The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai Part 10

_Aloha no!_[1]

[Footnote 1: For the translation of Haleole's foreword, which is in a much more ornate and involved style than the narrative itself, I am indebted to Miss Laura Green, of Honolulu.]

CHAPTER I

This tale was told at Laie, Koolau; here they were born, and they were twins; Kahauokapaka was the father, Malaekahana the mother. Now Kahauokapaka was chief over two districts, Koolauloa and Koolaupoko, and he had great authority over these districts.

At the time when Kahauokapaka took Malaekahana to wife,[1] after their union, during those moments of bliss when they had just parted from the first embrace, Kahauokapaka declared his vow to his wife, and this was the vow:[2]

"My wife, since we are married, therefore I will tell you my vow: If we two live hereafter and bear a child and it is a son, then it shall be well with us. Our children shall live in the days of our old age, and when we die they will cover our nakedness.[3] This child shall be the one to portion out the land, if fortune is ours in our first born and it is a boy; but if the first born is a daughter, then let her die; however many daughters are born to us, let them die; only one thing shall save them, the birth of a son shall save those daughters who come after."

About the eighth year of their living as man and wife, Malaekahana conceived and bore a daughter, who was so beautiful to look upon, the mother thought that Kahauokapaka would disregard his vow; this child he would save. Not so! At the time when she was born, Kahauokapaka was away at the fishing with the men.

When Kahauokapaka returned from the fishing he was told that Malaekahana had born a daughter. The chief went to the house; the baby girl had been wrapped in swaddling clothes; Kahauokapaka at once ordered the executioner to kill it.

After a time Malaekahana conceived again and bore a second daughter, more beautiful than the first; she thought to save it. Not so!

Kahauokapaka saw the baby girl in its mother's arms wrapped in swaddling clothes; then the chief at once ordered the executioner to kill it.

Afterwards Malaekahana bore more daughters, but she could not save them from being killed at birth according to the chief's vow.

When for the fifth time Malaekahana conceived a child, near the time of its birth, she went to the priest and said, "Here! Where are you? Look upon this womb of mine which is with child, for I can no longer endure my children's death; the husband is overzealous to keep his vow; four children were mine, four are dead. Therefore, look upon this womb of mine, which is with child; if you see it is to be a girl, I will kill it before it takes human shape.[4] But if you see it is to be a boy, I will not do it."

Then the priest said to Malaekahana, "Go home; just before the child is to be born come back to me that I may know what you are carrying."

At the time when the child was to be born, in the month of October, during the taboo season at the temple, Malaekahana remembered the priest's command. When the pains of childbirth were upon her, she came to the priest and said, "I come at the command of the priest, for the pains of childbirth are upon me; look and see, then, what kind of child I am carrying."

As Malaekahana talked with the priest, he said: "I will show you a sign; anything I ask of you, you must give it."

Then the priest asked Malaekahana to give him one of her hands, according to the sign used by this people, whichever hand she wished to give to the priest.

Now, when the priest asked Malaekahana to give him one of her hands she presented the left, with the palm upward. Then the priest told her the interpretation of the sign: "You will bear another daughter, for you have given me your left hand with the palm upward."

When the priest said this, the heart of Malaekahana was heavy, for she sorrowed over the slaying of the children by her husband; then Malaekahana besought the priest to devise something to help the mother and save the child.

Then the priest counseled Malaekahana, "Go back to the house; when the child is about to be born, then have a craving for the _manini_ sp.a.w.n,[5] and tell Kahauokapaka that he must himself go fishing, get the fish you desire with his own hand, for your husband is very fond of the young _manini_ afloat in the membrane, and while he is out fishing he will not know about the birth; and when the child is born, then give it to me to take care of; when he comes back, the child will be in my charge, and if he asks, tell him it was an abortion, nothing more."

At the end of this talk, Malaekahana went back to the house, and when the pains came upon her, almost at the moment of birth, then Malaekahana remembered the priest's counsel to her.

When the pain had quieted, Malaekahana said to her husband, "Listen, Kahauokapaka! the sp.a.w.n of the _manini_ come before my eyes; go after them, therefore, while they are yet afloat in the membrane; possibly when you bring the _manini_ sp.a.w.n, I shall be eased of the child; this is the first time my labor has been hard, and that I have craved the young of the _manini_; go quickly, therefore, to the fishing."

Then Kahauokapaka went out of the house at once and set out. While they were gone the child was born, a girl, and she was given to Waka, and they named her Laieikawai. As they were attending to the first child, a second was born, also a girl, and they named her Laielohelohe.

