Part 12

The chief, without making any motion, replied: “Wait a little; perhaps this means work for us two. This is my place. If I strike you, you may be my food, and the pieces of your body and your lands and property may fall to me like raindrops. It may be best that you should die, for you are very old, your eyelids hang down, and your skin is dry like that of an unihipili god [a god of skin and bones]. But I am young. This is not the day for our fight. To-morrow we can have our contest. Return to your sea beach; to-morrow I will go down.”

The god thought a moment, and, knowing that the word of a chief was pledged for a battle, decided that he would return to a better place for a victory, so turned and went back to the shore.

The young chief at once called his father and the people, and said: “To-morrow I am going down to fight with our enemy. Perhaps he will kill me; if so, glorious will be my death for you; but I would ask you to command the people to eat until satisfied, lest they be exhausted in the battle to-morrow; then let them sleep.”

He laid out his plan of battle and defence. His mother and the grandparents who had cared for him, with a number of the people, were to fight protected by the growth of trees at the foot of the pali, and were to turn the god and his people toward the houses filled with the wooden gods made by the aumakuas (the ghost-gods).

While all slept, Kauilani went out into the darkness and prayed to the thousands of the multitude of gods to work and establish his power from dawn until night.

In the morning he girded around him his malo of magic power and made ready to go down. His father came to him with a polished spear, its end shaped to a sharp point, and set it up between them, saying: “This spear is an ancestor of yours. It has miraculous power and can tell you what to do. Its name is Koa-wi Koa-wa. It now belongs to you to care for you and fight for you.” The young chief gratefully took the spear and then said to his father: “Your part is to be watchman in the battle to-day. If the smoke of the conflict rises to the sky and then sweeps seaward and at last comes before you, you may know that I am dead; but if the smoke rises to the foot of the precipice and passes along to the great houses, you may know that the enemy is slain.”

Then Kauilani took his spear and went down to the open field near the shore, talking all the way to it and to the gods. When he came to the seashore, he saw the god rising up like a mighty dragon, roaring and making a noise like reverberating thunder. As he rushed upon the chief, there was the sound as of great surf-waves beating on the beach. The sand and soil of the battlefield was tossed up in great clouds. The god fought in his animal body, which was that of a great, swollen sea-monster.

Kauilani whirled his sharp-edged spear with swift bird’s-wing movement, chanting meanwhile: “O Koa-wi Koa-wa, strike! Strike for the lives of us two! Strike!” The power of his magic girdle strengthened his arms, and the spear was ready to act in harmony with every thought of its chief. It struck the open mouth of that god, and turned it toward the precipice and thick trees. Backward it was forced by the swift strokes of the spear. When a rush was made, the chief leaped toward the pali, and thus the god was driven and lured away from his familiar surroundings. He became tangled in the thickets, and was harassed by the attacks of Kauilani’s friends.

At last his face was turned toward the houses filled with gods. The power which all the ghost gods had placed in the images of wood was now descending upon Akua-pehu-ale, and he began to grow weak rapidly. He felt the loss of strength, and turned to make a desperate rush upon the young chief.

Kauilani struck him a heavy blow, and the spear leaped again and again upon him, till he rolled into a mountain stream at a place called Kapaa, out of which he crawled almost drowned. Then he was driven along even to the image houses, where a fierce battle took place, in which the wooden images took part, many of them being torn to pieces by the teeth of Akua-pehu-ale.

Some legends say that Kauilani’s ancestress, Ke-ao-lewa, who had watched over his sister, the bird-child, Lepe-a-moa, had come from her home in the clouds to aid in the defeat of Akua-pehu-ale.

All forces uniting drove their enemy into a great, mysterious cloud of mana, or miraculous power, and he fell dead under a final blow of the cutting spear Koa-wi Koa-wa. Then Kauilani and his warriors rolled the dead body into one of the large houses. There he offered a chant of worship and of sacrifice, consecrating it as an offering to all the gods who had aided him in his battle.

