In a land that is now lost, in Ku-ai-he-lani, the Country that Supports
the Heavens, there lived a King whose name was Iku. He had twelve
children, and of these eleven grew up without ever having received any
favor or any promise from their father.
But when the twelfth child was born—Au-ke-le was his name—his father
took him up in his arms, and he promised him all the honor and power
and glory that was his, and he promised him the kingship of
Ku-ai-he-lani, the Country that Supports the Heavens.
The other children were angry when they saw their father take little
Au-ke-le up in his arms, and they were more angry when they heard the
promises that were made to him. And the eldest brother, who was the
angriest of all, said, “I am the eldest born, and my father never made
such promises to me, and he never took me up in his arms and fondled
me.” And this brother, who was now a man grown, went from before his
father, and his other brothers went with him.
Au-ke-le grew up. His father gave him many of his possessions—feather
cloaks, and whale-tooth necklaces, and many sharp and polished weapons.
He grew up to be the handsomest of handsome youths, with a body that
was straight and faultless. One day, knowing that they had gone to play
games in a certain house, he went to follow his brothers. But Iku, his
father, said to him, “Do not go where your brothers have gone; they are
angry with you, and they have always been angry with you, and it may be
that they will do some harm to you in that place.” But in spite of the
words of his father Au-ke-le followed his brothers. He came to the
house where his brothers were, and he shot his arrow into it. One of
his brothers took up the arrow and said, “This is not a stranger’s
arrow; this is an arrow from our own house; see, it is twisted.” The
eldest brother, who was the angriest of all, took up the arrow and
broke it to pieces. He sent the others outside to invite Au-ke-le
within the house. And Au-ke-le, believing in the kindness of his
brothers, and thinking they were going to let him join in their games,
came within.
But they had made a plan against him. They laid hold upon him when he
came within the house, and, at the words of the eldest brother, they
uncovered a pit and they flung Au-ke-le down into it.
In that pit there lived a mo-o whose name was Ka-mo’o-i-na-nea. This
mo-o was really Au-ke-le’s grandmother. She had been a mortal woman;
but she had transformed herself into a mo-o, and now she lived in that
pit, and she devoured any creature that came into it.
The angry brother called out, “Mo-o, Mo-o, here is your food; eat it.”
Then he went away. But a younger brother who felt kindly to Au-ke-le
whispered down, “Do not eat this youth, Mo-o, for he is your own
grandson.” The mo-o heard the words of both. She came before Au-ke-le
and she signed for him to follow her. He followed, and they came out on
the dry sand that was before the ocean.
Then the mo-o spoke to Au-ke-le her grandson. “There is a land beyond
this sea,” she said, “a land that I travelled through in my young days
before I took on this dragon-form. Very few people live in that land.
You must sail to it; living there you will become great and wise.
“The name of that land is Ka-la-ke’e-nui-a-Kane. The mountains are so
high that the stars rest upon them. The people who live there are
Na-maka-o-Kahai, the Queen, and her four brothers, who take the forms
of birds, and two women-servants. The watchers of her land are a dog
called Mo-e-la and a great and fierce bird called Ha-lu-lu.
“I will give you things to take with you. Here is a calabash that has a
Magic in it. It has an axe in it also that you can use. And here is
food that will last for the longest voyage. It is a leaf, but if you
put it to your lips it will take away your hunger and your thirst. I
give you my skirt of feathers also; the touch of it will bring death to
your enemies.” Then his mo-o grandmother left him, and Au-ke-le was
upon the sea-shore with a calabash that had Magic in it, with the
leaves that stayed his hunger and his thirst, and with the skirt of
feathers that would destroy his enemies. And he had in his heart the
resolve to go to the land that his mo-o grandmother had told him about.
In the meantime Iku-mai-lani, the kind brother, had gone back to his
father’s house. Iku asked what had happened to his favorite son. Then
Iku-mai-lani, weeping, told his father that the boy had been flung into
the pit where the mo-o was and that he feared the mo-o had devoured him
as she had devoured others. Then the father and mother of Au-ke-le
wept.
As they were weeping he came within the house. His mother and father
rejoiced over him, and Iku-mai-lani hurried to give the news to his
brothers. They were building a canoe, and when the eldest brother heard
of Au-ke-le’s escape, and heard the sound of rejoicings in his father’s
house, he gave orders to have all preparations made for sailing and to
have the food cooked and every one aboard, that they might sail at once
from the land.
