# Journal of American Folk-Lore/Volume 13/Issue 51/Laieikawai

LAIEIKAWAI: A LEGEND OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
Introductory Note.—Dr. John Rae, the recorder of the following legend, was born at Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1796. He studied at the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh. In 1821 he went to Canada, where he lived until 1849. From July, 1850 to 1871, he made his home in the Hawaiian Islands. He died in July, 1872, in Staten Island, N. Y. Dr. Rae was especially occupied with geological studies. His only published work is the "Statement of Some New Principles on the Subject of Political Economy," Boston, 1854. The notes left by Dr. Rae do not include further information in regard to the folk-lore of the islands.
The material here given appears to have been included in a discourse, the date and place of which are not apparent. The manner in which a work of Sir George Grey is noticed would lead to the opinion that the period of the lecture was not much after 1855. The legend here treated has been given in its entirety, but also in abstract, in "The Legends and Myths of Hawaii," by King Kalakaua, New York, 1888, pages 455–480. The story appears to have been obtained by the editor of that work, Hon. R. M. Daggett, who presents the account as the condensation of the legend as more elaborately told by Haleole. The version of Dr. Rae, obtained a quarter of a century before, is not so much a variant as a different edition and abstract of the same tale, is apparently translated from the Hawaiian, and perhaps may have proceeded from the same narrator. The account of Dr. Rae is only a fragment, extending perhaps to less than a third of the tale, which must evidently have been very voluminous. In the portion which it does cover, however, it is more full and literal, and appears to give a clearer idea of the literary character of the heroic legend. The two versions serve to complete each other, and Dr. Rae's narrative therefore forms a welcome addition.
As will appear by the conclusion, the legend belongs to mythology ​in the strict sense, as dealing with persons who have actually received divine worship, and as connected with a lost ritual. It is concerned also with divinities of nature, with spirits of the moon, sun, and mountain. But these appear and act as human personages. How far the story is founded on elements of natural symbolism, how far it is only a fanciful elaboration of tribal life, is difficult to determine; in this respect the legend presents the difficulties which belong to all mythological systems, even the most primitive. Most striking is the manner in which virtue and faithfulness exalt the human agent, not only into the place of the gods but above them. The way in which earth and heaven are finally left in feminine control savors of the matriarchate; to women belonged at least an equal share in magical knowledge and consequent authority; clearly in old Hawaii there could be no question concerning their rights.
From a literary point of view, the story, possessing the compass of a modern novel, is remarkable. It is easy to understand what obstacles are thrown in the way of comprehending the excellence of a tale known only by outlines, and where even the force of the significant names is lost, to leave only long and unintelligible appellations for the understanding of the foreigner. Yet among the barbaric ideas and practices belonging to all ancient (or mediæval) thought, a spirit of gentleness and culture seems to breathe. To this amiable race the course of modern change brought a people of sterner and more energetic quality, whose iron hand brought them into subjugation, who dispossessed them of their territory, and who forced on them a civilization, manners, customs, and modes of thought for which they were unprepared, and which they may be unable to survive. Their language at least will perish, and the loss of language is the loss of everything. There will be no descendants to regard these histories with the honor which a German concedes to the poems of the poetic Edda, or which modern scholarship, nourished on the literature of Greece, accords to Hellenic myth. Yet surely in fulness of imagination and delicacy of conception the Hawaiian legend need not fear comparison.
It can only be hoped that now that the islands are definitely connected with the United States, as a matter of national honor, steps may be taken to complete, so far as possible, a record still unhappily so imperfect. Perhaps at least a full and correct text can be obtained of the present narrative.
My hypothesis that the Polynesians are the remnants of a people who were great in the remote day in which they flourished, and from whom other races have sprung, seems to be receiving support from various quarters. I hear that the Governor of New Zealand has ​published a book, in which he traces many analogies between the rites, superstitions, and habits of thought of the Maori, compared with the Greeks and other ancient nations. Viewed in this aspect, the old legendary tales and poems of the Hawaiians have considerable interest. I cannot doubt but that they bring down to us much derived from a very remote antiquity. It is also to be remembered that before the introduction of writing, the brains of living men were the only records that nations had. There were deposited the genealogies of the chiefs, there alone were to be found the chronicles of their wars, the boundaries of their possessions, and everything which it was desirable to secure from oblivion. A diligently cultivated and retentive memory, therefore, gave a man position and abundance; the memory was diligently cultivated, and became capable of performing feats which to us who lean on writing and books seem very surprising. Maui, one of the Hawaiian islands, is about seventy miles long, and from thirty to forty wide, with some deep indentations proportionally extending its seaboard. At the beginning of this century, the whole coast, and much of the interior, was cultivated and inhabited. Then tracts were divided into lands of one hundred or several hundred acres. I have known a man who could begin at any part of the island, and go round the whole of it, naming each possession in its order, and giving its boundaries. We must not, therefore, wonder at the accurate knowledge of the geography of Greece which Homer displays in his catalogue of the ships and leaders. That strength of memory was rather an attribute of his age than a merit peculiar to himself. It is more than probable that many of his contemporaries could have performed the same feat.
Furthermore, we find that when the imagination has once shaped a picture in which men delight, that picture is subsequently taken as the model from which after ages copy. Virgil is not Homer, very far was he in time, farther if possible in position, in the habitual feelings and actions of the men among whom he lived. But Virgil is so full of Homeric ideas, that had the Greek poem perished we should yet have been able to have conceived from the Æneid how men conducted themselves in what are termed the heroic ages of Greece. Nay, such has been the mastery of the Homeric lay over the minds of men, that its form, which we term epic, and the train of ideas running through it, has been taken almost to the present day as the model for every lengthened poem. Even in Milton's "Paradise Lost" the Christian God figures as a sort of Agamemnon, great in his might, and the prince of Hell is an Achilles unconquerable in his pride.
