CHAPTER XVI
And they were ready and were sent for and came. When Aiwohikupua saw Kahalaomapuana resting on the wings of birds, as commander in chief, this was a great surprise to Aiwohikupua and his companion. Said the head guard, "Return at once, linger not, delay not your going, for the princess is taboo, you have not the least business in this place; and never let the idea come to you that we are your sisters; that time has passed." Kahalaomapuana arose and disappeared.
Then the hot wrath of Aiwohikupua was kindled and his anger grew. He decided at that time to go back to the sea to Keaau, then send his warriors to destroy the younger sisters.
When they turned back and came to Kahalaomapuana's taboo sign, behold! the tail of the great lizard protruded above the taboo sign, which was covered with white tapa wound with the ieie vine and the sweet-scented fern,[51] and it was a terrible thing to see.
As soon as Aiwohikupua and his companion reached the sea at Keaau, Aiwohikupua's counsellor dispatched the chief's picked fighting men to go up and destroy the sisters, according to the chief's command.
That very day Waka foresaw what Aiwohikupua's intention was. So Waka went and met Kahalaomapuana, the princess's commander in chief, and said: "Kahalaomapuana, I have seen what your brother intends to do. He is preparing ten strong men to come up here and destroy you, for your brother is wrathful because you drove him away this morning; so let us be ready in the name of our god."
Then she sent for Kihanuilulumoku, the great lizard of Paliuli, their god. And the lizard came and she commanded him: "O our god, Kihanuilulumoku, see to this lawless one, this mischief-maker, this rogue of the sea; if they send a force here, slaughter them all, let no messenger escape, keep on until the last one is taken, and beware of Kalahumoku, Aiwohikupua's great strong dog;[52] if you blunder, there is an end of us, we shall not escape; exert your strength, all your godlike might over Aiwohikupua. Amen, it is finished, flown away." This was Kahalaomapuana's charge to their god.
That night the ten men chosen by the chief went up to destroy the sisters of Aiwohikupua, and the assistant counsellor made the eleventh in place of the chief counsellor.
At the first dawn they approached Paliuli. Then they heard the humming of the wind in the thicket from the tongue of that great lizard, Kihanuilulumoku, coming for them, but they did not see the creature, so they went on; soon they saw the upper jaw of the lizard hanging right over them; they were just between the lizard's jaws; then the assistant counsellor leaped quickly back, could not make the distance; it snapped them up; not a messenger was left.
Two days passed; there was no one to tell of the disaster to Aiwohikupua's party, and because he wondered why they did not return the chief was angry.
So the chief again chose a party of warriors, twenty of them, from the strongest of his men, to go up and destroy the sisters; and the counsellor appointed an assistant counsellor to go for him with the men.
Again they went up until they came clear to the place where the first band had disappeared; these also disappeared in the lizard; not a messenger was left.
Again the chief waited; they came not back. The chief again sent a band of forty; all were killed. So it went on until eight times forty warriors had disappeared.
Then Aiwohikupua consulted with his counsellor as to the reason for none of the men who had been sent returning.
Said Aiwohikupua to his counsellor, "How is it that these warriors who are sent do not return?"
Said his counsellor, "It may be when they get to the uplands and see the beauty of the place they remain, and if not, they have all been killed by your sisters."
"How can they be killed by those helpless girls, whom I intended to kill?" So said Aiwohikupua.
And because of the chief's anxiety to know why his warriors did not come back he agreed with his counsellor to send messengers to see what the men were doing.
At the chief's command the counsellor sent the Snipe and the Turnstone, Aiwohikupua's swiftest messengers, to go up and find out the truth about his men.
Not long after they had left they met another man, a bird catcher from the uplands of Olaa;[53] he asked, "Where are you two going?"
The runners said, "We are going up to find out the truth about our people who are living at Paliuli; eight times forty men have been sent—not one returned."
"They are done for," said the bird catcher, "in the great lizard,
Kihanuilulumoku; they have not been spared."
When they heard this they kept on going up; not long after they heard the sighing of the wind and the humming of the trees bending back and forth; then they remembered the bird catcher's words, "If the wind hums, that is from the lizard."
They knew then this must be the lizard; they flew in their bird bodies. They flew high and looked about. There right above them was the upper jaw shutting down upon them, and only by quickness of flight in their bird bodies did they escape.