Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology) Part 14

She found Puna hanging on the branches. Then she made that breadfruit-tree open. Leaving her pa-u on the ground where she stood, she stepped inside the tree and bade it close about her and appear the same as before. The akala of which the pa-u had been made lay where it was left, took root and grew into a large vine.

The fat of the body of Puna fell down through the branches and the dogs ate below the tree. One of these dogs belonged to the chief Kou. It came back to the house, played with the chief, then leaped, caught him by the throat and killed him.

NOTE.--This is the same legend as "The Wonderful Breadfruit Tree"

published in the "Legends of Old Honolulu," but the names are changed and the time is altered from the earliest days of Hawaiian lore to the almost historic period of King Kakuhihewa, whose under-chief mentioned in this legend gave the name to Old Honolulu, as for centuries it bore the name "Kou." The legend is new, however, in so far as it gives the account of the infatuation of Puna for Kiha-wahine, the dragon-G.o.ddess, and his final escape from her.

XVII

KE-AU-NINI

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 G.o.ddess 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 a.s.sume 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. Pa.s.s 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 G.o.d-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 pa.s.sing 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 pa.s.sed 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 mult.i.tude, 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 G.o.d 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-G.o.ds:

"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 pa.s.sed 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-G.o.ds 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-G.o.ds) 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.