​Still more pertinent, perhaps, is it to remark that in an advancing society new ideas are continually springing up from within or finding their way from without, and overshadowing and obliterating the old. Men pride themselves on being superior to their fathers, and consequently are inclined to look down on them and on their works. Whereas, when a people has ceased to advance, and are going downhill and degenerating, they feel that all the strength that is in them has come down from the great and glorious olden time, and it is their ambition to preserve as much of its influence as they possibly can.
These considerations induce me to think that, as I have said, the old legendary tales and poems of the Hawaiians bring down to us much of a very remote antiquity. Unfortunately, in very recent years they have been somewhat vitiated and corrupted. Before the arrival of the missionaries, the recital of these tales was a great source of amusement both to chiefs and people. All flocked to hear them. But as the names of the ancient gods were frequently mentioned in them, their recital appeared to these reverend gentlemen an act of idolatry, a grievous sin, and was strictly prohibited. Nevertheless, there were here and there ungodly people who secretly indulged themselves in listening to them, and thus, though they were banished from what may be termed polite society for more than forty years, they maintained an obscure existence among these outcasts. A rational curiosity and more enlightened views have recently drawn them out from the obscure shelter they had found, and through the medium of the press have presented them to the view of all who sufficiently understand the language. As was to have been expected, they have come forth from the lowly abodes in which they have lurked somewhat mutilated and defaced. For nearly two generations they have passed out of the hands of skilled reciters, receiving honor and reward for their labor, and subject to intelligent criticism, and as floating waifs have been taken hold of by men unskilled in their use and careless in their preservation. Hence the old language has been somewhat altered, as is shown in the number of English terms introduced, and hence, also, as I conceive, many episodes have been appended foreign to the main thread of the story, and often of a different character. Still, that main thread stands out, and to us foreigners the change in language in itself probably is of trifling importance.
These kaavs are not merely short snatches of song, they are lengthened narrations with a plot running through them, requiring prolonged attention. The race seems always to have had a great taste for these recitals. The bard, as in the days of Homer, was an attendant on the banquets of his chief, and the people, for night after ​night, eagerly listened to the tales he told them of the heroes and demigods of old. In the larger islands and groups of islands these audiences were very numerous, for until a comparatively recent period the population was dense. They were also critical, for the chiefs prided themselves on preserving the purity and expressiveness of their language.
The object of the bard is to give pleasure to those who listen to him. He must bestow his rewards and punishments in a measure and manner that may seem to his audience according to desert. In the tale of which I am about to make some abstracts, the actors are dealt with pretty much as they deserve.
I have one word to say before I begin. We are in the habit of speaking of the naked savages of the Pacific as if the form of their garments or want of garments of necessity placed them in the lowest ranks of humanity. This is a prejudice, and one of which I myself was only disabused shortly after arriving at the Hawaiian Islands. I will tell you how that came to pass. I had taken up my abode at a tavern in Honolulu, and dined at the public table; he who for a day or two sat next to me was one whom, from his darkish complexion, I took to be a Portuguese, of whom there are many on the islands. He was of robust proportions, dressed in black broadcloth and black hat, after the general fashion of Englishmen, and spoke English passably well, so that we had some little conversation. I had the curiosity to ask the landlord who and what he was. He told me he was a native, a man of some property in houses and land in Honolulu, and that he had been in town for a day or two, collecting rents and the like. Meantime I had formed the acquaintance of a young American, who told me he lived a couple of miles out of town, and invited me to call on him. I went accordingly, and having followed his directions, I thought I must have arrived near his residence, and was looking round for it. I felt myself overcome by the heat, the thermometer being nearly ninety degrees in the shade, and thought I would shorten my search by going to one of the clusters of native houses and seeing if I could get information. I went to the door of one, and knocked. I was answered by a voice from within, and as I was pursuing my inquiries by the aid of the few native words I had picked up, I heard a second voice apparently giving directions. Tired of standing in the sun, I thought it better to abridge ceremony, and open the door. I found myself in a tolerably large chamber; before me stood a boy of about twelve, with a feather fan in his hand. He handed me a chair, so I took a seat and began to look around. My attention was attracted by the figure of a man stretched out on a mat, with no clothing but the maro. I was struck by the massive and regular proportions, and fully developed muscles, ​and the smooth, marble-like surface of his body; he seemed a fit model for a statue of Hercules. When casting my eyes on his face, I felt certain that I had seen it before, and a smile coming over it, I recognized my friend of the tavern. "Ah," he said, "I was waiting to see if you would find me out. I cannot think how you foreigners contrive to live in the clothes you wear; they have nearly killed me by having them on only for a day or two, and I have kept the boy fanning me ever since I have come home, to see and get the heat out of me. But come, I will myself show you the house of him you are inquiring for; I know him well." So saying, he rose, and taking hold of a large oblong square of white native cloth, and arranging it about his person in the form of a Roman toga, or rather perhaps of the Greek pharos, he led me out. Near the door his people were beginning to prepare a native oven. He said: "Perhaps it is worth your while to see the way in which we cook our food, so different from yours:" and accordingly showed me the preparations and explained the whole process. Then he walked on before me to show the path, which led through a grove of the pandanus tree, taking care to point out to me that its long leaves were sharply serrated, and might cut me badly if I rubbed face or hands incautiously against them. While thus employed, I could not help envying the ease and freedom with which he moved, and comparing it with my own sweltering garments confining every motion. On emerging from the pandanus grove he carefully pointed out to me the house I was in search of, and then bade me good day. When he was gone I said to myself, so this is a naked savage of the Pacific islands; why, he is clad far more sensibly, and therefore better, than I am. His garments are made for ease and comfort, allowing the free play of the limbs, and are really graceful.
