[Footnote 68: This incident is unsatisfactorily treated. We never know how Waka circumvented Malio and restored her grandchild to the husband designed for her. The whole thing sounds like a dramatic innovation with farcical import, which appeared in the tale without motivation for the reason that it had none in its inception. The oral narrator is rather an actor than a composer; he may have introduced this episode as a surprise, and its success as farce perpetuated it as romance.]
CHAPTER XXVI
[Footnote 69: This episode of the storm is another inconsistency in the story. The storm signs belong to the gods of Aiwohikupua and his brother, the Sun god, not to Laieikawai, and were certainly not hers when Waka deserted her. If they were given her for protection by Kahalaomapuana or through the influence of the seer with the Kauai family, the story-teller does not inform us of the fact.]
[Footnote 70: The pa-u is a woman's main garment, and consists of five thicknesses of bark cloth 4 yards long and 3 or 4 feet wide, the outer printed in colors, and worn wrapped about the loins, reaching the knees.]
CHAPTER XXVII
[Footnote 71: In mythical quest stories the hero or heroine seeks, by proving his relationship, generally on the mother's side, to gain the favor of the supernatural guardian of whatever treasure he seeks. By breaking down the taboo he proclaims his rank, and by forcing the attention of the relative before the angry god (or chief) has a chance to kill him (compare the story of Kalaniamanuia, where the father recognizes too late the son whom he has slain), he gains time to reveal himself. In this episode the father's beard is, like the locks of Dionysus in Euripides' line, dedicated to the god, hence to seize it was a supreme act of lawlessness.]
[Footnote 72: According to the old Polynesian system of age groups, the "mother's brother" bears the relation to the child of makua equally with his real parents. Kahalaomapuana says to her father:
"I am your child (kama),
The child of Laukieleula,
The child of Mokukelekahiki,
The child of Kaeloikamalama."
thus claiming rank from all four sources. Owing to inbreeding and this multiple method of inheriting title, Polynesian children may be of higher rank than either parent. The form of colloquy which follows each encounter (compare Kila's journey to Tahiti) is merely the customary salutation in meeting a stranger, according to Hawaiian etiquette.]
[Footnote 73: The name Laukieleula means "Red-kiele-leaf." The kiele, Andrews says, is "a sweet-scented flower growing in the forest," and is identified by some natives with the gardenia, of which there are two varieties native in Hawaii; but the form does not occur in any chants with which I am familiar. It is probably selected to express the idea of fragrance, which seems to be the kupua property of the mother's side of the family. It is the rareness of fragrant plants indigenous to the islands, coupled with sensuous delight in odor, which gives to perfume the attributes of deity, and to those few varieties which possess distinct scent like the maile and hala, a conspicuous place in religious ceremonial.