Hawaiian Folk Tales Part 7

To what shall we compare the prowess of our hero? A man was plucked and torn in his hand as if he were but a leaf. The commotion in the ranks of the enemy was as when a powerful waterfowl lashes the water with his wings (_O haehae ka manu, Ke ale nei ka wai_). Kalelealuaka moved forward in his work of destruction until he had slain the captain who stood beside the rebel chief, Kualii. From the fallen captain he took his feather cloak and helmet and cut off his right ear and the little finger of his right hand. Thus ended the slaughter that day.

The enthusiasm of the cripple was roused to the highest pitch on witnessing the achievements of Kalelealuaka, and he determined to return and report that he had never seen his equal on the battlefield.

Kalelealuaka returned to Puuloa, and hid the feather cloak and helmet under the mats of his bed, and having fastened the dead captain's ear and little finger to the side of the house, lay down and slept.

After a while, when the two women, his wives, returned with the moss and shrimps, he complained that the moss was not gathered as he had directed, and that they had been gone such a long time that his appet.i.te had entirely left him, and he would not eat of what they had brought. At this the elder sister said nothing, but the younger one muttered a few words to herself; and as they were all very tired they soon went to sleep.

They had slept a long while when the tramp of the soldiers of Kakuhihewa was heard, returning from the battle. The King immediately asked how the battle had gone. The soldiers answered that the battle had gone well, but that Keinohoomanawanui alone had greatly distinguished himself. To this the King replied he did not believe that the Sloven was a great warrior, but when the cripple returned he would learn the truth.

About midnight the footsteps of the lame marshal were heard outside of the King's house. Kakuhihewa called to him, "Come, how went the battle?"

"Can't you have patience and let me take breath?" said the marshal. Then when he had rested himself he answered, "They fought, but there was one man who excelled all the warriors in the land. He was from Waianae. I gave Waianae to him as a reward for carrying me."

"It shall be his," said the King.

"He tore a man to pieces," said the cripple, "as he would tear a banana-leaf. The champion of Kualii's army he killed, and plundered him of his feather cloak and helmet."

"The soldiers say that Keinohoomanawanui was the hero of the day,"

said the King.

"What!" said the cripple. "He did nothing. He merely strutted about. But this man--I never saw his equal; he had no spear, his only weapons were his hands; if a spear was hurled at him, he warded it off with his hair. His hair and features, by the way, greatly resemble those of your son-in-law."

Thus they conversed till daybreak.

After a few days, again came a messenger announcing that the rebel Kualii was making war on the plains of Kulaokahua. On hearing this Kakuhihewa immediately collected his soldiers. As usual, the lame marshal set out in advance the evening before the battle.

In the morning, after the army had gone, Kalelealuaka said to his wives, "I am thirsting for some water taken with the snout of the calabash held downward. I shall not relish it if it is taken with the snout turned up." Now, Kalelealuaka knew that they could not fill the calabash if held this way, but he resorted to this artifice to present the two young women from knowing of his miraculous flight to the battle. As soon as the young women had got out of sight he hastened to Waialua and arrayed himself in the rough and s.h.a.ggy wreaths of _uki_ from the lagoons of Ukoa and of _hinahina_ from Kealia. Thus arrayed, he alighted behind the lame marshal as he climbed the hill at Napeha, slapped him on the back, exchanged greetings with him, and received a compliment on his speed; and when asked whence he came, he answered from Waialua. The shrewd, observant cripple recognized the wreaths as being those of Waialua, but he did not recognize the man, for the wreaths with which Kalelealuaka had decorated himself were of such a color--brownish gray--as to give him the appearance of a man of middle age. He lifted the cripple as before, and set him down on the brow of Puowaina (Punch Bowl Hill), and received from the grateful cripple, as a reward for his service, all the land of Waialua for his own.

This done, Kalelealuaka repeated the performances of the previous battle. The enemy melted away before him, whichever way he turned. He stayed his hand only when he had slain the captain of the host and stripped him of his feather cloak and helmet, taking also his right ear and little finger. The speed with which Kalelealuaka returned to his home at Puuloa was like the flight of a bird. The spoils and trophies of this battle he disposed of as before.

The two young women, Kalelealuaka's wives, turned the nozzle of the water-gourd downward, as they were bidden, and continued to press it into the water, in the vain hope that it might rise and fill their container, until the noonday sun began to pour his rays directly upon their heads; but no water entered their calabash. Then the younger sister proposed to the elder to fill the calabash in the usual way, saying that Kalelealuaka would not know the difference. This they did, and returned home.

