Part 5

Soon afterwards they came in sight of land; Au-ke-le knew that this was the country that his mo-o grandmother had told him about. And, remembering what he had been told about the dangers of this land, he asked his brothers to let him take charge of the canoe, so that they might avoid these dangers. His brothers said, “Why did you not build a canoe for yourself, so that you might take charge of it and give orders about it?” Au-ke-le said, “If you give me charge of the canoe, we shall be saved; but if you take charge yourselves, we shall be destroyed.” His brothers laughed at him.

In a while they saw birds approaching the ship—four birds. Au-ke-le, remembering what his mo-o grandmother had told him, knew that these were the Queen’s brothers. They came and lit on the yards, and asked of those below what they had come for. Au-ke-le told his brothers to say that they had not come to make war and that they had come on a voyage of sight-seeing. His brothers would not say this; instead they cried out to the birds, “Ours is a ship to make war.” The birds flew back; they told their sister Na-maka that the ship had come to make war. Then the Queen put on her war-skirt and went down to the shore.

Au-ke-le knew that all in the canoe would be destroyed. He took up his calabash that had the Magic in it, and he threw it into the sea. As he did this he saw the Queen standing there with her war-skirt on. She took up her feathered standard and shook it in the air. Au-ke-le sprang from the ship and swam after the floating calabash. Then the ship and all who were on it disappeared: Na-maka the Queen made a sign, and they were seen no more.

And now Au-ke-le was left on the land that his grandmother had told him about—the land of Ka-la-ke’e-nui-a-Kane, where the stars rest on the tops of the mountains. He brought the calabash that had his Magic in it and the skirt of feathers that his mo-o grandmother had given him, and he rested under a tree by the sea-shore.

The dog that was called Mo-e-la, the Day Sleeper, smelt his blood and barked. And, hearing her dog bark, Na-maka the Queen came out of her house and called to her four bird-brothers: “You must go and find out what man of flesh and blood my dog is barking at.” But her four brothers, being sleepy, said, “Send your two women-servants and let us rest.” So the Queen sent her two women-servants to find out what the dog was barking at. “And if it be a creature of flesh and blood, kill him,” said the Queen.

Then the two servants went towards the shore where Au-ke-le was resting. But his Magic told him what was coming and what he should do. “When they come you must call the servants by their names, and they will be so abashed at a stranger’s knowing them that they will not know what to do.”

So when the Queen’s two women-servants came before him Au-ke-le called out, “It is U-po-ho and it is Hua-pua-i-na-nea.” The two servants were so abashed because their names were known to this stranger that they stood there looking at each other.

Then Au-ke-le called them to him, and they came, and they sat near him. He asked them to play the game that is played with black and white stones. He moved the stones, and as he moved them he chanted, and his chant was to let them know who he was.

“This is my turn; your turn now; Now we pause; the blacks cannot win; The whites have won: Nothing can break the boy from Ku-ai-he-lani.”

The servants knew then that he was from Ku-ai-he-lani, the Country that Supports the Heavens. They said to him, “We were sent to kill you, but we are going back to tell the Queen that in no place could we find a creature of flesh and blood.”

They returned, and they told the Queen that neither on the uplands nor on the sea-shore, neither on the tops of the trees nor on the tops of the cliffs, were they able to find a creature of flesh and blood. While they were speaking the Queen’s dog came out and barked again. Her four bird-brothers had rested, and the Queen sent them to search for the creature of flesh and blood that the dog had barked at.

Then the Magic in his calabash spoke again to Au-ke-le. “Four birds are coming towards you. You must greet them and you must call them by their names. They will be so abashed at their names being known to a stranger that they will not know what to do.”

As the four birds came towards him Au-ke-le called aloud: “This is Ka-ne-mo-e, and I give greetings to him. This is Ka-ne-a-pua, and I give greetings to him. This is Le-a-pua, and I give greetings to him. And this is Ka-hau-mana.” The four bird-brothers were amazed to hear their names spoken by a stranger, and they said to each other, “What can we do with this man who knows our names, even?” And another said, “He can take our lives from us.” And they spoke to each other again and said, “We have one thing worthy to give to this man: let us give him our sister, the Queen.”

