Ku-aha-ilo was a demon who had no parents. His great effort was to find
something to eat--men or any other kind of food. He was a kupua--one who
was sometimes an animal and sometimes a man. He was said to be the
father of Pele, the goddess of volcanic fires.
Nakula-uka and Nakula-kai were the parents of Hiilei, who was the mother
of Ke-au-nini. Nakula-kai told her husband that she was with child. He
told her that he was glad, and if it were a boy he would name him, but
if a girl she should name the child.
The husband went out fishing, and Nakula-kai went to see her parents,
Kahuli and Kakela. The hot sun was rising, so she put leaves over her
head and came to the house. Her father was asleep. She told her mother
about her condition. Kahuli awoke and turning over shook the land by his
motion, _i.e._, the far-away divine land of Nuu-mea-lani. He asked his
daughter why she had come, and when she told him he studied the signs
and foretold the birth of a girl who should be named Hina.
Kahuli's wife questioned his knowledge. He said: "I will prepare awa in
a cup, cover it with white kapa, and chant a prayer. I will lift the
cover, and if the awa is still there I am at fault. If the awa has
disappeared I am correct. It will be proved by the awa disappearing that
a girl will be born.
"I was up above Niihau.
O Ku! O Kane! O Lono!
I have dug a hole,
Planted the bamboo;
The bamboo has grown;
Find that bamboo!
It has grown old.
The green-barked bamboo has a green bark;
The white-barked bamboo has a white bark.
Fragments of rain are stinging the skin--
Rain fell that day in storms,
Water pouring in streams.
Mohoalii is by the island,
Island cut off at birth from the mainland;
Many islands as children were born."
A girl was born, and the grandparents kept the child, calling her Hina.
She cried, and the grandmother took her in her arms and sang:
"Fishing, fishing, your father is fishing,
Catching the opoa-pea."
Nakula-kai went down to her home. Her husband returned from fishing. He
said he thought another child was born. He had heard the thunder, but no
storm. She told him that a boy was born. Nakula-uka named that boy
Ke-au-miki (stormy or choppy current). Ten days afterward another boy
was born. He was named Ke-au-kai (current toward the beach).
These children had no food but awa. Their hair was not cut. They were
taken inside a tabu temple and brought up. Nakula-uka and his wife after
a long time had another girl named Hiilei (lifted like a lei on the
head). The grandparents took the child. She was very beautiful and was
kept tabu. Her husband should be either a king or a male kupua of very
high birth. When she had grown up she heard noises below her woodland
home several times, and she was very curious. She was told, "That comes
from the surf-riding."
Hiilei wanted to go down and see. The grandmother said, "Do not go, for
it would mean your death." Once more came the noise, and she was told it
was "spear-throwing." The girl wanted to know how that was done. The
grandparents warned her that there was great danger, saying: "The path
is full of trouble. Dragons lie beside the way. Ku-aha-ilo, the mo-o
[dragon], is travelling through the sky, the clouds, the earth, and the
forest. His tongue is thrusting every way to find food. He is almost
starved, and now plans to assume his human form and come to
Nuu-mea-lani, seeking to find some one for food. You should not go down
to the beach of Honua-lewa [the field of sports]."
But Hiilei was very persistent, so the grandmother at last gave
permission, saying: "I will let you go, but here are my commands. You
are quite determined to go down, but listen to me. Ku-aha-ilo is very
hungry, and is seeking food these days. When you go down to the grove of
kukui-trees, there Ku-aha-ilo will await you and you will be afraid that
he will catch you. Do not be afraid. Pass that place bravely. Go on the
lower side--the valley-side--and you cannot be touched. When that one
sees you he will change into his god-body and stand as a mo-o. Do not
show that you are afraid. He cannot touch you unless you are afraid and
flee. Keep your fear inside and give 'Aloha' and say, 'You are a
strangely beautiful one.' The dragon will think you are not afraid. Then
that mo-o will take another body. He will become a great caterpillar.
Caterpillars will surround you. You must give 'Aloha' and praise. Thus
you must do with all the mysterious bodies of Ku-aha-ilo without showing
any fear. Then Ku-aha-ilo will become a man and will be your husband."
So the girl went down, dressed gorgeously by the grandmother in a skirt
of rainbow colors, flowers of abundant perfumes--nothing about her at
fault.
She came to the kukui grove and looked all around, seeing nothing, but
passing further along she saw a mist rising. A strong wind was coming.
The sun was hot in the sky, making her cheeks red like lehua flowers.
She went up some high places looking down on the sea. Then she heard
footsteps behind her. She looked back and saw a strange body following.
She became afraid and trembled, but she remembered the words of her
grandmother, and turned and said, "Aloha," and the strange thing went
away. She went on and again heard a noise and looked back. A whirlwind
was coming swiftly after her. Then there was thunder and lightning.
Hiilei said: "Aloha. Why do you try to make me afraid? Come in your
right body, for I know that you are a real man."
Everything passed away. She went on again, but after a few steps she
felt an earthquake. Afraid, she sat down. She saw a great thing rising
like a cloud twisting and shutting out the sun, moving and writhing--a
great white piece of earth in front of a whirlwind.
She was terribly frightened and fell flat on the ground as if dead. Then
she heard the spirit of her grandmother calling to her to send away her
fear, saying: "This is the one of whom I told you. Don't be afraid." She
looked at the cloud, and the white thing became omaomao (green).
Resolutely she stood up, shook her rainbow skirt and flowers. The
perfumes were scattered in the air and she started on. Then the
dragons, a multitude, surrounded her, climbing upon her to throw her
down. Her skin was creeping, but she remembered her grandmother and
said: "Alas, O most beautiful ones, this is the first time I have ever
seen you. If my grandmother were here we would take you back to our home
and entertain you, and you should be my playmates. But I cannot return,
so I must say 'Farewell.'"
Then the dragons disappeared and the caterpillars came into view after
she had gone on a little way. The caterpillars' eyes were protruding as
they rose up and came against her, but she said, "Aloha."
Then she saw another form of Ku-aha-ilo--a stream of blood flowing like
running water. She was more frightened than at any other time, and cried
to her grandfather: "E Kahuli, I am afraid! Save my life, O my
grandfather!" He did not know she had gone down. He told his wife that
he saw Ku-aha-ilo surrounding someone on the path. He went into his
temple and prayed:
"Born is the night,
Born is the morning,
Born is the thunder,
Born is the lightning,
Born is the heavy rain,
Born is the rain which calls us;
The clouds of the sky gather."
Then Kahuli twisted his kapa clothes full of lightning and threw them
into the sky. A fierce and heavy rain began to fall. Streams of water
rushed toward the place where Hiilei stood fighting with that stream of
blood in which the dragon was floating. The blood was all washed away
and the dragon became powerless.
Ku-aha-ilo saw that he had failed in all these attempts to terrify
Hiilei. His eyes flashed and he opened his mouth. His tongue was
thrusting viciously from side to side. His red mouth was like the pit of
Pele. His teeth were gnashing, his tail lashing.
Hiilei stood almost paralyzed by fear, but remembered her grandmother.
She felt that death was near when she faced this awful body of
Ku-aha-ilo. But she hid her fear and called a welcome to this dragon.
Then the dragon fell into pieces, which all became nothing. The
fragments flew in all directions.
While Hiilei was watching this, all the evil disappeared and a handsome
man stood before her. Hiilei asked him gently, "Who are you, and from
what place do you come?" He said, "I am a man of this place." "No," said
Hiilei, "you are not of this land. My grandparents and I are the only
ones. This is our land. From what place do you come?" He replied: "I am
truly from the land above the earth, and I have come to find a wife for
myself. Perhaps you will be my wife." She said that she did not want a
husband at that time. She wanted to go down to the sea.
He persuaded her to marry him and then go down and tell her brothers
that she had married Ku-aha-ilo. If a boy was born he must be called
Ke-au-nini-ula-o-ka-lani (the red, restful current of the heavens). This
would be their only child. He gave her signs for the boy, saying, "When
the boy says to you, 'Where is my father?' you can tell him, 'Here is
the stick or club Kaaona and this malo or girdle Ku-ke-anuenue.' He must
take these things and start out to find me." He slowly disappeared,
leaving Hiilei alone. She went down to the sea. The people saw her
coming, a very beautiful woman, and they shouted a glad welcome.
She went out surf-riding, sported awhile, and then her grandfather came
and took her home. After a time came the signs of the birth of a chief.
Her son was born and named Ke-au-nini. This was in the land
Kuai-he-lani. Kahuli almost turned over. The land was shaken and tossed.
