The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai. S. N. Haleole

dialogue, elaborate chants, proverbial sayings, antithesis and parallelism. In poetry, the panegyric proceeds by the enumeration of names and their qualities, particularly place or technical names; by local and legendary allusions which may develop into narrative or descriptive passages of some length; and by eulogistic comparisons drawn from nature or from social life and often elaborately developed. The interjectional expression of emotion, the rhetorical question, the use of antithesis, repetition, wordplay (puns and word-linking) and mere counting-out formulas play a striking part, and the riddling element, both in the metaphors employed and in the use of homonyms, renders the sense obscure.

PERSONS IN THE STORY

       Table of Contents

      1. AIWOHI-KUPUA. A young chief of Kauai, suitor to Laie-i-ka-wai.

      2. AKIKEEHIALE. The turnstone, messenger of Aiwohikupua.

      3. AWAKEA. "Noonday." The bird that guards the doors of the sun.

      4. HALA-ANIANI. A young rascal of Puna.

      5. HALULU-I-KE-KIHE-O-KA-MALAMA. The bird who bears the visitors to the doors of the sun.

      6. HATUA-I-LIKI. "Strike-in-beating." A young chief of Kauai, suitor to Laie-i-ka-wai.

      7. HAUNAKA. A champion boxer of Kohala.

      8. HINA-I-KA-MALAMA. A chiefess of Maui.

      9. HULU-MANIANI. "Waving feather." A seer of Kauai.

      10. IHU-ANU. "Cold-nose." A champion boxer of Kohala.

      11. KA-ELO-I-KA-MALAMA. The "mother's brother" who guards the land of Nuumealani.

      12. KA-HALA-O-MAPU-ANA. "The sweet-scented hala." The youngest sister of Aiwohikupua.

      13. KAHAU-O-KAPAKA. The chief of Koolau, Oahu, father of Laie-i-ka-wai.

      14. KAHOUPO 'KANE. Attendant upon Poliahu.

      15. KA-ILI-O-KA-LAU-O-KE-KOA. "The-skin-of-the-leaf-of-the-koa (tree)." The wife of Kauakahialii.

      16. KALAHUMOKU. The fighting dog of Aiwohikupua.

      17. KA-OHU-KULO-KIALEA. "The-moving-cloud-of-Kaialea." Guard of the shade at the taboo house of Kahiki.

      18. KA-ONOHI-O-KA-LA. "The-eyeball-of-the-sun." A high taboo chief, who lives in Kahiki.

      19. KAPUKAI-HAOA. A priest, grandfather of Laie-i-ka-wai.

      20. KAUA-KAHI-ALII. The high chief of Kauai.

      21. KAULAAI-LEHUA. A beautiful princess of Molokai.

      22. KE-KALUKALU-O-KE-WA. Successor to Kauakahi-alii and suitor to Laie-i-ka-wai.

      23. KIHA-NUI-LULU-MOKU. "Great-convulsion-shaking-the-island." A guardian spirit of Pali-uli.

      24. KOAE. The tropic bird. Messenger of Aiwohikupua.

      25. LAIE-I-KA-WAI. A species of the ieie vine. (?) The beauty of Pali-uli.

      26. LAIE-LOHELOHE. Another species of the ieie vine. (?) Twin sister of Laie-i-ka-wai.

      27. LANALANA-NUI-AI-MAKUA. "Great-ancestral-spider." The one who lets down the pathway to the heavens.

      28. LAU-KIELE-ULA. "Red-kiele-leaf." The mother who attends the young chief in the taboo house at Kahiki.

      29. LILI-NOE. "Fine-fog." Attendant to Poliahu.

      30. MAHINA-NUI-KONANE. "Big-bright-moon." Guard of the shade at the taboo house at Kahiki.

      31. MAILE-HAIWALE. "Brittle-leafed-maile-vine." Sister of Aiwohikupua.

      32. MAILE-KALUHEA. "Big-leafed-maile-vine." Sister of Aiwohikupua.

      33. MAILE-LAULII. "Fine-leaf ed-maile-vine." Sister of Aiwohikupua.

      34. MAILE-PAKAHA. "Common-maile-vine." Sister of Aiwohikupua.

      35. MAKA-WELI. "Terrible-eyes." A young chief of Kauai.

      36. MALAEKAHANA. The mother of Laie-i-ka-wai.

      37. MALIO. A sorceress, sister of the Puna rascal,

      38. MOANALIHA-I-KA-WAOKELE. A powerful chief in Kahiki.