It was then that Au-ke-le came up to where they were. He called out to
his kind brother, to Iku-mai-lani, and asked him what he might do to be
let go in the canoe with them. His brother said: “How can we take you
when it is on your account only that we are going away from the country
we were born in? We are going because you only of all of us have been
promised the kingdom and the glory that belongs to our father. And we
are going because we tried to kill you, and now are ashamed of what we
did.”
Still Au-ke-le craved to be let go with them. Then the kind brother
said to him: “You cannot gain your way through us. But with our eldest
brother is a boy—a little son whom he is taking along, and for whom he
has a great love. If the child of our eldest brother should ask you to
come on board you will surely be let come.”
Then Au-ke-le went to the canoe. And the little boy who was his eldest
brother’s son saw him and clapped his hands and called out to him, “My
uncle, come on board of the ship and be one of us.”
Au-ke-le then went on board. The eldest brother, he who had been the
most angry with him, let Au-ke-le stay because his young son had
brought him on board. Au-ke-le then sent the men back to his father’s
house for the things that his grandmother had given him—for the
calabash with the Magic in it, and for the feather dress. The men
brought these things to him; then the paddlers took up their paddles;
the canoe went into the deep sea, and Au-ke-le and his brothers
departed from the land of Ku-ai-he-lani, the Country that Supports the
Heavens.
They sailed far and far away, and no land came to their sight. All the
food they had brought in the canoe was eaten, and they no longer had
food or drink. Their men died of hunger and thirst. Au-ke-le’s brothers
went below, and they stayed in the bottom of the canoe, for they were
waiting for death to come to them.
At last the boy who was the son of the eldest brother went down to seek
his father. He was lying there, too weak to move by reason of his
hunger and thirst. And Au-ke-le’s eldest brother said to his son: “How
pitiful it is for you, my son! For my own life I have no regret, for I
have been many days in the world; but I weep for you, who have lived so
short a time and have but so short a time to live. Here is all I have
to give you—a joint of sugar cane.” Then the boy replied, “I have no
need for food—my uncle Au-ke-le has a certain leaf which he puts to my
lips, and with that leaf my hunger and my thirst are satisfied.” His
father hardly heard what he said, so weak he had become. Then the boy
went back to Au-ke-le.
And when he came before his uncle again tears were streaming down his
face. “Why do you weep?” Au-ke-le asked. “I am weeping for my father,
who is almost dead from hunger.” Au-ke-le said: “You too would have
died from hunger had I not come with you. I am hated by your father as
his most bitter enemy, but I would act as a brother acts. Now let us go
to where my brothers are.”
So they went below. Au-ke-le went to each of his brothers and put the
leaf to their lips. It was as if each of them had got food and drink.
Their faintness went from them, and they were able to get about the
ship once more.
Soon afterwards they came in sight of land; Au-ke-le knew that this was
the country that his mo-o grandmother had told him about. And,
remembering what he had been told about the dangers of this land, he
asked his brothers to let him take charge of the canoe, so that they
might avoid these dangers. His brothers said, “Why did you not build a
canoe for yourself, so that you might take charge of it and give orders
about it?” Au-ke-le said, “If you give me charge of the canoe, we shall
be saved; but if you take charge yourselves, we shall be destroyed.”
His brothers laughed at him.
In a while they saw birds approaching the ship—four birds. Au-ke-le,
remembering what his mo-o grandmother had told him, knew that these
were the Queen’s brothers. They came and lit on the yards, and asked of
those below what they had come for. Au-ke-le told his brothers to say
that they had not come to make war and that they had come on a voyage
of sight-seeing. His brothers would not say this; instead they cried
out to the birds, “Ours is a ship to make war.” The birds flew back;
they told their sister Na-maka that the ship had come to make war. Then
the Queen put on her war-skirt and went down to the shore.
Au-ke-le knew that all in the canoe would be destroyed. He took up his
calabash that had the Magic in it, and he threw it into the sea. As he
did this he saw the Queen standing there with her war-skirt on. She
took up her feathered standard and shook it in the air. Au-ke-le sprang
from the ship and swam after the floating calabash. Then the ship and
all who were on it disappeared: Na-maka the Queen made a sign, and they
were seen no more.
