The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai Part 12

When they were alone, the seer asked the man directly, "Did you know that girl before about whom you were telling the chief?"

The man denied it and said, "No; I had never seen her before; this was the very first time; she was a stranger to me."

So the seer thought that this must be the person he was seeking, and he questioned the man closely where they were living, and the man told him exactly.

After the talk, he took everything that he had prepared for sacrifice when they should meet and departed.

Chapter III

When the seer set out after meeting that man, he went first up Kawela; there he saw the rainbow arching over the place which the man had described to him; so he was sure that this was the person he was following.

He went to Kaamola, the district adjoining Keawanui, where Laieikawai and her companion were awaiting the paddler. By this time it was very dark; he could not see the sign he saw from Kawela; but the seer slept there that night, thinking that at daybreak he would see the person he was seeking.

That night, while the seer was sleeping at Kaamola, then came the command of Kapukaihaoa to Laieikawai in a dream, just as he had directed them at Malelewaa.

At dawn they found a canoe sailing to Lanai, got on board, and went and lived for some time at Maunalei.

After Laieikawai and her companion had left Kalaeloa, at daybreak, the seer arose and saw that clouds and falling rain obscrued the sea between Molokai and Lanai with a thick veil of fog and mist.

Three days the veil of mist hid the sea, and on the fourth day the seer's stay at Kaamola, in the very early morning, he saw an end of the rainbow standing right above Maunalei. Now the seer regretted deeply not finding the person he was seeking; nevertheless he was not discouraged into dropping the quest.

About 10 days pa.s.sed at Molokai before he saw the end of the rainbow standing over Haleakala; he left Molokai, went first to Haleakala, to the fire pit, but did not see the person he was seeking.

When the seer reached there, he looked toward Hawaii; the land was veiled thick in cloud and mist. He left the place, went to Kauwiki, and there built a place of worship[13] to call upon his G.o.d as the only one to guide him to the person he was seeking.

Whenever the seer stopped in his journeying he directed the people, if they found the person he was following, to search him out wherever he might be.

At the end of the days of consecration of the temple, while the seer was at Kauwiki, near the night of the G.o.ds Kane and Lono,[14] the land of Hawaii cleared and he saw to the summit of the mountains.

Many days the seer remained at Kauwiki, nearly a year or more, but he never saw the sign he had followed thither.

One day in June, during the first days of the month, very early in the morning, he caught a glimpse of something like a rainbow at Koolau on Hawaii; he grew excited, his pulse beat quickly, but he waited long and patiently to see what the rainbow was doing. The whole month pa.s.sed in patient waiting; and in the next month, on the second day of the month, in the evening, before the sun had gone down, he entered the place of worship prepared for his G.o.d and prayed.

As he prayed, in the midst of the place appeared to the seer the spirit forms[15] of Laieikawai and her grandmother; so he left off praying, nor did those spirits leave him as long as it was light.

That night, in his sleep, his G.o.d came to him in a vision and said: "I have seen the pains and the patience with which you have striven to find Waka's grandchild, thinking to gain honor through her grandchild. Your prayers have moved me to show you that Laieikawai dwells between Puna and Hilo in the midst of the forest, in a house made of the yellow feathers of the _oo_ bird[16]; therefore, to-morrow, rise and go."

He awoke from sleep; it was only a dream, so he doubted and did not sleep the rest of the night until morning.

And when it was day, in the early morning, as he was on Kauwiki, he saw the flapping of the sail of a canoe down at Kaihalulu. He ran quickly and came to the landing, and asked the man where the boat was going.

The man said, "It is going to Hawaii"; thereupon he entreated the man to take him, and the latter consented.

The seer returned up Kauwiki and brought his luggage, the things he had got ready for sacrifice.

When he reached the sh.o.r.e he first made a bargain with them: "You paddlers, tell me what you expect of me on this trip; whatever you demand, I will accede to; for I was not well treated by the men who brought me here from Oahu, so I will first make a bargain with you men, lest you should be like them."

The men promised to do nothing amiss on this trip, and the talk ended; he boarded the canoe and set out.

On the way they landed first at Mahukona in Kohala, slept there that night, and in the morning the seer left the paddlers, ascended to Lamaloloa, and entered the temple of Pahauna,[17] an ancient temple belonging to olden times and preserved until to-day.

Many days he remained there without seeing the sign he sought; but in his character as seer he continued praying to his G.o.d as when he was on Kauwiki, and in answer to the seer's prayer, he had again the same sign that was shown to him on Kauwiki.