So the four brothers came to Au-ke-le, and they offered him the Queen to be his wife. Au-ke-le was pleased; he told them that he would go to the Queen’s house.

The four bird-brothers went back to tell the Queen about the man who was coming to her and to whom they had promised her. The Queen said, “If he is such that he can overcome the dangers that are before him, I will marry him, and he will be the ruler with me of the land of Ka-la-ke’e-nui-a-Kane.”

When the brothers had gone his Magic spoke again to Au-ke-le, and it said: “When you go to the Queen, don’t enter the house at once, for that would mean your death. If they offer you food in a calabash, don’t eat it, for that would mean your death. The dog that is called Mo-e-la will be set upon you, and if you overcome him the four brothers will attack you. Eat the melons on the vines outside the house, and they will be meat and drink for you.”

After hearing the words that his Magic had said to him, Au-ke-le went to the house of the Queen. He stood outside the door, and as he stood there the Queen said to her women-servants, “Use your powers now and destroy this creature of flesh and blood.” But when the servants saw the man who knew their names, one changed herself into a rat and ran into a hole, and the other changed herself into a lizard and ran up a tree.

Then Mo-e-la the dog came towards him; he opened his mouth wide and he showed all his teeth. But when he was touched by the skirt that Au-ke-le had been given, the dog was turned into ashes. And then the Queen, on seeing the death of her watchdog, bowed down her head and wept.

She called upon her brothers to kill the stranger. But they were abashed at his knowing their names, and they wanted to hide from him. One turned himself into a rock and lay by the doorway, and another turned himself into a log of wood and lay beside his brother, and the third changed himself into a coral reef, and the fourth became a pool of water.

Food was brought to Au-ke-le, but he would eat none of it. He went to the vine, and he ate the melons that were growing there, and he found that the melons gave food and drink to him. And when the Queen and her brothers saw him eating the melons they said to each other: “How wonderful this man is! He is eating the food that we eat. Who could have told him where to find it?” After that he won the Queen, and she became his wife.

But it was after his adventure with the bird Ha-lu-lu that Au-ke-le knew that the Queen had come to love him and was inclined to be kind to him. One day he was standing by the sea-shore, looking out to the place where the canoe that had had his brothers on board was sunk, when a great shadow came over where he was and covered the light of the sun. He looked up, and he saw above him the outstretched wings of a great bird. Immediately he picked up the calabash that had his Magic in it; then the bird Ha-lu-lu seized him and flew off with him.

The bird flew to a cave that was in the face of a great high cliff. He stowed Au-ke-le there. And Au-ke-le, searching the cave, found two men who had been carried off by Ha-lu-lu, the great bird. “We are two that are to be devoured,” said the men. “What does the bird do when she comes to devour us?” said Au-ke-le. “She stretches her right wing into the cave and draws out a man. She devours him. Then she stretches her left wing into the cave and draws out another man.” “Is the cave deep?” Au-ke-le asked. “It is deep,” said the men. “Go, then,” said Au-ke-le, “and make a fire in the depth of the cave.”

The men did this. Then Au-ke-le opened the calabash that his mo-o grandmother had given him, and he took out the axe that was in it. He waited for the giant bird to stretch her wing within. When she did he cut the wing off with his axe, and the two men took it and threw the wing on the fire. The other wing reached in; Au-ke-le cut off the other wing, too. Then the beak was stuck in, and Au-ke-le cut off head and beak.

After Ha-lu-lu the great bird had been killed, Au-ke-le took the feathers from her head and threw them over the cliff. The feathers flew on until they came to where the Queen was. She saw them, and she knew them for the head feathers of the bird Ha-lu-lu, and she cried when she saw them.

