The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai Part 46

6. PUNIAIKI

The handsome son of Kuupia and of Halekou of Kaneohe, Oahu, who nurses Uhumakaikai, the parent of all the fishes, is furnished with whatever fish he wants. He marries Kaalaea, a handsome and well-behaved woman of the district, who brings him no dowry, but to whom he and his father make gifts according to custom. With his mother's permission he goes to live in her home, but the aunt insults him because he does nothing but sleep. The family offer to kill her, but he broods over his wrong, leaves for Kauai, and, on a wager, bids his mother use her influence to send the fish thither. They come just in time to save his life and to win for him the island of Kauai. But his pet fish laments his unfaithfulness to his home, he takes it up and kisses it and returns to Oahu.

7. PIKOIAKAALALA

Raven is the father, Koukou the mother, Hat and Bat the sisters, and Pikoiakaalala the brother of the rat family of Wailua, Kauai, who change into human beings. The sisters marry men of note. Pikoiakaalala wins in his first attempt to float the _Koieie_ board, then follows it down the rapids and swims to Oahu. Here he beats Mainele, the champion rat shooter, by summoning the rats in a chant and then shooting ten rats and one bat at once. Then he defeats him in a riddling contest in which the play turns upon the word rat. On Hawaii the king, Keawenuiaumi, wants the birds shot because they deceive his canoe builders and prevent any trees from being felled. Pikoiakaalala succeeds in shooting them by watching their reflection in a basin of water.

8. KAWELO

When Kawelo is born to Maihuna and Malaiakalani in Hanamaulu, Kauai, the fourth of five children, the maternal grandparents foresee that he is to be a wonder, and they offer to bring him up at Wailua, where Aikanaka, the king's son, and Kauahoa of Ha.n.a.lei are his companions. Later the parents take him to Oahu, where Kakuhewa is king, and live at Waikiki, where Kawelo marries Kanewahineikiaoha, daughter of a famous warrior, Kalonaikahailaau, from whom he learns the art of war. Fis.h.i.+ng he learns from Maakuakeke. On his parents' return to Kauai they are abused of their property, and summon Kawelo to redress their wrongs. He sends his'

wife to fetch the stroke Wahieloa from his father-in-law, who heaps abuse upon the son-in-law, not aware that Kawelo hears all his derisive comments through his G.o.d Kalanikilo. A fight follows in which the son-in-law knocks out the old man and proves his competence as a pupil.

The Oahu king furnishes a canoe in which Kawelo sets out for Kauai with his wife, his brother, Kamalama, and other followers, of whom Kalaumeki and Kaeleha are chief. On Kauai he and his brother defeat all the champions of Aikanaka, with their followers, one after the other, finally slaying his old playmate Kauahoa, this with the aid of his wife, who tangles her _pikoi_ ball in the end of his opponent's war club.

In the division of land that follows this victory Kona falls to his brother and Koolau and Puna to his two chief warriors. But Kaelehu visits Aikanaka at Hanapepe, falls in love with his daughter, and persuades himself that he could do better by taking up the cause of the defeated chief. Knowing that Kawelo has never learned the art of dodging stones, they bury him in a shower of rocks, beat him with a club, and leave him, for dead. He revives when carried to the temple for sacrifice, rises, and slays them all; not one escapes.

9. KUALII

Kualii's first battle happens before he is a man, when he and his father dedicate the temple on Kawaluna, Oahu, as an act of rebellion. The chiefs of Oahu come against him with three armies, but Kualii, with his warriors, Maheleana and Malanaihaehae, and his war club, Manaiakalani, slays the enemy chiefs and beats back 12,000 men at Kalena. Later he conducts a successful campaign in Hawaii, establishes Paepae against the rebel faction of Molokai, and pacifies Haloalena, who is rebelling against the king of Maui. In this campaign he secures the bold and mischievous Kauhi as his follower, who is in time his chief warrior. As Kualii grows stronger, he goes in disguise to battle, kills the bravest chief, secures his feather cloak, and runs home with it. A lad who sees him pa.s.s each day runs after and cuts a finger from the dead enemy, after the battle of Kalakoa, and reveals the true hero of the day.[1]

The chant to Kualii is composed by two brothers, Kapaahulani and Kamakaaulani, who are in search of a new lord. On the day of battle at Kaahumoa one joins each army; one brother leads Kualii's forces to an appointed spot and the other attempts to pacify the chief with the prearranged chant, in which he is successful; the brothers are raised to honor and peace is declared. Kualii lives to old age, when he is "carried to battle in a net of strings." His genealogical tree carries his ancestry back to Kane, and Kualii himself has the knowledge and attributes of a G.o.d.

