The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai Part 34

She let go, and the father arose and set her upon his lap and wailed, and when he had ended wailing, the father asked, "On what journey do you come hither?"

"A journey to seek one from the heavens," answered Kahalaomapuana.

"To seek what one from the heavens?"

"Kaonohiokala," the girl answered.

"The high one found, what is he to do?"

Said Kahalaomapuana, "I have come to get my brother and lord to be the husband to the princess of broad Hawaii, to Laieikawai, our royal friend, the one who protects us."

She related all that her brother had done, and their friend.

Said Moa.n.a.lihaikawaokele, "The consent is not mine to give, your mother is the only one to grant it, the one who has charge of the chief; she lives there in the taboo place prohibited to me. When your mother is unclean, she returns to me, and when her days of uncleanness are over, then she leaves me, she goes back to the chief.

"Therefore, wait until the time comes when your mother returns, then tell her on what journey you have come hither."

They waited seven days; it was Laukieleula's time of uncleanness.

Said Moa.n.a.lihaikawaokele, "It is almost time for your mother to come, so to-night, get to the taboo house first and sleep there; in the early morning when she comes, you will be sleeping in the house; there is no place for her to go to get away from you, because she is unclean. If she questions you, tell her exactly what you have told me."

That night Moa.n.a.lihaikawaokele sent Kahalaomapuana into the house set apart for women.

CHAPTER XXVIII

Very early in the morning came Laukieleula; when she saw someone sleeping there, she could not go away because she was unclean and that house was the only one open to her. "Who are you, lawless one, mischief-maker, who have entered my taboo house, the place prohibited to any other?" So spoke the mistress of the house.

Said the stranger, "I am Kahalaomapuana, the last fruit of your womb."

Said the mother, "Alas! my ruler, return to your father. I can not see you, for my days of uncleanness have come; when they are ended, we will visit together a little, then go."

So Kahalaomapuana went back to Moa.n.a.lihaikawaokele; the father asked, "How was it?"

The daughter said, "She told me to return to you until her days of uncleanness were ended, then she would come to see me."

Three days the two stayed there; close to the time when Laukieleula's uncleanness would end, Moa.n.a.lihaikawaokele said to his daughter, "Come!

for your mother's days are almost ended; to-morrow, early in the morning before daylight, go and sit by the water hole where she washes herself; do not show yourself, and when she jumps into the pool and dives under the water, then run and bring hither her skirt and her polluted clothes; when she has bathed and returns for the clothes, they will be gone; then she will think that I have taken them; when she comes to the house, then you can get what you wish.

"If you two weep and cease weeping and she asks you if I have taken her clothes, then tell her you have them, and she will be ashamed and shrink from you because she has defiled you; then she will have nothing great enough to recompense you for your defilement, only one thing will be great enough, to get you the high one; then when she asks you what you desire, tell her; then you shall see your brother; we shall both see him, for I see him only once a year; he peeps out and disappears."

At the time the father had said, the daughter arose very early in the morning before daylight, and went as her father had directed.

When she arrived, she hid close to the water hole; not long after, the mother came, took off her polluted clothes and sprang into the water.

Then the girl took the things as directed and returned to her father.

She had not been there long; the mother came in a rage; Moa.n.a.lihaikawaokele absented himself and only the daughter remained in the house.

"O Moa.n.a.lihaikawaokele, give me back my polluted clothes, let me take them to wash in the water." No answer; three times she called, not once an answer; she peeped into the house where Kahalaomapuana lay sleeping, her head covered with a clean piece of _tapa_.

She called, "O Moa.n.a.lihaikawaokele, give me back my polluted skirt; let me take it to wash in the water."

Then Kahalaomapuana started up as if she had been asleep and said to her mother, "My mother and ruler, he has gone; only I am in the house; that polluted skirt of yours, here it is."

"Alas! my ruler. I shrink with fear of evil for you, because you have guarded my skirt that was polluted; what recompense is there for the evil I fear for you, my ruler?"

She embraced the girl and wailed out the words in the line above.

When she had ceased wailing, the mother asked, "On what journey do you come hither to us?"

"I come to get my older brother for a husband for our friend, the princess of the great broad land of Hawaii, Laieikawai, our protector when we were lovelessly deserted by our older brother; therefore we are ashamed; we have no way to repay the princess for her protection; and for this reason permit me and my princely brother to go down below and bring Laieikawai up here." These were Kahalaomapuana's words to her mother.

The mother said, "I grant it in recompense for your guarding my polluted garment.

"If anyone else had come to get him, I would not have consented; since you come in person, I will not keep him back.

"Indeed, your brother has said that you are the one he loves best and thinks the most of; so let us go up and see your brother.

"Now you wait here; let me call the bird guardian of you two, who will bear us to the taboo house at the borders of Tahiti."

Then the mother called:

O Halulu at the edge of the light, The bird who covers the sun, The heat returns to Kealohilani.

The bird who stops up the rain, The stream-heads are dry of Nuumealani.

The bird who holds back the clouds above, The painted clouds move across the ocean, The islands are flooded, Kahakaekaea trembles, The heavens flood not the earth.

O the lawless ones, the mischief makers!

O Mokukelekahiki!

O Kaeloikamalama!

The lawless ones who close the taboo house at the borders of Tahiti, Here is one from the heavens, a child of yours, Come and receive her, take her above to Awakea, the noonday.

Then that bird[71] drooped its wings down and its body remained aloft, then Laukieleula and Kahalaomapuana rested upon the bird's wings and it flew and came to Awakea, the Noonday, the one who opens the door of the sun where Kaonohiokala lived.

At the time they arrived, the entrance to the chief's house was blocked by thunderclouds.

Then Laukieleula ordered Noonday, "Open the way to the chief's place!"

Then Noonday put forth her heat and the clouds melted before her; lo!

the chief appeared sleeping right in the eye of the sun in the fire of its intensest heat, so he was named after this custom The Eye of the Sun.

Then Laukieleula seized hold of one of the sun's rays and held it. Then the chief awoke.

When Kohalaomapuana looked upon her brother his eyes were like lightning and his skin all over his body was like the heat, of the furnace where iron is melted.

Laukieleula cried out, "O my heavenly one, here is your sister, Kahalaomapuana, the one you love best, here she is come to seek you."