This was one of the divine lands from which the ancestors of the
Hawaiians came. Pii-moi, a god of the sun, asked Akoa-koa, the coral,
"What is the matter with the land?" Akoa-koa replied, "There is a
kupua--a being with divine powers--being born, with the gifts of
Ku-aha-ilo." Pii-moi was said to be below Papaku-lolo, taking care of
the foundation of the earth. The brothers were in their temple.
Ke-au-kai heard the signs in the leaves and knew that his sister had a
child, and proposed to his brother to go over and get the child. The
mother had left it on a pile of sugar-cane leaves. They met their sister
and asked for the child. Then they took it, wrapped it in a soft kapa
and went back to the temple. The temple drum sounded as they came in,
beaten by invisible hands.
The boy grew up. The mother after a time wanted to see the child, and
went to the temple. She had to wait a little, then the boy came out and
said he would soon come to her. She rejoiced to see such a beautiful boy
as her Ke-au-nini-ula-o-ka-lani. They talked and rejoiced in their
mutual affection. An uncle came and sent her away for a time. The boy
returned to the temple, and his uncle told him he could soon go to be
with his mother. Then came an evil night and the beating of the spirit
drum. A mist covered the land. There was wailing among the menehunes
(fairy folk). Ke-au-nini went away covered by the mist, and no one saw
him go.
He came to his grandfather's house, saw an old man sleeping and a
war-club by the door. He took this club and lifted it to strike the old
man, but the old man caught the club. The boy dropped it and tried to
catch the old man. The old man held him and asked who he was and to what
family he belonged. The boy said: "I belong to Kahuli and Kakela, to
Nakula-uka and Nakula-kai. I am the son of Ku-aha-ilo and Hiilei. I have
been brought up by Ke-au-miki and Ke-au-kai. I seek my mother."
The old man arose, took his drum and beat it. Hiilei and her mother came
out to meet the boy. They put sacrifices in their temple for him and
chanted to their ancestor-gods:
"O Keke-hoa-lani, dwell here;
Here are wind and rain."
By and by Ke-au-nini asked his mother, "Where is my father?" She told
him: "You have no father in the lands of the earth. He belongs to the
atmosphere above. You cannot go to find him. He never told me the
pathway to his home. You had better stay with me." He replied: "No I
cannot stay here. I must go to find my father." He was very earnest in
his purpose.
His mother said: "If you make a mistake, your father will kill you and
then eat you and take all your lands. He will destroy the forests and
the food plants, and all will be devoured by your father. His kingdom is
tabu. If you go, take great care of the gifts, for with these things
you succeed, but without them you die." She showed him the war-club and
the rainbow-girdle, and gave them into his care. The boy took the gifts,
kissed his mother, went outside and looked up into the sky.
He saw wonderful things. A long object passed before him, part of which
was on the earth, but the top was lost in the clouds. This was
Niu-loa-hiki, one of the ancestor-gods of the night. This was a very
tall cocoanut-tree, from which the bark of cocoanuts fell in the shape
of boats. He took one of these boats in his hands, saying, "How can I
ride in this small canoe?"
He went down to the sea, put the bark boat in the water, got in and
sailed away until the land of Nuu-mea-lani was lost. His uncle,
Ke-au-kai, saw him going away, and prayed to the aumakuas (ancestral
ghost-gods) to guard the boy. The boy heard the soft voice of the
far-off surf, and as he listened he saw a girl floating in the surf. He
turned his boat and joined her. She told him to go back, or he would be
killed. She was Moho-nana, the first-born child of Ku-aha-ilo.
When she learned that this was her half-brother, she told him that her
father was sleeping. If he awoke, the boy would be killed.
The boy went to the shore of this strange land. Ku-aha-ilo saw him
coming, and breathed out the wind of his home against the boy. It was
like a black whirlwind rushing to the sea.
The boy went on toward his father's tabu place, up to Kalewa, in the
face of the storm. He saw the tail of Ku-aha-ilo sweep around against
him to kill him. He began his chants and incantations and struck his
war-club on the ground. Lava came out and fire was burning all around
him. He could not strike the tail, nor could the tail strike him.
Ku-aha-ilo sent many other enemies, but the war-club turned them aside.
The earth was shaking, almost turning upside down as it was struck by
the war-club. Great openings let lava fires out. Ku-aha-ilo came out of
his cave to fight. His mouth was open, his tongue outstretching, his
eyes glaring, but the boy was not afraid. He took his club, whirled it
in his hand, thinking his father would see it, but his father did not
see it. The boy leaped almost inside the mouth and struck with the club
up and down, every stroke making an opening for fire.
The father tried to shut his mouth, but the boy leaped to one side and
struck the father's head. The blow glanced aside and made a great hole
in the earth, which let out fire. The dragon body disappeared and came
back in another form, as a torrent of blood. Ke-au-nini thrust it aside.
Then a handsome man stood before him with wild eyes, demanding who he
was. Ku-aha-ilo had forgotten his son, and the miraculous war-club which
he had given to Hiilei, so he began to fight with his hands. Ke-au-nini
laid his club down. The father was near the end of his strength, and
said, "Let our anger cease, that we may know each other." The boy was
very angry and said: "You have treated me cruelly, when I only came to
see you and to love you. You would have taken my young life for
sacrifice. Now you tell me you belong to the temple of my ancestors in
Nuu-mea-lani." Then he caught his father and lifted him up. He tossed
him, dizzy and worn out, into the air, and catching the body broke it
over his knee. Ku-aha-ilo had killed and eaten all his people, so that
no one was left in his land. The boy's sister saw the battle and went
away to Ka-lewa-lani (the divine far-away cloud-land).
Ke-au-nini returned on his ocean journey to Nuu-mea-lani. The uncle saw
a mist covering the sea and saw the sign of a chief in it, and knew that
the boy was not dead, but had killed Ku-aha-ilo. The boy came and
greeted them and told the story. He remained some time in the temple and
dreamed of a beautiful woman.
The brothers talked about the power of Ke-au-nini who had killed his
father, a man without parents, part god and part man. They thought he
would now kill them. Ke-au-nini became pale and thin and sick, desiring
the woman of his dream. Finally he told the brothers to find that woman
or he would kill them.
Ke-au-kai told him that he would consult the gods. Then he made a red
boat with a red mast and a red sail and told Ke-au-miki to go after
Hiilei, their sister.
Hiilei came down to stay with her son while the brothers went away to
find the girl. Ke-au-kai (broad sea-current) said to Ke-au-miki
(chopped-up current): "You sit in front, I behind. Let this be our law.
You must not turn back to look at me. You must not speak to me. I must
not speak to you, or watch you."
Ke-au-miki went to his place in the boat. The other stood with one foot
in the boat and one on the land. He told the boy they would go. If they
found a proper girl they would return; if not, they would not come back.
They pushed the boat far out to sea by one paddle-stroke. Another stroke
and land was out of sight. Swiftly leaped the boat over the ocean.
They saw birds on the island Kaula. One bird flew up. Heavy winds almost
upset the boat and filled it with water up to their chins. They caught
the paddles, bailing-cups, and loose boards for seats, and held them
safe.
The wind increased like a cyclone over them. Thus in the storm they
floated on the sea. Ke-au-nini by his sorcery saw the swamped canoe. He
ran and told his mother. She sent him to the temple to utter
incantations:
"O wind, wini-wini [sharp-pointed];
O wind full of stinging points;
O wind rising at Vavau,
At Hii-ka-lani;
Stamped upon, trodden upon by the wind.
Niihau is the island;
Ka-pali-kala-hale is the chief."
This chant of Ke-au-nini reached Ke-au-kai, and the wind laid aside its
anger. Its strength was made captive and the sea became calm.
The boat came to the surface, and they bailed it out and took their
places. Ke-au-kai said to his brother: "What a wonderful one is that boy
of ours! We must go to Niihau." They saw birds, met a boat and
fisherman, and found Niihau. When the Niihau people saw them coming on a
wonderful surf wave, they shouted about the arrival of the strangers.
The chief Ka-pali-kala-hale came down as the surf swept the boat inland.
He took the visitors to his house and gave gifts of food, kapas, and
many other things. Then they went on their way. When they were between
Niihau and Kauai, the wind drove the boat back. A whirlwind threw water
into the boat, swamping it. It was sinking and all the goods were
floating away.
Ke-au-nini again saw the signs of trouble and chanted:
"The wind of Kauai comes; it touches; it strikes;
Rising, whirling; boat filled with water;
The boat slipping down in the sea;
The outrigger sticks in the sand.
Kauai is the island;
Ka-pali-o-ka-la-lau is chief."
