Kauilani finds his Sister Lepe-a-moa
For some time after the famous battle with the evil god, Kauilani aided his parents in establishing a firm and peaceful government, after which he became restless and wanted new experiences.
One day he asked his mother if he was the only child she had. She told him the story of his sister, who had been born from an egg, and had become a very beautiful young woman. They had never seen her, because she had been taken to Oahu by her grandparents and there brought up.
Kauilani said, “I am going to Oahu to find her.”
His mother said: “Yes, that is right. I will tell you about my people and their lands.” So she told him about his ancestors, his grandparents and their rich lands around the Nuuanu stream and its bordering plains; also of the stopping-places as he should cross the island to Kapalama, his grandmother, where he would [[221]]find his sister under a rainbow having certain strong shades of color.
The parents prepared a red feather cloak for him to wear with his fine magic malo. These he put on, and, taking his ancestral spear, went down to the sea. Laying his spear on the water, he poised upon it, when it dashed like a great fish through the water; leaping from wave to wave, it swept over the sea like a malolo (flying-fish), and landed him on the Oahu beach among the sand-dunes of Waianae.
Taking up his spear he started toward the sunrise side of the island, calling upon it as he went along to direct his path to Kapalama. Then he threw the spear as if it were a dart in the game of pahee, but instead of sliding and skipping along the ground it leaped into the air, and, like a bird floating on its wings, went along before the young chief.
Once it flew fast and far ahead of him to a place where two women were working, and fell at their feet. They saw the beautiful spear, wonderfully polished, and picked it up, and quickly found a hiding-place wherein they concealed it. Covering up the deep furrow it had made in the ground where it fell and looking around without seeing any one, they resumed their work.
Soon Kauilani came to the place where they [[222]]were, and, greeting them, asked pleasantly, “When did you see my travelling companion who passed this way?” They were a little confused, yet said they had not seen any one.
Then he asked them plainly if a spear had passed them, and again they denied all knowledge of anything coming near. Kauilani said, “Have you not concealed my friend, my spear?”
They replied: “No. We have not had anything to do with any spear.”
The chief softly called, “E Koa-wi! E Koa-wa! E!” The spear replied in a small, sharp voice, “E-o-e-o!” and leaped out from its hiding-place, knocking the women over into the stream near which they had been working.
Taking the spear, he went down to the seashore, scolding it on the way for making sport of him, and threatened to break it if anything else went wrong. The spear said: “You must not injure me, your ancestor, or all your visit will result in failure. But if you lay me down on the beach I will take you to the place where you can find your sister.”
The chief said, “How shall I know you are not deceiving me?”
The spear replied, “Sit down on me and in a little while we shall be at a place where you can see her.” Then it carried the complaining chief to the beach of Kou. There it lay on the [[223]]ground and said: “You see a tree, a wiliwili-[2]tree, standing alone near the sea and looking out over the waters? Go you to that tree and climb it and look along the beach until you see a rainbow rising over the waves. Under that rainbow you will see a girl catching squid and shellfish and gathering sea-moss. She is doing this for her old people. She is your sister.”
The chief said, “I will go and see, but if no one is there I will punish you for deceiving me, and break you into little pieces.”
He went to the tree, climbed to the top branches and looked along the beach as the spear had directed. He saw a very strange thing out over the water: red mist and bloody rainclouds moving back and forth over the dark-blue waves, extending far out toward the horizon and also covering the place where he was to see the girl. He called down to the spear that he could not see any rainbow or any girl.
The spear replied: “Everything is changing rapidly on the face of the sea. Look again.”
He watched the whirling mist and rain, and as it moved slowly he saw an immense bird with many red feathers on its body and wings. When it flew up from the sea it hid the light from the sun and cast a dark shadow over all that beach. [[224]]He called to the spear, “What is this great bird flying over the ocean?”
The spear replied: “That is one of your ancestors, a kupua. She has a double body, sometimes appearing as a bird and sometimes in human form. Her name is Ka-iwa-ka-la-meha. She has dwelling-places in all the islands, and even in Kahiki. She has come to your sister, Lepe-a-moa, over the seas of the gods Ka-ne and Kanaloa.”
Kauilani watched the great bird as it rose from the sea and flew in mighty circles around the heavens, rising higher and higher until it was lost in the sky.
Soon the atmosphere began to clear, and he saw the rainbow and the girl in the far distance. He came down and told the spear that all its words were true. The spear again asked the young chief to sit on it. He did so, and was carried rapidly to the group of houses where Kapalama was living with her husband and grandchild.
That same day, after Lepe-a-moa had taken her basket and gone to the shore, Kapalama looked along the road toward the sunset and saw a small cloud hastening along the way. Watching it carefully, she saw a rainbow in the cloud and called to her husband: “O Honouliuli, this is a very strange thing, but from the rainbow in the [[225]]cloud I know that our grandchild from Kauai is coming to this place. You must quickly fire the oven and prepare food for this our young grandchild.”
He made the oven ready, and soon had chicken, fish, and sweet-potatoes cooking for their visitor.
When Kauilani came to his grandparents they all wailed over each other, according to the ancient custom of the Hawaiians. When the greeting was finished he went into the house set apart for men as their eating-place, into which women were not allowed to enter, and there ate his food. After this he went outside and lay down on a mat and talked with his grandmother.
She praised him for the great victory won with his spear against his father’s enemy, and then asked why he had come to Oahu.
He said, “I have come to see my sister in her double nature.”
She replied: “That is right. I will take you to her house. There you must make a hollow place and hide under the mats and not let her see or hear you, lest you die. But when she falls asleep you must catch her and hold her fast until she accepts you as her brother. I will utter my chants and prayers for your success.” So he hid himself in the girl’s house and kept very quiet. [[226]]
Meanwhile Lepe-a-moa, who was through fishing, picked up her basket and started toward her home. She saw a rainbow resting over their houses and thought some strange chief had come. She rejoiced and determined that the chief should play her favorite game konane, a game resembling checkers. When she came to the houses she asked her grandmother for the strange chief, saying she saw the footsteps of some man, perhaps now concealed by the grandmother.
Kapalama denied that any one had come. So the girl went into her house, laid aside her human body, and assumed that of many kinds of birds. Kapalama broke cooked sweet-potatoes and fed the pieces to this bird-body. Having eaten all she wished, Lepe-a-moa went into her house and lay down on her mats and fell asleep.
When deep sleep was on her the young chief leaped upon her, caught her in his arms, and held her fast. Jumping up, she dashed out of the house, carrying him with her. She flew up into the sky, but he still clung to her. The magic power of that spear helped him to hold fast and made the bird fly slowly.
As she heard her grandmother chanting about herself and her brother, the young chief of Kauai, her anger modified, and she asked the stranger, “Who are you, and from whence have [[227]]you come?” He said, “I am from Kauai, and I am Kauilani, your younger brother.”
Then she began to love him, and flew back to her grandparents, who welcomed them with great rejoicing.
Elepaio Bird
For many days the young people and their grandparents dwelt happily together. In later years the young chief and his sister saved King Kakuhihewa in a remarkable manner. As a result, the king gave his favorite daughter to Kauilani as his wife, and Lepe-a-moa cared for their children.