That you may have a complete idea of what these are, I must describe the maro. It is a strip of cloth some yards long, and six or eight inches wide, passed several times between the thighs, and round the hips and waist with one end hanging down in front for eight or ten inches. It was de rigueur that in the male sex all this should be covered; there was no conception of impropriety in the exposure of other parts. Women, besides this, had the pan, formed of one or more pieces of cloth, so arranged as to jut out all around the waist, and cover about a fourth of the person.
It is evident that this fashion of dress was suited to a tropical climate, and is there convenient and healthful. But when men came to live nearer the poles, they required garments adequate to cover and protect the whole person. Hence there is a natural reason for the ​different modes of dress. That there is anything in itself indecent or indelicate in either, I cannot see. A more liberal exposure of the person seems only a greater extension of the region we call face, and the conception of this region has been so various among different races and at different times, that it seems to be regulated by fancy rather than by reason. Among the Turks and other Oriental nations it was confined to one eye; with us it comprehends that part of the head not covered by hair; but in full dress of women in capital cities apparently extends to about a fourth of the person; at the same time, a man appearing in a similar state would be considered to offend against decency; yet the Scotch kilt is admitted to such assemblies, and, as far as my observation goes, the "philabeg aboon the knee" seems rather to attract than repel the fair sex. In the beginning of the last century, a man showing himself in such attire would have been considered odious and speedily expelled.
I conceive, therefore, that the matter of dress is an affair of climate and fashion, and consequently constitutes no legitimate criterion of the character of any people. It seems, therefore, unjust by calling the people inhabiting the Pacific islands naked, to assume that they were of necessity savage.
In illustration of what I have said, I am tempted to give you a specimen of what is to be found in the tales, by sketching the merest outline of a story, and citing more at length the parts of the legend having some relation to ancient beliefs known to us through Greek and Hebrew narrative. It is entitled, from the name of the heroine, Lai-e-i-kawai. It must have been composed at least three hundred years ago, taking as the element for this computation the time necessary for the sea to effect the changes of the coast line which have occurred since it was framed. It cannot have a very remote antiquity, for Tahiti, which was once frequently visited by Hawaiians, had then receded into the region of the supernatural and of fable.
LAIEIKAWAI.
Once on a time, there was a chief living in Oahu, who held the low lands on the north of that island, named Koolauloa and Kaulanpoko. This chief took to himself a wife, and soon after their union, at a favorable moment when they were quite alone, said to her: "Listen, my wife; as yet we have been living happily together, but there is something more which I have to tell you. Should you have a child, and should that child be a boy, it would be a happy thing; he would aid us when we are old, cover our bones when we are dead, and portion out our boundaries, and if you had daughters he might protect them. But if a daughter is your first-born she must die, or ​if you have two or more, they also must die; only when you have borne a son, shall the daughters who may afterwards be born be allowed to live." Some time afterwards, the woman became with child. It was born when the chief was absent fishing, and was a girl. From her surpassing beauty, the mother thought that the chief might change his mind and allow it to live; so she had it wrapped in the clothes usual for infants and waited his return. But when he came, he gave it into the hands of the executioner to dispose of. Afterwards, she bore several children, all girls, and beautiful; but they, according to the relentless will of the chief, were all put to death. When she found herself with child for the fifth time, she went to the priest, and said to him: "Look at this body of mine, for exhausted am I from bearing children only for death from the exceeding sternness of my husband; four children have we had, four children only for death. Look, then on me, and tell me how it is, for if I am to bring forth a female, it is better for me to destroy it while yet in embryo than to allow it to come to the full time. But if I am to have a male child, its fate will be different."
The priest replied: "Return, and when you are near your time, come back to me, and I will then see about this birth of yours." Accordingly, when she was near her time, once more she came to the priest and said: "I have come as you commanded. I am near the birth ; tell me now about the child I am to have." The priest said: "I must have a sign from you; give me what I ask, give me your hand." In reply, she stretched out her left hand, and as it happened, with the palm upward. Then he said: "You have given me your left hand with the palm turned up; you are to have a female child."
Hearing this speech, she was exceedingly grieved, for she lamented the former children whom her husband had caused to be put to death. Therefore she begged of the priest to reflect, and devise some plan by which this fresh misfortune might be averted, and the child might live. He replied: "Attend to what I tell you: return to the house, and when your pains come on say to the chief that you have a great desire for the fish called ohua, and further tell him that it is only caught by himself that will satisfy your longing; for your husband is skilled in the taking of that fish, so he will go fishing, and will not know when the birth is; and when the child is born, it shall be mine to take charge of it, so that when he returns it will be under my ​care, and when he makes inquiry you must tell him that the birth was deformed, and that you had it put away."
This communication over, she returned to her home, and shortly afterwards the first pains of childbirth came upon her. So soon as she felt them increasing, she called for the chief, and said to him: "Oh, my husband! I see before my eyes the fish called ohua, therefore go you with all speed to fish, for it seems to me if I had one, the child desired would soon be born. Never before have I had a difficult delivery, never before have I so longed for an ohua. Therefore go you the fishing with all speed along with your men." This fish the chief was skilled in catching; it is taken in numbers, and requires the combined efforts of many hands to make sure of it.
On the instant the chief left the house, and set out with his men. While they were absent a child was born; it was a girl and was given in charge to Waka, the grandmother, who gave to her the name of Laieikawai; but while they were attending to her another child was born, also a girl, and the latter passed to the priest, who named her Laielohelohe. When these two had departed with the infants the chief returned, and asked his wife how she now felt. She answered: "I have been delivered of a helpless, deformed thing which they have put away." But the chief already knew that this had happened, for while he was at sea it had twice thundered.