The sea became calm. The boat was righted and the floating goods were
put in. They met canoes and went on a mighty surf wave up the sands of
the beach.
The people shouted, "Aloha!" The chiefess of that part of Kauai was
surf-riding and heard the people shouting welcome, so she came to land
and found the visitors sitting on the sand, resting. She took them to
the royal home. All the people of Kauai came together to meet the
strangers, making many presents.
The brothers found no maids sufficiently perfect, so they crossed over
to Oahu, meeting other trials. At last they went to Hawaii to the place
where Haina-kolo lived, a chiefess and a kua (goddess).
This was above Kawaihae. They went to Kohala, seeking the dream-land of
Ke-au-nini, and then around to Waipio Valley. There they saw a rainbow
resting over the home of a tabu chief, Ka-lua-hine. They landed near the
door of the Under-world. This entrance is through a cave under water.
There they saw the shadow of Milu, the ruler of the dead. Milu's people
called out, "Here are men breaking the tabu of the chief." Olopana, a
very high chief, heard the shouts while he was in the temple in the
valley. He saw the visitors chased by the people, running here and
there. Haina-kolo, his sister, was tabu. Watchmen were on the outside of
her house. They also saw the two men and the people pursuing, and told
Haina-kolo, and she ordered one of the watchmen to go out and say to the
strangers, "Oh, run swiftly; run, run, and come inside this temple!"
They heard and ran in. The people stopped on the outside of the wall
around the house. This was a tabu drum place, and not a temple of
safety.
Olopana was in the heiau (temple) Pakaalana. Haina-kolo asked who they
were. They said they were from Hawaii. She said, "No, you have come from
the sea." Hoo-lei-palaoa, one of her watchmen, called, and men came and
caught the two strangers, taking them to Olopana, who was very angry
because they had come into the temple of his sister. So he ordered his
men to take them at once and carry them to a prison house to die on the
morrow. He said if the prisoners escaped, the watchmen should die and
their bodies be burned in the fire. Toward morning the two prisoners
talked together and uttered incantations. Ke-au-nini saw by the signs
that they were in some trouble and chanted in the ears of the watchmen:
"They shall not die. They shall not die."
The watchmen reported to Olopana what they had heard, then returned to
watch. The moon was rising and the two prisoners were talking. Ke-au-kai
told his brother to look at the moon, saying: "This means life. The
cloud passes, morning comes." Ke-au-kai prayed and chanted. The watchmen
again reported to Olopana, giving the words of the chant. In this chant
the family names were given. Olopana said: "These are the names of my
mother's people. My mother is Hina. Her sister is Hiilei. Her brothers
are Ke-au-kai and Ke-au-miki. They were all living at Kuai-he-lani. Hina
and her husband Ku went away to Waipio. There she had her child,
Haina-kolo."
Olopana sent messengers for Hina, who was like the rising moon, giving
life, and for her husband Ku, who was at Napoopoo, asking them to come
and look at these prisoners. They ran swiftly and arrived by daylight.
Hina had been troubled all night. Messengers called: "Awake! Listen to
the chant of the prisoners, captured yesterday." And they reported the
prayers of Ke-au-kai. Hina arose and went to the heiau (temple) and
heard the story of her brothers, who came also with the warriors.
Olopana heard Hina wailing with her brothers, and was afraid that his
mother would kill him because he had treated his visitors so badly. The
strangers told her they had come to find a wife for Ke-au-nini. They had
looked at the beautiful women of all the islands and had found none
except the woman at Waipio. Then they told about the anger of the
people, the pursuit, and their entrance into the tabu temple.
Hina commanded Olopana to come before them. He took warriors and chiefs
and came over to the temple and stood before his parents. Hina
pronounced judgment, saying: "This chief shall live because he sent for
me. The chiefs and people who pursued shall die and be cooked in the
oven in which they thought to place the strangers."
Ku's warriors captured Olopana's men and took them away prisoners, but
Olopana was spared and made welcome by his uncle. And they all feasted
together for days. Then the brothers prepared to go after Ke-au-nini.
One man who heard the wailing of the brothers and knew of the coming of
Hina went to his house, took his wife and children and ran by way of
Hilo to Puna-luu. It was said this man took his calabash to get water at
the spring Kauwila, and an owl picked a hole in it and let the water
out. For this the owl was injured by a stone which was thrown at him,
and he told the other birds. They said he was rightly punished for his
fault.
The brothers found their red boat, launched it, and bade farewell to the
chief's people and lands. They returned to Kuai-he-lani, like a flash of
lightning speeding along the coast from south to west. The boy in the
temple saw them in their swift boat. He told Hiilei and prepared for
their coming. They landed, feasted, and told their story. Then they
prepared for their journey to Waipio. Their boat was pulled by fish in
place of boatmen, and these disappeared upon arrival at Hawaii.
Ke-au-kai went first to meet Olopana, who ran down to see Ke-au-nini and
asked how he came. Ke-au-nini said, "There was no wandering, no
murmuring, no hunger, no pinched faces."
Then they feasted while over them thunder and lightning played and mist
covered the house. Awa was thrown before the spirit of the thunder and
they established tabus.
Olopana had trouble with his priests and became angry and wanted to
punish them because they did not know how to do their work so well as
Ke-au-nini. They could make thunder and lightnings and earthquakes, but
Ke-au-nini blew toward the east and something like a man appeared in a
cloud of dust; he put his right hand in the dust and began to make land.
Olopana saw this and thought it was done by the kahunas (priests) and so
he forgave them, thinking they had more power than Ke-au-nini. Later he
ordered them to be killed and cooked. Olopana asked Ke-au-nini, "Which
of the tabu houses do you wish to take as your residence?" Ke-au-nini
replied: "My house is the lightning, the bloody sky, or the dark cloud
hanging over Kuai-he-lani, down the ridge or extending cape Ke-au-oku,
where Ku of Kauhika is, where multitudes of eyes bend low before the
gods. The house of my parents--there is where I dwell. You have heard of
that place."
Olopana was greatly astonished, bowed his head and thought for a long
time, then said: "We will set apart our tabu days for worship, and I
will see your tabu place--you in your place and I outside. When you are
through your days of tabu you must return and we will live together."
Ke-au-nini raised his eyes and spoke softly to the clouds above him: "O
my parents, this my brother-in-law wishes to see our dwelling-place,
therefore call Ke-au-kai to send down our tabu dwelling-place."
Ke-au-kai was near him, and said: "We had very many troubles on the
ocean in coming after the one whom you want for your wife. You aided us
to escape; perhaps the old man in the skies will hear you if you call."
Then Ke-au-nini turned toward the east:
"Ke-au-nini has his home,
His home with his mother.
Hiilei, the wife,
She was the child of Nakula-uka,
The first-born Kakela.
The cheeks grow red;
And the eyes flash fire.
In the Lewa-lani (heavens),
The very heart of the lightning,
A double rainbow is high arched.
The voice of the Kana-mu are heard.
Calling and crying are the Kana-wa.
[The Kana-mu and the Kana-wa were companies of little people,
_i.e._, fairies.]
I continually call to you, O little ones,
Come here with the white feathers,
Let feathers come here together;
Let all the colors of the tortoise-back
Gather and descend;
Let all the posts stand strong;
Braced shall be the house;
Fasten in also the smoke-colored feathers;
Work swiftly and complete our tabu house."
Then the darkness of evening came, and in the shadows the little people
labored in the moonless night. Soon their work was done, the house
finished, and a sacred drum placed inside. When the clear sky of the
morning rested over, and the sun made visible the fairy home in the
early dawn, the people cried out with wonder at the beautiful thing
before them. There stood a house of glowing feathers of all colors.
Posts and rafters of polished bones shone like the ivory teeth of the
whale, tinted in the smoke of a fire. Softly swayed the feathered thatch
in a gentle breeze, rustling through the surrounding cocoa-trees. Most
beautiful it was, as in the chant of Lilinoe:
"Hulei Lilinoe me Kuka-hua-ula;
Hele Hoaheo i kai o Mokuleia."
"Lifted up, blown by the wind are
The falls down to the sea of Mokuleia."
Ke-au-nini told his brother-in-law, "Oh, my brother, look upon my tabu
dwelling-place as you wished."
Olopana was very curious, and asked, "How many people are needed to make
a house like this so quickly?" Ke-au-nini laughed and said, "You have
seen my people: there are three of us who built this house--I, the
chief, and my two friends."
He did not give the names of the little people, Kana-mu and Kana-wa, who
were really great multitudes, like the menehunes who made the ditch at
Waimea, Kauai. They were the one-night people. All this work was
finished while they alone could see clearly to use their magic powers.