When this ceremony was over he set fire to the houses and burned the body of Akua-pehu-ale and all the wooden images which remained after the conflict, the smoke of which rose up and swept along the foot of the precipice.

The father saw this, and told his people that the young chief had killed their enemy, so with great rejoicing they prepared a feast for the victorious chief and his helpers.

Kauilani went with his parents and grandparents down to the shore and took possession of all that part of the island around Wailua, comprising large fish-ponds, and taro and sweet-potato lands, held by the servants of the vanquished god. These he placed under the charge of his father’s own faithful chiefs, and made his father once more king over the lands from which he had been driven.

KAUILANI FINDS HIS SISTER LEPE-A-MOA

For some time after the famous battle with the evil god, Kauilani aided his parents in establishing a firm and peaceful government, after which he became restless and wanted new experiences.

One day he asked his mother if he was the only child she had. She told him the story of his sister, who had been born from an egg, and had become a very beautiful young woman. They had never seen her, because she had been taken to Oahu by her grandparents and there brought up.

Kauilani said, “I am going to Oahu to find her.”

His mother said: “Yes, that is right. I will tell you about my people and their lands.” So she told him about his ancestors, his grandparents and their rich lands around the Nuuanu stream and its bordering plains; also of the stopping-places as he should cross the island to Kapalama, his grandmother, where he would find his sister under a rainbow having certain strong shades of color.

The parents prepared a red feather cloak for him to wear with his fine magic malo. These he put on, and, taking his ancestral spear, went down to the sea. Laying his spear on the water, he poised upon it, when it dashed like a great fish through the water; leaping from wave to wave, it swept over the sea like a malolo (flying-fish), and landed him on the Oahu beach among the sand-dunes of Waianae.

Taking up his spear he started toward the sunrise side of the island, calling upon it as he went along to direct his path to Kapalama. Then he threw the spear as if it were a dart in the game of pahee, but instead of sliding and skipping along the ground it leaped into the air, and, like a bird floating on its wings, went along before the young chief.

Once it flew fast and far ahead of him to a place where two women were working, and fell at their feet. They saw the beautiful spear, wonderfully polished, and picked it up, and quickly found a hiding-place wherein they concealed it. Covering up the deep furrow it had made in the ground where it fell and looking around without seeing any one, they resumed their work.

Soon Kauilani came to the place where they were, and, greeting them, asked pleasantly, “When did you see my travelling companion who passed this way?” They were a little confused, yet said they had not seen any one.

Then he asked them plainly if a spear had passed them, and again they denied all knowledge of anything coming near. Kauilani said, “Have you not concealed my friend, my spear?”

They replied: “No. We have not had anything to do with any spear.”

The chief softly called, “E Koa-wi! E Koa-wa! E!” The spear replied in a small, sharp voice, “E-o-e-o!” and leaped out from its hiding-place, knocking the women over into the stream near which they had been working.

Taking the spear, he went down to the seashore, scolding it on the way for making sport of him, and threatened to break it if anything else went wrong. The spear said: “You must not injure me, your ancestor, or all your visit will result in failure. But if you lay me down on the beach I will take you to the place where you can find your sister.”

The chief said, “How shall I know you are not deceiving me?”

The spear replied, “Sit down on me and in a little while we shall be at a place where you can see her.” Then it carried the complaining chief to the beach of Kou. There it lay on the ground and said: “You see a tree, a wiliwili- [40]tree, standing alone near the sea and looking out over the waters? Go you to that tree and climb it and look along the beach until you see a rainbow rising over the waves. Under that rainbow you will see a girl catching squid and shellfish and gathering sea-moss. She is doing this for her old people. She is your sister.”

The chief said, “I will go and see, but if no one is there I will punish you for deceiving me, and break you into little pieces.”

He went to the tree, climbed to the top branches and looked along the beach as the spear had directed. He saw a very strange thing out over the water: red mist and bloody rainclouds moving back and forth over the dark-blue waves, extending far out toward the horizon and also covering the place where he was to see the girl. He called down to the spear that he could not see any rainbow or any girl.

