The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai

by S. N. Haleole

CHAPTER XXVI

When the seer heard this story the seer saw plainly that this was the very one he sought. But in order to make sure, the seer withdrew to a distance and prayed to his god to confirm the girl's story.

After praying he came back and went to sleep, and as he slept the seer received the assurance in a vision from his god, saying, "The time has come to fulfill your wishes, to free you from the weariness of your long search. She is here—the one who told you her story; this is the one you are seeking.

"Therefore arise and take the offering you have prepared and lay it before her, having blessed her in the name of your god.

"This done, linger not; carry them at once to Kauai, this very night, and let them dwell on the cliffs of Haena in the uplands of Honopuwaiakua."

At this the seer awoke from his dream; he arose and brought the pig and the cock and held them out to Laieikawai, saying, "Blessed am I, my mistress, that my god has shown you to me, for long have I followed you to win a blessing from you.

"And therefore I beseech you to guard these bones under your special favor, my mistress, and to leave this trust to your descendants unto the last generation."

Laieikawai answered, "Father, the time of my prosperity has passed, for Waka has taken her favor from me; but hereafter I shall win honor beyond my former honor and glory; then you shall also rise to prosperity with us."

And after these things the prophet did as his god commanded—sailed that night and dwelt in the place commanded.

Many days the seer lived here with his daughter above Honopuwaiakua. At one time the seer made one of his customary journeys.

As he traveled in his character as seer he came to Wailua. Lo! all the virgin daughters of Kauai were gathered together, all of the rank of chief with the girls of well-to-do families, at the command of Aiwohikupua to bring the virgins before the chief, the one who pleased the chief to become the wife of Aiwohikupua.

When the seer came within the crowd, lo! the maidens were assembled in one place before the chief.

The seer asked some one in the crowd, "What is this assembly for and why are all these maidens standing in a circle before the chief?"

He was told, "All the virgins have been summoned by the chief's command, and the two who please Aiwohikupua, these he will take for his wives in place of Poliahu and Hinaikamalama, and their parents are to be clothed in feather cloaks."

Then the seer stood before the chiefs and all the assembly and cried in a loud voice:

"O chiefs, it is a wise and good thing for the chief to take whichever one of these virgins pleases him, but not one of these can fill the loss of Poliahu and Hinaikamalama.

"If any one of these virgins here could compare in beauty with the left leg of my daughters, then she would be worth it. These are pretty enough, but not like my daughters."

Said Aiwohikupua in an angry voice, "When did we ever know that you had daughters!"

And those who had brought their daughters before the chief looked upon the seer as an enemy.

And to the chief's angry words the seer replied, "Did I not seek diligently and alone for a ruler over all these islands? And this lord of the land, she is my daughter, and my other daughters, they are my lord's sisters.

"Should my daughter come hither and stand upon the sea, the ocean would be in tumult; if on land, the wind would blow, the sun be darkened, the rain fall, the thunder crash, the lightning flash, the mountain tremble, the land would be flooded, the ocean reddened, at the coming of my daughter and lord."

And the seer's words spread, fear through the assembly. But those whose virgin daughters were present were not pleased.

They strongly urged the chief, therefore, to bind him within the house of detention, the prison house, where the chief's enemies were wont to be imprisoned.

Through the persistence of his enemies, it was decided to make the seer fast within that place and let him stay there until he died.

On the day of his imprisonment, that night at dawn, he prayed to his god. And at early daybreak the door of the house was opened for him and he went out without being seen.

In the morning the chief sent the executioner to go and see how the prophet fared in prison.

When the executioner came to the outside of the prison, he called with a loud voice:

"O Hulumaniani! O Hulumaniani! Prophet of God! How are you? Are you dead?" Three times the executioner called, but heard not a sound from within.

The executioner returned to the chief and said, "The prophet is dead."

Then the chief commanded the head man of the temple to make ready for the day of sacrifice and flay the prophet on the place of sacrifice before the altar.

Now the seer heard this command from some distance away, and in the night he took a banana plant covered with tapa like a human figure and put it inside the place where he had been imprisoned, and went back and joined his daughters and told them all about his troubles.

And near the day of sacrifice at the temple, the seer took Laieikawai and her companions on board of the double canoe.

In the very early morning of the day of sacrifice at the temple the man was to be brought for sacrifice, and when the head men of the temple entered the prison, lo! the body was tightly wrapped up, and it was brought and laid within the temple.

And close to the hour when the man was to be laid upon the altar all the people assembled and the chief with them; and the chief went up on the high place, the banana plant was brought and laid directly under the altar.

Said the chief to his head men, "Unwrap the tapa from the body and place it upon the altar prepared for it."

When it was unwrapped there was a banana plant inside, not the prophet, as was expected. "This is a banana plant! Where is the prophet?" exclaimed the chief.

Great was the chief's anger against the keeper of the prison where the prophet was confined.

Then all the keepers were called to trial. While the chief's keepers were being examined, the seer arrived with his daughters in a double canoe and floated outside the mouth of the inlet.

The seer stood on one canoe and Aiwohikupua's sisters on the other, and Laieikawai stood on the high seat between, under the symbols of a taboo chief.

As they stood there with Laieikawai, the wind blew, the sun was darkened, the sea grew rough, the ocean was reddened, the streams went back and stopped at their sources, no water flowed into the sea.[69] After this the seer took Laieikawai's skirt[70] and laid it down on the land; then the thunder crashed, the temple fell, the altar crumbled.

After all these signs had been displayed, Aiwohikupua and the others saw
Laieikawai standing above the canoes under the symbol of a taboo chief.
Then the assembly shouted aloud, "O the beautiful woman! O the beautiful
woman! How stately she stands!"

Then the men ran in flocks from the land down to the sea beach; one trampled on another in order to see.

Then the seer called out to Aiwohikupua, "Your keepers are not guilty; not by their means was I freed from prison, but by my god, who has saved me from many perils; and this is my lord.

"I spoke truly; this is my daughter, my lord, whom I went to seek, my preserver."

And when Aiwohikupua looked upon Laieikawai his heart trembled, and he fell to the ground as if dead.

When the chief recovered he commanded his head man to bring the seer and his daughter to fill the place of Poliahu and Hinaikamalama.

The head man went and called out to the seer on the canoe and told him the chief's word.

When the seer heard it he said to the head man, "Return and tell the chief, my lord indeed, that my lordly daughter shall never become his wife; she is chief over all the islands."

The head man went away; the seer, too, went away with his daughters, nor was he seen again after that at Wailua; they returned and dwelt at Honopuwaiakua.