      39. MOKU-KELE-KAHIKI. "Island-sailing-to-Kahiki." The mother's brother who guards the land of Ke-alohi-lani.

      40. POLI-AHU. "Cold-bosom." A high chiefess who dwells on Maunakea.

      41. POLOULA. A chief at Wailua, Kauai.

      42. ULILI. The snipe. Messenger to Aiwohikupua.

      43. WAI-AIE. "Water-mist." Attendant of Poliahu.

      44. WAKA. A sorceress, grandmother of Laie-i-ka-wai.

      The chief counsellor of Aiwohikupua.

       The humpbacked attendant of Laie-i-ka-wai.

       A canoe owner of Molokai.

       A chief of Molokai, father of Kaulaailehua.

       A countrywoman of Hana.

       Paddlers, soldiers, and country people.

ACTION OF THE STORY

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      Twin sisters, Laieikawai and Laielohelohe, are born in Koolau, Oahu, their birth heralded by a double clap of thunder. Their father, a great chief over that district, has vowed to slay all his daughters until a son is born to him. Accordingly the mother conceals their birth and intrusts them to her parents to bring up in retirement, the priest carrying the younger sister to the temple at Kukaniloko and Waka hiding Laieikawai in the cave beside the pool Waiapuka. A prophet from Kauai who has seen the rainbow which always rests over the girl's dwelling place, desiring to attach himself to so great a chief, visits the place, but is eluded by Waka, who, warned by her husband, flies with her charge, first to Molokai, where a countryman, catching sight of the girl's face, is so transported with her beauty that he makes the tour of the island proclaiming her rank, thence to Maui and then to Hawaii, where she is directed to a spot called Paliuli on the borders of Puna, a night's journey inland through the forest from the beach at Keaau. Here she builds a house for her "grandchild" thatched with the feathers of the oo bird, and appoints birds to serve her, a humpbacked attendant to wait upon her, and mists to conceal her when she goes abroad.

      To the island of Kauai returns its high chief, Kauakahialii, after a tour of the islands during which he has persuaded the fair mistress of Paliuli to visit him. So eloquent is his account of her beauty that the young chief Aiwohikupua, who has vowed to wed no woman from his own group, but only one from "the land of good women," believes that here he has found his wish. He makes the chief's servant his confidant, and after dreaming of the girl for a year, he sets out with his counsellor and a canoeload of paddlers for Paliuli. On the way he plays a boxing bout with the champion of Kohala, named Cold-nose, whom he dispatches with a single stroke that pierces the man through the chest and comes out on the other side. Arrived at the house in the forest at Paliuli, he is amazed to find it thatched all over with the precious royal feathers, a small cloak of which he is bearing as his suitor's gift. Realizing the girl's rank, he returns at once to Kauai to fetch his five sweet-scented sisters to act as ambassadresses and bring him honor as a wooer. Laieikawai, however, obstinately refuses the first four; and the angry lover in a rage refuses to allow the last and youngest to try her charms. Abandoning them, all to their fate in the forest, he sails back to Kauai. The youngest and favorite, indeed, he would have taken with him, but she will not abandon her sisters. By her wit and skill she gains the favor of the royal beauty, and all five are taken into the household of Laieikawai to act as guardians of her virginity and pass upon any suitors for her hand.

      When Aiwohikupua, on his return, confesses his ill fortune, a handsome comrade, the