The spear replied: “Everything is changing rapidly on the face of the sea. Look again.”

He watched the whirling mist and rain, and as it moved slowly he saw an immense bird with many red feathers on its body and wings. When it flew up from the sea it hid the light from the sun and cast a dark shadow over all that beach. He called to the spear, “What is this great bird flying over the ocean?”

The spear replied: “That is one of your ancestors, a kupua. She has a double body, sometimes appearing as a bird and sometimes in human form. Her name is Ka-iwa-ka-la-meha. She has dwelling-places in all the islands, and even in Kahiki. She has come to your sister, Lepe-a-moa, over the seas of the gods Ka-ne and Kanaloa.”

Kauilani watched the great bird as it rose from the sea and flew in mighty circles around the heavens, rising higher and higher until it was lost in the sky.

Soon the atmosphere began to clear, and he saw the rainbow and the girl in the far distance. He came down and told the spear that all its words were true. The spear again asked the young chief to sit on it. He did so, and was carried rapidly to the group of houses where Kapalama was living with her husband and grandchild.

That same day, after Lepe-a-moa had taken her basket and gone to the shore, Kapalama looked along the road toward the sunset and saw a small cloud hastening along the way. Watching it carefully, she saw a rainbow in the cloud and called to her husband: “O Honouliuli, this is a very strange thing, but from the rainbow in the cloud I know that our grandchild from Kauai is coming to this place. You must quickly fire the oven and prepare food for this our young grandchild.”

He made the oven ready, and soon had chicken, fish, and sweet-potatoes cooking for their visitor.

When Kauilani came to his grandparents they all wailed over each other, according to the ancient custom of the Hawaiians. When the greeting was finished he went into the house set apart for men as their eating-place, into which women were not allowed to enter, and there ate his food. After this he went outside and lay down on a mat and talked with his grandmother.

She praised him for the great victory won with his spear against his father’s enemy, and then asked why he had come to Oahu.

He said, “I have come to see my sister in her double nature.”

She replied: “That is right. I will take you to her house. There you must make a hollow place and hide under the mats and not let her see or hear you, lest you die. But when she falls asleep you must catch her and hold her fast until she accepts you as her brother. I will utter my chants and prayers for your success.” So he hid himself in the girl’s house and kept very quiet.

Meanwhile Lepe-a-moa, who was through fishing, picked up her basket and started toward her home. She saw a rainbow resting over their houses and thought some strange chief had come. She rejoiced and determined that the chief should play her favorite game konane, a game resembling checkers. When she came to the houses she asked her grandmother for the strange chief, saying she saw the footsteps of some man, perhaps now concealed by the grandmother.

Kapalama denied that any one had come. So the girl went into her house, laid aside her human body, and assumed that of many kinds of birds. Kapalama broke cooked sweet-potatoes and fed the pieces to this bird-body. Having eaten all she wished, Lepe-a-moa went into her house and lay down on her mats and fell asleep.

When deep sleep was on her the young chief leaped upon her, caught her in his arms, and held her fast. Jumping up, she dashed out of the house, carrying him with her. She flew up into the sky, but he still clung to her. The magic power of that spear helped him to hold fast and made the bird fly slowly.

As she heard her grandmother chanting about herself and her brother, the young chief of Kauai, her anger modified, and she asked the stranger, “Who are you, and from whence have you come?” He said, “I am from Kauai, and I am Kauilani, your younger brother.”

Then she began to love him, and flew back to her grandparents, who welcomed them with great rejoicing.

For many days the young people and their grandparents dwelt happily together. In later years the young chief and his sister saved King Kakuhihewa in a remarkable manner. As a result, the king gave his favorite daughter to Kauilani as his wife, and Lepe-a-moa cared for their children.

THE BATTLE OF THE KUPUAS

This part of the legend of Lepe-a-moa belongs to Waikiki and to Palama. [41] It is also one of the ancient long stories handed down from generation to generation among the Hawaiians. It came from the days of Kakuhihewa, who was the King Arthur of Oahu traditions and whose chiefs were “the Knights of the Round Table” after whom most of the noted localities of Oahu were named. However, this goes back into the misty past only about four hundred years.