When her brothers came to her she said, “Here are the head-feathers of the bird Ha-lu-lu, and now there is no great bird to guard the Island.” But her brothers said, “It is right that Ha-lu-lu should be killed, for she devoured men.” They waited then to see what their sister would do to Au-ke-le, who was in the cave. She brought the rainbow, the short-ended rainbow that has only three colors, red, yellow, and green, and she set it against the cliff. And by the bridge of the rainbow Au-ke-le was able to get down from the cliff.

When his wife and her brothers saw him come back they welcomed Au-ke-le with joy. The Queen gave him her kingdom and everything else that was at her command. And she sent a message to her uncles, who were in the sky, to tell them that she had given her husband all her possessions—the things that were above and below, that were on the uplands and on the lowlands, the drift iron, the iron that stands in the ground, the whale’s tooth, the turtle-shell, the things that grow on the land, and the cluster of stars. All these things were his now. But with all these things in his possession Au-ke-le was not satisfied, for he thought upon the canoe that was sunken and on his brothers who were all drowned.

He dreamed of his brothers and of his young nephew; and, with the thoughts that he had, he could not enjoy himself on the land that he ruled over. And, seeing her husband so sad, sorrow for him entered the heart of the Queen. He told her that he thought of the men who had come with him and who were now dead. And when he spoke of what was in his mind the Queen said: “If you have great strength and courage, your brothers may come back to life again; but if your strength or your courage fail, they will never be restored to life, and your own life, perhaps, will be lost.” Then Au-ke-le said to the Queen, “What is it that I must do to win them back to life?” And the Queen said: “You must use all your strength and your courage to gain the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne. If you are able to gain it and bring it to them, your brothers and your nephew will live again.” When Au-ke-le heard this from the Queen he ceased to be sorrowful; he ate and he drank, and he had gladness in his possessions. Then he said to the Queen, “What way must I take to gain the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne?” His wife said: “I will show you the way: from the place where we are standing you must go towards the rising sun, never turning from the road that I set you on. And at the end of your journey you will come to the place where you will find the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne.”

When Au-ke-le heard this he put on his skirt of feathers that his mo-o grandmother had given him; he took up the calabash that had his Magic in it; he kissed his wife farewell; and he took the path from his house that went straight towards the rising sun.

After he had been on his way for a month the Queen came to the door of her house, and she looked towards where he had gone. She saw him, and he was still upon his way. At the end of another month she went out again and looked towards where he had gone. He was still upon the path that led to the rising sun. Another month passed, and she went and looked towards where he had gone. No trace of her husband could she see, and she knew that he must have gone off the path she had shown him. She began to weep, and when her four brothers came before her she said, “Your brother-in-law has fallen into space, and he is lost.”

She then sent her brothers to bring all things and creatures together that they might all mourn for Au-ke-le. They went and they brought the night and the day, the sun, the stars, the thunder, the rainbow, the lightning, the waterspout, the mist, the fine rain. And the grandfather of the Queen, Kau-kihi-ka-malama, who is the Man in the Moon, was sent for, too.

But where indeed was Au-ke-le?

He had left the straight line towards the rising sun; he had fallen into space, and now he was growing weaker and weaker as he fell. But he still had the calabash that had his Magic in it. He held it under his arm; and now he spoke and asked where they were. His Magic said to him: “We have gone outside the line that was shown to us, and now I think that we shall never get back. There is nothing in the sky to help us or to show us the way; all that was in the sky has gone down to the earth—the night and the day, the sun and the stars, the thunder, the rainbow, the lightning, the waterspout, the mist, the fine rain. No, I can see no thing and no creature that can help us.” Au-ke-le asked, “Who is it that is still up there?” His Magic replied: “Go straight and lay hold upon him, and we may be saved. That is Kau-kihi-ka-malama, the Man in the Moon.”

The reason that Kau-kihi-ka-malama had not gone down to earth with the others was that he had delayed to prepare food to bring down to the earth, for he thought that there was no food there. He was just starting off when Au-ke-le came up to him and held him tightly. “Whose conceited child are you?” the Man in the Moon asked. “My back has never been climbed, even by my own granddaughter, and now you come here and climb over it. Whose conceited child are you?” “Yours,” said Au-ke-le. “I will take you to earth, and my granddaughter Na-maka will tell me who you are.” And so Kau-kihi-ka-malama brought Au-ke-le back to earth. And when he reached the earth all the people there wept with joy to see him. Then the sun, the day, the night, the lightning, the thunder, the mist, the fine rain, the waterspout, and the Man in the Moon all returned back to the heavens.