Kalelealuaka would not drink of the water, declaring that it had been dipped up. At this the younger wife laughed furtively; the elder broke forth and said: "It is due to the slowness of the way you told us to employ in getting the water. We are not accustomed to the menial office of fetching water; our father treated us delicately, and a man always fetched water for us, and we always used to see him pour the water into the gourd with the nozzle turned up, but you trickily ordered us to turn the nozzle down. Your exactions are heartless."

Thus the women kept complaining until, by and by, the tramp of the returning soldiers was heard, who were boasting of the great deeds of Keinohoomanawanui. The King, however, said: "I do not believe a word of your talk; when my cripple comes he will tell me the truth. I do not believe that Keinohoomanawanui is an athlete. Such is the opinion I have formed of him. But there is a powerful man, Kalelealuaka,--if he were to go into battle I am confident he would perform wonders. Such is the opinion I have formed of him, after careful study."

So the King waited for the return of the cripple until night, and all night until nearly dawn. When finally the lame marshal arrived, the King prudently abstained from questioning him until he had rested a while and taken breath; then he obtained from him the whole story of this new hero from Waialua, whose name he did not know, but who, he declared, resembled the King's son-in-law, Kalelealuaka.

Again, on a certain day, came the report of an attack by Kualii at Kulaokahua, and the battle was to be on the morrow. The cripple, as usual, started off the evening before. In the morning, Kalelealuaka called to his wives, and said: "Where are you? Wake up. I wish you to bake a fowl for me. Do it thus: Pluck it; do not cut it open, but remove the inwards through the opening behind; then stuff it with _luau_ from the same end, and bake it; by no means cut it open, lest you spoil the taste of it."

As soon as they had left the house he flew to Kahuku and adorned his neck with wreaths of the panda.n.u.s fruit and his head with the flowers of the sugar cane, thus entirely changing his appearance and making him look like a gray-haired old man. As on previous days, he paused behind the cripple and greeted him with a friendly slap on the back. Then he kindly lifted the lame man and set him down at Puowaina. In return for this act of kindness the cripple gave him the district of Koolau.

In this battle he first slew those soldiers in Kakuhihewa's army who had spoken ill of him. Then he turned his hand against the warriors of Kualii, smiting them as with the stroke of lightning, and displaying miraculous powers. When he had reached the captain of Kualii's force, he killed him and despoiled his body of his feather cloak and helmet, taking also a little finger and toe. With these he flew to the cripple, whom he lifted and bore in his flight as far as Waipio, and there dropped him at a point just below where the water bursts forth at Waipahu.

Arrived at his house, Kalelealuaka, after disposing of his spoils, lay down and slept. After he had slept several hours, his wives came along in none too pleased a mood and awoke him, saying his meat was cooked. Kalelealuaka merely answered that it was so late his appet.i.te had gone, and he did not care to eat.

At this slight his wives said: "Well, now, do you think we are accustomed to work? We ought to live without work, like a king's daughters, and when the men have prepared the food then we should go and eat it."

The women were still muttering over their grievance, when along came the soldiers, boasting of the powers of Keinohoomanawanui, and as they pa.s.sed Kalelealuaka's door they said it were well if the two wives of this fellow, who lounges at home in time of war, were given to such a brave and n.o.ble warrior as Keinohoomanawanui.

The sun was just sinking below the ocean when the footsteps of the cripple were heard at the King's door, which he entered, sitting down within. After a short time the King asked him about the battle. "The valor and prowess of this third man were even greater than those of the previous ones; yet all three resemble each other. This day, however, he first avenged himself by slaying those who had spoken ill of him. He killed the captain of Kualii's army and took his feather cloak and helmet. On my return he lifted me as far as Waipahu."

In a few days again came a report that Kualii had an army at a place called Kahapaakai, in Nuuanu. Maliuhaaino immediately marshalled his forces and started for the scene of battle the same evening.

Early the next morning Kalelealuaka awakened his wives, and said to them: "Let us breakfast, but do you two eat quietly in your own house, and I in my house with the dogs; and do not come until I call you." So they did, and the two women went and breakfasted by themselves. At his own house Kalelealuaka ordered Kaluhe to stir up the dogs and keep them barking until his return. Then he sprang away and lighted at Kapakakolea, where he overtook the cripple, whom, after the usual interchange of greetings, he lifted, and set down at a place called Waolani.

On this day his first action was to smite and slay those who had reviled him at his own door. That done, he made a great slaughter among the soldiers of Kualii; then, turning, he seized Keinohoomanawanui, threw him down and asked him how he became blinded in one eye.

