Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology) Part 18

"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 inst.i.tuted 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 k.u.mukahi, 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, pa.s.sing 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 pa.s.sed 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."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 mult.i.tude 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-sh.e.l.l.

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 mult.i.tude 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.