[Footnote 1: Compare _Kalelealuaka_.]

10. OPELEMOEMOE

A man of Kalauao, Ewa, Oahu, has a habit of falling into a supernatural sleep for a month at a time. In such a sleep he is taken to be sacrificed at the temple of Polomauna, Kauai, but waking at the sound of thunder, he goes to Waimea, where he marries, and cultivates land. When the time comes for his sleep, he warns his wife, but she and her brothers and servants decide to drop him into the sea. When the month is up, it thunders, he wakens, finds himself tied in the bottom of the sea, breaks loose and comes back to his wife. Before their son is born he leaves her and returns to Oahu. The child is born, is abused by his stepfather, and finding he has a different father, follows Opelemoemoe to Oahu. The rest of his story is told under Kalelealuaka.

11. KALELEALUAKA

Kakuhihewa, king of Ewa, on Oahu, and Pueonui, king from Moa.n.a.lua to Makapuu, are at war with each other. Kalelealuaka, son of Opelemoemoe, the sleeper, lives with his companion, Keinohoomanawanui, at Oahunui. He is a dreamer; that is, a man who wants everything without working for it. One night the two chant their wishes. His companion desires a good meal and success in his daily avocations, but Kalelealuaka wishes for the king's food served by the king himself, and the king's daughter for his wife. Now Kakuhihewa has night after night seen the men's light and wondered who it might be. This night he comes to the hut, overhears the wish, and making himself known to the daring man, fulfills his wish to the, letter. Thus Kalelealuaka becomes the king's son-in-law. When the battle is on with the rival king, Kalelealuaka's companion goes off to war, but Kalelealuaka remains at home. When all are gone, he runs off like the wind, slays Pueo's best captain and brings home his feather cloak, while his friend gets the praise for the deed. Finally he is discovered, he brings out the feather cloaks and is made king of Oahu, Kakuhihewa serving under him.

B. HERO TALES PRIMARILY OF HAWAII

1. WAHANUI

Wahanui, king of Hawaii, makes a vow to "trample the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of Kane and Ka.n.a.loa."[1] He takes his prophet, Kilohi, and starts for Kahiki. Kane and Ka.n.a.loa have left their younger brother, Kaneapua, on Lanai, because he made their spring water filthy. He forces himself upon Wahanui, and saves him from the dangers of the way--from the land of Kanehunamoku, which takes the shape of Hina's dog; from the two demiG.o.d hills, Paliuli and Palikea, sent against them by Kane and Ka.n.a.loa; and from a 10 days'

storm loosened from the calabash of Laamaomao, which they escape by making their boat fast to the intestines of Kamapuaa's grandmother under the sea. When Wahanui has fulfilled his quest and sets out to return, Kaneapua gives him his double-bodied G.o.d, Pilikua, and warns him not to show it until he gets to Hawaii. He displays it at Kauai, and the Kauai people kill him in order to get the G.o.d. The Hawaii people hear of it, invite the Kauai people to see them, and slaughter them in revenge.

[Footnote: 1 This means literally "to travel over land and sea." (See Malo, p. 316.) The song runs:

"Wahilani, king of Oahu.

Who sailed away to Kahiki, To the islands of Moananuiakea, To trample the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of Kane and Ka.n.a.loa."]

2. KAMAPUAA

This demiG.o.d, half man, half hog, lives in Kaliuwaa valley, Oahu, in the reign of Olopana.[1] His father is Kahikiula, his mother, Hina, his brother, Kahikihonuakele. He robs Olopana's chicken roosts, is captured, swung on a stick, and carried in triumph until his grandmother sings a chant which gives him supernatural strength to slay his enemies. Four times he is captured and four times escapes, killing all of Olopana's men but Makalii. Then he flees up the valley Kaliuwaa and lets his followers climb up over his back to the top of the cliff, except his grandmother, who insists upon climbing up his front. He flees to Wahiawa, loses his strength by eating food spelled with the letters _lau_, but eventually becomes lord of Oahu. In Kahiki, his father-in-law, Kowea, has a rival, Lonokaeho, who in his supernatural form has eight foreheads as sharp as an ax. Kamapuaa chants to his G.o.ds, and the weeds Puaakukui, Puaatihaloa, and Puaamaumau grow over the foreheads. Thus snared, Lonokaeho is slain. Kamapuaa also defeats Kuilioloa, who has the form of a dog.

