
swayed by the motion of its mighty pinions, and its outspread wings
seemed to measure scarcely less than twenty long steps from tip to tip.
While watching the monster with amazement, a woman approached, and to
the questions of the prince replied, between wails of anguish, that
the great bird--the Pueoalii, as she called it--had just killed her
only child in front of her hut, with a stab to the heart resembling
the cut of a knife. She hurriedly gave the additional information that
for many years past the same bird had at intervals visited different
districts of the island, killing children, pigs and fowls, and that
the priests had declared it to be a pueo, or owl, sacred to the gods,
and which could not, therefore, be molested with safety, even if harm
to it were possible from human hands.
Better learned in the inspiration and purposes of such
visitations--since he had been instructed by the eminent high-priest
Waolani--and having had many conflicts with malignant spirits, he
doubted that the monster he had just seen was of the sacred pueo
family, and requested that he be shown the dead child. Proceeding
to the hut and inspecting the wound, he observed that the fatal cut
was upward, and not downward, as it would have been had it been made
by the beak of an owl. This confirmed him in the correctness of his
first impression, and, requesting Kamakaua to follow him, he started
toward the hills in the direction taken by the bird.
They could still see it in the distance, like a dark cloud against
the mountain. After following it for some time the bird swooped down
to commit some fresh depredation, and then rose and alighted upon a
rocky ridge with precipitous face sweeping down from the main summit
of Kaala.
"Why go farther?" said Kamakaua. "We cannot reach the bird, and,
if we could, our spears would be like straws to such a monster."
As if by a strong hand, the javelin in the grasp of the prince
forcibly turned and pointed toward the bird. Smiling at the augury,
Kaululaau replied:
"Look you carefully back and see if we are followed."
Kamakaua turned his face in compliance, and as he did so the prince
poised his javelin and hurled it in the direction of the bird. In
twenty paces the point did not droop; in forty it did not fall to
the ground; in a hundred a new energy seized it, and like a flash of
light it sped out of sight. A moment later the prince saw the bird
sink and disappear.
"I can see no one," said Kamakaua, after carefully scanning the
ground over which they had passed. "Nor can I now see the bird,"
he continued, looking toward the ridge. "Where can it be?"
"At the foot of the cliff," replied the prince, "with the point of
my javelin in his heart."
Having been with the prince on Molokai, Kamakaua received the strange
information without question or great wonder, and, hastening to the
base of the precipice, they found the monster dead, with the javelin
buried in its breast. Removing the weapon, they cut off the head and
one of the feet of the bird, pulled from its wings four of the longest
feathers, and with them returned to the hala tree under which they
had found shelter from the sun. The burden taxed their strength to
the utmost. The weight of the head, which was borne by the prince, was
scarcely less than that of his own body, while the feathers were seven
paces in length, and the claws two paces between their extreme points.
Great excitement followed the spreading of the news that Pueoalii had
been killed by strangers. The sufferers through its visitations were
disposed to commend the act, and others condemned it as an insult to
the gods, which would probably bring broadcast calamity upon the whole
island. To placate the anger of the gods it was proposed to sacrifice
the strangers at the nearest heiau, and, respectfully wrapping the
head of the bird in kapa, Kaululaau and his companion were conducted
with their trophies to the sacred temple of Kukaniloko, which was
not far distant. They were accompanied by a crowd which constantly
swelled in numbers as they proceeded, and on arriving at the heiau
they were surrounded by four or five hundred men and women, many of
them armed and clamoring for their blood.
Kaululaau was in nowise alarmed, but rather enjoyed the situation. The
high-priest of the temple appeared and the matter was laid before
him. Looking at the foot and mighty feathers of the bird, he turned
to the strangers and said:
"You have slain a creature sacred to the gods, and my thought is that
you should be sacrificed to avert their wrath."
"Be careful in your judgment, priest," replied the prince. "How know
you that the bird was sacred?"
"For years it has been so regarded," returned the priest. "How know
you that it was not?"
"Does it become the high-priest of Kukaniloko to ask such a
question?" said the prince. "But I will reply to it when you answer
this: With the javelin now in my hand I killed the bird at a distance
farther than from where we stand to yonder hills. Could it have been
done by human hand without the especial favor of the gods. If not,
then how have the gods been angered?"
The priest was confounded, and when the prince proposed to submit the
question of his guilt to the king, the suggestion was accepted. It now
being near nightfall, Kaululaau and his companion were removed within
the enclosure of the temple for safe-keeping, and, knowing that they
would be deprived of their weapons, the prince removed the charmed
point from his javelin and secreted it in the folds of his maro.
Early next morning the high-priest and his two prisoners, who were
kept under no marked restraint, accompanied by a large concourse of
people carrying the head, foot and feathers of Pueoalii, started for
Waikiki. Every one seemed to know that the great bird had been killed,
and many stood by the wayside to see the feathers that had been torn
from its wings, and catch a glimpse of its destroyer.
Near the middle of the day the great gathering arrived at Waikiki. As
many carried spears, it resembled an army in its march, and messengers
were despatched by the king to ascertain its meaning. Halting near
the shores of the harbor, and not far from the royal mansion, to
report the arrival of the prisoners and learn the pleasure of the
king, the prince observed his double canoe drawn up on the beach,
and requested permission to approach it, that he might secure the
counsel of his master, Kaululaau, son of the moi of Maui.
The favor could not well be denied, and, under guard of two inferior
priests of Kukaniloko, the prince was conducted to the canoe. As but
three or four of the crew were present, and their attention was wholly
absorbed in the gathering around the royal hale, the prince stepped,
unobserved by them, into the canoe, and passed quickly into his private
quarters--a close wicker-work apartment eight or ten feet in length
by the breadth of both canoes, and with a height of six feet or more
from their bottoms to the top screen.
