Padraic Colum

“ Thus died Ma-ui who raised the sky and who fished up the land, who made the Sun go more slowly across the heavens, and who brought fire to men. Thus died Ma-ui, with the Meat of Immortality in his hands. And since his death no one has ever ventured near the lair of Hina-nui-ke-po, the Goblin-goddess. ”

“ He heard of the Goblin-goddess who is called Hina-nui-ke-po, Great Hina-of-the-Night. It is she [42] who brings death on all creatures. But if one could take the heart out of her body and give it to all the creatures of the earth to eat, they would live for ever, and death would be no more in the world.
They tell how the Moon bathes in the Waters of Life, and comes back to the world with her life renewed. And once Ma-ui caught and held the Moon. He said to her, “Let Death be short, and as you return with new strength let it be that men shall come back from Death with new strength.” ”

“ In Hawaiian romance there is a feeling that is rare in any body of popular European romance—a feeling for the beauty of nature, for flowers and trees, the aspect of the clouds, the look of the sea, the sight of mountains, for the beauty of the rainbow and the waterfall. ”

“ Must all of us go, O King, and may none of us stay with the Hawaiian wives that we have married? I have married an Hawaiian woman, and I have a son who is now grown to manhood. May he not go with you while I remain with my wife? He is stronger than I am. I have taught him all the skill that I possessed in the making of canoes. He can use the adze and make a canoe out of a tree trunk more quickly than any other of the Me-ne-hu-ne. And none of the Me-ne-hu-ne is so swift in the race as he is. ”

“ When Ma-ui let down the magic hook with their mother’s sacred bird upon it, Hina-of-the-Sea dived down and put the hook into the mouth of Old One Tooth, and then pulled at the line to let Ma-ui know that the hook was in his jaws. Some people say this, and it may be the truth. But whether or not, every one, on every Island in the Great Ocean, from Kahiki-mo-e to Hawaii nei, knows that Ma-ui fished up a great Island for men to live on. ”

“ When he came to Mamala the aku began to jump to the hook. They threw themselves up and into the canoe. They filled it up—even that ten-fathom canoe was deep with them, and Ai-ai was hardly strong enough to paddle it back. The bird Ka-manu-wai ate of the fish, and as it ate the gleam came back into its plumage, and it was a wide-eyed, strong-winged bird once more.
It took the pearl fish-hook and flew away with it. But every day it would come back with the hook when Ai-ai took out his canoe. The bird guarded the hook and would never let it go into a stranger’s hands again. ”

“ But the Councillor was not for having Ka-le-lea and Ke-ino put to death in any way. “Rather carry out the wish that the boldest of them spoke out,” he said. “If any one can help you in the war, it is that man. Send for both of them and carry out the bold one’s wish to the very end. You have a wish too: it is to win the whole Island for yourself. That man, believe me, is the one who can help you to have that wish of yours made real.” The King agreed at last to let Ka-le-lea and Ke-ino live, and he even agreed to carry out to its very end the wish that Ka-le-lea had made. ”

“ One of the best story-tellers that I came across was a young man whom I met on the Island of Molokai. His father was Chinese, and he had learnt the stories from his grandmother. He told me several stories; one of them was the story of the rescue of Hina by her son Kana, a story given in Fornander, and evidently belonging to the folk.
What impressed me most in these recitals was the gesture of the story-teller. Every feature, every finger of the man or woman becomes alive, becomes dramatic, as the recital is entered on. ”

“ To be true in any measure to the originals these stories of my retelling should have in them the rainbow and the waterfall, the volcano, the forest, the surf as it foams over the reef of coral. In the hula or Hawaiian ballet, and in the poetry that is related to the hula, there is, as Dr. Nathaniel Emerson has observed, always an idyllic feeling. This idyllic feeling pervades Hawaiian romance also. The scene of many of the stories, when not laid in lands that are frankly mythical, is laid in an Hawaiian Arcadia. ”

“ When the Sun saw that his sixteen legs were held fast by the nooses that Ma-ui had set he tried to back down the mountain-side and into the sea again. But the ropes held him, and the wili-wili tree stood the drag of the ropes. The Sun could not get away. Then he turned all his burning strength upon [26] Ma-ui. They fought. The man began to strike at the Sun with his magic axe of stone; and never before did the Sun get such a beating. “Give me my life,” said the Sun. “I will give you your life,” said Ma-ui, “if you promise to go slowly across the heavens.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ I know that a daughter will be born to us. I would have you name the girl Lau-kia-manu. If, when you have brought her up, she has a desire to come to live with me, let her make the journey to Ku-ai-he-lani. But she must come in a red canoe with red sails and red cords, with red bailing-cups, and with men in red to have charge of it. And she must be accompanied by a large canoe and a small canoe, by big men and by little men. ”

“ Those who were with him said, “No, we cannot do that; he is a disgusting-looking man; no one can bear to be near where he is.” But Paka still said, “Call him to us.” The crier was called over; he came, but he was ashamed to stand before the people who had called him.
Paka had the man wash himself. He gave him new clothes, and he bade him sit down and eat. He ate until he was satisfied. Then said the King’s crier: “I have travelled all around the Island, and no one has ever given me food before. Now at last I have found out that pork and yams and bananas are pleasant to the taste. ”