Waka and the priest had now proceeded some distance from the house, when she said to him: "What shall we do with the infants that have fallen to us, in order to conceal them from the chief?"
By the advice of the priest, Waka, who has supernatural power, makes choice of a place of concealment for her charge. This hiding-place belonged to a class of which there are many instances in the Hawaiian islands, which have arisen from the peculiar structure of the volcanic rocks of which these are composed. The ancient flows of lava, piled one on another to a height of many thousand feet, which make the mass, have been very extensive and regular, stretching out in smooth sheets for miles, and sloping very gradually and usually seaward at an angle of about seven degrees. These strata differ greatly in composition; for example, the uppermost may be of a firm basaltic rock having a thickness of but a few feet; the one next below may be composed of partially rounded stones, held together by a claylike mass, and much thicker than that above it. The frequent rains of the upper regions form themselves into a stream, which gradually works out a channel in the upper rock, however firm. Still excavating downward, it penetrates to some chink, down which a portion of its waters sinks, and aided by the great pressure slowly forces an underground way to the sea in the form of a tiny rill. Time, the great agent in all such changes, enlarges its volume, ​so that a large, perhaps the larger portion of the stream, passes that way. The original chink becomes enlarged to a great hole and then to a wider chasm, the solid rock operated on below by the failure of the foundation on which it rests, and above by occasional floods rolling along its surface, is shaken, breaks up, and gives way. The stream, which originally flowed smoothly, is transformed into a mass of troubled waters rushing through a deep, wild, and broken channel. Meantime, all above the original orifice may remain as before, and then the waters run evenly until they reach the great chasm, over the upper lip or brim of which they glide in a thin sheet, and fall like a curtain into the large and deep pool which they have been hollowing out for themselves. No one who passed, unless on attentive examination, would suppose there was anything more than the large deep pool bounded by steep, rocky banks and the curtain-like waterfall, but in reality there is something hidden from his view, for in their process of excavation the rushing, whirling waters have dug not only downward and sideways, but also upward, and formed a large cave beneath the smooth basaltic sheet which now roofs it in. This the screening waterfall quite hides from view. I myself was for years in the habit of passing a small cavern of this sort almost daily, and never suspected its existence, until informed by a native. We entered it together, when he said: "I once lived here for a long time, with some others; it was perfectly dry; we could spread our mats, and live comfortably,—stay, I put by a stone pestle, and did not take it away; I may as well have it," and stretching his hand over a ledge of rock he took it up.
Such was the place of concealment in which Laieikawai was nurtured by her grandmother, Waka, until she was approaching womanhood. About that period, the great seer of the island of Kauai, in making a circuit of the island, ascended a high mountain, and ob​Laieikawai. 251
served a rainbow hanging from a particular spot of the island of Oahu. He watched it for a day or two, and saw that it did not depend on the weather, for it was there whether the day was misty or in clear sunshine. To fully satisfy himself, he made another tour of the island, and on returning and again ascending the mountain, saw that the rainbow retained its place. He became convinced by his art that the rainbow marked the abode of some one who was or would become a great alii (king or chief, queen or chieftainess), and on whom his own fortunes would in a great measure depend, lie therefore resolved to visit Oahu, and discover who this alii might be. He does so, and, guided by the rainbow, comes to the deep pond and waterfall. " This," he exclaims, " is no place for an alii to inhabit ; what can be the meaning of what I beheld ? " At this moment he observes in the smooth waters of the pond a swirl like that left by a swimmer or diver, and concludes that such a one had been present, and fled at his approach. He therefore resolves to wait and watch. In reality, Waka had just visited her grandchild, and had reached her by diving under the waterfall, the only passage to her habitation.
I may observe, that according to the ancient belief of the Hawai- ians, a rainbow was an attendant on great chiefs, especially such as were descended from the gods, and that to my mind it seems a probable supposition that the halo with which painters encircle holy persons had its rise from this superstition.
After a while Waka set out on her return ; but while still under the surface of the water, she sees a man on the top of the precipice bordering the pond, and fearing that it was the father of Laieikawai, who had obtained some inkling of the deceit practised on him, she retreats. Toward evening she makes a second essay, but finds that the stranger retains his place, and defers any further attempt until night, when she manages to escape together with her grandchild, and begins a search for a more secure abode. She has a great charge, but by this time Laieikawai has grown to be a young girl of surpassing beauty, and with the Polynesians of that period beauty was all powerful. With them Mr. Darwin's principle of natural selection seems to have reigned supreme. Waka is therefore con- scious that in her grandchild a great treasure has come to her, and when she shall have come to riper years is ambitious to wed her to the head chief of Kauai. In this scheme she is aided by the priest who has undertaken to care for the twin sister. Her first object, therefore, is to find a safe retreat, her second to conceal Laieikawai from all eyes. The seer of Kauai again determines to follow the great alii, in esse or in posse, whom the rainbow has discovered to him. This pursuit Waka dreads, and aided by the priest of Koolau, who appears to her in dreams, manages to throw him out, and to
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establish herself on the southeast of the island of Hawaii, the largest of the group, at Paliuli, the dark precipice. 1 The seer does not abandon the pursuit, but continues to move from place to place, continually offering sacrifice and praying to his god. Waka, how- ever, had not effected her retreat without misadventure, for in pass- ing from one island to another, the man paddling the canoe had caught a glimpse of the face of Laieikawai, and admiring her extreme beauty, had besought Waka to bid her lower a little the mantle in which she was muffled, in order that he might see something of her person. Waka replies that it is the girl's own desire to be hid from the sight of men, and that she cannot interfere. This being not at all in accordance with her real inclination, Laieikawai contrives to unveil so much of her charms as to dazzle and astonish the man, who sets out to proclaim everywhere her surpassing charms. The fame of her beauty goes abroad, and suitors go in quest of her from various parts. The legend is chiefly occupied with the account of the pursuit, and the adventures thence arising. 2 I give you such
1 Hulumaniani, the prophet of Kauai, after having observed the rainbow for twenty days, has obtained a canoe and fifteen men from the chief of Wailua, pro- vides himself with a black pig, white fowl, and red fish for sacrifice, and sets sail at the rising of the star Sirius. After the departure of Waka, he ascends Mount Kaala, and sees the rainbow over the island of Molokai ; Waka is finally advised in a dream to remove to Hawaii, and dwell at Paliuli. The seer arrives at Hana, and there erects a shrine for the worship of his patron deity ; in the seventh month of the year he sees the rainbow on the windward side of Hawaii. On the third day of the next month he offers fervent prayer in his oratory, and sees the shadows of Waka and her charge, whom he is informed by his god are living in Paliuli, in the forest of Puna, in a house thatched with the yellow feathers of the 00 j he reaches Kaiwilahilahi, where he remains some years without being able to obtain further information. It is during this sojourn that takes place the episode of the wooing of Aiwohikupua. Such is the course of the story as related in Legends and Myths.
