The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai Part 9

41. POLOULA. A chief at Wailua, Kauai.

42. ULILI. The snipe. Messenger to Aiwohikupua.

43. WAI-AIE. "Water-mist." Attendant of Poliahu.

44. WAKA. A sorceress, grandmother of Laie-i-ka-wai.

The chief counsellor of Aiwohikupua.

The humpbacked attendant of Laie-i-ka-wai.

A canoe owner of Molokai.

A chief of Molokai, father of Kaulaailehua.

A countrywoman of Hana.

Paddlers, soldiers, and country people.

ACTION OF THE STORY

Twin sisters, Laieikawai and Laielohelohe, are born in Koolau, Oahu, their birth heralded by a double clap of thunder. Their father, a great chief over that district, has vowed to slay all his daughters until a son is born to him. Accordingly the mother conceals their birth and intrusts them to her parents to bring up in retirement, the priest carrying the younger sister to the temple at Kukaniloko and Waka hiding Laieikawai in the cave beside the pool Waiapuka. A prophet from Kauai who has seen the rainbow which always rests over the girl's dwelling place, desiring to attach himself to so great a chief, visits the place, but is eluded by Waka, who, warned by her husband, flies with her charge, first to Molokai, where a countryman, catching sight of the girl's face, is so transported with her beauty that he makes the tour of the island proclaiming her rank, thence to Maui and then to Hawaii, where she is directed to a spot called Paliuli on the borders of Puna, a night's journey inland through the forest from the beach at Keaau. Here she builds a house for her "grandchild" thatched with the feathers of the _oo_ bird, and appoints birds to serve her, a humpbacked attendant to wait upon her, and mists to conceal her when she goes abroad.

To the island of Kauai returns its high chief, Kauakahialii, after a tour of the islands during which he has persuaded the fair mistress of Paliuli to visit him. So eloquent is his account of her beauty that the young chief Aiwohikupua, who has vowed to wed no woman from his own group, but only one from "the land of good women," believes that here he has found his wish. He makes the chief's servant his confidant, and after dreaming of the girl for a year, he sets out with his counsellor and a canoeload of paddlers for Paliuli. On the way he plays a boxing bout with the champion of Kohala, named Cold-nose, whom he dispatches with a single stroke that pierces the man through the chest and comes out on the other side. Arrived at the house in the forest at Paliuli, he is amazed to find it thatched all over with the precious royal feathers, a small cloak of which he is bearing as his suitor's gift. Realizing the girl's rank, he returns at once to Kauai to fetch his five sweet-scented sisters to act as amba.s.sadresses and bring him honor as a wooer.

Laieikawai, however, obstinately refuses the first four; and the angry lover in a rage refuses to allow the last and youngest to try her charms. Abandoning them, all to their fate in the forest, he sails back to Kauai. The youngest and favorite, indeed, he would have taken with him, but she will not abandon her sisters. By her wit and skill she gains the favor of the royal beauty, and all five are taken into the household of Laieikawai to act as guardians of her virginity and pa.s.s upon any suitors for her hand.

When Aiwohikupua, on his return, confesses his ill fortune, a handsome comrade, the best skilled in surfing over all the islands, lays a bet to win the beauty of Paliuli. He, too, returns crestfallen, the guards having proved too watchful. But Aiwohikupua is so delighted to hear of his sisters' position that he readily cancels the debt and hurries off to Puna. His sisters, however, mindful of his former cruelty, deny him access, and he returns to Kauai burning with rage, to collect a war party to lead against the obdurate girls. Only after band after band has been swallowed up in the jaws of the great lizard who guards Paliuli, and his supernatural fighting dog has returned with ears bitten off and tail between its legs, does he give over the attempt and return home disconsolate to Kauai.

Now, on his first voyage to Puna, as the chief came to land at Hana, Maui, a high chiefess named Hina fell in love with him. The two staking their love at a game of _konane_, she won him for her lover. He excused himself under pretext of a vow to first tour about Hawaii, but pledged himself to return. On the return trip he encountered and fell in love with the woman of the mountain, Poliahu or Snow-bosom, but she, knowing through her supernatural power of his affair with Hina, refused his advances. Now, however, he determines to console himself with this lady.