“ Au-ke-le’s brothers went below, and they stayed in the bottom of the canoe, for they were waiting for death to come to them.
At last the boy who was the son of the eldest brother went down to seek his father. He was lying there, too weak to move by reason of his hunger and thirst. And Au-ke-le’s eldest brother said to his son: “How pitiful it is for you, my son! For my own life I have no regret, for I have been many days in the world; but I weep for you, who have lived so short a time and have but so short a time to live. ”

“ Farther and farther out into the ocean they went. One of the brothers let down a line, and a great fish drew on it. They pulled. But what came out of the depths was a shark. They cut the line and let the shark away. The brothers were very tired now. “Oh, Ma-ui,” they said, “as ever, thou art lazy and shiftless. Thou hast brought us out all this way, and thou wilt do nothing to help us. Thou hast let down no line in all the sea we have crossed.”
It was then that Ma-ui let down his line with the magic hook upon it, the hook that was baited with the struggling alae bird. ”

“ Now the fish was Lae-ni-hi, who had transformed herself. Kama put her hands under her and took her up. She put the fish into a calabash of water and gave her to her brother for a plaything. He carried the fish with him, and in that way Lae-ni-hi came into the house that was forbidden to all except the Princess and her brother.
In the middle of the night she changed back into a woman, and she stood above where the Princess lay. Kama wakened up and saw the strange woman near her. “Where are you from?” the Princess asked. “I am from near here.” “There is no woman who is like you anywhere near. ”

“ And the mountain was not called A-hele-a-ka-la, the Rays of the Sun, any more, but Ha-le-a-ka-la, the House of the Sun. After that came the saying of the people, “Long shall be the daily journey of the Sun, and he shall give light for all the peoples’ toil.” And Ma-ui’s mother, Hina-of-the-Fire, learned that she could pound on the tapa-board until she was tired, and the farmers could plant and take care of their crops, and the fishermen could go out to the deep sea and fish and come back, and the fruits and the plants got heat enough to make them ripen in their season. ”

“ The world surges in on the Hawaiian Islands. And the Hawaiian can no longer give himself solely to the tradition that bound him to the valleys and the mountains, and that knit him to Wakea and Papa, who begat and brought forth the islands and the men and women upon them. ”

“ You would be able to avenge me, and no one else would be able. And so I made up my mind to go to you—even to go into the cavern where no man had ever ventured before,
I took a pig as an offering, and I went hurrying on my way; no man going into danger ever went so swiftly before.
Mo-e Mo-e heard no more of the story then. He stood up. The two who were guarding him were so startled that they did not lay hands on him. He took up the spear that was between them, and he went off.
Back to his wife’s he went, and he left the long spear with its edge of shark’s teeth in the house. ”

“ As they did so the birds flew to the top of it and cried out their unlucky cry: “Say, Ke-awe, you cannot make a canoe out of this tree. A worthless canoe, a hollow canoe, a canoe that will never sail the ocean!”
As soon as the cry was heard Prince Mai-ne-le shot at them. His arrow did not go anywhere near the birds, so high was the tree-top, so far above were they. Then the King’s men built a platform that was half the height of the tree. From the platform Mai-ne-le shot at the birds again, and again his arrow failed to reach them. Then Pi-ko-i from the basket whispered to Kaua. ”

“ When we read the story of Ka-we-lu in The Arrow and the Swing, or of Kama in The Story of Ha-le-ma-no and the Princess Kama, we can easily see how, as the simplicity of tapu was forgotten, the maiden would be given a fantastic security like that of Danaë in her brazen tower, or like that of Eithlinn in her inaccessible island, and we can see how motives would be invented for keeping her apart: Danaë’s son and Eithlinn’s son are destined to slay their grandfathers. Every race has had tapu. ”

“ So on a bright moonlit night he had them all come together, men, women, and children, and he spoke to them. “All of you,” he said, “who have married wives from amongst the Hawaiian people must leave them, and all of the Me-ne-hu-ne race must go away from these Islands. The food that we planted in the valley is ripe; that food we will leave for the wives and children that we do not take with us—the Hawaiian women and the half-Hawaiian children.” ”

“ The watchman flung a spear at the running man. It struck him on the arm, just above the wrist. He kept on running. The spear had a hook, and the watchman knew that it would be hard for the warrior to draw it out of the flesh of his arm.
And now the King made, up his mind to give a great reward to Ke-ino, and to get rid of Ka-le-lea, the fellow whom no one had ever seen outside his [190] house. He made a proclamation, declaring his victory in the war, and telling how much of it was due to his son-in-law Ke-ino. And every one was satisfied, for every one was sure that Ke-ino had won the war. ”

“ She went swiftly after him, calling to him as the plover calls, flying here and there. She called to him, for she deeply loved him, and she looked upon him as her husband. But he, knowing that she was gaining on him, made an incantation to hold her back. He called upon the mai-le vines and the i-e vines; he called upon the ohia trees and the other branching trees to close up the path against her. But still Ka-we-lu went on, struggling against the tangle that grew across her path. ”

“ But first I have to tell you about Pali-uli and the two men who found it in the old days and brought the child Paka there.
These two men were the brothers of Paka’s mother; they were both named Ki-i, and one was called Ki-i the Stayer and the other was called Ki-i the Goer. One night Ki-i the Stayer had a dream: in that dream a spirit told him: “You must go to Pali-uli and live there, you and your brother; it is a land in which you can live without labor and without discontent.” He dreamed this dream for three nights, and, each morning after, he told his dream to Ki-i the Goer. ”