Hurriedly investing himself with his regalia of rank, including helmet,
feather mantle and spear, he stepped into view and sounded a blast upon
a shell. Soon a number of his attendants made their appearance, and,
with such following as befitted a prince, he started for the royal
mansion. The guards who escorted him to the canoe did not recognize
him as he left it, and after passing the crowd surrounding the palace
his name and rank were announced to the king. He was promptly met
and courteously welcomed at the door by Kalona, and informed that
messengers of greeting and invitation would have been despatched to
him had his presence at Waikiki been known.
Kaululaau then apprised the king that he had but just arrived overland
from Waialua, while his double canoe had been sent around to meet
him at Waikiki, and that it was his purpose to spend some days on
Oahu. The hospitalities of the royal hale were then tendered and
accepted, after which the king explained to his distinguished guest
the cause of the large gathering around the palace, and invited him to
an inspection of the head, feathers and claws of the mighty Pueoalii,
and to listen to the story of the slayer of the sacred bird, should
he deem it of sufficient interest.
Kaululaau accompanied the king to a large dancing pavilion within the
royal enclosure, to which had been conveyed the severed parts of the
gigantic bird. After the claws and feathers had been examined with
awe and amazement, the king ordered the slayer of the bird to be
brought before him. The high-priest of Kukaniloko bowed and turned
to execute the order, when the guards placed over the prince came
from the beach with the information that their prisoner had escaped.
The priest was savage in his disappointment. "Either find him or
take his place upon the altar!" he hissed to the unfortunate guards,
and then led Kamakaua before the king, with the explanation that
the other prisoner had managed to elude the vigilance of his guards,
but would doubtless soon be found.
Kamakaua discovered the prince at the side of the king, and could
hardly restrain a smile. When questioned he denied that he killed
the great bird, but admitted that he assisted in removing the head,
feathers and one of the feet.
"This is trifling," said the king, turning to the priest with a
scowl. "Where is the other prisoner?"
"He is here, great king!" exclaimed Kaululaau, bowing before Kalona, to
the astonishment but great relief of the priest. "Favored by the gods,
I slew the malignant monster your priests call by the sacred name of
Pueoalii. Their skill should have instructed them differently. Will
the king favor me by ordering the kapa covering to be removed from
the head?"
The order was given, and the uncovered head was raised beak upward
before the king.
In a moment it was observed that the head was not of a pueo, or owl;
nor did it bear resemblance in form to that of any bird known. It
was narrow between the eyes, which in color were those of a shark,
and its long and pointed beak, both of the upper and under jaws,
turned sharply upward.
"It is not a pueo!" was the general exclamation.
"Are you satisfied, priest?" inquired the prince.
"I think it is not a pueo," responded the priest, reluctantly.
"You think it is not a pueo!" exclaimed the king, indignantly. "Do
you not know it? What pueo ever had such eyes and such a beak?"
The priest hung his head in confusion, and the prince, having
completely discomfited him, now came kindly to his relief by remarking:
"The mistake might well have been made, for on the wing and at a
distance the bird much resembled a pueo."
"You are kind to say so, prince," said the king; "but the priests and
kaulas have been greatly at fault. For years the bird has preyed upon
the people, and no one has dared to molest it. Since you killed it,
knowing that it was not sacred, perhaps you may be able to tell me
something of its unnatural birth and appetites."
Thus appealed to, Kaululaau modestly replied:
"If I may rely upon what seemed to be a dream last night, the bird was
possessed by the spirit of Hilo-a-Lakapu, one of the chiefs of Hawaii
who invaded Oahu during the reign of your royal father. He was slain
at Waimano, and his head was placed upon a pole near Honouliuli for
the birds to feed upon. He was of akua blood, and through a bird-god
relative his spirit was given possession of the monster which the
gods enabled me to slay."
The spirit of Hilo had been brought in with the head of the dead bird,
and with the utterance of these words by the prince the eyes rolled,
the ponderous jaws opened and closed, and with a noise like the scream
of an alae the malignant spirit took its departure.
The truth of the dream of Kaululaau thus being verified, the king
publicly thanked him for ridding the island of the monstrous scourge,
and ordered especial honors to be paid him by all classes so long
as it might be his pleasure to remain in the kingdom. In return the
prince presented to the king the head, claws and feathers of the bird,
the latter to be made into a mammoth kahili, and then made Kamakaua
known to him, together with such other chiefs in his train as were
entitled to royal recognition.
Kaululaau became at once the hero of the court as well as the idol
of the people. He remained more than a month on Oahu, enjoying the
unstinted hospitality of the king and his district chiefs. He was a
favorite with the fairest women of the court; but he gave his heart
to the beautiful Laiea-a-Ewa, sister of the wife of Kalona, and with
her returned to Maui.
Landing at Lahaina after his long absence, he was joyfully welcomed
home by his royal father, who had heard of his adventures and fully
forgiven the faults of his youth. With grief he learned that his friend
the high-priest, Waolani, had died some months before. Remembering his
oath, he found the burial place of the priest, and with his remains
secretly deposited the sacred spear-point of Lono, which had served
him so effectively. He devoutly kissed the relic before he hid it for
ever from view, and afterwards knelt and thanked Lono and the priest
for its use.
Lands were given him in Kauaula, where he resided until the end of
his days. Laiea was his only wife, and they were blessed with six
children, whose names alone are mentioned by tradition.