His bird amba.s.sadors go first astray and notify Hina, but finally the tryst is arranged, the bridal cortege arrives in state, and the bridal takes place. On their return to Kauai during certain games celebrated by the chiefs, the neglected Hina suddenly appears and demands her pledge.

The jealous Poliahu disturbs the new nuptials by plaguing their couch first with freezing cold, then with burning heat, until she has driven away her rival. She then herself takes her final departure.

Kauakahialii, the high chief of Kauai, now about to die, cedes the succession to his favorite chief, Kekalukaluokewa, and bids him seek out the beauty of Paliuli for a bride. He is acceptable to both the girl and her grandmother--to the first for his good looks, to the second for his rank and power. But before the marriage can be consummated a wily rascal of Puna, through the arts of his wise sister Malio, abducts Laieikawai while she and her lover are out surfing, by his superior dexterity wins her affection, and makes off with her to Paliuli. When the grandmother discovers her grandchild's disgrace, she throws the girl over and seeks out her twin sister on Oahu to offer as bride to the great chief of Kauai. So beautiful is Laielohelohe that now the Puna rascal abandons his wife and almost tricks the new beauty out of the hands of the n.o.ble bridegroom; but this time the marriage is successfully managed, the mists clear, and bride and bridegroom appear mounted upon birds, while all the people shout, "The marriage of the chiefs!" The spectacle is witnessed by the abandoned beauty and her guardians, who have come thither riding upon the great lizard; and on this occasion Waka denounces and disgraces her disowned grandchild.

Left alone by her grandmother, lordly lover, and rascally husband, Laieikawai turns to the five virgin sisters and the great lizard to raise her fortunes. The youngest sister proposes to make a journey to Kealohilani, or the Shining-heavens, and fetch thence her oldest brother, who dwells in the "taboo house on the borders of Tahiti." As a youth of the highest divine rank, he will be a fit mate to wed her mistress. The chiefess consents, and during the absence of the amba.s.sadress, goes journeying with her four remaining guardians. During this journey she is seen and recognized by the prophet of Kauai, who has for many years been on the lookout for the sign of the rainbow. Under his guardianship she and the four sisters travel to Kauai, to which place the scene now shifts. Here they once more face Aiwohikupua, and the prophet predicts the coming of the avenger. Meanwhile the lizard bears the youngest sister over sea. She ascends to various regions of the heavens, placating in turn her maternal uncles, father, and mother, until finally she reaches the G.o.d himself, where he lies basking in the white radiance of the noonday sun. Hearing her story, this divine one agrees to lay aside his nature as a G.o.d and descend to earth to wed his sister's benefactress and avenge the injuries done by his brother and Waka. Signs in the heavens herald his approach; he appears within the sun at the back of the mountain and finally stands before his bride, whom he takes up with him on a rainbow to the moon. At his return, as he stands upon the rainbow, a great sound of shouting is heard over the land in praise of his beauty. Thus he deals out judgment upon Laieikawai's enemies: Waka falls dead, and Aiwohikupua is dispossessed of his landed rights. Next, he rewards her friends with positions of influence, and leaving the ruling power to his wife's twin sister and her husband, returns with Laieikawai to his old home in the heavens.

In the final chapters the Sun-G.o.d himself, who is called "The eyeball-of-the-sun," proves unfaithful. He falls captive to the charms of the twin sister, sends his clever youngest sister, whose foresight he fears, to rule in the heavens, and himself goes down to earth on some pretext in pursuit of the unwilling Laielohelohe. Meanwhile his wife sees through the "gourd of knowledge" all that is pa.s.sing on earth and informs his parents of his infidelity. They judge and disgrace him; the divine Sun-G.o.d becomes the first _lapu_, or ghost, doomed to be shunned by all, to live in darkness and feed upon b.u.t.terflies. The beauty of Paliuli, on the other hand, returns to earth to live with her sister, where she is worshiped and later deified in the heavens as the "Woman-of-the-Twilight."

BACKGROUND OF THE STORY.

