LAU-KA-IEIE

"Waipio valley, the beautiful:

Precipices around it,

The sea on one side;

The precipices are hard to climb;

Not to be climbed

Are the sea precipices."

--_Hawaiian Chant._

Kakea (the white one) and Kaholo (the runner) were the children of the

Valley. Their parents were the precipices which were sheer to the sea,

and could only be passed by boats. They married, and Kaholo conceived.

The husband said, "If a boy is born, I will name it; if a girl, you give

the name."

He went up to see his sister Pokahi, and asked her to go swiftly to see

his wife. Pokahi's husband was Kaukini, a bird-catcher. He went out into

the forest for some birds. Soon he came back and prepared them for

cooking. Hot stones were put inside the birds and the birds were packed

in calabashes, carefully covered over with wet leaves, which made steam

inside so the birds were well cooked. Then they were brought to Kaholo

for a feast.

On their way they went down to Waipio Valley, coming to the foot of the

precipice. Pokahi wanted some sea-moss and some shell-fish, so she told

the two men to go on while she secured these things to take to Kaholo.

She gathered the soft lipoa moss and went up to the waterfall, to Ulu

(Kaholo's home). The baby was born, wrapped in the moss and thrown into

the sea, making a shapeless bundle, but a kupua (sorcerer) saw that a

child was there. The child was taken and washed clean in the soft lipoa,

and cared for. All around were the signs of the birth of a chief.

They named him Hiilawe, and from him the Waipio waterfall has its name,

according to the saying, "Falling into mist is the water of Hiilawe."

Pokahi took up her package in which she had brought the moss and

shell-fish, but the moss was gone. Hina-ulu-ohia (Hina-the-growing

ohia-tree) was the sorcerer who took the child in the lipoa moss. She

was the aumakua, or ancestor goddess, of the boat-builders.

Pokahi dreamed that a beautiful woman appeared, her body covered with

the leaves of koa-trees. "I know that you have not had any child. I will

now give you one. Awake, and go to the Waipio River; watch thirty days,

then you will find a girl wrapped in soft moss. This shall be your

adopted child. I will show you how to care for it. Your brother and his

wife must not know. Your husband alone may know about this adopted

girl."

Pokahi and her husband went down at once to the mouth of the river,

heard an infant cry in the midst of red-colored mist, and found a child

wrapped in the fragrant moss. She wished to take it up, but was held

back by magic powers. She saw an ohia-tree rising up from the

water,--branches, leaves, and flowers,--and iiwi (birds) coming to pick

the flowers. The red birds and red flowers were very beautiful. This

tree was Hina. The birds began to sing, and quietly the tree sank down

into the water and disappeared, the birds flying away to the west.

Pokahi returned to her brother's house, going down to the sea every day,

where she saw the human form of the child growing in the shelter of that

red mist on the surface of the sea. At the end of the thirty days Pokahi

told her friends and her husband that they must go back home. On their

way they went to the river. She told her husband to look at the red

mist, but he wanted to hurry on. As they approached their house,

cooking-odors welcomed them, and they found plenty of food prepared

outside. They saw something moving inside. The trees seemed to be

walking as if with the feet of men. Steps were heard, and voices were

calling for the people of the house.

Kaukini prepared a lamp, and Pokahi in a vision saw the same fine tree

which she had seen before. There was also a hala-tree with its beautiful

yellow blossoms. As they looked they saw leaves of different kinds

falling one after another, making in one place a soft fragrant bed.

Then a woman and a man came with an infant. They were the god Ku and

Hina his wife. They said to Pokahi and her husband, "We have accepted

your sacrifices and have seen that you are childless, so now we have

brought you this child to adopt." Then they disappeared among the trees

of the forest, leaving the child, Lau-ka-ieie (leaf of the ieie vine).

She was well cared for and grew up into a beautiful woman without fault

or blemish. Her companions and servants were the birds and the flowers.

Lau-ka-pali (leaf of the precipice) was one of her friends. One day she

made whistles of ti leaves, and blew them. The Leaf-of-the Morning-Glory

saw that the young chiefess liked this, so she went out and found

Pupu-kani-oi (the singing land-shell), whose home was on the leaves of

the forest trees. Then she found another Pupu-hina-hina-ula (shell

beautiful, with rainbow colors). In the night the shells sang, and

their voices stole their way into the love of Lau-ka-ieie, so she

gently sang with them.

Nohu-ua-palai (a fern), one of the old residents of that place, went out

into the forest, and, hearing the voices of the girl and the shells,

came to the house. She chanted her name, but there was no reply. All was

silent. At last, Pua-ohelo (the blossom of the ohelo), one of the

flowers in the house, heard, and opening the door, invited her to come

in and eat.

