At the gateways of the day

by Padraic Colum

When his wife and her brothers saw him come back they welcomed Au-ke-le with joy. The Queen gave him her kingdom and everything else that was at her command. And she sent a message to her uncles, who were in the sky, to tell them that she had given her husband all her possessions—the things that were above and below, that were on the uplands and on the lowlands, the drift iron, the iron that stands in the ground, the whale’s tooth, the turtle-shell, the things that grow on the land, and the cluster of stars. All these things were his now. But with all these things in his possession Au-ke-le was not satisfied, for he thought upon the canoe that was sunken and on his brothers who were all drowned.

He dreamed of his brothers and of his young nephew; and, with the thoughts that he had, he could not enjoy himself on the land that he ruled over. And, seeing her husband so sad, sorrow for [[59]]him entered the heart of the Queen. He told her that he thought of the men who had come with him and who were now dead. And when he spoke of what was in his mind the Queen said: “If you have great strength and courage, your brothers may come back to life again; but if your strength or your courage fail, they will never be restored to life, and your own life, perhaps, will be lost.” Then Au-ke-le said to the Queen, “What is it that I must do to win them back to life?” And the Queen said: “You must use all your strength and your courage to gain the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne. If you are able to gain it and bring it to them, your brothers and your nephew will live again.” When Au-ke-le heard this from the Queen he ceased to be sorrowful; he ate and he drank, and he had gladness in his possessions. Then he said to the Queen, “What way must I take to gain the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne?” His wife said: “I will show you the way: from the place where we are standing you must go towards the rising sun, never turning from the road that I set you on. And at the end of your journey you will come to the place where you will find the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne.”

When Au-ke-le heard this he put on his skirt of feathers that his mo-o grandmother had given him; he took up the calabash that had his Magic in it; [[60]]he kissed his wife farewell; and he took the path from his house that went straight towards the rising sun.

After he had been on his way for a month the Queen came to the door of her house, and she looked towards where he had gone. She saw him, and he was still upon his way. At the end of another month she went out again and looked towards where he had gone. He was still upon the path that led to the rising sun. Another month passed, and she went and looked towards where he had gone. No trace of her husband could she see, and she knew that he must have gone off the path she had shown him. She began to weep, and when her four brothers came before her she said, “Your brother-in-law has fallen into space, and he is lost.”

She then sent her brothers to bring all things and creatures together that they might all mourn for Au-ke-le. They went and they brought the night and the day, the sun, the stars, the thunder, the rainbow, the lightning, the waterspout, the mist, the fine rain. And the grandfather of the Queen, Kau-kihi-ka-malama, who is the Man in the Moon, was sent for, too.

But where indeed was Au-ke-le?

He had left the straight line towards the rising sun; he had fallen into space, and now he was growing weaker and weaker as he fell. But he still had the calabash that had his Magic in it. He held it [[61]]under his arm; and now he spoke and asked where they were. His Magic said to him: “We have gone outside the line that was shown to us, and now I think that we shall never get back. There is nothing in the sky to help us or to show us the way; all that was in the sky has gone down to the earth—the night and the day, the sun and the stars, the thunder, the rainbow, the lightning, the waterspout, the mist, the fine rain. No, I can see no thing and no creature that can help us.” Au-ke-le asked, “Who is it that is still up there?” His Magic replied: “Go straight and lay hold upon him, and we may be saved. That is Kau-kihi-ka-malama, the Man in the Moon.”

The reason that Kau-kihi-ka-malama had not gone down to earth with the others was that he had delayed to prepare food to bring down to the earth, for he thought that there was no food there. He was just starting off when Au-ke-le came up to him and held him tightly. “Whose conceited child are you?” the Man in the Moon asked. “My back has never been climbed, even by my own granddaughter, and now you come here and climb over it. Whose conceited child are you?” “Yours,” said Au-ke-le. “I will take you to earth, and my granddaughter Na-maka will tell me who you are.” And so Kau-kihi-ka-malama brought Au-ke-le back to earth. And when he reached the earth all the people there wept with joy to see him. Then the sun, the day, the [[62]]night, the lightning, the thunder, the mist, the fine rain, the waterspout, and the Man in the Moon all returned back to the heavens.

But nothing would do Au-ke-le but to set out again to find the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne. So he started off from the door of his house, and he went in a straight line towards the rising sun. And in six months from the time he started he stood by the edge of a hole at the bottom of which was the Water of Everlasting Life, the Water of Ka-ne.

He climbed over the shoulder of the guard, and the guard said to him: “Eh, there! Whose conceited child are you? My back has never been climbed over before, and now you come here and do it. Whose conceited child are you?” “Your own,” said Au-ke-le. “My own by whom?” “My father is Iku,” said Au-ke-le. “Then you are the grandson of Ka-po-ino and Ka-mo’o-i-na-nea.” “I am.” “My greetings to you, my lord,” said the guardian of the edge of the hole.