Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology) Part 17

Ke-au-miki stood looking for a path, but could only see what seemed to be pahoehoe lava. The tail of the dragon was like a kukui-tree-trunk lying in the water. He saw the tail switching and rising up to strike him. Then he knew that this was a kupua. The tail almost struck him on the head. He called to Kahuli in Kuai-he-lani, who sent a mighty wind and hurled aside the waters, caught up the body of the dragon and let it fall, smas.h.i.+ng it on the rocks, breaking the beds of lava.

Then Ke-au-miki rushed over the river and up the precipices, speeding along to Pa-ai-ie, where the long ohia point of Pana-ewa is found, then turned toward the sea and went to Haena, to the place where the little stones aala-manu are found. He picked up the stones and ran to Pana-ewa and got the awa hanging on the tree, tied up the awa and stones and hurried back. He crossed the gulch at Konolii and met a man, Lolo-ka-eha, who tried to take the awa away from him. He was a robber.

When they came face to face, Ke-au-miki caught the man with his hand, hurled him over the precipice and killed him. When he saw that this man was dead, he ran as swiftly as the wind until he met a very beautiful woman, Wai-puna-lei. She saw him and asked him to be her husband, but he would not stop. He crossed Hilo boundaries to Hamakua, to the place where the kapa-trees were growing, as the sun was going down over the palis. He came to the temple door and laid down his burden.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE HOME OF THE DRAGONS NEAR HILO]

Then Ke-au-kai said: "This is my word to all the people: Prepare the awa while I take the little stones, pour awa into a cup: I will cover it up and we will watch the signs. If, while I chant, the bubbles on the awa come to the left side, we will find Haina-kolo. If they go to the right, she is fully lost. Let all the people keep silence; no noise, no running about, no sleeping. Watch all the signs and the clouds in the heavens."

Then he chanted:

"O Ku and Kane and Ka.n.a.loa, Let the magic power come.

Amama ua noa.

Tabu is lifted from My bird-catching place for food.

You are a stranger, I am a resident.

Let the friend be taken care of.

United is the earth of the tabu woman. Amama."

The bubbles stood on the right side, and the priest said, "We shall never find Haina-kolo; the G.o.ds have gone away." Olopana said: "I am much troubled for my brother and sister, and that child I wanted for the chief of this land. I do not understand why these things have come to us."

All the people were silent, weeping softly, but Ke-au-kai and his brother were not troubled, for they knew their chief and wife were in the care of the aumakuas.

When Lei-makani had grown up, Luu-kia took him as her husband. He went surf-riding daily. She was very jealous of Maile, who would often go surf-riding with him. Lei-makani did not care for her, for he knew she was a sister of his mother although she had a child by him. One day, when he went with Maile, Luu-kia was angry and caught that child and killed it by das.h.i.+ng it against a stone.

The servants went down to the beach, waiting for Lei-makani to come to land. Then they told him about the death of his child and their fear for him if he went up to the house with Maile. Lei-makani left his surf-board and went to the house weeping, and found the child's body by the stone. He took a piece of kapa and wrapped it up, carrying the broken body down to a fountain, where he cleansed it and offered chants and incantations until the child became alive. His mother, Haina-kolo, heard the following chants and came to her son, for the voice was carried to her by kupuas who had magic powers. The child's name was Lono-kai. He wrapped it again in soft warm kapas and chanted while he washed the child, naming the fountain Kama-ahala (a child has pa.s.sed away):

"Kama-ahala smells of the blood; The sick smell of the blood rises.

Washed away in the earth is the blood; Hard is the red blood Warmed by the heat of the heavens, Laid out under the s.h.i.+ning sky.

Lono-kai-o-lohia is dead."

Then the voice of the child was heard in a low moan from the bundle, saying, "Lono-kai-o-lohia [Lono possessed of the Ala spirit] is alive."

The father heard the voice and softly uttered another chant:

"In the silence Has been heard the G.o.ds of the night; What is this wailing over us?

Wailing for the death of Lono, the spirit of the sea--dead!"

The voice came again from the kapas, "Lono, the spirit of the sea, is alive." Lei-makani's love for his child was overflowing, and again he uttered an incantation to his own parents:

"O Ku, the father!

O Hina, the mother!