And now Au-ke-le was left on the land that his grandmother had told him
about—the land of Ka-la-ke’e-nui-a-Kane, where the stars rest on the
tops of the mountains. He brought the calabash that had his Magic in it
and the skirt of feathers that his mo-o grandmother had given him, and
he rested under a tree by the sea-shore.
The dog that was called Mo-e-la, the Day Sleeper, smelt his blood and
barked. And, hearing her dog bark, Na-maka the Queen came out of her
house and called to her four bird-brothers: “You must go and find out
what man of flesh and blood my dog is barking at.” But her four
brothers, being sleepy, said, “Send your two women-servants and let us
rest.” So the Queen sent her two women-servants to find out what the
dog was barking at. “And if it be a creature of flesh and blood, kill
him,” said the Queen.
Then the two servants went towards the shore where Au-ke-le was
resting. But his Magic told him what was coming and what he should do.
“When they come you must call the servants by their names, and they
will be so abashed at a stranger’s knowing them that they will not know
what to do.”
So when the Queen’s two women-servants came before him Au-ke-le called
out, “It is U-po-ho and it is Hua-pua-i-na-nea.” The two servants were
so abashed because their names were known to this stranger that they
stood there looking at each other.
Then Au-ke-le called them to him, and they came, and they sat near him.
He asked them to play the game that is played with black and white
stones. He moved the stones, and as he moved them he chanted, and his
chant was to let them know who he was.
“This is my turn; your turn now;
Now we pause; the blacks cannot win;
The whites have won:
Nothing can break the boy from Ku-ai-he-lani.”
The servants knew then that he was from Ku-ai-he-lani, the Country that
Supports the Heavens. They said to him, “We were sent to kill you, but
we are going back to tell the Queen that in no place could we find a
creature of flesh and blood.”
They returned, and they told the Queen that neither on the uplands nor
on the sea-shore, neither on the tops of the trees nor on the tops of
the cliffs, were they able to find a creature of flesh and blood. While
they were speaking the Queen’s dog came out and barked again. Her four
bird-brothers had rested, and the Queen sent them to search for the
creature of flesh and blood that the dog had barked at.
Then the Magic in his calabash spoke again to Au-ke-le. “Four birds are
coming towards you. You must greet them and you must call them by their
names. They will be so abashed at their names being known to a stranger
that they will not know what to do.”
As the four birds came towards him Au-ke-le called aloud: “This is
Ka-ne-mo-e, and I give greetings to him. This is Ka-ne-a-pua, and I
give greetings to him. This is Le-a-pua, and I give greetings to him.
And this is Ka-hau-mana.” The four bird-brothers were amazed to hear
their names spoken by a stranger, and they said to each other, “What
can we do with this man who knows our names, even?” And another said,
“He can take our lives from us.” And they spoke to each other again and
said, “We have one thing worthy to give to this man: let us give him
our sister, the Queen.”
So the four brothers came to Au-ke-le, and they offered him the Queen
to be his wife. Au-ke-le was pleased; he told them that he would go to
the Queen’s house.
The four bird-brothers went back to tell the Queen about the man who
was coming to her and to whom they had promised her. The Queen said,
“If he is such that he can overcome the dangers that are before him, I
will marry him, and he will be the ruler with me of the land of
Ka-la-ke’e-nui-a-Kane.”
When the brothers had gone his Magic spoke again to Au-ke-le, and it
said: “When you go to the Queen, don’t enter the house at once, for
that would mean your death. If they offer you food in a calabash, don’t
eat it, for that would mean your death. The dog that is called Mo-e-la
will be set upon you, and if you overcome him the four brothers will
attack you. Eat the melons on the vines outside the house, and they
will be meat and drink for you.”
After hearing the words that his Magic had said to him, Au-ke-le went
to the house of the Queen. He stood outside the door, and as he stood
there the Queen said to her women-servants, “Use your powers now and
destroy this creature of flesh and blood.” But when the servants saw
the man who knew their names, one changed herself into a rat and ran
into a hole, and the other changed herself into a lizard and ran up a
tree.
Then Mo-e-la the dog came towards him; he opened his mouth wide and he
showed all his teeth. But when he was touched by the skirt that
Au-ke-le had been given, the dog was turned into ashes. And then the
Queen, on seeing the death of her watchdog, bowed down her head and
wept.
She called upon her brothers to kill the stranger. But they were
abashed at his knowing their names, and they wanted to hide from him.
One turned himself into a rock and lay by the doorway, and another
turned himself into a log of wood and lay beside his brother, and the
third changed himself into a coral reef, and the fourth became a pool
of water.