2 While the seer is at Kaiwilahilahi, the king of Kauai returns from his wedding journey and holds a great feast. At this festival he describes his meeting with the princess of Paliuli, and extols her supernatural beauty. The extraordinary circumstances of the visit are related. The king sends his kahu or counsellor with a request for a meeting. The approach of the princess is announced by the singing of the bird iiwipolena. Here the account becomes literal: "Then a shadow fell on the door, and we were enveloped," said the king, " in a thick fog, and when it cleared away, the princess was seen in her glorious beauty, borne on the wings of birds." It is by listening to this story that the interest of Aiwohi- kupua is awakened. Again, when the sisters of the latter have finally reached the bower of Laieikawai, they find her resting on the wings of birds, with two iiivipolenas perched on her shoulders. The sisters are received as her compan- ions, and fed by birds. In the case of the seer, a bird also appears to take the place of a chariot.
According to the glossary of Legends and Myths, kahu signifies " a nurse or guardian of a child." It would seem, therefore, that, as in mediaeval romances, the "governor" (we still say governess) remains with the full-grown lord or lady as servant, adviser, and friend.
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fragmentary portions as seem more particularly illustrative of the beliefs and manners of the time.
Aiwohikupua, a chief of the island of Kauai, had vowed never to form any intimate connection with a woman of the islands, inasmuch as he had been deceived in those on which he had already entered, and concluding from information which he had received about her that Laieikawai must be from Tahiti, this was one great motive for his desire to form a union with her. Her reported beauty was the other. He therefore selects one of his followers as counsellor and companion, and embarks in a double canoe with a crew of twenty to make the voyage. They arrive at Kipahulu on the island of Maui, where he lands, and determines to proceed by land to Hana, a dis- tance of about twelve miles.
His counsellor accompanies him, while the canoe goes on by sea. As he walks along, his great personal beauty attracts all eyes, and gathers round him a throng of followers. Arrived at Haneoo, at that time the harbor of Hana, which has since been laid open by the encroachments of the sea, they find all the people engaged in the sport of hunalu, "gliding on the waves," which they generally do on surf-boards. Among the players is a lovely girl, the daughter of a chief, Hinaikamalama by name. While they are admiring her, the counsellor whispers to his chief that it would be better to withdraw a little, lest they be entangled by her charms into some adventure prejudicial to their main enterprise, but when they are about to do so, Hinaikamalama, who seems to have been fascinated by the manly beauty of Aiwohikupua, calls the two distinguished strangers to join in the sport, and afterwards partake the hospitality of her father's house. This they consent to do, and when the hunalu is over, Hi- naikamalama invites the chief to play with her a game of chance called Kanane. Before beginning, she asks him what the stakes shall be. He proposes to venture his double canoe ; she objects and says : " Here is an easily managed stake, our persons. If I gain them, you must do whatever I command, that is not inconsistent with pro- priety. If I lose, then I shall be in like manner under your com- mand. He agrees. They play, and he loses. Finding himself in difficulty, he endeavors to escape by speaking as follows (but I abridge his words) : "lam well pleased with the issue of our wager, but I cannot now remain and be your servant, for I am under oath to make the circuit of the island of Hawaii before entering into any engagement with any woman. When I return, I will be your ser- vant. Until then, I require of you to keep yourself secluded from all intercourse with men, else I shall hold that you have forfeited your claim on me." He then takes his leave, and on the day after arriving at Kauhola on Hawaii, he sees a great concourse of people
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gathered together at a place far upland. On inquiring the cause, he is told that they have assembled to hold a boxing-match. He desires to look on, and, having had the double canoe made secure, ascends to the spot, together with his counsellor and attendants. On his approach the assembly breaks up, inasmuch as all present are anxious to obtain a view of his handsome person. Presently they assemble, and in an orderly manner take their places in a circle, while Aiwo- hikupua remains standing under the shade of a near and widely branching tree. Presently a chief named Ihuanu steps into the ring, and boastfully challenges any one present to the combat. None dares accept. While moving about inside the ring, he sees Aiwohi- kupua standing under the tree, and calls out to him : " Oh, stranger, shall you and I have some sport?" " Yes," replies Aiwohikupua, " if you take two others with you, then I shall think it worth while to engage you." Hearing this, a man approaches him from behind, and says : " Speak not thus to Ihuanu ; no one has ever contended with him without serious injury." Aiwohikupua turns round on his interlocutor, and gives him a slap with the open hand, which, how- ever, lays him dead on the earth. On seeing this, the friends of Ihuanu crowd round him, begging him not to engage an opponent of such force. Their prayers only further excite the boastful humor of Ihuanu, who answers angrily, and on looking round, sees Aiwo- hikupua approaching, and also observes a boy on the outskirts of the assembly who has taken an indecent attitude. Him he points out to Aiwohikupua, saying: "Here is your fit opponent." So enraged is Aiwohikupua at the grossness of the affront, that his blood rushes to the surface of his body, and reddens the skin all over. He steps aside, kneels down, and naming his gods, offers prayer to them. " Oh ye heavenly ones, this day look down on me your child, the flower that remains to you on earth, shed down strength upon me ! Cause Ihuanu's sport to pass harmless by, and I pray you give me his head for my men to sport with, that all this assembly may see that I am the conqueror (amamd) ! May it be accomplished quickly and with power ! " He then stands up, and facing Ihuanu, tells him to strike first. This Ihuanu does, aiming at the face, but Aiwohikupua, by a swift movement, eludes the blow, feeling only its wind on his cheek. Instantly follows the return blow of Aiwohikupua, which falls on the chest of his opponent with such force as to break through it, and fell him dead on the spot. Then ensues a great crowding and lamenta- tion for his death, in the midst of which Aiwohikupua cuts off the head and gives it to his attendants, as he had prayed he might be able to do. 1
This, you will say, is exceedingly savage ; but the Greeks scarcely 1 This interesting episode is barely noted in Myths and Legends, p. 461.