"It was lost," said the Sloven, "from the thrust of a spear, in a combat with Olopana."

"Yes, to be sure," said Kalelealuaka, "while you and I were living together at Wailuku, you being on one side of the stream and I on the other, a kukui nut burst in the fire, and that was the spear that put out your eye."

When the Sloven heard this, he hung his head. Then Kalelealuaka seized him to put him to death, when the spear of the Sloven pierced the fleshy part of Kalelealuaka's left arm, and in plucking it out the spear-head remained in the wound.

Kalelealuaka killed Keinohoomanawanui and beheaded him, and, running to the cripple, laid the trophy at his feet with the words: "I present you, Maliuhaaino, with the head of Keinohoomanawanui." This done, he returned to the battle, and went on slaying until he had advanced to the captain of Kualii's forces, whom he killed and spoiled of his feather cloak and helmet.

When Kualii saw that his chief captain, the bulwark of his power, was slain, he retreated and fled up Nuuanu Valley, pursued by Kalelealuaka, who overtook him at the head of the valley. Here Kualii surrendered himself, saying: "Spare my life. The land shall all go to Kakuhihewa, and I will dwell on it as a loyal subject under him and create no disturbance as long as I live."

To this the hero replied: "Well said! I spare your life on these terms. But if you at any time foment a rebellion, I will take your life! So, then, return, and live quietly at home and do not stir up any war in Koolau." Thus warned, Kaulii set out to return to the "deep blue palis of Koolau."

While the lame marshal was trudging homeward, bearing the head of the Sloven, Kalelealuaka alighted from his flight at his house, and having disposed in his usual manner of his spoils, immediately called to his wives to rejoin him at his own house.

The next morning, after the sun was warm, the cripple arrived at the house of the King in a state of great excitement, and was immediately questioned by him as to the issue of the battle, "The battle was altogether successful," said the marshal, "but Keinohoomanawanui was killed. I brought his head along with me and placed it on the altar _mauka_ of Kalawao. But I would advise you to send at once your fleetest runners through Kona and Koolau, commanding everybody to a.s.semble in one place, that I may review them and pick out and vaunt as the bravest that one whom I shall recognize by certain marks--for I have noted him well: he is wounded in the left arm."

Now, Kakuhihewa's two swiftest runners (_kukini_) were Keakealani and Kuhelemoana. They were so fleet that they could compa.s.s Oahu six times in a forenoon, or twelve times in a whole day. These two were sent to call together all the men of the King's domain. The men of Waianae came that same day and stood in review on the sandy plains of Puuloa. But among them all was not one who bore the marks sought for. Then came the men of Kona, of Waialua, and of Koolau, but the man was not found.

Then the lame marshal came and stood before the King and said: "Your bones shall rest in peace, Kalani. You had better send now and summon your son-in-law to come and stand before me; for he is the man." Then Kakuhihewa arose and went himself to the house of his son-in-law, and called to his daughters that he had come to get their husband to go and stand before Maliuhaaino.

Then Kalelealuaka lifted up the mats of his bed and took out the feather cloaks and the helmets and arrayed his two wives, and Kaluhe, and himself. Putting them in line, he stationed the elder of his wives first, next to her the younger, and third Kaluhe, and placing himself at the rear of the file, he gave the order to march, and thus accompanied he went forth to obey the King's command.

The lame marshal saw them coming, and in ecstasy he prostrated himself and rolled over in the dust, "The feather cloak and the helmet on your elder daughter are the ones taken from the captain of Kualii's army in the first day's fight; those on your second daughter from the captain of the second day's fight; while those on Kalelealuaka himself are from the captain killed in the battle on the fourth day. You will live, but perhaps I shall die, since he is weary of carrying me."

The lame marshal went on praising and eulogizing Kalelealuaka as he drew near. Then addressing the hero, he said: "I recognize you, having met you before. Now show your left arm to the King and to this whole a.s.sembly, that they may see where you were wounded by the spear."

Then Kalelealuaka bared his left arm and displayed his wound to the astonished mult.i.tude. Thereupon Kakuhihewa said: "Kalelealuaka and my daughters, do you take charge of the kingdom, and I will pa.s.s into the ranks of the common people under you."

After this a new arrangement of the lands was made, and the country had peace until the death of Kakuhihewa; Kalelealuaka also lived peacefully until death took him.

X

STORIES OF THE MENEHUNES

HAWAII THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE BROWNIES

_Thos. G. Thrum_