Inside the house lay soft mats made from feathers of many birds, and
sleeping-couches better than had ever been seen before. Ke-au-nini said
to his brother-in-law: "We are now ready to have the tabu of our house.
My parents will enter with me."
Olopana asked his kahunas if it were right for the parents to stay with
the chief during a tabu, under the law of their land. The priests
consulted and told Olopana that this was all right. They had no power to
forbid. The parents had divine power, so also the boy, both alike, and
could dwell together without breaking tabu. Then they said, "If you
forbid, you will be landless."
Ke-au-kai and Ke-au-miki entered the house with their young chief.
Ke-au-miki beat the sacred drum, announcing the tabu. They poured and
drank awa, ate sugar-cane and chanted softly to the rhythm of the drum.
Olopana was filled with jealousy because all was hidden from him. He did
not know what a drum was. He had only known a time of tabu, but not the
secret drum, and the soft chant.
During the ten days' tabu Ke-au-nini did not see his wife, but remained
shut in his place. Olopana called for all the people to bring presents.
When the tabu was over and the temple door opened, Ke-au-nini and
Haina-kolo prepared for the marriage.
All the people came bringing feather mats, food, fish, and awa, which
had been growing on a tree. Hamakua sent food and fish; Hilo sent olona
and feathers; Puna sent mats and awa from the trees; Kau sent kapa; Kona
sent red kapas; Kohala sent its wonderful noted sweet potatoes. The
young chiefess appeared before all the people, coming from her tabu
place, and she saw all the fine presents, and a great cocoanut-leaf
lanai (porch) prepared by her brother. She came there before her parents
and brother. They were waiting for Ke-au-nini, who delayed coming.
Olopana asked his priests: "Why does the young chief fail to appear? We
are all ready for the marriage feast." The priest said to Olopana: "Do
you think that you can treat this man as one of us? He is a god on his
father's side and also on his mother's. He is very high. It is on his
mother's side that you are related. You should go to him with a
sacrifice. Take a black pig, a cup of awa, a black chicken, and a
cocoanut. If we do not do these things we shall not know where he is
staying, for he is under the care of the gods. Now is the right time to
go with the offering. Go quickly. The sun is rising high in the sky."
Olopana quickly gathered the offerings and went away to sacrifice before
Ke-au-nini. He called him thus:
"Rise up! Let your strength look inland;
Let your might look toward the sea;
Let your face look upward;
Look up to the sun over your head;
The strange night has passed. Awake!
Here are the offerings,--
Food for the gods:
Let life come!"
He set the pig free and it ran to the feet of Ke-au-nini. The chicken
did the same, and the other offerings were laid before the door. Olopana
went back. Ke-au-nini and his uncles awoke. He said to them: "Now the
tabu is lifted. Now the hour of the marriage has come. We must prepare
to go down to the sea. We shall see the sports of this land. Soon we
shall meet the priests and the people."
They arose and opened their bundles of kapa, very fine and soft for red
malos (girdles) for the uncles. Ke-au-nini put on his malo, called
Ke-kea-awe-awe-ula (the red girdle with long ends, shaded in the tints
of the rainbow) and his red feather cloak and his red feather helmet,
nodding like a bird. His skin, polished and perfumed, shone
resplendently. He was most gorgeous in his appearance.
When he went out of his house, thatched with bird feathers and built of
polished bones, darkness spread over the sky. The voices of the little
fairies, the Kana-mu and Kana-wa were heard. The people in the great
cocoanut lanai were filled with wonder, for they had never seen darkness
come in this way. It was like the sun eclipsed. When Ke-au-nini and his
companions entered the lanai, the darkness passed away and all the
people saw them in their splendor. The chiefs opened a way for the
three. Ke-au-miki came in first and the people thought he was the
husband, but when Ke-au-kai came they said, "This one is more
beautiful," and when Ke-au-nini passed before them they fell on their
faces, although he had a gauze kapa thrown over him. He passed on
between rows of chiefs to the place of marriage. His uncles stepped
aside, and then he threw off his thin kapa and the people shouted again
and again until the echoes shook the precipices around the valley.
[Illustration: A YOUNG CHIEF OF HAWAII]
Then Haina-kolo came out of her house near by and was guided to the side
of her husband. As she saw him her heart melted and flowed to him like
the mingling of floating sea-mosses. Olopana arose and said: "O chiefs
and people, I have been asked to come here to the marriage of my sister
with one whom she has met in dreams and loved. I agree to this wedding.
Our parents approve, and the gods have given their signs. Our chiefess
shall belong to the stranger. You shall obey him. I will do as he may
direct. They shall now become husband and wife."
The people shouted again and again, saying, "This is the husband of our
chiefess." Then began the hookupu. Six districts brought six piles of
offerings. There were treasures and treasures of all kinds. Then came
the wonderful feast of all the people.
The fish companions of Ke-au-nini, who had drawn his boat from
Kuai-he-lani, wanted Haina-kolo for themselves. While they were at the
feast they found they could not get her, and they grew cold and ashamed
and angry. Soon they broke away from the feast. Moi and Uhu ran away to
the sea and returned to their homes. Niu-loa-hiki (a great eel) looked
at Ke-au-nini and said: "You are very strange. I thought I should have
my reward this day, but the winning has come to you. I am angry, because
you are my servant. It is a shame for the chiefs of Hawaii to let you
become their ruler." His angry eyes flashed fire, he opened his mouth
and started to cry out again, but the people saw him and shouted: "Look,
look, there is an eel that comes to the land. He runs and dives into the
sea. This eel, Niu-loa-hiki, is more evil than any other of all the
family of eels."
Then all the fish ran off angry at this failure and gathered in the sea
for consultation. Uhu said he would return at once to Makapuu. He was
the Uhu who had the great battle with Kawelo when he was caught in a
net. Moi went to the rough water outside the harbor. Kumunuiaiake went
to Hilo. He was the huge fish with which Limaloa had a great battle when
he came to visit Hawaii. He was killed by Limaloa. Hou and Awela went
wherever they could find a ditch to swim in.
The people feasted on the mullet of Lolakea and the baked dogs of Hilo
and the humpbacked mullet of Waiakea and all the sweet things of Hawaii.
Then the sports commenced and there was surf-riding, dancing, wrestling,
and boxing.
Kawelo-hea, the surf-rider of Kawa in Oahu, was the best surf-rider.
Hina-kahua, the child of the battling-places of Kohala, was the
best boxer. Pilau-hulu, the noted boy of Olaa, was the best
puhenehene-player. Lilinoe was the best konane-player. Luu-kia was the
best kilu-player. She was a relative of Haina-kolo.
When the sports were over they returned to the chief's house and slept.
Haina-kolo was one who did not closely adhere to the tabu. She ate the
tabu things, which were sacred, belonging to the gods, such as bananas
and luau. Ke-au-nini had always carefully, from his birth to
marriage-day, observed the tabu, but, following the example of his wife,
soon laid aside his carefulness, and lived in full disregard of all
restraint for a time.
Then Ke-au-nini left Haina-kolo and returned to Kuai-he-lani because
dissensions arose between them on account of their wrong-doing.
He did not tell his wife or friends, or even his uncles, but he took his
cocoanut-boat to go back to his home secretly. When he was far out in
the ocean his sister saw him from her home in Lewa-lani (the blue sky).
She sent Kana-ula, her watchman, to go out and guard him and bring him
to her. Kana-ula was a strong wind blowing with the black clouds which
rise before a storm.
In a little while the watchman saw Ke-au-nini off Kohala, and by his
great strength lifted Ke-au-nini and placed him on Kuai-he-lani, where
he saw his mother and relatives. Then he went up to Lewa-lani to his
sister and dwelt with her to forget his love for Haina-kolo.
Haina-kolo had a great love for her husband, never making any trouble
before they separated. Her love for him was burning and full of passion,
while she grieved over his disappearance. She soon had a child. The
priests living in the heiau (temple), Pakaalana, beat their drums, and
all Waipio knew that a chief was born.
Haina-kolo began to go about like one crazed, longing to see the eyes of
her husband. She took her child and launched out in the ocean. The boat
in which she placed the child was the long husk of a cocoanut. She held
fast to this and swam and floated by its side. When they had gone far
out in the sea a great wind swept over them and upon them, driving them
far out of sight of all land. She looked only for death. This wind was
Kana-ula, and had been sent by Moho, who was very angry at the girl for
violating the tabu of the gods and eating the things set apart for the
gods. This wind was to blow her far away on the ocean until death came.