�� � ​fall behind it in that respect, as you may see in all the battles of the Iliad. It appears to me that the prayer has a certain likeness to the straightforward petitions which are found in Homer, nor is it undeserving of notice that the whole crowd of spectators, though bitterly lamenting the fate of one who had become their hero, make no attempt to prevent the mutilation of his body, apparently from a chivalric principle which holds it dishonorable to come between the victor and his rights.
Aiwohikupua reembarks, and coasting along, sees another numerous assembly, which also turns out to be a boxing-match. The fame of his mastery, however, has preceded him, and the chiefs, instead of combat, propose intimate friendship, an offer which he accepts. Still proceeding, he unexpectedly meets the seer of Kauai, who, in the course of his wanderings, was at that time resident on the coast of Hawaii. Unexpectedly he finds all things prepared for his reception; in fact, the seer was endowed with second sight. I now translate verbatim. On that evening, before the setting of the sun, the seer was sitting at the door of the house looking at the vapor resting on the clouds which were rising out of the sea, as is the custom of seers, and has been so from old times downward. He suddenly spake aloud: "The canoe of a chief this, nineteen men and a great chief; it is also a double canoe." On hearing him those around him were startled, as they could see no canoe, and asked him: "Where is that canoe of yours?" "It is not a real double canoe," he replied; "I only saw in the cloudy vapor; to-morrow we shall see a chief's canoe." During the night he had another and more distinct vision, and knew that it was the chief of Kauai who was approaching. He therefore made a sacrifice for his god. Being questioned as to these preparations he said: "I am making ready for my chief, him of whom I told you last night, and there is his double canoe on the sea, enveloped in the mist you behold." As Aiwohikupua approached the harbor, it thundered twenty times. This brought the people together, and they saw the double canoe, the awning overhead, and the chief as the seer had foretold. As the canoe touched the shore the seer stood up, and offered prayer and sacrifice to the god of Aiwohikupua. As he was thus employed, his chief recognized him, and was moved with strong affection toward him, and so soon as the prayer was over, told his counsellor to present the gifts to the gods. The seer ran, embracing the limbs of the chief, and leaning his head on the neck of the latter, begins to wail. In like manner, the chief embraces the shoulders of the seer, and wailing recounts his many virtues. When this ceremony was over, which is customary with ​256 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
Polynesian friends who have long been separated, and who pour forth the aloka which had filled their hearts during the period of separa- tion, the two turned to converse with each other and to enjoy them- selves.