At this, he left the place and traversed Hawaii, starting from Hamakua, and the journey lasted until the little pig he started with had grown too big to be carried.

Having arrived at Hamakua, he dwelt in the Waipio Valley at the temple of Pakaalana but did not stay there long.

The seer left that place, went to Laupahoehoe, and thence to Kaiwilahilahi, and there remained some years.

Here we will leave the story of the seer's search. It will be well to tell of the return of Kauakahialii to Kauai with Kailiokalauokekoa.[18]

As we know, Laieikawai is at Paliuli.

In the first part of the story we saw that Kapukaihaoa commanded Waka in a dream to take Laieikawai to Paliuli, as the seer saw.

The command was carried out. Laieikawai dwelt at Paliuli until she was grown to maidenhood.

When Kauakahialii and Kailiokalauokekoa returned to Kauai after their meeting with the "beauty of Paliuli" there were gathered together the high chiefs, the low chiefs, and the country aristocracy as well, to see the strangers who came with Kailiokalauokekoa's party. Aiwohikupua came with the rest of the chiefs to wail for the strangers.

After the wailing the chiefs asked Kauakahialii, "How did your journey go after your marriage with Kailiokalauokekoa?"

Then Kauakahialii told of his journey as follows: "Seeking hence after the love of woman, I traversed Oahu and Maui, but found no other woman to compare with this Kailiokalauokekoa here. I went to Hawaii, traveled all about the island, touched first at Kohala, went on to Kona, Kau, and came to Keaau, in Puna, and there I tarried, and there I met another woman surpa.s.singly beautiful, more so than this woman here (Kailiokalauokekoa), more than all the beauties of this whole group of islands."

During this speech Aiwohikupua seemed to see before him the lovely form of that woman.

Then said Kauakahialii: "On the first night that she met my man she told him at what time she would reach the place where we were staying and the signs of her coming, for my man told her I was to be her husband and entreated her to come down with him; but she said: 'Go back to this ward of yours who is to be my husband and tell him this night I will come.

When rings the note of the _oo_ bird I am not in that sound, or the _alala_, I am not in that sound; when rings the note of the _elepaio_ then am I making ready to descend; when the note of the _apapane_ sounds, then am I without the door of my house; if you hear the note of the _iiwipolena_[19] then am I without your ward's house; seek me, you two, and find me without; that is your ward's chance to meet me.' So my man told me.

"When the night came that she had promised she did not come; we waited until morning; she did not come; only the birds sang. I thought my man had lied. Kailiokalauokekoa and her friends were spending the night at Punahoa with friends. Thinking my man had lied, I ordered the executioner to bind ropes about him; but he had left me for the uplands of Paliuli to ask the woman why she had not come down that night and to tell her he was to die.

"When he had told Laieikawai all these things the woman said to him, 'You return, and to-night I will come as I promised the night before, so will I surely do.'

"That night, the night on which the woman was expected, Kailiokalauokekoa's party had returned and she was recounting her adventures, when just at the edge of the evening rang the note of the _oo_; at 9 in the evening rang the note of the _alala_; at midnight rang the note of the _elepaio_; at dawn rang the note of the _apapane_; and at the first streak of light rang the note of the _iiwipolena_; as soon as it sounded there fell the shadow of a figure at the door of the house. Behold! the room was thick with mist, and when it pa.s.sed away she lay resting on the wings of birds in all her beauty."

At these words of Kauakahialii to the chiefs, all the body of Aiwohikupua p.r.i.c.ked with desire, and he asked, "What was the woman's name?"

They told him it was Laieikawai, and such was Aiwohikupua's longing for the woman of whom Kauakahialii spoke that he thought to make her his wife, but he wondered who this woman might be. Then he said to Kauakahialii: "I marvel what this woman may be, for I am a man who has made the whole circuit of the islands, but I never saw any woman resting on the wings of birds. It may be she is come hither from the borders of Tahiti, from within Moaulanuiakea."[20]

Since Aiwohikupua thought Laieikawai must be from Moaulanuiakea, he determined to get her for his wife. For before he had heard all this story Aiwohikupua had vowed not to take any woman of these islands to wife; he said that he wanted a woman of Moaulanuiakea.

The chiefs' reception was ended and the accustomed ceremonies on the arrival of strangers performed. And soon after those days Aiwohikupua took Kauakahialii's man to minister in his presence, thinking that this man would be the means to attain his desire.

Therefore Aiwohikupua exalted this man to be head over all things, over all the chief's land, over all the men, chiefs, and common people, as his high counsellor.