The story next describes the struggle between Pele and the pig G.o.d.

Kamapuaa goes to Kilauea on Hawaii and stands on a point of land overlooking the pit called Akanikolea. Below sit Pele and her sisters stringing wreaths. Kamapuaa derides Pele's red eyes and she in revenge tells him he is a hog, his nose pierced with a cord, his face turned to the ground and a tail that wags behind. When he retaliates she is so angry that she calls out to her brothers to start the fires. Kamapuaa's love-making G.o.d, Lonoikiaweawealoha, decoys the brothers to the lowlands. Then Pele bids her sisters and uncles to keep up the fire, but Kamapuaa's sister, Keliiomakaha.n.a.loa, protects him with cloud and rain.

Kamapuaa takes his hog form, and hogs overrun the place; Pele is almost dead. Then the love-making G.o.d restores her, she fills up the pit again with fire; but Kamapuaa calls for the same plants as before, which are his supernatural bodies, to choke out the flames. At length peace is declared and Pele takes Puna, Kau, and Kona districts, while Kamapuaa takes Hilo, Hamakua, and Kohala. (Hence the former districts are overrun with lava flows; the latter escape.)

Next Kamapuaa gets Kahikikolo for a war club. Makalii, king of Kauai, is fighting Kaneiki. After Kamapuaa has killed two warriors and driven away two spear throwers, he reveals himself to Makalii, who prostrates himself. Kamapuaa recounts the names of over fifty heroes whom he has slain and boasts of his amours. He spares Makalii on condition that he chant the name song in his honor, and spares his own father, brother, and mother. Later he pays a visit to his parents at Kalalau, but has to chant his name song to gain recognition. This angers him so much that he can be pacified only when Hina, his mother, chants all the songs in honor of his name. By and by he goes away to Kahiki with Kowea.[1]

[Footnote 1: This is not the Olopana of Hawaii.]

3. KAINA

The first-born of Hakalanileo and Hina is born in the form of a rope at Hamakualoa, Maui, in the house Halauoloolo, and brought up by his grandmother, Uli, at Piihonua, Hilo. He grows so long that the house has to be lengthened from mountain to sea to hold him. When the bold Kapepeekauila, who lives on the strong fortress of Haupu, Molokai, carries away Hina on his floating hill, Hakalanileo seeks first his younger son, Niheu, the trickster, then his terrible son Kana, to beseech their aid in recovering her. From Uli, Kana secures the canoe Kaumaielieli, which is buried at Paliuli, and the expedition sets forth, bearing Kana stretched in the canoe like a long package to conceal his presence, Niheu with his war club Wawaikalani, and the father Hakalanileo, with their equipment of paddlers. The Molokai chief has been warned by his priest Moi's dream of defeat, but, refusing to believe him, sends Kolea and Ulili to act as scouts. As the canoe approaches, he sends the scoutfish Keauleinakahi to stop it, but Niheu kills the warrior with his club. When a rock is rolled down the cliff to swamp it, Kana stops it with his hand and slips a small stone under to hold it up. Niheu meanwhile climbs the cliff, enters the house Halehuki, seizes Hina and makes off with her. But Hina has told her new lover that Niheu's strength lies, in his hair, so Kolea and Ulili fly after and lay hold of the intruder's hair. Niheu releases Hina and returns unsuccessful. Kana next tries his skill. He stretches upward, but the hill rises also until he is spun out into a mere cobweb and is famis.h.i.+ng with hunger. Niheu advises him to lean over to Hawaii that his grandmother may feed him. After three days, this advice reaches his ear and he bends over Haleakala mountain on Maui, where the groove remains to this day, and puts his head in at the door of his grandmother's house in Hawaii, where he is fed until he is fat again. Niheu, left behind in the boat, sees his brother's feet growing fat, and finally cuts off one to remind Kana of the business in hand. Now the hill Haupu is really a turtle. Uli tells Kana that if he breaks the turtle's flippers it can no longer grow higher. Thus Kana succeeds in destroying the hill Haupu and winning Hina back to his father.[2]

[Footnote 1: This is only a fragment of the very popular story of the pig G.o.d. For Pele, see Ellis, IV. For both Pele and Kamapuaa, Emerson, _Unwritten Literature_, pp. 25, 85, 180, 228; and _Pele and Hiiaka_; Thrum, pp. 36, 193; and Daggett, who places the beginning of the Pele wors.h.i.+p in the twelfth century.]