The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai Part 35

When Kaonohiokala heard he awoke from sleep and signed with his eyes to Laukieleula to call the guards of the shade. She called:

O big bright moon, O moving cloud of Kaialea, Guards of the shadows, present yourselves before the chief.

Then the guards of the shade came and stood before the chief. Lo! the heat of the sun left the chief.

When the shadows came over the place where the chief lay, then he called his sister, and went to her, and wept over her, for his heart fainted with love for his youngest sister, and long had been the days of their separation.

When their wailing was ended he asked, "Whose child are you?"

Said the sister, "Mokukelekahiki's, Kaeloikamalama's, Moa.n.a.lihaikawaokele's through Laukieleula."

Again the brother asked, "What is your journey for?"

Then she told him the same thing she had told the mother.

When the chief heard these things, he turned to their mother and asked, "Laukieleula, do you consent to my going to get the one whom she speaks of for my wife?"

"I have already given you, as she requested me; if anyone else had brought her to get you, if she had not come to us two, she might have stayed below; grant your little sister's request, for you first opened the pathway, she closed it; no one came before, none after her." Thus the mother.

After this answer Kaonohiokala asked further about her sisters and her brother.

Then said Kahalaomapuana, "My brother has not done right; he has opposed our living with this woman whom I am come to get you for. When he first went to woo this woman he came back again after us; we went with him and came to the woman's house, the princess of whom I speak. That night we went to the uplands; in the midst of the forest there she dwelt with her grandmother. We stood outside and looked at the workmans.h.i.+p of Laieikawai's house, inwrought with the yellow feathers of the _oo_ bird.

"Mailehaiwale went to woo her, gained nothing, the woman refused; Mailekaluhea went, gained nothing at all; Mailelaulii went, gained nothing at all; Mailepakaha went, gained nothing at all; she refused them all; I remained, I never went to woo her; he went away in a rage leaving us in the jungle.

"When he left us, we followed; our brother's rage waxed as if we had denied his wish.

"Then it was we returned to where he left us, and the princess protected us, until I left to come hither; that is how we live."

When Kaonohiokala heard this story, he was angry. Then he said to Kahalaomapuana, "Return to your sisters and to your friend, the princess; my wife she shall be; wait, and when the rain falls and floods the land, I am still here.

"When the ocean billows swell and the surf throws white sand on the sh.o.r.e, I am still here; when the wind whips the air and for ten days lies calm, when thunder peals without rain, then I am at Kahakaekaea.

"When the dry thunder peals again, then ceases, I have left the taboo house at the borders of Tahiti. I am at Kealohilani, my divine body is laid aside, only the nature of a taboo chief remains, and I am become a human being like you.

"After this, hearken, and when the thunder rolls, the rain pours down, the ocean swells, the land is flooded, the lightning flashes, a mist overhangs, a rainbow arches, a colored cloud rises on the ocean, for one month bad weather closes down,[75] when the storm clears, there I am behind the mountain in the shadow of the dawn.

"Wait here and at daybreak, when I leave the summit of the mountain, then you shall see me sitting within the sun in the center of its ring of light, encircled by the rainbow of a chief.

"Still we shall not yet meet; our meeting shall be in the dusk of evening, when the moon rises on the night of full moon; then I will meet my wife.

"After our marriage, then I will bring destruction over the earth upon those who have done you wrong.

"Therefore, take a sign for Laieikawai, a rainbow; thus shall I know my wife."

These words ended, she returned by the same way that she had climbed up, and within one month found Kihanuilulumoku and told all briefly, "We are all right; we have prospered."

She entered into Kihanuilulumoku and swam over the ocean; as many days as they were in going, so many were they in returning.

They came to Olaa. Laieikawai and her companions were gone; the lizard smelled all about Hawaii; nothing. They went to Maui; the lizard smelled about; not a trace.

He sniffed about Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai. Just the same. They came to Kauai; the lizard sniffed about the coast, found nothing; sniffed inland; there they were, living at Honopuwaiakua, and Kihanuilulumoku threw forth Kahalaomapuana.

The princess and her sisters saw her and rejoiced, but a stranger to the seer was this younger sister, and he was terrified at sight of the lizard; but because he was a prophet, he stilled his fear.

Eleven months, ten days, and four days over it was since Kahalaomapuana left Laieikawai and her companions until their return from The-s.h.i.+ning-heavens.

CHAPTER XXIX

When Kahalaomapuana returned from Kealohilani, from her journey in search of a chief, she related the story of her trip, of its windings and twistings, and all the things she had seen while she was away.

When she recited the charge given her by Kaonohiokala, Laieikawai said to her companions, "O comrades, as Kahalaomapuana tells me the message of your brother and my husband, a strange foreboding weighs upon me, and I am amazed; I supposed him to be a man, a mighty G.o.d that! When I think of seeing him, however I may desire it, I am ready to die with fear before he has even come to us."

Her companions answered, "He is no G.o.d; he is a man like us, yet in his nature and appearance G.o.dlike. He was the first-born of us; he was greatly beloved by our parents; to him was given superhuman powers which we have not, except Kahalaomapuana; only they two were given this power; his taboo rank still remains; therefore, do not fear; when he comes, you will see he is only a man like us."

Now, before Kahalaomapuana's return from Kealohilani, the seer foresaw what was to take place, one month before her return. Then the seer prophesied, in these words: "A blessing descends upon us from the heavens when the nights of full moon come.

"When we hear the thunder peal in dry weather and in wet, then we shall see over the earth rain and lightning, billows swell on the ocean, freshets on the land, land and sea covered thick with fog, fine mist and rain, and the beating of the ocean rain.

"When this pa.s.ses, on the day of full moon, in the dusk of the early morning, at the time when the sun's rays strike the mountain tops, then the earth shall behold a youth sitting within the eye of the sun, one like the taboo child of my G.o.d. Afterwards the earth shall behold a great destruction and shall see all the haughty s.n.a.t.c.hed away out of the land; then we shall be blessed, and our seed."

When his daughters heard the seer's prophecy, they wondered within themselves that he should prophesy at this distance, without knowing anything about their sister's mission for which they waited.

As a prophet it was his privilege to proclaim about Kauai those things which he saw would come to pa.s.s.

So, before leaving his daughters, he commanded them and said, "My daughters, I am giving you my instructions before leaving you, not, indeed, for long; but I go to announce those things which I have told you, and shall return hither. Therefore, dwell here in this place, which my G.o.d has pointed out to me, and keep yourselves pure until my prophecy is fulfilled."

The prophet went away, as he had determined, and he went into the presence of the chiefs and men of position, at the place where the chiefs were a.s.sembled; there he proclaimed what he had seen.

And first he came to Aiwohikupua and said, "From this day, erect flag signals around your dwelling, and bring inside all whom you love.

"For there comes shortly a destruction over the earth; never has any destruction been seen before like this which is to come; never will any come hereafter when this destruction of which I tell is ended.

"Before the coming of the wonder-worker he will give you a sign of destruction, not over all the people of the land, but over you yourself and your people; then the high ones of earth shall lie down before him and your pride shall be taken from you.

"If you listen to my word, then you will be spared from the destruction that is verily to come; therefore, prepare yourselves at once."

And because of the seer's words, he was driven away from before the face of the chief.

Thus he proclaimed to all the chiefs on Kauai, and the chiefs who listened to the seer, they were spared.

He went to Kekalukaluokewa, with his wife and all in their company.

And as he said to Aiwohikupua, so he said to Kekalukaluokewa, and he believed him.