The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai Part 20

"Aiwohikupua," replied the girl.

Again Laieikawai asked, "What are the names of each of you?"

Then she told them all.

Then Laieikawai understood that these were the persons who came that first night.

Said Laieikawai, "Your sisters and your brother I know well, if it was really you who came to me that night; but you I did not hear."

"Yes; we were the ones," said Kahalaomapuana.

Said Laieikawai, "If you were the ones who came that night, who guided you here? For the place is unfrequented, not a single person comes here."

The girl said, "We had a native of the place to guide us, the same man who spoke to you in behalf of Kauakahialii." Then it was clear he was a fellow countryman of theirs.

The end of all this talk was that Laieikawai bade her grandmother to prepare a house for the sisters of Aiwohikupua.

Then, through the supernatural power of her grandmother, Waka, the matter was quickly dispatched, the house was made ready.

When the house was prepared Laieikawai gave orders to Kahalaomapuana: "You return, and to-night come here with all your sisters; when I have seen them then you shall play to us on your merry instrument."

When Kahalaomapuana rejoined her sisters they asked what she had done--what kind of interview she had had with the princess.

Answered the girl, "When I reached the door of the palace a hunchback opened the door to receive me, and when I saw the princess resting on the wings of birds, at the sight I trembled with fear and fell down to the earth. For this reason when I was taken in to talk with the princess I did just what she wished, and she asked about us and I told her everything. The result is, fortune is ours; she has commanded us all to go to her to-night."

When they heard this the sisters were joyful.

At the time the princess had directed they left the hollow tree where they had lived as fugitives.

They went and stood at the door of the chief-house. Laieikawai's attendant opened the door, and they saw just what their sister had described to them.

But when they actually saw Laieikawai, then they were filled with dread, and all except Kahalaomapuana ran trembling with fear and fell to the ground.

And at the princess's command the strangers were brought into the presence of the princess, and the princess was pleased with them.

And at this interview with the princess she promised them her protection, as follows:

"I have heard from your younger sister that you are all of the same parentage and the same blood; therefore I shall treat you all as one blood with me, and we shall protect each other. Whatever one says, the others shall do. Whatever trouble comes to one, the others shall share; and for this reason I have asked our grandmother to furnish you a home where you may live virgin like myself, no one taking a husband without the others' consent. So shall it be well with us from this time on."[46]

To these conditions the stranger girls agreed; the younger sister answered the princess for them all:

"O princess, we are happy that you receive us; happy, too, that you take us to be your sisters as you have said; and so we obey. Only one thing we ask of you: All of us sisters have been set apart by our parents to take no delight in men; and it is their wish that we remain virgin until the end of our days; and so we, your servants, beseech you not to defile us with any man, according to the princess's pleasure, but to allow us to live virgin according to our parents' vow."

And this request of the strangers seemed good to the princess.

After talking with the princess concerning all these things, they were dismissed to the house prepared for them.

As soon as the girls went to live in the house they consulted how they should obey the princess's commands, and they appointed their younger sister to speak to the princess about what they had agreed upon.

One afternoon, just as the princess woke from sleep, came Kahalaomapuana to amuse the princess by playing on the trumpet until the princess wished it no longer.

Then she told Laieikawai what the sisters had agreed upon and said, "O princess, we have consulted together how to protect you, and all five of us have agreed to become the bodyguard for your house; ours shall be the consent, ours the refusal. If anyone wishes to see you, be he a man, or maybe a woman, or even a chief, he shall not see you without our approval. Therefore I pray the princess to consent to what we have agreed."

Said Laieikawai, "I consent to your agreement, and yours shall be the guardians.h.i.+p over all the land of Paliuli."

Now the girls' main purpose in becoming guardians of Paliuli was, if Aiwohikupua should again enter Paliuli, to have power to bar their enemy.