Whatever the original home of the _Laieikawai_ story, the action as here pictured, with the exception of two chapters, is localized on the Hawaiian group. This consists of eight volcanic islands lying in the North Pacific, where torrid and tropical zones meet, about half again nearer to America than Asia, and strung along like a cl.u.s.ter of beads for almost 360 miles from Kauai on the northwest to the large island of Hawaii on the southeast. Here volcanic activity, extinct from prehistoric times on the other islands, still persists. Here the land attains its greatest elevation--13,825 feet to the summit of the highest peak--and of the 6,405 square miles of land area which const.i.tute the group 4,015 belong to Hawaii. Except in temperature, which varies only about 11 degrees mean for a year, diversity marks the physical features of these mid-sea islands. Lofty mountains where snow lies perpetually, huge valleys washed by torrential freshets, smooth sand dunes, or fluted ridges, arid plains and rain-soaked forests, fringes of white beach, or abrupt bluffs that drop sheer into the deep sea, days of liquid sunshine or fierce storms from the south that whip across the island for half a week, a rainfall varying from 287 to 19 inches in a year in different localities--these are some of the contrasts which come to pa.s.s in spite of the equable climate. A similar diversity marks the plant and sea life--only in animal, bird, and especially insect life, are varieties spa.r.s.ely represented.

Most of the action of the story takes place on the four largest islands--on Oahu, where the twins are born; on Maui, the home of Hina, where the prophet builds the temple to his G.o.d; on Hawaii, where lies the fabled land of Paliuli and where the surf rolls in at Keaau; and on Kauai, whence the chiefs set forth to woo and where the last action of the story takes place. These, with Molokai and Lanai, which lie off Maui "like one long island," virtually const.i.tute the group.

Laie, where the twins are born, is a small fishing village on the northern or Koolau side of Oahu, adjoining that region made famous by the birth and exploits of the pig G.o.d, Kamapuaa. North from Laie village, in a cane field above the Government road, is still pointed out the water hole called Waiopuka--a long oval hole like a bathtub dropping to the pool below, said by the natives to be brackish in taste and to rise and fall with the tide because of subterranean connection with the sea. On one side an outjutting rock marks the entrance to a cave said to open out beyond the pool and be reached by diving. Daggett furnishes a full description of the place in the introduction to his published synopsis of the story. The appropriateness of Laie as the birthplace of the rainbow girl is evident to anyone who has spent a week along this coast. It is one of the most picturesque on the islands, with the open sea on one side fringed with white beach, and the Koolau range rising sheer from the narrow strip of the foothills, green to the summit and fluted into fantastic shapes by the sharp edge of the showers that drive constantly down with the trade winds, gleaming with rainbow colors.

Kukaniloko, in the uplands of Wahiawa, where Laielohelohe is concealed by her foster father, is one of the most sacred places on Oahu. Its fame is coupled with that of Holoholoku in Wailua, Kauai, as one of the places set apart for the birthplace of chiefs. Tradition says that since a certain Kapawa, grandson of a chief from "Tahiti" in the far past, was born upon this spot, a special divine favor has attended the birth of chiefs upon this spot. Stones were laid out right and left with a mound for the back, the mother's face being turned to the right. Eighteen chiefs stood guard on either hand. Then the taboo drum sounded and the people a.s.sembled on the east and south to witness the event. Say the Hawaiians, "If one came in confident trust and lay properly upon the supports, the child would be born with honor; it would be called a divine chief, a burning fire."[1] Even Kamehameha desired that his son Liholiho's birth should take place at Kukaniloko. Situated as it is upon the breast of the bare uplands between the Koolau and Waianae Ranges, the place commands a view of surprising breadth and beauty. Though the stones have been removed, through the courtesy of the management of the Waialua plantation a fence still marks this site of ancient interest.

The famous hill Kauwiki, where the seer built the temple to his G.o.d, and where Hina watched the clouds drift toward her absent lover, lies at the extreme eastern end of Maui. About this hill cl.u.s.ters much mythic lore of the G.o.ds. Here the heavens lay within spear thrust to earth, and here stood Maui, whose mother is called Hina, to thrust them apart. Later, Kauwiki was the scene of the famous resistance to the warriors of Umi, and in historic times about this hill for more than half a century waged a rivalry between the warriors of Hawaii and Maui. The poet of the Kualii mentions the hill thrice--once in connection with the legend of Maui, once when he likens the coming forth of the sun at Kauwiki to the advent of Ku, and in a descriptive pa.s.sage in which the abrupt height is described:

Shooting up to heaven is Kauwiki, Below is the cl.u.s.ter of islands, In the sea they are gathered up, O Kauwiki, O Kauwiki, mountain bending over, Loosened, almost falling, Kauwiki-e.