Olopana was the first-born; Haina-kolo, the sister, was born: Haina-kolo and Ke-au-nini were the parents: Lei-makani was the child: I am Lei-makani, the child of Haina-kolo, The sacred woman of Waipio's precipices; My mother is living among the ripe halas; For us was the fruit of the ulii; I was found by the fisherman; I am the child of the pali hula-anu; I was cared for by one of my family Inland at Opaeloa; They gave me the name Lopa-iki-hele-wale [Little lazy fellow having nothing]; But I am Lei-makani--you shall hear it."

His heart was heavy with longing for his mother, and the G.o.ds of the wind, the wind brothers, took his plaintive love-chant to the ears of Haina-kolo, who had wandered in her insanity, but was now free from her craze and had become herself. She followed that voice over the precipices and valleys to the top of a precipice. Standing there and looking down she saw her child and grandchild below, and she chanted:

"Thy voice I have heard Softly echoed by the pali, Wailing against the pali; Thy voice, my child beloved; My child, indeed; My child, when the cloud hung over And the rainbow light was above us, That day when we floated together When the sea was breaking my heart; My child of the cape of Ka-ia, When the sun was hanging above us.

Where have I been?

Tell Ke-au-nini-ula-o-ka-lani; I was in the midst of the sea With the child of our love; My child, my little child, Where are you? Oh, come back!"

Then she went down the precipice and met her son holding his child in his arms, and wailed:

"My lord from the fogs of the inland, From the precipices fighting the wind, Striking down along the ridges; My child, with the voice of a bird, Echoed by the precipice of Pakohi, Shaking and dancing on inaccessible places, Laughing out on the broken waters Where we were floating in danger; There I loved dearly your voice Fighting with waves While the fierce storm was above us Seen by your many G.o.ds Who dwell in the s.h.i.+ning sky-- Auwe for us both!"

They waited a little while, until the time when Lono-kai became strong again. Then they went up to the village.

Haina-kolo had run into the forest, her wet pa-u torn off, no clothing left. Her long hair was her cloak, clothing her from head to foot. She wandered until cold, then dressed herself with leaves. As her right senses returned she made warm garments of leaves and ate fruits of the forest. When they came to the village they met the people who knew Haina-kolo. She dwelt there until Lono-kai grew up. He and his father looked like twins, having great resemblance, people told them, to Ke-au-nini. The boy asked, "Where is my grandfather, Ke-au-nini?"

Lei-makani said: "I never saw your grandfather. He was very tabu and sacred. He killed his own father, Ku-aha-ilo, G.o.d of the heavens. I know by my mana [spirit power] that he is with the daughters of Milu."

The boy said: "I must go and find him. I will go in my spirit body, leaving this human body. You must not forbid the journey." Ke-au-kai, the priest, said: "You cannot find him unless you learn what to do before you go. Those chiefs of Milu have many sports and games. I tell you these things must be learned before you go into that land. If you are able to win against the spirits of that place you can get your grandfather."

All the chiefs aided the boy to acquire skill in all sports. They went to the fields of Paaohau. Nuanua, the most skilful teacher of hula, taught him to dance. The highest chiefs and chiefesses went with him to help, taking their retinues with them. Lei-makani said: "The knowledge of sports is the means by which you will catch your grandfather. Now be careful. Do not be stingy with food. Give to others and take care of the people."

They went up in a great company, and Haina-kolo wondered at the beauty of the boy, and asked why they were travelling. Lono-kai told them the reason for his journey and desire to see the field of sports.

Nuanua, the hula teacher, sent his a.s.sistants to get all kinds of leaves and flowers used in the hula, then sent for a black pig to be used as an omen. If it ran to Lono-kai, he would become a good dancer; if not, he would fail. The pig went to him. The priest offered this prayer:

"Laka is living where the forest leaves are trembling, The ghost-G.o.d of dancers above and below, From the boundary of the North to the place most southern; O Laka, your altar is covered with leaves, The dancing leaves of the ieie vine; This offering of leaves is the labor of the G.o.ds, The G.o.ds of your family, Pele and Hiiaka; The women living in warm winds come here for the toil, And this labor of ours is learning your dance.

Tabu laid down; tabu lifted. Amama ua noa [We are through]!"

The priest lifted his eyes, and the pig was seen lying at the foot of the boy. Then he commenced teaching the boy the kilu and the first dance. They were thirty days learning the dances, and the boy learned all those his teachers knew.