But nothing would do Au-ke-le but to set out again to find the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne. So he started off from the door of his house, and he went in a straight line towards the rising sun. And in six months from the time he started he stood by the edge of a hole at the bottom of which was the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne.

He climbed over the shoulder of the guard, and the guard said to him: “Eh, there! Whose conceited child are you? My back has never been climbed over before, and now you come here and do it. Whose conceited child are you?” “Your own,” said Au-ke-le. “My own by whom?” “My father is Iku,” said Au-ke-le. “Then you are the grandson of Ka-po-ino and Ka-mo’o-i-na-nea.” “I am.” “My greetings to you, my lord,” said the guardian of the edge of the hole.

Au-ke-le had to go deep down into the hole to get the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne. The guardian of the edge of the hole warned him that he must not strike the bamboo that was growing on one side, because if he did the sound would reach the ears of one who would cover up the water. Au-ke-le went down. He came to a second guardian, and he made himself known to him, claiming relationship with him through Ka-mo’o-i-na-nea, his mo-o grandmother. This guardian told him to go on, but he warned him not to fall into the lama trees that were growing on one side, for if he did the sound would reach the ears of one who would cover up the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne.

He went on, and he came to the third guardian, and he made himself known to him, claiming relationship with him through his mo-o grandmother. This guardian told him to keep on his way, but he warned him, above all things, not to fall into the loula palms, for if he did the sound would reach one who would cover up the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne.

At last he came before the fourth guardian. “Who are you?” he was asked. “The child of Iku.” “What has brought you here?” he was asked. “To gain the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne.” “You shall get it. Go to your grand-aunt who is at the base of the cliff. She is the Old Woman of the Forbidden Sea. She is blind. You will find her roasting bananas. When she reaches out to take one to eat, you take it and eat it. Do this until all the bananas have been taken from her. When she says, ‘What mischievous fellow has come here?’ take up the ashes and sprinkle them on her right side, and then climb into her lap.”

Au-ke-le kept going and ever going until he came to where his grand-aunt sat, roasting bananas—his grand-aunt, the Old Woman by the Forbidden Sea. He took the bananas that she was about to eat; he sprinkled her with ashes on her right side, and he climbed into her lap. “Whose conceited child are you?” said the blind old woman. “Your own,” said Au-ke-le. “My own through whom?” “Your own through Iku.” When his grand-aunt heard him say this she asked him what he had come for. He told her he had come for the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne.

Then the Old Woman by the Forbidden Sea made up a plan by which he might get the water. Ho-a-lii, he who watched above the water, had hands that were all black, and no hands but his were permitted to take up the Water of Ka-ne. His grand-aunt made Au-ke-le’s hands black, and she showed him where to go to come to the water.

Au-ke-le went there. He put down his blackened hands, and the guards gave him a gourd of water. But this, as he had been told by the Old Woman by the Forbidden Sea, was bitter water, and not the Water of Everlasting Life. He threw the water out. He reached his hands down again; and this time the Water of Ka-ne was put into his hands, the Water of Everlasting Life.

He took the gourd into his hands, and he ran back. But he fell into loula palms as he ran on, and the sound came to the ears of Ho-a-lii, who was the guardian of the water. Ho-a-lii listened, but it was two months before another sound came to him. That was when Au-ke-le got entangled in the lama trees that grew on the side of the hole that he had to travel up. Ho-a-lii kept awake and listened. But no sound came to him for two months more. Then he heard the rustling of the bamboo trees that Au-ke-le had fallen into. He came in pursuit. But now Au-ke-le was out of the hole and was flying towards the earth. Ho-a-lii followed; but when he asked the watcher how long it was since one had passed that way, he was told that a year and six months had gone by since one came up through the hole. Ho-a-lii could not catch up with one who by this time had gone so far; and Au-ke-le, with the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne, came back to the earth.