Food was brought to Au-ke-le, but he would eat none of it. He went to
the vine, and he ate the melons that were growing there, and he found
that the melons gave food and drink to him. And when the Queen and her
brothers saw him eating the melons they said to each other: “How
wonderful this man is! He is eating the food that we eat. Who could
have told him where to find it?” After that he won the Queen, and she
became his wife.
But it was after his adventure with the bird Ha-lu-lu that Au-ke-le
knew that the Queen had come to love him and was inclined to be kind to
him. One day he was standing by the sea-shore, looking out to the place
where the canoe that had had his brothers on board was sunk, when a
great shadow came over where he was and covered the light of the sun.
He looked up, and he saw above him the outstretched wings of a great
bird. Immediately he picked up the calabash that had his Magic in it;
then the bird Ha-lu-lu seized him and flew off with him.
The bird flew to a cave that was in the face of a great high cliff. He
stowed Au-ke-le there. And Au-ke-le, searching the cave, found two men
who had been carried off by Ha-lu-lu, the great bird. “We are two that
are to be devoured,” said the men. “What does the bird do when she
comes to devour us?” said Au-ke-le. “She stretches her right wing into
the cave and draws out a man. She devours him. Then she stretches her
left wing into the cave and draws out another man.” “Is the cave deep?”
Au-ke-le asked. “It is deep,” said the men. “Go, then,” said Au-ke-le,
“and make a fire in the depth of the cave.”
The men did this. Then Au-ke-le opened the calabash that his mo-o
grandmother had given him, and he took out the axe that was in it. He
waited for the giant bird to stretch her wing within. When she did he
cut the wing off with his axe, and the two men took it and threw the
wing on the fire. The other wing reached in; Au-ke-le cut off the other
wing, too. Then the beak was stuck in, and Au-ke-le cut off head and
beak.
After Ha-lu-lu the great bird had been killed, Au-ke-le took the
feathers from her head and threw them over the cliff. The feathers flew
on until they came to where the Queen was. She saw them, and she knew
them for the head feathers of the bird Ha-lu-lu, and she cried when she
saw them.
When her brothers came to her she said, “Here are the head-feathers of
the bird Ha-lu-lu, and now there is no great bird to guard the Island.”
But her brothers said, “It is right that Ha-lu-lu should be killed, for
she devoured men.” They waited then to see what their sister would do
to Au-ke-le, who was in the cave. She brought the rainbow, the
short-ended rainbow that has only three colors, red, yellow, and green,
and she set it against the cliff. And by the bridge of the rainbow
Au-ke-le was able to get down from the cliff.
When his wife and her brothers saw him come back they welcomed Au-ke-le
with joy. The Queen gave him her kingdom and everything else that was
at her command. And she sent a message to her uncles, who were in the
sky, to tell them that she had given her husband all her
possessions—the things that were above and below, that were on the
uplands and on the lowlands, the drift iron, the iron that stands in
the ground, the whale’s tooth, the turtle-shell, the things that grow
on the land, and the cluster of stars. All these things were his now.
But with all these things in his possession Au-ke-le was not satisfied,
for he thought upon the canoe that was sunken and on his brothers who
were all drowned.
He dreamed of his brothers and of his young nephew; and, with the
thoughts that he had, he could not enjoy himself on the land that he
ruled over. And, seeing her husband so sad, sorrow for him entered the
heart of the Queen. He told her that he thought of the men who had come
with him and who were now dead. And when he spoke of what was in his
mind the Queen said: “If you have great strength and courage, your
brothers may come back to life again; but if your strength or your
courage fail, they will never be restored to life, and your own life,
perhaps, will be lost.” Then Au-ke-le said to the Queen, “What is it
that I must do to win them back to life?” And the Queen said: “You must
use all your strength and your courage to gain the Water of Everlasting
Life, the Water of Ka-ne. If you are able to gain it and bring it to
them, your brothers and your nephew will live again.” When Au-ke-le
heard this from the Queen he ceased to be sorrowful; he ate and he
drank, and he had gladness in his possessions. Then he said to the
Queen, “What way must I take to gain the Water of Everlasting Life, the
Water of Ka-ne?” His wife said: “I will show you the way: from the
place where we are standing you must go towards the rising sun, never
turning from the road that I set you on. And at the end of your journey
you will come to the place where you will find the Water of Everlasting
Life, the Water of Ka-ne.”
