PAKA: THE BOY WHO WAS REARED IN THE LAND THAT THE GODS HAVE SINCE HIDDEN
Given in the Fornander Collection, Vol. V, Part II, of the Memoirs of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, with the title Kaao no Kepakailiula, the Legend of Kepakailiula.
Pali-uli, where Paka’s uncles reared him, is the Hawaiian paradise. In a chant that Fornander quotes it is described:
O Pali-uli, hidden Land of Kane,
Land in Kalana i Hauola,
In Kahiki-ku, in Kapakapaua of Kane,
The Land whose foundation shines with fatness,
Land greatly enjoyed by the god.
“This land or Paradise,” says Fornander, “was the central part of the world … and situated in Kahiki-ku, which was a large and extensive continent.” Paka emerges from this Fairy-land into a world that is quite diurnal when he sets about winning Mako-lea. The boxing, spear-throwing, and riddling contests that he engages in reflect the life of the Hawaiian courts.