He came to where his brothers and his nephew were drowned in the sea, and he poured half of the Water of Ka-ne into the sea. Nothing came up from the sea, and Au-ke-le sat there weeping. Then his wife came to him, and she blamed him for pouring so much of the water into the sea. Out of what was left she took water in her hands and poured it over the sea. Then Au-ke-le looked. In a while there stood a canoe with men climbing the masts, and folding the sails, and coiling the ropes. They were his brothers. Au-ke-le greeted them, and his brothers knew him, and they came to the land.

Then Au-ke-le gave his brothers all his possessions. But they were not satisfied to live on that land with him, and after a while they sailed away for other lands.

Then after long years Au-ke-le said to his wife: “My wife, we have lived long together; I would not die in a foreign land, and I beg that you will let me go so that I may see Ku-ai-he-lani, the country of my parents.”

He went, with his wife’s four brothers. And they went by a course that brought them there in two days and two nights. Upon their arrival Au-ke-le looked over the land; but he saw no people, and the sound of birds singing or of cocks crowing did not come to him, and then he saw that the land of Ku-ai-he-lani was all grown over with weeds.

He came to the mouth of the cave where his mo-o grandmother used to be. He shouted down to her, but no sound came back from her to him. He went down. The coral of the floor of the sea had grown over her, and she was not able to answer the call of her grandson Au-ke-le.

He broke away the pieces of coral that were around her. He saw the body of his mo-o grandmother, and it was reduced to a thread, almost. He called her name, “Ka-mo’o-i-na-nea.”

Ka-mo’o-i-na-nea said “Yes,” and she looked up and saw her grandson. She greeted him and asked him what had brought him to her. “I came to see you,” he said, “and to ask you where are Iku and the others.”

“Iku fought with Ma-ku-o-ae,” his grandmother told him. When she said that, Au-ke-le knew that Death and his father had met.

PI-KO-I: THE BOY WHO WAS GOOD AT SHOOTING ARROWS.

“What is the cause of all that shouting down there?” said Pi-ko-i to his father, Ala-la the Raven. “They are playing olohu,” said Ala-la, his father. “And how is that game played?” said Pi-ko-i. “It is played in this way,” said his father. “There are two in the game; they roll a disk of stone, and the crowd shouts for the one who rolls it farthest. That is the reason of the noise down there.” “I will go down and look at the games they are playing,” said Pi-ko-i. “You cannot go,” said his father, “until after to-day.”

Later on there was more shouting. “What are they shouting for now?” said Pi-ko-i to Ala-la the Raven. “They are playing a game called pahee now,” said Ala-la. “They slide a stick down a grassy slope, and when the stick thrown by one slides farther than the stick thrown by another the people all shout.” “I will go and watch this game,” said Pi-ko-i. “You cannot go until after to-day,” said his father.

The next day there was shouting again at the same place. “What is this fresh shouting for?” said Pi-ko-i to Ala-la, his father. “They are playing a game now called ko-ie-ie.” “How is that game played?” said Pi-ko-i. “It is played in this way,” said his father. “A board is smoothed and thrown into the river at a place near the rapids. It has to float steadily in one place without going down the rapids. The one whose board floats the steadiest without being carried over the rapids wins. That is the game of ko-ie-ie.” “May I go down to watch that game?” said Pi-ko-i. “You may go down and join in the game,” said his father.

Then Ala-la smoothed a board so that it would float steadily on the water, and he gave it to his son Pi-ko-i. Pi-ko-i then went where the crowd was; and this was the first time he had ever been with a crowd.

He had a sharp face, and he had little bones, and he had hair that was like a rat’s hair. When the crowd saw him they cried out, “A rat, a rat! What is a rat doing amongst us?” Pi-ko-i did not mind what they said; he went to where they were casting their boards on the current, and he cast on it the board that his father had smoothed for him.