Nohu-ua-palai went in and feasted with the girls. Lau-ka-ieie dreamed

about Kawelona (the setting of the sun), at Lihue, a fine young man, the

first-born of one of the high chiefs of Kauai. She told her kahu

(guardian) all about her dream and the distant island. The kahu asked

who should go to find the man of the dreams. All the girl friends wanted

to go. She told them to raise their hands and the one who had the

longest fingers could go. This was Pupu-kani-oi (the singing shell). The

leaf family all sobbed as they bade farewell to the shell.

The shell said: "Oh, my leaf-sisters Laukoa [leaf of the koa-tree] and

Lauanau [leaf of the tapa, or paper-mulberry, tree], arise, go with me

on my journey! Oh, my shell-sisters of the blue sea, come to the beach,

to the sand! Come and show me the path I am to go! Oh, Pupu-moka-lau

[the land-shell clinging to the mokahana leaf], come and look at me,

for I am one of your family! Call all the shells to aid me in my

journey! Come to me!"

Then she summoned her brother, Makani-kau, chief of the winds, to waft

them away in their wind bodies. They journeyed all around the island of

Hawaii to find some man who would be like the man of the dream. They

found no one there nor on any of the other islands up to Oahu, where the

Singing Shell fell in love with a chief and turned from her journey, but

Makani-kau went on to Kauai.

Ma-eli-eli, the dragon woman of Heeia, tried to persuade him to stop,

but on he went. She ran after him. Limaloa, the dragon of Laiewai, also

tried to catch Makani-kau, but he was too swift. On the way to Kauai,

Makani-kau saw some people in a boat chased by a big shark. He leaped on

the boat and told them he would play with the shark and they could stay

near but need not fear. Then he jumped into the sea. The shark turned

over and opened its mouth to seize him; he climbed on it, caught its

fins, and forced it to flee through the water. He drove it to the shore

and made it fast among the rocks. It became a great shark stone,

Koa-mano (warrior shark), at Haena. He leaped from the shark to land,

the boat following.

He saw the hill of "Fire-Throwing," a place where burning sticks were

thrown over the precipices, a very beautiful sight at night. He leaped

to the top of the hill in his shadow body. Far up on the hill was a vast

number of iiwi (birds). Makani-kau went to them as they were flying

toward Lehua. They only felt the force of the winds, for they could not

see him or his real body. He saw that the birds were carrying a fine man

as he drew near.

This was the one Lau-ka-ieie desired for her husband. They carried this

boy on their wings easily and gently over the hills and sea toward the

sunset island, Lehua. There they slowly flew to earth. They were the

bird guardians of Kawelona, and when they travelled from place to place

they were under the direction of the bird-sorcerer, Kukala-a-ka-manu.

Kawelona had dreamed of a beautiful girl who had visited him again and

again, so he was prepared to meet Makani-kau. He told his parents and

adopted guardians and bird-priests about his dreams and the beautiful

girl he wanted to marry.

Makani-kau met the winds of Niihau and Lehua, and at last was welcomed

by the birds. He told Kawelona his mission, who prepared to go to

Hawaii, asking how they should go. Makani-kau went to the seaside and

called for his many bodies to come and give him the boat for the

husband of their great sister Lau-ka-ieie. Thus he made known his mana,

or spirit power, to Kawelona. He called on the great cloud-gods to send

the long white cloud-boat, and it soon appeared. Kawelona entered the

boat with fear, and in a few minutes lost sight of the island of Lehua

and his bird guardians as he sailed out into the sea. Makani-kau dropped

down by the side of a beautiful shell-boat, entered it, and stopped at

Mana. There he took several girls and put them in a double canoe, or

au-waa-olalua (spirit-boat).

Meanwhile the sorcerer ruler of the birds agreed to find out where

Kawelona was to satisfy the longing of his parents, whom he had left

without showing them where he was going or what dangers he might meet.

The sorcerer poured water into a calabash and threw in two lehua

flowers, which floated on the water. Then he turned his eyes toward the

sun and prayed: "Oh, great sun, to whom belongs the heavens, turn your

eyes downward to look on the water in this calabash, and show us what

you see therein! Look upon the beautiful young woman. She is not one

from Kauai. There is no one more beautiful than she. Her home is under

the glowing East, and a royal rainbow is around her. There are beautiful

girls attending her." The sorcerer saw the sun-pictures in the water,

and interpreted to the friends the journey of Kawelona, telling them it

was a long, long way, and they must wait patiently many days for any

word. In the signs he saw the boy in the cloud-boat, Makani-kau in his

shell-boat, and the three girls in the spirit-boat.

The girls were carried to Oahu, and there found the shell-girl,

Pupu-kani-oi, left by Makani-kau on his way to Lehua. They took her with

her husband and his sisters in the spirit-boat. There were nine in the

company of travellers to Hawaii: Kawelona in his cloud-boat; two girls

from Kauai; Kaiahe, a girl from Oahu; three from Molokai, one from Maui;

and a girl called Lihau. Makani-kau himself was the leader; he had taken

the girls away. On this journey he turned their boats to Kahoolawe to

visit Ka-moho-alii, the ruler of the sharks. There Makani-kau appeared

in his finest human body, and they all landed. Makani-kau took Kawelona

from his cloud-boat, went inland, and placed him in the midst of the

company, telling them he was the husband for Lau-ka-ieie. They were all

made welcome by the ruler of the sharks.