When Haina-kolo had been blown a little way she prayed and moved her
feet, turning toward the place where she had rejoiced with her husband.
Then she offered another prayer and began to swim, but was driven out of
sight of land. The wind ceased, its anger passed away, and a new land
appeared. She swam toward this new land. Lei-makani, the child, saw this
land, which was the high place of Ke-ao-lewa, and chanted:
"Destroy the first kou grove;
Destroy the second kou grove;
Open a wonderful door in the evening;
Offer your worship.
Return, return, O bird!"
The mother said: "No, my child, that is not a bird. Oh, my child, that
is Ke-ao-lewa, the land where we shall find a shore."
But she went on patiently, swimming by the capes of Kohala, and came
near to the places of noted surf and was almost on the land. Moho saw
her still swimming and sent another wind servant, Makani-kona, the south
wind, to drive her again out in the ocean. This south wind came like a
whirlwind, sweeping and twisting over the waves, sending Haina-kolo far
out in the tossing sea. He thought he had killed her, so he went back
to Moho.
Moho asked him about his journey over the seas. He replied, "You sent me
to kill, and that I did." She was satisfied and ceased her vigilance.
Tired and suffering, Haina-kolo and her child floated far out in the
ocean, too weary to swim. Then Lei-makani saw Ke-ao-lewa again lifted up
and spread out like the wings of a floating bird. Help came to her in a
great shark, Kau-naha-ili-pakapaka (Kau-naha, with a rough skin),
belonging to the family of Pii-moi, one of the relatives of Ku, who swam
up to her and carried her and the child until he was tired. Haina-kolo
was rested and warmed by the sun. She saw that her shark friend was
growing weak, so she called to the sun, "O sun, go on your way to the
land of Ka-lewa-nuu, and tell Ke-au-nini that we are here at the cape of
Ka-ia."
The sun did not hear the cry from the sea. She called again, using the
same words. The sun heard this call of Haina-kolo and went on to the
place where Ke-au-nini was staying and called to him, "O Ke-au-nini,
your wife is near the cape of Ka-ia."
Moho heard the call. She was playing konane with her brother. She made a
noise to confuse the words of the sun, and said to her brother, "O ke ku
kela, o ka holo keia. Niole ka luna, kopala ka ele, na ke kea ka ai."
"Take this one up. Let that one move. Take that up slowly. The black is
blotted out, the white wins."
Then the sun called again, saying the same words, and Ke-au-nini heard,
leaped up and left his sister, and went down to Kuai-he-lani and entered
the temple, where he was accustomed to sleep, and fell as one dead.
While he was reclining, his spirit left his body and went down to Milu
and stayed there a long time.
Haina-kolo was very near the land in the afternoon. Soon they came to
the beach. There she dug a little hole for her child and laid him in his
little boat in it and went up the path like a crazy person to the top of
the high precipices of Ka-hula-anu (the cold dancing) and began to eat
fruit growing on the trees. She clothed herself in leaves, then rushed
into the forest.
Lei-makani was still floating where his mother had left him, near a
place where the servants of Luu-kia went fishing every morning to get
the food loved by the chiefs. Two men, Ka-holo-holo-uka and
Ka-holo-holo-kai, had come down for Luu-kia, carrying a net. They threw
their net over the water and the child floated into it. They thought
they had a great fish. They carried the net up on the beach and found
the boy. It was a little dark, and hard to see what they were catching.
One called to the other, "What have we caught this morning?" The other
said: "I thought we had a great fish, but this is a child. I will take
this child to my home." The other said, "No--This is a fish." So they
had a quarrel until the sun rose. Then they went up to the village.
Ka-holo-holo-uka told his wife, "We have a child." Then he told her how
they had caught Lei-makani. They talked loudly. This chiefess heard
their noisy clamor and asked her servant, "What's the trouble with these
noisy ones?" They told her and she wanted that child brought to her, and
commanded Maile-lau-lii (small leaf maile) to go and get it. He took it
to Luu-kia, who marked its wonderful beauty. She sent for the fishermen
to tell her how they got the child. They told her about the fishing.
She wanted to know who were the parents. They said: "We do not know.
This may be the child of Haina-kolo, for we know she has disappeared
with her child. She may be dead and this may be her boy."
Luu-kia said, "You two take the child, and I will give the name,
Lopa-iki-hele-wale [going without anything]. Then you care for it until
it grows up."
They took the child to the land of Opaeloa, as a good place to bring it
up. The fishermen said to Luu-kia, "Will you provide food, fish, and
clothing?" She said, "Yes." They thought the child would not understand,
but it knew all these words. The fisherman and his wife took the child
away. Waipio Valley people were surrounded by precipices, but the gods
of Waipio watched all the troubles by sending messengers to go over to
the upland and follow Haina-kolo.
Ku and Hina and Olopana were burdened by the loss of Haina-kolo and
Lei-makani, so they went to the temple at Pakaalana, where the uncles of
Ke-au-nini were staying. There they consulted the gods with signs and
sorceries.
They sent Ke-au-miki to get some little stones at Kea-au, a place near
Haena. His brother said: "Get thirteen stones--seven white and six
black. Make them fast in a bundle, so they cannot be lost, then come
back by Pana-ewa and get awa (_piper methysticum_) which man did not
plant, but which was carried by the birds to the trees and planted
there. Then return this evening and we will study the signs." Ke-au-miki
went up the pali (precipice) and hastened along the top running and
leaping and flying over Hamakua to Hilo.
The Hilo palis were nothing to this man as he sped swiftly over the
gulches until he came to the Wailuku River guarded by the kupua
Pili-a-mo-o, who concealed the path so that none could find it until a
price was paid. The dragon covered the path with its rough skin.
Ke-au-miki stood looking for a path, but could only see what seemed to
be pahoehoe lava. The tail of the dragon was like a kukui-tree-trunk
lying in the water. He saw the tail switching and rising up to strike
him. Then he knew that this was a kupua. The tail almost struck him on
the head. He called to Kahuli in Kuai-he-lani, who sent a mighty wind
and hurled aside the waters, caught up the body of the dragon and let it
fall, smashing it on the rocks, breaking the beds of lava.
Then Ke-au-miki rushed over the river and up the precipices, speeding
along to Pa-ai-ie, where the long ohia point of Pana-ewa is found, then
turned toward the sea and went to Haena, to the place where the little
stones aala-manu are found. He picked up the stones and ran to Pana-ewa
and got the awa hanging on the tree, tied up the awa and stones and
hurried back. He crossed the gulch at Konolii and met a man,
Lolo-ka-eha, who tried to take the awa away from him. He was a robber.
When they came face to face, Ke-au-miki caught the man with his hand,
hurled him over the precipice and killed him. When he saw that this man
was dead, he ran as swiftly as the wind until he met a very beautiful
woman, Wai-puna-lei. She saw him and asked him to be her husband, but
he would not stop. He crossed Hilo boundaries to Hamakua, to the place
where the kapa-trees were growing, as the sun was going down over the
palis. He came to the temple door and laid down his burden.
[Illustration: THE HOME OF THE DRAGONS NEAR HILO]
Then Ke-au-kai said: "This is my word to all the people: Prepare the awa
while I take the little stones, pour awa into a cup: I will cover it up
and we will watch the signs. If, while I chant, the bubbles on the awa
come to the left side, we will find Haina-kolo. If they go to the right,
she is fully lost. Let all the people keep silence; no noise, no running
about, no sleeping. Watch all the signs and the clouds in the heavens."
Then he chanted:
"O Ku and Kane and Kanaloa,
Let the magic power come.
Amama ua noa.
Tabu is lifted from
My bird-catching place for food.
You are a stranger, I am a resident.
Let the friend be taken care of.
United is the earth of the tabu woman. Amama."
The bubbles stood on the right side, and the priest said, "We shall
never find Haina-kolo; the gods have gone away." Olopana said: "I am
much troubled for my brother and sister, and that child I wanted for the
chief of this land. I do not understand why these things have come to
us."
All the people were silent, weeping softly, but Ke-au-kai and his
brother were not troubled, for they knew their chief and wife were in
the care of the aumakuas.
When Lei-makani had grown up, Luu-kia took him as her husband. He went
surf-riding daily. She was very jealous of Maile, who would often go
surf-riding with him. Lei-makani did not care for her, for he knew she
was a sister of his mother although she had a child by him. One day,
when he went with Maile, Luu-kia was angry and caught that child and
killed it by dashing it against a stone.