After the girls had been carried away in the arms of Waka and Kapukaihaoa, Kahauokapaka came back from the fishing, and asked his wife, "How are you?"

Said the woman, "I have born an abortion and have thrown it into the ocean."

Kahauokapaka already knew of the birth while he was on the ocean, for there came two claps of thunder; then he thought that the wife had given birth. At this time of Laieikawai and Laielohelohe's birth thunder first sounded in October,[6] according to the legend.

When Waka and Kapukaihaoa had taken their foster children away, Waka said to Kapukaihaoa, "How shall we hide our foster children from Kahauokapaka?"

Said the priest, "You had better hide your foster child in the water hole of Waiapuka; a cave is there which no one knows about, and it will be my business to seek a place of protection for my foster child."

Waka took Laieikawai where Kapukaihaoa had directed, and there she kept Laieikawai hidden until she was come to maturity.

Now, Kapukaihaoa took Laielohelohe to the uplands of Wahiawa, to the place called Kukaniloko.[7]

All the days that Laieikawai was at Waiapuka a rainbow arch was there constantly, in rain or calm, yet no one understood the nature of this rainbow, but such signs as attend a chief were always present wherever the twins were guarded.

Just at this time Hulumaniani was making a tour of Kauai in his character as the great seer of Kauai, and when he reached the summit of Kalalea he beheld the rainbow arching over Oahu; there he remained 20 days in order to be sure of the nature of the sign which he saw. By that time the seer saw clearly that it was the sign of a great chief--this rainbow arch and the two ends of a rainbow encircled in dark clouds.

Then the seer made up his mind to go to Oahu to make sure about the sign which he saw. He left the place and went to Anahola to bargain for a boat to go to Oahu, but he could not hire a boat to go to Oahu. Again the seer made a tour of Kauai; again he ascended Kalalea and saw again the same sign as before, just the same as at first; then he came back to Anahola.

While the seer was there he heard that Poloula owned a canoe at Wailua, for he was chief of that place, and he desired to meet Poloula to ask the chief for a canoe to go to Oahu.

When Hulumaniani met Poloula he begged of him a canoe to go to Oahu.

Then the canoe and men were given to him. That night when the canoe star rose they left Kauai, 15 strong, and came first to Kamaile in Waianae.

Before the seer sailed, he first got ready a black pig, a white fowl, and a red fish.

On the day when they reached Waianae the seer ordered the rowers to wait there until he returned from making the circuit of the island.

Before the seer went he first climbed clear to the top of Maunalahilahi and saw the rainbow arching at Koolauloa, as he saw it when he was on Kalalea.

He went to Waiapuka, where Laieikawai was being guarded, and saw no place there set off for chiefs to dwell in. Now, just as the seer arrived, Waka had vanished into that place where Laieikawai was concealed.

As the seer stood looking, he saw the rippling of the water where Waka had dived. Then he said to himself: "This is a strange thing. No wind ripples the water on this pool. It is like a person bathing, who has hidden from me." After Waka had been with Laieikawai she returned, but while yet in the water she saw someone sitting above on the bank, so she retreated, for she thought it was Kahauokapaka, this person on the brink of the water hole.

Waka returned to her foster child, and came back at twilight and spied to discover where the person had gone whom she saw, but there was the seer sitting in the same place as before. So Waka went back again.

The seer remained at the edge of the pool, and slept there until morning. At daybreak, when it was dawn, he arose, saw the sign of the rainbow above Kukaniloko, forsook this place, journeyed about Oahu, first through Koolaupoko; from there to Ewa and Honouliuli, where he saw the rainbow arching over Wahiawa; ascended Kamaoha, and there slept over night; but did not see the sign he sought.

CHAPTER II

When the seer failed to see the sign which he was following he left Kamaoha, climbed clear to the top of Kaala, and there saw the rainbow arching over Molokai. Then the seer left the place and journeyed around Oahu; a second time he journeyed around in order to be sure of the sign he was following, for the rainbow acted strangely, resting now in that place, now in this.

On the day when the seer left Kaala and climbed to the top of Kuamooakane the rainbow bent again over Molokai, and there rested the end of the rainbow, covered out of sight with thunderclouds. Three days he remained on Kuamooakane, thickly veiled in rain and fog.

On the fourth day he secured a boat to go to Molokai. He went on board the canoe and had sailed half the distance, when the paddlers grew vexed because the prophet did nothing but sleep, while the pig squealed and the c.o.c.k crowed.

So the paddler in front[8] signed to the one at the rear to turn the canoe around and take the seer back as he slept.