Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology) Part 16

He did not give the names of the little people, Kana-mu and Kana-wa, who were really great mult.i.tudes, 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.ds. 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 pa.s.sed. Awake!

Here are the offerings,-- Food for the G.o.ds: 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed before them they fell on their faces, although he had a gauze kapa thrown over him. He pa.s.sed 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 G.o.ds 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. k.u.munuiaiake 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 G.o.ds, 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 pa.s.sion, 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 G.o.ds and eating the things set apart for the G.o.ds. 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 pa.s.sed 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 sh.o.r.e."

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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds 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 methystic.u.m_) 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.