Aiwohikupua did not tell the seer what was the real object of his voyage, but pretended that he was merely making the circuit of Hawaii. After a stay of a few hours he resumes his route, and in no long time, directed by the rainbow, reaches the dwelling of Laiei- kawai, which he finds far upland, and only to be approached by a long and difficult path. He is struck with astonishment to see that the house is covered with thatch, as were all houses of those days, but instead of the grass called piti, or the long and broad leaves of the pandanus, it is formed of the feathers of the bird named 00. Now these feathers were the riches of the land. Only chiefs of conse- quence could afford to have cloaks made of them. Such a cloak he had brought with him as a magnificent present that would serve to propitiate his lady love, and behold ! it must appear contemptible in her eyes, since the walls of her house were formed of the same ma- terial. It was as if a lover of our own days had provided himself with a bracelet of gold to present to his mistress, and had found that all the furniture of her house was of gold. He cannot think of offer- ing a thing that must in her eyes seem too paltry to produce a favor- able impression, and notwithstanding the remonstrances of his coun- sellor, determines to return to Kauai without attempting to obtain an interview. As they are coasting along Hawaii and near its north shore, he falls asleep, and is startled from his slumber by the loud outcries of his people ; when he wakens and demands the cause of the uproar, they point to a woman of exceeding beauty seated on a cliff overhanging the sea, and robed in a white cloak. He orders them to advance toward her. As they approached the shore, he learns from some fishermen that it is Poliahu, who has come down from the mountains. As he approaches, he beckons, inviting her to descend. She does so and steps on board his canoe. He then addresses her : " Oh, beautiful woman of the precipice, most fortu- nate am I in having met with you. Thus have I the happy chance of praying you to accept me as your spouse, and your servant, who executes all the commands you give him. I entreat you to come with me to Kauai." She replies : "Iara not from the precipice ; I am from the peak of the far-off mountain, which is always clad in white, as myself am. As for your desire that I should take you for my spouse, tell me, are not you the chief who stood up and swore by his god that you would never unite yourself with any woman of the islands from Hawaii to Kauai, but would seek a wife in foreign lands ? Are not you he who has entered into engagements with
�� � ​Laieikawai. 257
Hinaikamalama, the beauty of Hana? As for your desire to form a union with me, I will say this, if you free yourself from all the entanglements in which you are involved, and then come for me, I will consent." Aiwokikupua is overwhelmed with wonder and con- fusion. At length he replies : " What you say is true, I cannot deny it ; but tell me, whence have you all this knowledge, and who has informed you?" "I am descended," she answers, "as you are, from the gods, and they have given me power to see things afar off, as if they were close by. I consent to accompany you in your voyage along the coast, provided you give me a seat apart, and do not approach or touch me. I also will keep separate from you." He willingly agrees ; she sails with him for about twenty miles, and then returns to her mountain, leaving him to strike off, and pursue his way to Kauai. 1 But he seems born to exemplify the maxim, " Men are deceivers ever," inasmuch as he makes for Hana, but does not land, keeping his canoe afloat in the harbor of Haneoo. Hinaika- malama perceives him approach, and is rejoiced at the thought of meeting him, but seeing him remain on the canoe, she goes to the shore, and asks him why he does not land. He replies that he can- not do so. She tells him he must, for he has become hers by the issue of the game at Konani, and that if he does not come ashore, she will send a party to capture him. He replies : " Not so, O lady ; I have no intention of breaking the contract I have formed with you, but the time is not yet come for fulfilling it. I have not yet been able to make the island of Hawaii, for a messenger was sent after me, to inform me that a disturbance had broken out at Kauai which requires my immediate presence. I have turned out of my way to inform you of this, that you may remain as we agreed, in expecta- tion of my arrival/' Hearing this, Hinaikamalama is pacified and he departs. Before he arrives at Kauai, feeling that he would be put to shame if the ill success of his voyage became known, he warns his followers, on pain of death, to keep silence concerning their jour- ney. Toward evening he arrives at Kauai, calls together his five sisters, informs them that he has been at Hawaii, and what was his object in going there, and tells them that he returned in order to request their assistance in gaining the object of his desire, and to return with him to Hawaii, to employ whatever influence they may acquire over Laieikawai in furtherance of his suit. They consent, and returning to that island, ascend with him the stark precipice of Paliuli to the abode of Laieikawai. The four elder sisters derive their names from different modifications of a sweet-smelling shrub called maile, the youngest and wisest is known as the Breath of 1 She changes mantles with him, as sign of betrothal. Her own mantle is snow-white. She evidently impersonates the snowy mountain.
VOL. XIII. — NO. 51. 17
�� � ​Many Flowers. The four first, one after the other, make the attempt to gain admittance to the abode of Laieikawai, but are repulsed, the latter loudly declaring that she will never wed Aiwohikupua. Hearing this, he is irritated at the repulse, resolves immediately to return to Kauai, and vents his vexation on his sisters by declaring that he will leave them behind until they can move Laieikawai to accept his suit. Breath of Many Flowers protests against the wrong, more especially in her own case, as she has had no opportunity of using her influence over Laieikawai. Aiwohikupua tells her that she may come with him if she likes, but that her sisters must remain. She refuses to leave them. On this he and his counsellor depart. The sisters follow in hope that their brother will relent and take them on board the canoe when they reach the seashore, but he leaves them behind. They follow him along the shore, each in turn composing and chanting such an appeal as she thinks may best move him. They are much alike. I give the greater part of that sung by Breath of Many Flowers: —
Brother ours, and chief all-hallowed, Are we thus to part for aye? Leave you us to wander wildly On this strange and distant shore? Has then love your breast forsaken That you know not you are followed, Followed over all the seven seas, Over small seas, over great seas, Over short waves, over long waves, Over long-backed waves of ocean? Turn you then with gentle visage, Hear my outcries, hear my wailing, Look upon your sisters mourning, Far away fly rage and passion, Far away each angry thought, Once again embrace your darlings, And with circling love enfold us, You would we return to look on, Look upon our parents' faces, See them seated close beside you, Bear my deep love to my island, And to small and great upon it, There return to those I love best, To my darling sisters four.
John Rae.
At this point the manuscript of Dr. Rae comes to a conclusion. The sequel of the history may be indicated after the abstract given ​in the work of King Kalakaua. After the conclusion of his second voyage, Aiwohikupua returns to Kauai, and at a feast, under the intoxicating influence of awa, is so imprudent as to reveal his suit to the princess of Paliuli. A young chief of Mana wagers that he will succeed where the other has failed; but in the end he loses his land, which is restored by Aiwohikupua. The latter now undertakes a third expedition, with the resolution to obtain Laieikawai by force. He is repulsed, however, through the efforts of his own sisters, who are supported by their patron god (familiar demon, as would have been said in the Middle Age), a huge lizard. The frustrated wooer prepares to console himself with Poliahu, and performs expiatory ceremonies in order to release himself from his vow never to wed a lady of the islands. He meets Poliahu, accompanied by mountain goddesses, and as the company of Aiwohikupua suffers from the cold of the upper regions, the bride and her friends remove their white mantles, which has the effect of lowering the snow on the summits.