The servants went down to the beach, waiting for Lei-makani to come to
land. Then they told him about the death of his child and their fear for
him if he went up to the house with Maile. Lei-makani left his
surf-board and went to the house weeping, and found the child's body by
the stone. He took a piece of kapa and wrapped it up, carrying the
broken body down to a fountain, where he cleansed it and offered chants
and incantations until the child became alive. His mother, Haina-kolo,
heard the following chants and came to her son, for the voice was
carried to her by kupuas who had magic powers. The child's name was
Lono-kai. He wrapped it again in soft warm kapas and chanted while he
washed the child, naming the fountain Kama-ahala (a child has passed
away):
"Kama-ahala smells of the blood;
The sick smell of the blood rises.
Washed away in the earth is the blood;
Hard is the red blood
Warmed by the heat of the heavens,
Laid out under the shining sky.
Lono-kai-o-lohia is dead."
Then the voice of the child was heard in a low moan from the bundle,
saying, "Lono-kai-o-lohia [Lono possessed of the Ala spirit] is alive."
The father heard the voice and softly uttered another chant:
"In the silence
Has been heard the gods of the night;
What is this wailing over us?
Wailing for the death of
Lono, the spirit of the sea--dead!"
The voice came again from the kapas, "Lono, the spirit of the sea, is
alive." Lei-makani's love for his child was overflowing, and again he
uttered an incantation to his own parents:
"O Ku, the father!
O Hina, the mother!
Olopana was the first-born;
Haina-kolo, the sister, was born:
Haina-kolo and Ke-au-nini were the parents:
Lei-makani was the child:
I am Lei-makani, the child of Haina-kolo,
The sacred woman of Waipio's precipices;
My mother is living among the ripe halas;
For us was the fruit of the ulii;
I was found by the fisherman;
I am the child of the pali hula-anu;
I was cared for by one of my family
Inland at Opaeloa;
They gave me the name Lopa-iki-hele-wale
[Little lazy fellow having nothing];
But I am Lei-makani--you shall hear it."
His heart was heavy with longing for his mother, and the gods of the
wind, the wind brothers, took his plaintive love-chant to the ears of
Haina-kolo, who had wandered in her insanity, but was now free from her
craze and had become herself. She followed that voice over the
precipices and valleys to the top of a precipice. Standing there and
looking down she saw her child and grandchild below, and she chanted:
"Thy voice I have heard
Softly echoed by the pali,
Wailing against the pali;
Thy voice, my child beloved;
My child, indeed;
My child, when the cloud hung over
And the rainbow light was above us,
That day when we floated together
When the sea was breaking my heart;
My child of the cape of Ka-ia,
When the sun was hanging above us.
Where have I been?
Tell Ke-au-nini-ula-o-ka-lani;
I was in the midst of the sea
With the child of our love;
My child, my little child,
Where are you? Oh, come back!"
Then she went down the precipice and met her son holding his child in
his arms, and wailed:
"My lord from the fogs of the inland,
From the precipices fighting the wind,
Striking down along the ridges;
My child, with the voice of a bird,
Echoed by the precipice of Pakohi,
Shaking and dancing on inaccessible places,
Laughing out on the broken waters
Where we were floating in danger;
There I loved dearly your voice
Fighting with waves
While the fierce storm was above us
Seen by your many gods
Who dwell in the shining sky--
Auwe for us both!"
They waited a little while, until the time when Lono-kai became strong
again. Then they went up to the village.
Haina-kolo had run into the forest, her wet pa-u torn off, no clothing
left. Her long hair was her cloak, clothing her from head to foot. She
wandered until cold, then dressed herself with leaves. As her right
senses returned she made warm garments of leaves and ate fruits of the
forest. When they came to the village they met the people who knew
Haina-kolo. She dwelt there until Lono-kai grew up. He and his father
looked like twins, having great resemblance, people told them, to
Ke-au-nini. The boy asked, "Where is my grandfather, Ke-au-nini?"
Lei-makani said: "I never saw your grandfather. He was very tabu and
sacred. He killed his own father, Ku-aha-ilo, god of the heavens. I
know by my mana [spirit power] that he is with the daughters of Milu."
The boy said: "I must go and find him. I will go in my spirit body,
leaving this human body. You must not forbid the journey." Ke-au-kai,
the priest, said: "You cannot find him unless you learn what to do
before you go. Those chiefs of Milu have many sports and games. I tell
you these things must be learned before you go into that land. If you
are able to win against the spirits of that place you can get your
grandfather."
All the chiefs aided the boy to acquire skill in all sports. They went
to the fields of Paaohau. Nuanua, the most skilful teacher of hula,
taught him to dance. The highest chiefs and chiefesses went with him to
help, taking their retinues with them. Lei-makani said: "The knowledge
of sports is the means by which you will catch your grandfather. Now be
careful. Do not be stingy with food. Give to others and take care of the
people."
They went up in a great company, and Haina-kolo wondered at the beauty
of the boy, and asked why they were travelling. Lono-kai told them the
reason for his journey and desire to see the field of sports.
Nuanua, the hula teacher, sent his assistants to get all kinds of leaves
and flowers used in the hula, then sent for a black pig to be used as
an omen. If it ran to Lono-kai, he would become a good dancer; if not,
he would fail. The pig went to him. The priest offered this prayer:
"Laka is living where the forest leaves are trembling,
The ghost-god of dancers above and below,
From the boundary of the North to the place most southern;
O Laka, your altar is covered with leaves,
The dancing leaves of the ieie vine;
This offering of leaves is the labor of the gods,
The gods of your family, Pele and Hiiaka;
The women living in warm winds come here for the toil,
And this labor of ours is learning your dance.
Tabu laid down; tabu lifted. Amama ua noa [We are through]!"
The priest lifted his eyes, and the pig was seen lying at the foot of
the boy. Then he commenced teaching the boy the kilu and the first
dance. They were thirty days learning the dances, and the boy learned
all those his teachers knew.
Then they went around Hawaii, studying the dances. He was told to go
back and get all the new ideas and seek the gods to learn their newest
dance, for theirs differed from those of his teachers. He was to seek
this knowledge in dreams. Lei-makani said: "Your teachers have shown you
the slow way; if that is all you know, you will win fame, but not
victory. You must learn from the gods." Lono-kai again went to Hamakua
with his companions and learned how to play konane, the favorite game of
Ke-au-nini. The teacher said, "I have taught you all I know inside and
outside, as I would not teach the other young chiefs." The boy said to
him, "There is one thing more,--give offerings to the gods that they may
teach us in our dreams newer and better ways."
So they waited quietly, offering sacrifices. The priests told him to set
apart a pig while he made a prayer. If the pig died during the prayer,
he would not forget anything learned. The boy laid his right hand on the
pig and began to pray:
"Here is a pig, an offering to the gods.
O Lono in the Under-world, Lono in the sky:
O Kane, who makes not-to-be-broken laws,
Kane in the darkness, Kane in the hot wind,
Kane of the generations, Kane of the thunder,
Kane in the whirlwind and the storm:
Here is labor--labor of the gods.
My body is alive for you!
Filled up is the Nuu-pule.
My prayer is for those you hold dear.
O Laka, come with knowledge and magic power!
Laka, dancing in the moving forest leaves
Of the mountain ridges and the valleys,
Return and bestow the knowledge
Of Pele and Hiiaka, the guardians of the wind,
Knowing the multitude of the gods of the night,
Knowing Aukele-nui-aku in the Under-world.
O people of the night,
Here is the pig, the offering!
Come with knowledge, magic power, and safety.
Amama ua noa."
Then the boy lifted his hand and the pig lay silent in death. Then came
thunder shaking the earth, and lightning flashing in flames, and a storm
breaking in red rain. Mists came and the shadows of the thousands of
gods of Ke-au-nini fell upon the boy. The teachers and friends sat in
perfect silence for a long time. The storm was beating outside, and the
boy was overcome with weariness and wondered at the silence of his
friends.
Rainbow colors were about him, and the people were awed by their fears
and sat still until evening came. Then the teacher asked the boy if he
saw what had been done in the darkness resting over him, and if he could
explain to them. The boy said, "I do not understand you; perhaps my
teacher can explain."
Nuanua said: "I am growing old and have never seen such things above any
one learning the dance. You have come to me modestly, like one of the
common people, when I should have gone to you, and now the gods show
your worth and power and their favor."