Thus they dwelt in Paliuli, and while they dwelt there never did they weary of life. Never did they even see the person who prepared them food, nor the food itself, save when, at mealtimes, the birds brought them food and cleared away the remnants when they had done. So Paliuli became to them a land beloved, and there they dwelt until the trouble came upon them which was wrought by Halaaniani.

Here, O reader, we leave speaking of the sisters of Aiwohikupua, and in Chapter XIII of this tale will speak again of Aiwohikupua and his coming to Kauai.

CHAPTER XIII

At the time when Kahalaomapuana leaped from the canoe into the sea it was going very swiftly, so she fell far behind. The canoe turned back to recover Kahalaomapuana, but the party did not find her; then Aiwohikupua abandoned his young sister and sailed straight for Kauai.

As Aiwohikupua sailed away from Hawaii, between Oahu and Kauai he spoke to his paddlers as follows: "When we get back to Kauai let no one tell that we have been to Hawaii after Laieikawai, lest shame come to me and I be spoken of jeeringly; and therefore I lay my commands upon you.

Whoever speaks of this journey of ours and I hear of it, his penalty is death, his and all his offspring, as I vowed to those paddlers of mine before."

They returned to Kauai. A few days afterwards Aiwohikupua, the chief, wished to make a feast for the chiefs and for all his friends on Kauai.

While the feast was being made ready the chief gave word to fetch the feasters; with all the male chiefs, only one woman of rank was allowed to come to the celebration; this was Kailiokalauokekoa.[47]

On the day of the feast all the guests a.s.sembled, the food was ready spread, and the drink at the feast was the _awa_.

Before eating, all the guests together took up their cups of _awa_ and drank. During the feasting, the _awa_ had not the least effect upon them.

And because the _awa_ had no effect, the chief hastily urged his _awa_ chewers to chew the _awa_ a second time. When the chief's command was carried out, the guests and the chief himself took up their cups of _awa_ all together and drank. When this cup of _awa_ was drained the effect of the _awa_ overcame them. But the one who felt the effects most was the chief who gave the feast.

Now, while the chief was drunk, the oath which he swore at sea to the rowers was not forgotten; not from one of his own men was the forbidden story told, but from the mouth of Aiwohikupua himself was the chief's secret heard.

While under the influence of the _awa_, Aiwohikupua turned right around upon Kauakahialii, who was sitting near, and said: "O Kauakahialii, when you were talking to us about Laieikawai, straightway there entered into me desire after that woman; then sleepless were my nights with the wish, to see her; so I sailed and came to Hawaii, two of us went up, until at daylight we reached the uplands of Paliuli; when I went to see the chief's house, it was very beautiful, I was ashamed; therefore I returned here. I returned, in fact, thinking that the little sisters were the ones to get my wish; I fetched them, made the journey with the girls to the house of the princess, let them do their best; when, as it happened, they were all refused, all four sisters except the youngest; for shame I returned. Surely that woman is the most stubborn of all, she has no equal."

While Aiwohikupua talked of Laieikawai's stubbornness, Hauailiki was sitting at the feast, the young singer of Mana, a chief of high rank on the father's side and of unrivaled beauty.

He arose and said to Aiwohikupua, "You managed the affair awkwardly. I do not believe her to be a stubborn woman; give me a chance to stand before her eyes; I should not have to speak, she would come of her own free will to meet me, then you would see us together."

Said Aiwohikupua, "Hauailiki, I wish you would go to Hawaii; if you get Laieikawai, you are a lucky fellow, and I will send men with you and a double canoe; and should you lose in this journey then your lands become mine, and if you return with Laieikawai then all my lands are yours."

After Aiwohikupua had finished speaking, that very night, Hauailiki boarded the double canoe and set sail, but many days pa.s.sed on the journey.

As they sailed they stood off Makaha.n.a.loa, and, looking out, saw the rainbow arching above the beach of Keaau. Said Aiwohikupua's chief counsellor to Hauailiki, "Look well at that rainbow arching the beach there at Keaau. There is Laieikawai watching the surf riding."

Said Hauailiki, "I thought Paliuli was where she lived."