When Au-ke-le heard this he put on his skirt of feathers that his mo-o
grandmother had given him; he took up the calabash that had his Magic
in it; he kissed his wife farewell; and he took the path from his house
that went straight towards the rising sun.
After he had been on his way for a month the Queen came to the door of
her house, and she looked towards where he had gone. She saw him, and
he was still upon his way. At the end of another month she went out
again and looked towards where he had gone. He was still upon the path
that led to the rising sun. Another month passed, and she went and
looked towards where he had gone. No trace of her husband could she
see, and she knew that he must have gone off the path she had shown
him. She began to weep, and when her four brothers came before her she
said, “Your brother-in-law has fallen into space, and he is lost.”
She then sent her brothers to bring all things and creatures together
that they might all mourn for Au-ke-le. They went and they brought the
night and the day, the sun, the stars, the thunder, the rainbow, the
lightning, the waterspout, the mist, the fine rain. And the grandfather
of the Queen, Kau-kihi-ka-malama, who is the Man in the Moon, was sent
for, too.
But where indeed was Au-ke-le?
He had left the straight line towards the rising sun; he had fallen
into space, and now he was growing weaker and weaker as he fell. But he
still had the calabash that had his Magic in it. He held it under his
arm; and now he spoke and asked where they were. His Magic said to him:
“We have gone outside the line that was shown to us, and now I think
that we shall never get back. There is nothing in the sky to help us or
to show us the way; all that was in the sky has gone down to the
earth—the night and the day, the sun and the stars, the thunder, the
rainbow, the lightning, the waterspout, the mist, the fine rain. No, I
can see no thing and no creature that can help us.” Au-ke-le asked,
“Who is it that is still up there?” His Magic replied: “Go straight and
lay hold upon him, and we may be saved. That is Kau-kihi-ka-malama, the
Man in the Moon.”
The reason that Kau-kihi-ka-malama had not gone down to earth with the
others was that he had delayed to prepare food to bring down to the
earth, for he thought that there was no food there. He was just
starting off when Au-ke-le came up to him and held him tightly. “Whose
conceited child are you?” the Man in the Moon asked. “My back has never
been climbed, even by my own granddaughter, and now you come here and
climb over it. Whose conceited child are you?” “Yours,” said Au-ke-le.
“I will take you to earth, and my granddaughter Na-maka will tell me
who you are.” And so Kau-kihi-ka-malama brought Au-ke-le back to earth.
And when he reached the earth all the people there wept with joy to see
him. Then the sun, the day, the night, the lightning, the thunder, the
mist, the fine rain, the waterspout, and the Man in the Moon all
returned back to the heavens.
But nothing would do Au-ke-le but to set out again to find the Water of
Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne. So he started off from the door
of his house, and he went in a straight line towards the rising sun.
And in six months from the time he started he stood by the edge of a
hole at the bottom of which was the Water of Everlasting Life, the
Water of Ka-ne.
He climbed over the shoulder of the guard, and the guard said to him:
“Eh, there! Whose conceited child are you? My back has never been
climbed over before, and now you come here and do it. Whose conceited
child are you?” “Your own,” said Au-ke-le. “My own by whom?” “My father
is Iku,” said Au-ke-le. “Then you are the grandson of Ka-po-ino and
Ka-mo’o-i-na-nea.” “I am.” “My greetings to you, my lord,” said the
guardian of the edge of the hole.
Au-ke-le had to go deep down into the hole to get the Water of
Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne. The guardian of the edge of the
hole warned him that he must not strike the bamboo that was growing on
one side, because if he did the sound would reach the ears of one who
would cover up the water. Au-ke-le went down. He came to a second
guardian, and he made himself known to him, claiming relationship with
him through Ka-mo’o-i-na-nea, his mo-o grandmother. This guardian told
him to go on, but he warned him not to fall into the lama trees that
were growing on one side, for if he did the sound would reach the ears
of one who would cover up the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of
Ka-ne.
He went on, and he came to the third guardian, and he made himself
known to him, claiming relationship with him through his mo-o
grandmother. This guardian told him to keep on his way, but he warned
him, above all things, not to fall into the loula palms, for if he did
the sound would reach one who would cover up the Water of Everlasting
Life, the Water of Ka-ne.
At last he came before the fourth guardian. “Who are you?” he was
asked. “The child of Iku.” “What has brought you here?” he was asked.