Finally, Puna, the easternmost district of the six divisions of Hawaii, is a region rich in folklore. From the crater of Kilauea, which lies on the slope of Mauna Loa about 4,000 feet above sea level, the land slopes gradually to the Puna coast along a line of small volcanic cones, on the east scarcely a mile from the sea. The slope is heavily forested, on the uplands with tall hard-wood trees of _ohia_, on the coast with groves of panda.n.u.s. Volcanic action has tossed and distorted the whole district.

The coast has sunk, leaving tree trunks erect in the sea. Above the bluffs of the south coast lie great bowlders tossed up by tidal waves.

Immense earthquake fissures occur. The soil is fresh lava broken into treacherous hollows, too porous to retain water and preserving a characteristic vegetation. About this region has gathered the mysterious lore of the spirit world. "Fear to do evil in the uplands of Puna,"

warns the old chant, lest mischief befall from the countless wood spirits who haunt these mysterious forests. Pele, the volcano G.o.ddess, still loves her old haunts in Puna, and many a modern native boasts a meeting with this beauty of the flaming red hair who swept to his fate the brave youth from Kauai when he raced with her down the slope to the sea during the old mythic days when the rocks and hills of Puna were forming.

_Footnotes to Background of the Story_

[Footnote 1: _Kuakoa_, iv, No. 31, translated also in _Hawaiian Annual_, 1912, p. 101; Daggett, p. 70; Fornander, II, 272.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAUNA KEA IN ITS MANTLE OF SNOW (HENSHAW)]

LAIE I KA WAI

A HAWAIIAN ROMANCE TRANSLATED FROM THE HAWAIIAN TEXT OF S.N. HALEOLE (PRINTED IN HONOLULU, 1863)[1]

[Footnote 1: t.i.tle pages.

(_First edition_.) The story of _Laie-i-ka-wai_, The Beauty of Pali-uli, the Woman-of-the-Twilight. Composed from the old stories of Hawaii. Written by S.N. Haleole, Honolulu, Oahu. Published by Henry W.

Whitney, editor of the _Kuakoa_, 1863.

(_Second edition_.) The Treasure-Book of Hawaii. The Story of Laie-i-ka-wai who is called The-Woman-of-the-Twilight. Revised and published by Solomon Meheula and Henry Bolster. For the benefit and progress of the new generation of the Hawaiian race. Honolulu. Printed by the _Bulletin_, 1888.]

FOREWORD

The editor of this book rejoices to print the first fruits of his efforts to enrich the Hawaiian people with a story book. We have previously had books of instruction on many subjects and also those enlightening us as to the right and the wrong; but this is the first book printed for us Hawaiians in story form, depicting the ancient customs of this people, for fear lest otherwise we lose some of their favorite traditions. Thus we couch in a fascinating manner the words and deeds of a certain daughter of Hawaii, beautiful and greatly beloved, that by this means there may abide in the Hawaiian people the love of their ancestors and their country.

Take it, then, this little book, for what it is worth, to read and to prize, thus showing your search after the knowledge of things Hawaiian, being ever ready to uphold them that they be not lost.

It is an important undertaking for anyone to provide us with entertaining reading matter for our moments of leisure; therefore, when the editor of this book prepared it for publication he depended upon the support of all the friends of learning in these islands; and this thought alone has encouraged him to persevere in his work throughout all the difficulties that blocked his way. Now, for the first time is given to the people of Hawaii a book of entertainment for leisure moments like those of the foreigners, a book to feed our minds with wisdom and insight. Let us all join in forwarding this little book as a means of securing to the people more books of the same nature written in their own tongue--the Hawaiian tongue.

And, therefore, to all friends of learning and to all native-born Hawaiians, from the rising to the setting sun, behold the Woman-of-the-Twilight! She comes to you with greetings of love and it is fitting to receive her with the warmest love from the heart of Hawaii.