Then he took a piece of wood from the hula altar which was covered with
leaves and flowers, and, putting it in a cup of awa, shook it, and
looked, and said to the boy: "This is the best I can do for you. Now the
gods will take you in their care." Then he poured awa into cups, passing
them to all the people as he chanted incantations, all the company
clapping their hands. Then they drank. But the boy's cup was drunk by
the eepas of Po (gnomes of the night). So the company feasted and the
night became calm. Lono-kai that night left his friends with Nuanua and
journeyed on. He waited some days and then told Lei-makani he thought he
was ready. He said: "Yes, I have heard about your success, but I will
see what you can do. We will wait another ten days before you go." Then
for two days all the people of Waipio brought their offerings. They
built a great lanai, and feasted. Lei-makani told the people that he had
called them together to see the wonderful power in the sports of the
boy. So the boy stood up and chanted:
"O Kuamu-amu [the little people of the clouds of the sky],
The alii thronging in crowds from Kuai-he-lani,
On the shoulders of Moana-liha, divided at the waters,
Divided at the waters of the heavy mist,
And the rain coming from the skies,
And the storm rushing inland.
Broken into mists are the falls of the mountains,--
Mists that bathe the buds of the flowers,
Opening the buds below the precipices.
Arise, O beloved one!"
[Illustration: 244. Kihikihi, (Zanclus Canescens)]
Ke-au-nini heard this chant, even down in Po, while he was sporting
with the eepas of Milu, while his spirit body was with his friend
Popo-alaea. He repeated the same chant, and the ghosts all rejoiced and
laughed, and Laka leaped to his side and danced before him. They had the
same sports as the noted ones on Hawaii. Lono-kai danced in magic power
before all the people until the time came for him to go along the path
of his visions of the night. All omens and signs had been noted and were
found to be favorable. One of the old priests told the people to make
known their thought about the best path for the young chief, but they
were silent. Then Moli-lele, an old priest who had the spirit of the
unihipilis resting upon him, said: "I know that there will be many
troubles. Cold and fierce winds come over the sea. Low tides come in the
morning. The land of Kane-huna-moku rises in the coral surf." He
chanted:
"Dead is this chief of ours,
Caught as a bird strikes a fish;
The foam of surf waves rises up,
Smiting and driving below.
No sorcerer of the land is there,
Where the coral reef labors,
And the rock-eating Hina of the far-off sea."
The chiefs began to wail, but lightning was in the eyes of the boy and
his face was filled with anger at this word of the old priest. Then
another priest arose and said: "O chiefs and people, I have seen the
path to the Under-world, and it is not right for this young man to go.
His body is human and easily captured by the ghosts. He might be safe if
he could get the body of the one he seeks. There are fierce guardians of
the path who will make war on whoever comes in the flesh."
Then Kalei, another priest, said: "I know their world. I saw the stars
this morning, and they told me that the path was stopped against this
chief by broken coral and the bones of the dead. The tabu-children of
Hina are swimming in the sea. I will prove the danger by this awa cup.
If the bubbles of the awa poured in go to the right, he can go. If to
the left, he must stay." This he did uttering incantations, but bubbles
covered all the surface.
Then the priests advised the young chief to stay and eat the fat of the
land. Then Hae-hae, the great chief, said, "We have come to point out a
path, if we can, and to make quiet and peaceful that way into Po." He
instituted new omens, and showed that the young chief would be
successful, but he would have many difficulties to overcome.
Lono-kai arose and said: "The words of these chiefs were twisted. I will
go after the spirit-body of my grandfather, as I have sworn to do. My
word is fast. I will go to the land where my grandfather stays."
The priests who had tried to terrify Lono-kai were his enemies, and
would oppose his journey, and he wanted them killed, but Lei-makani
would not permit it. Ku also quieted him with patient words, and he
ceased from anger and told them he must prepare at once to go.
Lei-makani had a double canoe made ready, and selected a number of
strong men to accompany the young chief. Lono-kai would not have any of
these men, but went out early in the morning, took a cup of awa to the
temple nearby and chanted his genealogical mele.
Thunder and lightning and heavy wind and rain attended his visit to the
temple. He returned to his parents and told them to wait for him thirty
days. If a mist was over all the land they might wait and watch ten days
more, and if the mist continued, another ten, when he would return with
thunder and lightning to meet his friends. But if the voices of the sea
were strong at Kumukahi, with mist resting on Opaelolo and rain on
Puu-o-ka-polei, then he would be dead.
He took his feather cloak and war weapons from his grandparents, and
feather helmet, and went out. He bade his parents farewell, took a
cocoanut-husk canoe and went down to the sea. The waves rose high,
pounding the face of the coast precipices. Lei-makani ran down to bring
Lono-kai back, but according to the proverb he caught the hand of the
chiefess who lives in the land of Nowhere. The boy had disappeared.
Out in the sea Lono-kai was tossing in the high waves, passing all the
islands, even to the land Niihau. There he met the great watchman of
Kuai-he-lani called Honu (the turtle). He came quietly near the head.
Honu asked, "Where are you going?" Lono-kai said: "You speak as if you
alone had the right to the sea. You are a humpbacked turtle; you shall
become a great round stone." Then the turtle began to slap its fins on
the sea, raising waves high as precipices. Five times forty he struck
the sea with mighty force, looking for the destruction of the chief as
the waves passed over him. But Lono-kai waited until the turtle became
tired, thinking the chief dead. As the waters became calm the chief
raised his club and struck the right flapper of the turtle, destroying
its power.
Then the left fin beat the sea into foam, but Lono-kai waited and broke
that fin also; then he broke the back of the turtle into little pieces
and went on his way. Soon the ocean grew fierce again. Huge waves came,
and whirlwinds. He saw something red in the great sea--a kupua of the
ocean. The name of this enemy was Ea, a great red turtle, who crawled
out and asked where he was going. Lono-kai said: "What right have you to
question me? Have I questioned your right to go on the sea?"
Ea said: "This is not your place. I will kill you. You shall be food for
me to eat. When you are dead I will go and kill the watchman who let you
come into this tabu-sea of my chief." "Who is your chief?" asked
Lono-kai. Ea replied: "Hina-kekai [the calabash for boiling water], the
daughter of Pii-moi. Now I will kill you."
[Illustration]
Then Ea began to strike the water with his right fin, throwing the water
up on all sides in mighty waves, expecting to overthrow Lono-kai and his
boat. When he rested to see the result of this battle his fin was on the
surface, and the chief struck it and broke it.
Then in another fight, when head and fin were lifted to destroy the
boat, Lono-kai struck the neck and broke it, so killing his enemy.
Now he thought all his troubles were over and he could go safely on his
way.
But soon there lay before him a new enemy, floating on the sea, a very
long thing, like a long stick. He approached and saw that it was like
the fin of a shark, but as he came nearer he observed the smooth skin of
a long eel. Lifting its head and looking right at him, the eel said: "O,
proud man, you are here where you have no business to be. I will mix you
with my awa and eat you now." Then he struck at Lono-kai with his tail
and hit his eyes and knocked him down, then, thinking Lono-kai was dead,
he turned his head to the boat to catch the body, but Lono-kai, leaping
up on the head of the eel, holding his boat with one hand and his club
with the other, struck the head with the magic club, breaking the
bones. Fire came out of the broken head, the eel falling into pieces
which became islands of fire in the midst of which appeared a very
beautiful woman who asked him whence he came, and why.
He told her he was from Hawaii and was going to Kuai-he-lani and would
kill her, for he thought she was a mo-o, or dragon-woman. He said, "You
tried to kill me, O woman, and now you must stay and become the fire
oven of the ocean." He asked her name. She said to him: "This kupua was
Waka, the dragon of the rough head, and I have escaped from his body. I
want you now for my husband, and I will accompany you on your journey."
Lono-kai told her, "This would not be right, but when I return, if I
come this way, you shall be mine." She said, "My ruler will kill me, for
I have been sent to guard this place." Lono-kai asked, "Who is your
ruler?" "Hina-kekai, she will kill me. You belong to the Ku-aha-ilo
family, which is a very strong family. Therefore we have been watching
for you for our chiefess."
Lono-kai told her to go to his land and wait for him. He would be her
husband. She must wait there without fault until his return. Then he
went away. Waka did not know whence this chief came, so she went to Oahu
and landed at Laiewai. There she awaited her husband.
Lono-kai went on to the land of Kuai-he-lani, where he landed and hid
his boat among the vines on the beach. He went to the temple where the
body of his grandfather lay, clean and beautiful in death. He could not
see any door or break in the body for the escape of the spirit.
Then he struck the earth with his magic war-club until a great hole
opened. He looked down and saw a large house and many people moving
around below. He knew that the spirit of his grandfather was there. He
went down and looked about, but the people had disappeared. The remains
of a great feast were there. He stood at the door looking in, when two
men appeared and welcomed him with an "Aloha," and told him he must have
come from the land above, for there was no man like him in that place.
