CHAPTER XXXIV
And at the woman's words, the princess's mind was moved; not at once did she show her rage; but she waited but to make sure. She said to the woman, "No wonder my husband forces me to drink awa so that when I am asleep under the influence of the awa, he can go; but to-night I will follow him."
That night Kekalukaluokewa again gave her the awa, then she obeyed him, but after she had drunk it all, she went outside the house immediately and threw it up; and afterwards her husband did not know of his wife's guile, and she returned to the house, and Laielohelohe lay down and pretended to sleep.
When Kekalukaluokewa thought that his wife was fast asleep under the effects of the awa, then he started to make his usual visit to Hinaikamalama.
When Laielohelohe saw that he had left her, she arose and followed
Kekalukaluokewa without being seen.
Thus following, lo! she found her husband with Hinaikamalama.
Then Laielohelohe said to Kekalukaluokewa, when she came to Hinaikamalama's house where they were sleeping, "My husband, you have deceived me; no wonder you compelled me to drink awa, you had something to do; now I have found you two, I tell you it is not right to endure this any longer. We had best return to Kauai; we must go at once."
Her husband saw that the princess was right; they arose and returned to Honokalani and next day the canoes were hastily prepared to fulfill Laielohelohe's demand, thinking to sail that night; but they did not, for Kekalukaluokewa pretended to be ill, and they postponed going that night. The next day he did the same thing again, so Laielohelohe gave up her love for her husband and returned to Kauai with her canoe, without thinking again of Kekalukaluokewa.
The next day after Laielohelohe reached Kauai after leaving her husband,
Kaonohiokala arrived again from Kahakaekaea, and met with Laielohelohe.
Four months passed of their amorous meetings; this long absence of Kaonohiokala's seemed strange to Laieikawai, he had been away four months; and as Laieikawai wondered at the long absence, Kaonohiokala returned.
Laieikawai asked, "Why were you gone four months? You have not done so before."
Said Kaonohiokala, "Laielohelohe has had trouble with her husband; Kekalukaluokewa has taken a stranger to wife, and this is why I was so long away."
Then Laieikawai said to her husband, "Get your wife and bring her up here and let us live together."
Therefore, Kaonohiokala left Laieikawai and went away, as Laieikawai thought, to carry out her command. Not so!
On this journey Kaonohiokala stayed away a year; now Laieikawai did not think her husband's long stay strange, she laid it to Laielohelohe's troubles with Kekalukaluokewa.
Then she longed to see how it was with her sister, so Laieikawai went to her father-in-law and asked, "How can I see how it is with my sister, for I have heard from my husband and high one that Laielohelohe is having trouble with Kekalukaluokewa, and so I have sent Kaonohiokala to fetch the woman and return hither; but he has not come back, and it is a year since he went, so give me power to see to that distant place to know how it is with my relatives."
Then said Moanalihaikawaokele, her father-in-law, "Go home and look for your mother-in-law; if she is asleep, then go into the taboo temple; if you see a gourd plaited with straw and feathers mounted on the edge of the cover, that is the gourd. Do not be afraid of the great birds that stand on either side of the gourd, they are not real birds, only wooden birds; they are plaited with straw and inwrought with feathers. And when you come to where the gourd is standing take off the cover, then put your head into the mouth of the gourd and call out the name of the gourd, 'Laukapalili, Trembling Leaf, give me wisdom.' Then you shall see your sister and all that is happening below. Only when you call do not call in a loud voice; it might resound; your mother-in-law, Laukieleula, might hear, the one who guards the gourd of wisdom."
Laukieleula was wont to watch the gourd of wisdom, at night, and by day she slept.
Very early next morning, at the time when the sun's warmth began to spread over the earth, she went to spy out Laukieleula; she was just asleep.
When she saw she was asleep Laieikawai did as Moanalihaikawaokele had directed, and she went as he had instructed her.
When she came to the gourd, the one called "the gourd of wisdom," she lifted the cover from the gourd and bent her head to the mouth of the gourd, and she called the name of the gourd, then she began to see all that was happening at a distance.
At noon Laieikawai's eyes glanced downward, lo! Kaonohiokala sinned with
Laielohelohe.
Then Laieikawai went and told Moanalihaikawaokele about it, saying, "I have employed the power you gave me, but while I was looking my high lord sinned; he did evil with my sister; for the first time I understand why his business takes him so long down below."
Then Moanalihaikawaokele's wrath was kindled, and Laukieleula heard it also, and her parents-in-law went to the gourd—lo! they plainly saw the sin committed as Laieikawai had said.
That day they all came together, Laieikawai and her parents-in-law, to see what to do about Kaonohiokala, and they came to their decision.
Then the pathway was let down from Kahakaekaea and dropped before Kaonohiokala; then Kaonohiokala's heart beat with fear, because the road dropped before him; not for long was Kaonohiokala left to wonder.
Then the air was darkened and it was filled with the cry of wailing spirits and the voice of lamentation—"The divine one has fallen! The divine one has fallen!!" And when the darkness was over, lo! Moanalihaikawaokele and Laukieleula and Laieikawai sat above the rainbow pathway.
And Moanalihaikawaokele said to Kaonohiokala, "You have sinned, O Kaonohiokala, for you have defiled yourself and, therefore, you shall no longer have a place to dwell within Kahakaekaea, and the penalty you shall pay, to become a fearsome thing on the highway and at the doors of houses, and your name is Lapu, Vanity, and for your food you shall eat moths; and thus shall you live and your posterity."
Then was the pathway taken from him through his father's supernatural might. Then they returned to Kahakaekaea.
In this story it is told how Kaonohiokala was the first ghost on these islands, and from his day to this, the ghosts wander from place to place, and they resemble evil spirits in their nature.[76]
On the way back after Kaonohiokala's punishment, they encountered Kahalaomapuana in Kealohilani, and for the first time discovered she was there.
And at this discovery, Kahalaomapuana told the story of her dismissal, as we saw in Chapter XXVII of this story, and at the end Kahalaomapuana was taken to fill Kaonohiokala's place.
At Kahakaekaea, sometimes Laieikawai longed for Laielohelohe, but she could do nothing; often she wept for her sister, and her parents-in-law thought it strange to see Laieikawai's eyes looking as if she had wept.
Moanalihaikawaokele asked the reason for this; then she told him she wept for her sister.
Said Moanalihaikawaokele, "Your sister can not live here with us, for she is defiled with Kaonohiokala; but if you want your sister, then you go and fill Kekalukaluokewa's place." Now Laieikawai readily assented to this plan.
And on the day when Laieikawai was let down, Moanalihaikawaokele said, "Return to your sister and live virgin until your death, and from this time forth your name shall be no longer called Laieikawai, but your name shall be 'The Woman of the Twilight,' and by this name shall all your kin bow down to you and you shall be like a god to them."
And after this command, Moanalihaikawaokele took her, and both together mounted upon the pathway and returned below.
Then, Moanalihaikawaokele said all these things told above, and when he had ended he returned to the heavens and dwelt in the taboo house on the borders of Tahiti.
Then, The Woman of the Twilight placed the government upon the seer; so did Laieikawai, the one called The Woman of the Twilight, and she lived as a god, and to her the seer bowed down and her kindred, according to Moanalihaikawaokele's word to her. And so Laieikawai lived until her death.
And from that time to this she is still worshiped as The Woman of the
Twilight.