“To gain the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne.” “You shall
get it. Go to your grand-aunt who is at the base of the cliff. She is
the Old Woman of the Forbidden Sea. She is blind. You will find her
roasting bananas. When she reaches out to take one to eat, you take it
and eat it. Do this until all the bananas have been taken from her.
When she says, ‘What mischievous fellow has come here?’ take up the
ashes and sprinkle them on her right side, and then climb into her
lap.”
Au-ke-le kept going and ever going until he came to where his
grand-aunt sat, roasting bananas—his grand-aunt, the Old Woman by the
Forbidden Sea. He took the bananas that she was about to eat; he
sprinkled her with ashes on her right side, and he climbed into her
lap. “Whose conceited child are you?” said the blind old woman. “Your
own,” said Au-ke-le. “My own through whom?” “Your own through Iku.”
When his grand-aunt heard him say this she asked him what he had come
for. He told her he had come for the Water of Everlasting Life, the
Water of Ka-ne.
Then the Old Woman by the Forbidden Sea made up a plan by which he
might get the water. Ho-a-lii, he who watched above the water, had
hands that were all black, and no hands but his were permitted to take
up the Water of Ka-ne. His grand-aunt made Au-ke-le’s hands black, and
she showed him where to go to come to the water.
Au-ke-le went there. He put down his blackened hands, and the guards
gave him a gourd of water. But this, as he had been told by the Old
Woman by the Forbidden Sea, was bitter water, and not the Water of
Everlasting Life. He threw the water out. He reached his hands down
again; and this time the Water of Ka-ne was put into his hands, the
Water of Everlasting Life.
He took the gourd into his hands, and he ran back. But he fell into
loula palms as he ran on, and the sound came to the ears of Ho-a-lii,
who was the guardian of the water. Ho-a-lii listened, but it was two
months before another sound came to him. That was when Au-ke-le got
entangled in the lama trees that grew on the side of the hole that he
had to travel up. Ho-a-lii kept awake and listened. But no sound came
to him for two months more. Then he heard the rustling of the bamboo
trees that Au-ke-le had fallen into. He came in pursuit. But now
Au-ke-le was out of the hole and was flying towards the earth. Ho-a-lii
followed; but when he asked the watcher how long it was since one had
passed that way, he was told that a year and six months had gone by
since one came up through the hole. Ho-a-lii could not catch up with
one who by this time had gone so far; and Au-ke-le, with the Water of
Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne, came back to the earth.
He came to where his brothers and his nephew were drowned in the sea,
and he poured half of the Water of Ka-ne into the sea. Nothing came up
from the sea, and Au-ke-le sat there weeping. Then his wife came to
him, and she blamed him for pouring so much of the water into the sea.
Out of what was left she took water in her hands and poured it over the
sea. Then Au-ke-le looked. In a while there stood a canoe with men
climbing the masts, and folding the sails, and coiling the ropes. They
were his brothers. Au-ke-le greeted them, and his brothers knew him,
and they came to the land.
Then Au-ke-le gave his brothers all his possessions. But they were not
satisfied to live on that land with him, and after a while they sailed
away for other lands.
Then after long years Au-ke-le said to his wife: “My wife, we have
lived long together; I would not die in a foreign land, and I beg that
you will let me go so that I may see Ku-ai-he-lani, the country of my
parents.”
He went, with his wife’s four brothers. And they went by a course that
brought them there in two days and two nights. Upon their arrival
Au-ke-le looked over the land; but he saw no people, and the sound of
birds singing or of cocks crowing did not come to him, and then he saw
that the land of Ku-ai-he-lani was all grown over with weeds.
He came to the mouth of the cave where his mo-o grandmother used to be.
He shouted down to her, but no sound came back from her to him. He went
down. The coral of the floor of the sea had grown over her, and she was
not able to answer the call of her grandson Au-ke-le.
He broke away the pieces of coral that were around her. He saw the body
of his mo-o grandmother, and it was reduced to a thread, almost. He
called her name, “Ka-mo’o-i-na-nea.”
Ka-mo’o-i-na-nea said “Yes,” and she looked up and saw her grandson.
She greeted him and asked him what had brought him to her. “I came to
see you,” he said, “and to ask you where are Iku and the others.”
“Iku fought with Ma-ku-o-ae,” his grandmother told him. When she said
that, Au-ke-le knew that Death and his father had met.