A boy and a girl were born on the island of Kauai, both possessing miraculous powers. The girl, Lepe-a-moa, was taken as soon as born to Palama, and there brought up by her grandparents. The boy, Kauilani, was reared by his parents on Kauai, and there did many wonderful deeds, after which he came to Oahu to visit his sister.

At birth, Lepe-a-moa was only an egg, which, under the care of the grandparents, developed into a very beautiful maiden who could assume at will a multitude of bird forms. Thus she was what the ancient legends called kupua, or a person having both human and animal powers.

The young chief desired to visit the court of Kakuhihewa, who resided at Waikiki. [42] The grandmother, Kapalama, sent messengers to Ke-ao-lewa, the ruler of the birds of the heavens, for new clothing fit for the young chief, and they returned with a magnificent feather sash, and a glorious red feather cloak, shining like the blossoms of the lehua-tree, and fringed with yellow feathers which were like golden clouds in the light of the setting sun.

He bound the sash over his shoulders and around his body as a girdle, or malo, threw the cloak from the heavens around him, took his magic spear, Koa-wi Koa-wa, which had the power of human speech, and journeyed to Waikiki.

At this time Kakuhihewa was entertaining his sister and her husband, Maui-nui, who was king of the island of Maui. According to custom, the days were devoted to sports and gambling.

Maui-nui had a kupua, a rooster, which was one of the ancestors of Kauilani’s family, but was very cruel and destructive. He could assume a different bird form for each magic power he possessed. This, with his miraculous human powers, made him superior to all the roosters which had ever been his antagonists in cock-fighting. It was the custom of this king to take this kupua in his rooster body, with some other chickens, and visit other chiefs, having many battles and winning large amounts of property, such as the best canoes, the finest mats and kapas, and the most royal feather cloaks, as well as the lands of the chiefs who had not been subject to him. Sometimes, when all available property had been won, he would persuade a chief to “bet his bones.” This meant that the poverty-stricken chief, as a last resort, would wager his body against some of the property lost. If defeated, his life might be taken and his body sent to the most noted heiau (temple) of his opponent and placed on an altar as a human sacrifice, or the body would be burned or cooked in a fire oven and thrown into the sea.

Kakuhihewa and Maui-nui had been passing many days in this sport. When the Maui king was afraid the game might be given up, he would let some of the ordinary chickens fight, or would select the weakest from his flock. Then a large amount of property might be returned to the original owners, but he took care to lead his opponents on until their pride or their shame compelled them to wager their very last resources.

Thus the betting had gone on from time to time until the Maui king had provoked Kakuhihewa into betting his kingdom of Oahu in an almost hopeless attempt to win back all that had been lost before.

The Oahu king realized that his brother-in-law was using a bird of magic power, but his bets had been made and word given, and he did not know of any way in which he could get sufficient magic to overcome his antagonist. He had heard about Kauilani, a wonderfully powerful young chief on Kauai, who had conquered a god of the seas and restored a kingdom to his father. He had sent messengers to Kauai to ask this young chief to come to his aid, promising as a reward the hand of his favorite and most beautiful daughter in marriage; but the days passed and no word came from Kauai. Meanwhile Kauilani came before Kakuhihewa and was announced as a young chief from Kapalama. No one thought of any connection with the noted warrior of Kauai.

The king was very much pleased with the young chief, and finally asked him if he had seen his chickens, and if he would like to go to the place where they were kept.

Kauilani saw the chickens and sent for water, which the keepers brought to him. Taking it, he sprinkled the eyes of the roosters. None of them had sufficient power to keep from shutting their eyes when the water struck their heads. Then he said to the keeper, “These birds will not be of any use for our chief.”

Then he went to see the king’s tabu rooster, the one reserved by the king for any last and desperate conflict. This he also tried and found wanting.

