CHAPTER XIII
At the time when Kahalaomapuana leaped from the canoe into the sea it was going very swiftly, so she fell far behind. The canoe turned back to recover Kahalaomapuana, but the party did not find her; then Aiwohikupua abandoned his young sister and sailed straight for Kauai.
As Aiwohikupua sailed away from Hawaii, between Oahu and Kauai he spoke to his paddlers as follows: "When we get back to Kauai let no one tell that we have been to Hawaii after Laieikawai, lest shame come to me and I be spoken of jeeringly; and therefore I lay my commands upon you. Whoever speaks of this journey of ours and I hear of it, his penalty is death, his and all his offspring, as I vowed to those paddlers of mine before."
They returned to Kauai. A few days afterwards Aiwohikupua, the chief, wished to make a feast for the chiefs and for all his friends on Kauai.
While the feast was being made ready the chief gave word to fetch the feasters; with all the male chiefs, only one woman of rank was allowed to come to the celebration; this was Kailiokalauokekoa.[47]
On the day of the feast all the guests assembled, the food was ready spread, and the drink at the feast was the awa.
Before eating, all the guests together took up their cups of awa and drank. During the feasting, the awa had not the least effect upon them.
And because the awa had no effect, the chief hastily urged his awa chewers to chew the awa a second time. When the chief's command was carried out, the guests and the chief himself took up their cups of awa all together and drank. When this cup of awa was drained the effect of the awa overcame them. But the one who felt the effects most was the chief who gave the feast.
Now, while the chief was drunk, the oath which he swore at sea to the rowers was not forgotten; not from one of his own men was the forbidden story told, but from the mouth of Aiwohikupua himself was the chief's secret heard.
While under the influence of the awa, Aiwohikupua turned right around upon Kauakahialii, who was sitting near, and said: "O Kauakahialii, when you were talking to us about Laieikawai, straightway there entered into me desire after that woman; then sleepless were my nights with the wish, to see her; so I sailed and came to Hawaii, two of us went up, until at daylight we reached the uplands of Paliuli; when I went to see the chief's house, it was very beautiful, I was ashamed; therefore I returned here. I returned, in fact, thinking that the little sisters were the ones to get my wish; I fetched them, made the journey with the girls to the house of the princess, let them do their best; when, as it happened, they were all refused, all four sisters except the youngest; for shame I returned. Surely that woman is the most stubborn of all, she has no equal."
While Aiwohikupua talked of Laieikawai's stubbornness, Hauailiki was sitting at the feast, the young singer of Mana, a chief of high rank on the father's side and of unrivaled beauty.
He arose and said to Aiwohikupua, "You managed the affair awkwardly. I do not believe her to be a stubborn woman; give me a chance to stand before her eyes; I should not have to speak, she would come of her own free will to meet me, then you would see us together."
Said Aiwohikupua, "Hauailiki, I wish you would go to Hawaii; if you get Laieikawai, you are a lucky fellow, and I will send men with you and a double canoe; and should you lose in this journey then your lands become mine, and if you return with Laieikawai then all my lands are yours."
After Aiwohikupua had finished speaking, that very night, Hauailiki boarded the double canoe and set sail, but many days passed on the journey.
As they sailed they stood off Makahanaloa, and, looking out, saw the rainbow arching above the beach of Keaau. Said Aiwohikupua's chief counsellor to Hauailiki, "Look well at that rainbow arching the beach there at Keaau. There is Laieikawai watching the surf riding."
Said Hauailiki, "I thought Paliuli was where she lived."
And on the next day, in the afternoon, when they reached Keaau,
Laieikawai had just returned with Aiwohikupua's sisters to Paliuli.
When Hauailiki's party arrived, behold many persons came to see this youth who rivaled Kauakahialii and Aiwohikupua in beauty, and all the people of Keaau praised him exceedingly.
Next day at sunrise the mist and fog covered all Keaau, and when it cleared, behold! seven girls were sitting at the landing place of Keaau, one of whom was more beautiful than the rest. This was the very first time that the sisters of Aiwohikupua had come down with Laieikawai, according to their compact.
As Laieikawai and her companions were sitting there that morning,
Hauailiki stood up and walked about before them, showing off his good
looks to gain the notice of the princess of Paliuli. But what was
Hauailiki to Laieikawai? Mere chaff!
Four days Laieikawai came to Keaau after Hauailiki's entering the harbor; and four days Hauailiki showed himself off before Laieikawai, and she took no notice at all of him.
On the fifth day of her coming, Hauailiki thought to display before the beloved one his skill with the surf board;[48] the truth is Hauailiki surpassed any one else on Kauai as an expert in surf riding, he surpassed all others in his day, and he was famous for this skill as well as for his good looks.
That day, at daybreak, the natives of the place, men and women, were out in the breakers.
While the people were gathering for surfing, Hauailiki undid his garment, got his surf board, of the kind made out of a thick piece of wili-wili wood, went directly to the place where Laieikawai's party sat, and stood there for some minutes; then it was that the sisters of Aiwohikupua took a liking to Hauailiki.
Said Mailehaiwale to Laieikawai, "If we had not been set apart by our parents, I would take Hauailiki for my husband."
Said Laieikawai, "I like him, too; but I, too, have been set apart by my grandmother, so that my liking is useless."
"We are all alike," said Mailehaiwale.
When Hauailiki had showed himself off for some minutes, Hauailiki leaped with his surf board into the sea and swam out into the breakers.
When Hauailiki was out in the surf, one of the girls called out, "Land now!"
"Land away!" answered Hauailiki, for he did not wish to ride in on the same breaker with the crowd. He wished to make himself conspicuous on a separate breaker, in order that Laieikawai should see his skill in surf riding and maybe take a liking to him. Not so!
When the others had gone in a little wave budded and swelled, then Hauailiki rode the wave. As he rode, the natives cheered and the sisters of Aiwohikupua also. What was that to Laieikawai?
When Hauailiki heard the cheering, then he thought surely Laieikawai's voice would join the shouting. Not so! He kept on surfing until the fifth wave had passed; it was the same; he got no call whatever; then Hauailiki first felt discouragement, with the proof of Aiwohikupua's saying about the "stubbornness of Laieikawai."