Then they went around Hawaii, studying the dances. He was told to go back and get all the new ideas and seek the G.o.ds to learn their newest dance, for theirs differed from those of his teachers. He was to seek this knowledge in dreams. Lei-makani said: "Your teachers have shown you the slow way; if that is all you know, you will win fame, but not victory. You must learn from the G.o.ds." Lono-kai again went to Hamakua with his companions and learned how to play konane, the favorite game of Ke-au-nini. The teacher said, "I have taught you all I know inside and outside, as I would not teach the other young chiefs." The boy said to him, "There is one thing more,--give offerings to the G.o.ds that they may teach us in our dreams newer and better ways."

So they waited quietly, offering sacrifices. The priests told him to set apart a pig while he made a prayer. If the pig died during the prayer, he would not forget anything learned. The boy laid his right hand on the pig and began to pray:

"Here is a pig, an offering to the G.o.ds.

O Lono in the Under-world, Lono in the sky: O Kane, who makes not-to-be-broken laws, Kane in the darkness, Kane in the hot wind, Kane of the generations, Kane of the thunder, Kane in the whirlwind and the storm: Here is labor--labor of the G.o.ds.

My body is alive for you!

Filled up is the Nuu-pule.

My prayer is for those you hold dear.

O Laka, come with knowledge and magic power!

Laka, dancing in the moving forest leaves Of the mountain ridges and the valleys, Return and bestow the knowledge Of Pele and Hiiaka, the guardians of the wind, Knowing the mult.i.tude of the G.o.ds of the night, Knowing Aukele-nui-aku in the Under-world.

O people of the night, Here is the pig, the offering!

Come with knowledge, magic power, and safety.

Amama ua noa."

Then the boy lifted his hand and the pig lay silent in death. Then came thunder shaking the earth, and lightning flas.h.i.+ng in flames, and a storm breaking in red rain. Mists came and the shadows of the thousands of G.o.ds of Ke-au-nini fell upon the boy. The teachers and friends sat in perfect silence for a long time. The storm was beating outside, and the boy was overcome with weariness and wondered at the silence of his friends.

Rainbow colors were about him, and the people were awed by their fears and sat still until evening came. Then the teacher asked the boy if he saw what had been done in the darkness resting over him, and if he could explain to them. The boy said, "I do not understand you; perhaps my teacher can explain."

Nuanua said: "I am growing old and have never seen such things above any one learning the dance. You have come to me modestly, like one of the common people, when I should have gone to you, and now the G.o.ds show your worth and power and their favor."

Then he took a piece of wood from the hula altar which was covered with leaves and flowers, and, putting it in a cup of awa, shook it, and looked, and said to the boy: "This is the best I can do for you. Now the G.o.ds will take you in their care." Then he poured awa into cups, pa.s.sing them to all the people as he chanted incantations, all the company clapping their hands. Then they drank. But the boy's cup was drunk by the eepas of Po (gnomes of the night). So the company feasted and the night became calm. Lono-kai that night left his friends with Nuanua and journeyed on. He waited some days and then told Lei-makani he thought he was ready. He said: "Yes, I have heard about your success, but I will see what you can do. We will wait another ten days before you go." Then for two days all the people of Waipio brought their offerings. They built a great lanai, and feasted. Lei-makani told the people that he had called them together to see the wonderful power in the sports of the boy. So the boy stood up and chanted:

"O Kuamu-amu [the little people of the clouds of the sky], The alii thronging in crowds from Kuai-he-lani, On the shoulders of Moana-liha, divided at the waters, Divided at the waters of the heavy mist, And the rain coming from the skies, And the storm rus.h.i.+ng inland.

Broken into mists are the falls of the mountains,-- Mists that bathe the buds of the flowers, Opening the buds below the precipices.

Arise, O beloved one!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: 244. Kihikihi, (Zanclus Canescens)]

Ke-au-nini heard this chant, even down in Po, while he was sporting with the eepas of Milu, while his spirit body was with his friend Popo-alaea. He repeated the same chant, and the ghosts all rejoiced and laughed, and Laka leaped to his side and danced before him. They had the same sports as the noted ones on Hawaii. Lono-kai danced in magic power before all the people until the time came for him to go along the path of his visions of the night. All omens and signs had been noted and were found to be favorable. One of the old priests told the people to make known their thought about the best path for the young chief, but they were silent. Then Moli-lele, an old priest who had the spirit of the unihipilis resting upon him, said: "I know that there will be many troubles. Cold and fierce winds come over the sea. Low tides come in the morning. The land of Kane-huna-moku rises in the coral surf." He chanted: