Long, long ago, my younger brothers, there lived in Hawaii a King whose
name was Koni-konia. He sent his fishermen out to catch deep-sea fish
for him, and they, without knowing it, let down their lines and
fish-hooks at a place where, before this, strange things had happened.
In a while after they had let them down, the hooks were taken off the
lines. The fishermen wondered at this, for they knew that no fish had
bitten at their baits. They went back to the King, and they told him
what had happened. There had come no quiver on their lines, they said,
as there would have come if fish had touched their baits, and their
hooks had been cut off the lines as if some one with a knife had done
it.
Now the King had heard before of strange things happening at the place
in the sea where the fishermen had been; and after they had shown him
the lines with the hooks cut off, he sent for a wizard, that he might
learn from him how these strange things had come to be.
The wizard (he was called a Kahuna) came before the King, and after he
had been told of what had happened to the fishermen’s lines he said:
“Your fishermen let their lines down over Lalo-hana, a country that is
at the bottom of the sea, just under the place where they let their
canoes rest. A woman lives there, a very beautiful woman of the sea
whose name is Hina; all alone she lives there, for her brothers, who
were given charge of her, have gone to a place far off.” When the King
heard of this beautiful woman of the sea, he longed to see her and to
have her for his wife.
The Kahuna told him how she might be brought out of the sea to him. The
King was to have a great many images made—images of a man, each image
to be as large as a man, with pearl-shell eyes and dark hair, and with
a malo or dress around it. Some of the images were to be brought out to
sea, and some of them were to be left on the beach and along a path
that went up to the King’s house; and one of them was to be left
standing by the door of the house.
The Kahuna went with the men who had taken the images in their canoes.
When they came to that part of the sea that the country of Lalo-hana
was under, the Kahuna told the men to let down one of the images. Down,
down, the image went, a rope around it. It rested on the bottom of the
sea. Then another image was let down. But this image was not let as far
as the bottom of the sea: it was held about the height of a house above
the bottom. Then another image was let down and held above that, and
then another image, and another image, all held one above another,
while other images were left standing in canoes that went in a line
back to the beach. And when all the images were in their places, a loud
trumpet was blown.
The Woman of Lalo-hana, Hina, came out of her house, that was built of
white and red coral, and she saw the image of a man of dark color, with
dark hair and eyes of pearl-shell, standing before her. She was
pleased, for she had never seen even the likeness of a man since her
brothers had gone away from her; and she went to the image, and she
touched it. As she did so she saw an image above her; and she went and
she touched this image too. And all the way up to the top of the sea
there were images; and Hina went upward, touching them all.
When she came up to the surface of the sea she saw canoes, and in each
canoe there was an image standing. Each one seemed to be more beautiful
than the others; and Hina swam on and on, gazing on each with delight
and touching this one and that one.
And so Hina, the Woman of the Sea, came to the beach. And on the beach
there were other images; and she went on, touching each of them. And so
she went through the grove of coco-nut trees and came before the King’s
house. Outside the house there was a very tall image with very large
pearl-shell eyes and with a red malo around it. Hina went to that
image. The wreath of sea-flowers that she had in her hair was now
withered with the sun; the Woman of Lalo-hana was wearied now, and she
lay down beside the image and fell asleep.
When she wakened it was not the image, but the King, who was beside
her. She saw him move his hands, and she was frightened because of the
movements she saw him make and the sounds that were around her after
the quiet of the sea. Her wreath of sea-flowers was all shrivelled up
in the sunlight. The man kissed her, and they went together into the
house.
And so the Woman of Lalo-hana, the Country under the Sea, came to
Hawaii and lived there as the wife of Koni-konia, the King.
After a while, when she had learned to speak to him, Hina told
Koni-konia about precious things that she had in her house in
Lalo-hana, the Country under the Sea, and she begged the King to send a
diver to get these things and bring them to her. They were in a
calabash within her house, she said. And she told the King that the
diver who brought it up was not to open the calabash.
So Koni-konia the King sent the best of his divers to go down to
Lalo-hana, the Country under the Sea, and bring up the calabash that
had Hina’s precious things in it. The diver went down, and found the
house of red and white coral, and went within and took the calabash
that was there. He brought it back without opening it and gave it to
Hina.
After some days Hina opened the calabash. Within it was the moon. It
flew up to the heavens, and there it shone clear and bright. When it
shone in the heavens it was called Kena. But it shone down on the sea
too, and shining on the sea it was called Ana.
And then, seeing Ana in the sea, the Woman of Lalo-hana was frightened.
“My brothers will come searching for me,” she said. And the next day
she said, “My brothers will bring a great flood of waters upon this
land when they come searching for me.” And after that she said, “My
brothers will seek me in the forms of pa-o’o fishes, and the Ocean will
lift them up so that they can go seeking me.” When the King heard her
say this he said, “We will go far from where the Ocean is, and we will
seek refuge on the tops of the mountains.”
So the King with Hina, with all his people, went to the mountains. As
they went they saw the Ocean lifting up. Hina’s brothers in the forms
of pa-o’o fishes were there, and the Ocean lifted them up that they
might go seeking her.
Over the land and up to the mountains the Ocean went, bearing the
pa-o’o fishes along. Koni-konia and his people climbed to the tops of
the mountains. To the tops of the mountains the Ocean went, bearing the
pa-o’o fishes that were Hina’s brothers. Koni-konia and Hina and all
the people climbed to the tops of the trees that were on the tops of
the mountains. And then the Ocean, having covered the tops of the
mountains, went back again, drawing back the pa-o’o fishes that were
Hina’s brothers. And it was in this way that the Great Flood came to
Hawaii.
And after the waters of the Ocean had gone back to their own place,
Koni-konia the King, with Hina and his people, went back to the place
where their houses had been. All was washed away; there were mud and
sand where their houses and fields had been. Soon the sun dried up the
puddles and the wetness in the ground; growth came again; they built
their houses and cultivated their fields; and Koni-konia, with Hina and
with his people, lived once again in a wide land beside the great
ocean.