The keepers then sent word to the king that a strange young man with great wisdom was looking at the chickens, and the king came out and asked Kauilani about the tests.

The young chief sprinkled water as before, and then said to the king, “Perhaps your rooster has strength and perhaps he has no power.”

The king said: “Ah! We see that this tabu rooster has no strength for this conflict. He closes his eyes. His enemy is very strong and very quick. We shall be defeated and belong to the king of Maui.”

Then Kauilani said, “Perhaps I can find a bird of very great powers who can save us.”

The king said: “If you defeat Ke-au-hele-moa, the magic rooster of the king of Maui, you shall become my son. My daughter shall be your wife.”

Kauilani requested the king to have the place closed where the chickens were kept, so that no spy could watch them. He told the king he had a kupua chicken still in an egg, which would kill the great bird of the king of Maui, but that before the time came for the festival in which the cock-fighting occurred his chicken would be hatched and have power to save the king and his kingdom. The king was filled with delight, and took the handsome young chief at once to his house and sent for his daughter.

He said to her: “I have set you free from the tabu which I placed upon you as the promised wife of the chief of Kauai. It is better that you should take this young chief as your husband.”

So they were married and lived together a few days. Then the young chief told the king he must go at once to obtain the chicken egg. He told his wife not to be jealous about anything she might hear among the people, and not to be angry in any way whatever at the time of his return, or he would not continue to have her as his wife.

He went back to his sister, Lepe-a-moa. She saw him, and leaped to meet him, calling: “Come! Come! Come! I have waited and waited for you.”

He told her all about his visit and the great need of the king, saying, “I have come back for this day only and for your help.”

Then they went to the bathing-pool, and were swimming, diving and bathing when they heard the sweet voice of the mischievous elepaio bird over them, around them, and at last from the bank of the pool, calling out: “Ono ka ia! Ono ka ia!” (“The fish is sweet! The fish is sweet!”) This bird was also Lea, the goddess of canoe-cutters.

Kauilani called to her: “Why do you not get young fish in the ocean? Is this the only place for sweet fish?”

Then the elepaio told the brother and sister about the great rooster belonging to the king of Maui, its miraculous power, and its name, “Ke-au-hele-moa,” and then said:

“You two go to the place of the fight. Take great care of your sister. Put her in a lei garland around your neck. You will note the appearance of that rooster of the king of Maui: very tall; black, white and red feathers; only one tail-feather. If he sees his grandchild before the fight she will not escape, but if you keep her hidden until she goes out for battle he will be destroyed.”

When the brother and sister returned they told the grandparents about Kakuhihewa’s trouble and the power of the rooster of the king of Maui to assume several bodies. Kauilani told them that the Maui king was so sure of winning that he had collected a great pile of wood wherewith to heat an oven in which to cook Kakuhihewa’s body.

The grandmother said: “That great bird is one of our own family, and has very great power, but Lepe-a-moa has much greater power if you two work together. He must not see her until she goes out to fight with him.”

Lepe-a-moa said to her brother: “This is bad for you. You come as if you loved me, but you have taken the king’s daughter for your wife. If I go with you and your wife is angry with me, she shall be set aside and I will be your wife.”

Kauilani said, “That is right.”

Lepe-a-moa made herself very beautiful with a glistening spotted feather cloak. Her pa-u, or skirt, was like fire, flaming and flashing. Kauilani told her she must go first, as the eldest one of the family. Thus they passed in their splendid feather dresses down to Kou (Honolulu) and out to Pawaa, the people shouting and praising the beautiful girl.

As they came to Waikiki the noise of the people could be heard far, far away: “O the beautiful girl coming with the husband of our chiefess! O the beautiful girl!”

The king’s daughter heard the shout and became very angry. She ordered the people to drive Kauilani and Lepe-a-moa away.

But the servants knew the reason why the young chief had become the husband of the king’s daughter, and said among themselves: “We want to live. We must not drive them away.”

Lepe-a-moa said to her brother, “I told you that she would be angry with me.”