Ke-au-nini raised his eyes and spoke softly to the clouds above him: "O my parents, this my brother-in-law wishes to see our dwelling-place, therefore call Ke-au-kai to send down our tabu dwelling-place."
Ke-au-kai was near him, and said: "We had very many troubles on the ocean in coming after the one whom you want for your wife. You aided us to escape; perhaps the old man in the skies will hear you if you call." Then Ke-au-nini turned toward the east:
"Ke-au-nini has his home,
His home with his mother.
Hiilei, the wife,
She was the child of Nakula-uka,
The first-born Kakela.
The cheeks grow red;
And the eyes flash fire.
In the Lewa-lani (heavens),
The very heart of the lightning,
A double rainbow is high arched.
The voice of the Kana-mu are heard.
Calling and crying are the Kana-wa.
[The Kana-mu and the Kana-wa were companies of little people, i.e., fairies.]
I continually call to you, O little ones,
Come here with the white feathers,
Let feathers come here together;
Let all the colors of the tortoise-back
Gather and descend;
Let all the posts stand strong;
Braced shall be the house;
Fasten in also the smoke-colored feathers;
Work swiftly and complete our tabu house."
Then the darkness of evening came, and in the shadows the little people labored in the moonless night. Soon their work was done, the house finished, and a sacred drum placed inside. When the clear sky of the morning rested over, and the sun made visible the fairy home in the early dawn, the people cried out with wonder at the beautiful thing before them. There stood a house of glowing feathers of all colors. Posts and rafters of polished bones shone like the ivory teeth of the whale, tinted in the smoke of a fire. Softly swayed the feathered thatch in a gentle breeze, rustling through the surrounding cocoa-trees. Most beautiful it was, as in the chant of Lilinoe:
"Hulei Lilinoe me Kuka-hua-ula;
Hele Hoaheo i kai o Mokuleia."
"Lifted up, blown by the wind are
The falls down to the sea of Mokuleia."
Ke-au-nini told his brother-in-law, "Oh, my brother, look upon my tabu dwelling-place as you wished."
Olopana was very curious, and asked, "How many people are needed to make a house like this so quickly?" Ke-au-nini laughed and said, "You have seen my people: there are three of us who built this house—I, the chief, and my two friends."
He did not give the names of the little people, Kana-mu and Kana-wa, who were really great multitudes, like the menehunes who made the ditch at Waimea, Kauai. They were the one-night people. All this work was finished while they alone could see clearly to use their magic powers.
Inside the house lay soft mats made from feathers of many birds, and sleeping-couches better than had ever been seen before. Ke-au-nini said to his brother-in-law: "We are now ready to have the tabu of our house. My parents will enter with me."
Olopana asked his kahunas if it were right for the parents to stay with the chief during a tabu, under the law of their land. The priests consulted and told Olopana that this was all right. They had no power to forbid. The parents had divine power, so also the boy, both alike, and could dwell together without breaking tabu. Then they said, "If you forbid, you will be landless."