They advised him to make his path back into that land from whence he had
come, for if the king of the Under-world saw him he would be killed.
Lono-kai asked, "Who is your king?" They told him, "Milu." "What does he
do?" "Our king dances for Popo-alaea and Ke-au-nini." Lono-kai went with
the men to see the sports. They tried to persuade him not to go, but he
was very obstinate and asked them to hide him. They said, "If we do this
and you are discovered we shall be destroyed."
He told them the reason of his coming and asked their help, and said
when he had his grandfather they could follow him into the Upper-world.
They went to a house which was large and beautiful. They entered and saw
the chiefs playing kilu. After a long time Lono-kai began to make his
presence known. Popo-alaea was winning. Then Ke-au-nini chanted:
"The multitude of those below give greeting
To the friends of the inland forest of Puna;
We praise the restfulness of our home;
The leaves and divine flowers of that place."
Lono-kai chanted the same words as an echo of Ke-au-nini. Silence fell
on the group, and Milu cried out: "Who is the disturber of our sport? We
must find him and kill him." They began the search, but could not find
any one and at last resumed their games. Popo-alaea chanted:
"I welcome back my friend,
The great shadow of Waimea,
Where stands the milo-tree in the gentle breeze,
And the ohia-tree. You know the place."
Ke-au-nini sang the same chant. Then Lono-kai echoed it very softly and
sweetly. All said this last voice was the best. Milu again caused a
search to be made, but found nothing. The two men hid Lono-kai by a post
of the house.
The group returned to the sports. Soon Milu changed the game to hula.
Ke-au-nini stood up to dance and began his chant:
"Aloha to our houses without friends.
The path goes inland to Papalakamo;
Come now and enter!
Outside is the trouble, the storm,
And there you meet the cold."
The people around were striking the spirit drums. Then Lono-kai chanted:
"Established is the honor of Ke-au-nini
(Noteworthy is the name).
Lifted up to the high heaven;
I am the child of Lei-makani,
I am Lono from the sunrise place, Hae-o-hae:
I have come after thee, my father;
We must return. Where are you?"
Ke-au-nini could not stand up to dance when he heard the voice of his
grandchild, for his love overpowered him. He looked up and saw the form
of the young chief leaping into the place prepared for the hula and
standing there before the chief. The people rose up in great confusion.
Lono-kai caught the spirit of Ke-au-nini and put it in a cocoanut-shell.
He leaped past the ghosts, and ran very swiftly out of the house.
Some of the people saw him lay hands on Ke-au-nini, and cried out: "Oh,
the husband of our chiefess! Oh, the husband of our chiefess! He has
taken the husband of our chiefess!" But they did not see Lono-kai go
out. The two men who had aided Lono-kai went out as soon as he leaped
into the hula place. They hurried along the path toward freedom, but
Lono-kai soon overtook them. Milu called to his people to hasten and
capture and kill the one who had stolen Ke-au-nini. They saw the two men
with Lono-kai, and pursued rapidly, but could not overtake them. The
fugitives were very near the opening to the world above. When Lono-kai
saw that the pursuers were almost upon him he whirled his magic war-club
and struck the ground, making a great hole into which the spirits fell
one over the other.
Lono-kai and the two watchmen went up the cave opening by which he had
gone down into the land of Milu. Dawn was breaking as they ran into the
temple at Kuai-he-lani, where the body of Ke-au-nini was lying. Lono-kai
pushed the spirit into the hollow of the foot and held the foot fast,
shaking it until the spirit had gone to the very ends of the body and
life had returned.
When Ke-au-nini was fully restored, Lono-kai asked him if he could help
restore to their bodies the two spirits who had aided him in escaping.
Ke-au-nini evidently did not remember anything of his life in the
Under-world, for he did not know these ghosts and thought he had been
asleep from the time he entered the temple and fell down in weariness.
Lono-kai thought they could not find the bodies, but Ke-au-nini put the
ghosts in cocoanuts and carried them up into the forest to one of his
ancestors who knew the bodies from which these ghosts had come. Thus
they were restored and had a long and happy life in their former home.
Lono-kai told his grandfather they must return to Hawaii to meet all the
friends.
For thirty days mists covered Hawaii and there was thunder and lightning
and earthquakes. Then Lono-kai said to Ke-au-nini: "To-morrow we must go
to Hawaii. We must have the appropriate ceremonies for cleansing and
taking food." Ke-au-nini said: "Yes, I have been a long time in the
adopted land of Milu, and my eyes are dimmed and my thought is dazed
with the dance of the restless spirits of the night. We must wait until
I have performed all the cleansing ceremonies, made offerings and
incantations. Prayers must be said for my return to life. Then we will
go."
They attended to all the temple rites, and the marks of death were
washed away. The body was cleansed, the eyes made clear, so strength and
joy returned into the body. Then Ke-au-nini said: "I am ready. I see a
multitude of birds circling around Kaula. There is evil toward Hawaii."
They again went into the temple and slept until very early the next
morning. Then they took their cocoanut-husk canoes, each holding his own
in his hand, and went down to the edge of the sea and stood there, each
pointing the nose of his boat toward Waipio.
None of the people awoke until they landed. They pulled the boats upon
the beach and went to their temple. As they came to the door of the
temple, drums beat like rolling thunder. Then the sun arose, the mists
all vanished from Hawaii. The people awoke and understood that their
chiefs had returned. They ran out of their houses shouting and
rejoicing. Olopana commanded the chiefs and the people to prepare all
kinds of sweet food and gifts and things for a very great luau. When
this was done they feasted sixty days and returned to their homes.
Lei-makani became the ruler of Hawaii. Lono-kai-o-lohia was honored by
his father. All of the chiefs in that generation were noted throughout
the islands.
* * * * *
It was said that there was a beautiful chiefess of Molokai who wanted to
find a young chief of Hawaii for her husband, so she sent her kahu, or
guardian, and servants to make the journey while she went back to her
sleeping-place and dreamed of a very fine young chief shining like the
sun and surrounded by all the colors of the rainbow. Then she awoke and
found no one, but she loved that spirit-body which she had seen in her
dreams, so she arose and went down to the beach and told her guardian to
make haste and reach Hawaii that day.
When the kahu heard her call, he put forth all his power and uttered the
proper incantations. He sped through the waters like a skimming bird,
passed the great precipices near Waipio, and soon after dawn landed on
the beautiful beach.
The people had not yet come from their homes for the work of the day. He
went up to the village and came near the house of Lei-makani. A watchman
asked where he was from and the purpose of his journey. He said: "I am a
stranger from Molokai, a messenger from my chiefess, who seeks a husband
of high rank equal to her own. She has no one worthy to be her husband."
The Waipio chief said: "We have a splendid young chief, but there is no
one his equal in rank and beauty. You could not ask for him."
Then Lei-makani heard the noise and came out and asked about this
conversation. His watchman told him that this man was from Molokai.
Lei-makani asked the man to approach. The Molokai chief thought that
Lei-makani was the handsomest man he had ever seen. Ke-au-kai came out
of the temple and looked upon the stranger and asked why he had come.
When he learned that the man sought a husband for his chiefess, he
advised him to return lest he should meet death at the hands of the
watchman, but the man would not go away.
After a time the chiefs of Waipio came before Lei-makani. The Molokai
chief explained his errand, and praised his chiefess, and said that he
was willing to be killed and cooked in an oven if she were not as
beautiful and of as high rank as he had told them. Lono-kai at that
moment entered the assembly, and the stranger cried out: "This man is
the husband for my chiefess. Her tabu rank is the same as the tabu rank
of this fine young chief. No others in all the islands are like these
two. It would be glorious for them to meet." Lono-kai said, "You return
at once and make preparation, and I will come in the evening."
The kahu returned to Molokai, but the chiefess saw him coming back alone
and became very angry, her eyes flashing with wrath because he had not
brought the young chief with him. She screamed out, "Where is the value
of your journey, if you return without my husband?"
"Wait a little," the guardian said gently, "until you hear about what I
have seen upon Hawaii. I have found the one you wanted. We must get
ready to meet your husband, for the young chief is coming here this
evening. When you meet, the love of each of you will be great toward the
other."
[Illustration: COCOANUTS]
She ordered all Molokai to prepare for a great feast commencing that
evening. Messengers ran swiftly, people and chiefs hastened their
labors, and by evening vast quantities of food had been prepared.
Lono-kai took his cocoanut-husk boat and came over the sea like a bird
skimming the water.
As the sun sank and the evening shadows fell, the two young people met
and delighted in each other's beauty. Then they were married in the
midst of all the people of Molokai.