Ka-moho-alii called his sharks to bring food from all the islands over

which they were placed as guardians; so they quickly brought prepared

food, fish, flowers, leis, and gifts of all kinds. The company feasted

and rested. Then Ka-moho-alii called his sharks to guard the travellers

on their journey. Makani-kau went in his shell boat, Kawelona in his

cloud-boat, and they were all carried over the sea until they landed

under the mountains of Hawaii.

Makani-kau, in his wind body, carried the boats swiftly on their journey

to Waipio. Lau-ka-ieie heard her brother's voice calling her from the

sea. Hina answered. Makani-kau and Kawelona went up to Waimea to cross

over to Lau-ka-ieie's house, but were taken by Hina to the top of Mauna

Kea. Poliahu and Lilinoe saw the two fine young men and called to them,

but Makani-kau passed by, without a word, to his own wonderful home in

the caves of the mountains resting in the heart of mists and fogs, and

placed all his travellers there. Makani-kau went down to the sea and

called the sharks of Ka-moho-alii. They appeared in their human bodies

in the valley of Waipio, leaving their shark bodies resting quietly in

the sea. They feasted and danced near the ancient temple of

Kahuku-welo-welo, which was the place where the wonderful shell,

Kiha-pu, was kept.

Makani-kau put seven shells on the top of the precipice and they blew

until sweet sounds floated over all the land. Thus was the marriage of

Lau-ka-ieie and Kawelona celebrated.

All the shark people rested, soothed by the music. After the wedding

they bade farewell and returned to Kahoolawe, going around the southern

side of the island, for it was counted bad luck to turn back. They must

go straight ahead all the way home. Makani-kau went to his sister's

house, and met the girls and Lau-ka-ieie. He told her that his house was

full of strangers, as the people of the different kupua bodies had

assembled to celebrate the wedding. These were the kupua people of the

Hawaiian Islands. The eepa people were more like fairies and gnomes, and

were usually somewhat deformed. The kupuas may be classified as follows:

Ka-poe-kino-lau (the people who had leaf bodies).

" " " -pua (the people who had flower bodies).

" " " -manu (the people who had bird bodies).

" " " -laau (trees of all kinds, ferns, vines, etc.).

" " " -pupu (all shells).

" " " -ao (all clouds).

" " " -makani (all winds).

Ka-poe-kina-ia (all fish).

" " " -mano (all sharks).

" " " -limu (all sea-mosses).

" " " -pohaku (all peculiar stones).

" " " -hiwa-hiwa (all dangerous places of the pali).

After the marriage, Pupu-kani-oi (the singing shell) and her husband

entered the shell-boat, and started back to Molokai. On their way they

heard sweet bird voices. Makani-kau had a feather house covered with

rainbow colors. Later he went to Kauai, and brought back the adopted

parents of Kawelona to dwell on Hawaii, where Lau-ka-ieie lived happily

with her husband.

Hiilawe became very ill, and called his brother Makani-kau and his

sister Lau-ka-ieie to come near and listen. He told them that he was

going to die, and they must bury him where he could always see the eyes

of the people, and then he would change his body into a wonderful new

body.

The beautiful girl took his malo and leis and placed them along the

sides of the valley, where they became beautiful trees and vines, and

Hina made him live again; so Hiilawe became an aumakua of the

waterfalls. Makani-kau took the body in his hands and carried it in the

thunder and lightning, burying it on the brow of the highest precipice

of the valley. Then his body was changed into a stone, which has been

lying there for centuries; but his ghost was made by Hina into a kupua,

so that he could always appear as the wonderful misty falls of Waipio,

looking into the eyes of his people.

After many years had passed Hina assumed permanently the shape of the

beautiful ohia-tree, making her home in the forest around the volcanoes

of Hawaii. She still had magic power, and was worshipped under the name

Hina-ula-ohia. Makani-kau watched over Lau-ka-ieie, and when the time

came for her to lay aside her human body she came to him as a slender,

graceful woman, covered with leaves, her eyes blazing like fire.

Makani-kau said: "You are a vine; you cannot stand alone. I will carry

you into the forest and place you by the side of Hina. You are the ieie

vine. Climb trees! Twine your long leaves around them! Let your blazing

red flowers shine between the leaves like eyes of fire! Give your beauty

to all the ohia-trees of the forest!"

Carried hither and thither by Makani-kau (great wind), and dropped by

the side of splendid tall trees, the ieie vine has for centuries been

one of the most graceful tree ornaments in all the forest life of the

Hawaiian Islands.

Makani-kau in his spirit form blew the golden clouds of the islands into

the light of the sun, so that the Rainbow Maiden, Anuenue, might lend

her garments to all her friends of the ancient days.