It has so happened that the birds whom Aiwohukupua had sent as messengers to his inamorata had mistaken their road, and arrived at the house of Hinaikamalama, to whom, as already related, Aiwohikupua had lost in the game, and who possessed the right over his person. Enraged at the unfaithfulness of her debtor, this lady makes a visit to Kauai, and at the wedding feast, in a game, becomes the prize of the bridegroom. She then openly declares his perfidy; Aiwohikupua is discredited, and the angry Poliahu returns to her mountain.
Waka now conceives a plan for uniting her granddaughter to the newly made king of Kauai; it is arranged that the couple shall meet in the surf, use one surfboard, float on one roller, and touch noses (such contact being symbolic of continued union), after which the great birds of the heroine are to carry the pair to the feather-house in Paliuli. A young libertine, Halaaniani, who has a sister gifted with magic powers, desires the beauty, by the help of the sorceress is able to take the place of the king, and is taken up to the feather-house. The enraged Waka casts off her granddaughter, and turns her attention to the sister who had been left with the priest, Laielohelohe, on whose behalf she makes a similar contract with the king of Kauai. The new lover of Laieikawai, not satisfied with one success, endeavors to obtain also this lady, but is finally foiled. Laieikawai retires into obscurity, while the dissolute youth is left to general contempt.
The sisters of Aiwohikupua, who are now devoted to Laieikawai, consider in what manner they can restore their mistress to honor, and determine to wed her to another brother, Kaonohiokala. Now this family is divine, the father living in the moon, while the brother ​last mentioned has his residence in the sun, his name signifying Sun-Eyeball. The youngest sister, Kahalaomapuana by name, but who may here be called by the translated title given by Dr. Rae, Breath of Many Flowers, undertakes a pilgrimage to heaven. She is carried on her lizard, who swims with her for four months, until at the ends of the sea she finds her uncle, who takes her to the place of ascent. He utters a call, and a ladder composed of spider's web is let down on which the lady mounts to the moon. Here dwells the aged man who is her father; she follows directions, finds him asleep, leaps on his back and grasps his beard, then chants the mele of supplication in which she is instructed. She and her mother mount on a great bird, by whom they are carried up to the sun, where they find Noon acting as porter. Noon admits her, disperses the clouds, and she sees her brother, whose brilliant body gleams like flowing lava, asleep in the centre of the orb. He is awakened, accepts the proposal of Breath of Many Flowers, and his descent to earth is heralded by various signs. To Laieikawai, as betrothal present, he sends a rainbow robe. At rising of the full moon he descends, and the couple mount to heaven on a rainbow. Waka is killed by a thunderbolt, and Aiwohikupua reduced to merited poverty and scorn, being now placed in the tutelage of Breath of Many Flowers; the sisters are made regents of the other islands, the king of Kauai and his wife being left undisturbed in their possessions.
One would think that the story might end here, with the heroine exalted, not merely to a throne, but to the central glory of the celestials. But apparently Hawaiian thought, like Hellenic, had little confidence in the permanence of sexual attachment. The Eye of the Sun, in the course of a tour of his earthly domain, casts eyes of desire at the fair sister of his wife, while the king of Kauai, on his part, roves after the beauty of Hana, who of the three rival ladies alone has not yet been mated. On this intrigue he descends to earth, and consoles the forsaken spouse. The jealous Laieikawai, by gazing in the bowl of knowledge, is able to observe the conduct of her husband, and reports his offences to the father and mother! These descend on a rainbow, and pronounce sentence on Eye of the Sun, who is banished from heaven, and condemned to live on butterflies as a wandering ghost. Breath of Many Flowers is exalted to his place, as heir apparent of the solar realm. Laieikawai, at her own petition, rejoins her sister on earth; but the government of the group of islands is intrusted to the faithful prophet of Kauai. Laieikawai, it is to be presumed, gave birth to a child, for she continued to be adored by certain gentes under the title of The Lady of the Twilight.
* ↑ The Polynesian Mythology of Sir George Grey was published in 1855. The manner of reference would lead to the opinion that the lecture of Dr. Rae could not have been delivered very much later.
* ↑ The kihei.
* ↑ Invariably five thicknesses, according to King Kalakaua.
* ↑ We see here the reason for the decision of the chief. An unprotected maiden would be dispossessed. In the Middle Age, the protection of damsels who might chance to be "uncounselled" (whence by misconception our modern epithet "disconsolate") was a duty of the true knight, a duty which implies the existence of the same state of things. The situation may probably imply a primitive custom of exposing the daughters.
* ↑ Early in the spring of 1885 the pool of Waiapuka, said to be connected with other legends beside that of Laieikawai, was visited by Mr. Daggett, editor of the Legends and Myths of Hawaii, with a party of ladies and gentlemen, accompanied by a number of natives. One of these plunged into the pool and disappeared in the cavern, after which his eyes were visible through an orifice. It is said that none of the party had ever before seen the passage attempted, and that the natives were overjoyed at the discovery. The visitor cast mystery about the method of his entrance. The pool is described as follows: "Entering the district of Koolauloa the next day, and approaching the coast over a broad stretch of grassy meadow but slightly above the level of the ocean, our party was suddenly brought to a halt beside a pool of clear water, nearly round, and perhaps a hundred feet in diameter. The surface of the pool was ten or twelve feet below the level of the surrounding plain, and its even banks of solid rock dropped almost perpendicularly into water of unknown depth. The volcano of the pool is affected neither by rain nor drought, and the native belief is that it is fed by springs at the bottom, and has a subterranean drainage to the ocean, some two or three miles distant."
* ↑ According to Myths and Legends, here much less definite, he sacrifices with black pig, white fowl, and bunch of awa, after which follows the thunder.
* ↑ They send forth at night the fragrance of the flowers whose names they bear.
* ↑ 2 This is the mele of the sisters only alluded to in Legends and Myths. The chief is willing to take with him the youngest sister, but she refuses to desert the others.