Ke-au-kai and Ke-au-miki entered the house with their young chief. Ke-au-miki beat the sacred drum, announcing the tabu. They poured and drank awa, ate sugar-cane and chanted softly to the rhythm of the drum. Olopana was filled with jealousy because all was hidden from him. He did not know what a drum was. He had only known a time of tabu, but not the secret drum, and the soft chant.
During the ten days' tabu Ke-au-nini did not see his wife, but remained shut in his place. Olopana called for all the people to bring presents. When the tabu was over and the temple door opened, Ke-au-nini and Haina-kolo prepared for the marriage.
All the people came bringing feather mats, food, fish, and awa, which had been growing on a tree. Hamakua sent food and fish; Hilo sent olona and feathers; Puna sent mats and awa from the trees; Kau sent kapa; Kona sent red kapas; Kohala sent its wonderful noted sweet potatoes. The young chiefess appeared before all the people, coming from her tabu place, and she saw all the fine presents, and a great cocoanut-leaf lanai (porch) prepared by her brother. She came there before her parents and brother. They were waiting for Ke-au-nini, who delayed coming. Olopana asked his priests: "Why does the young chief fail to appear? We are all ready for the marriage feast." The priest said to Olopana: "Do you think that you can treat this man as one of us? He is a god on his father's side and also on his mother's. He is very high. It is on his mother's side that you are related. You should go to him with a sacrifice. Take a black pig, a cup of awa, a black chicken, and a cocoanut. If we do not do these things we shall not know where he is staying, for he is under the care of the gods. Now is the right time to go with the offering. Go quickly. The sun is rising high in the sky."
Olopana quickly gathered the offerings and went away to sacrifice before Ke-au-nini. He called him thus:
"Rise up! Let your strength look inland;
Let your might look toward the sea;
Let your face look upward;
Look up to the sun over your head;
The strange night has passed. Awake!
Here are the offerings,—
Food for the gods:
Let life come!"
He set the pig free and it ran to the feet of Ke-au-nini. The chicken did the same, and the other offerings were laid before the door. Olopana went back. Ke-au-nini and his uncles awoke. He said to them: "Now the tabu is lifted. Now the hour of the marriage has come. We must prepare to go down to the sea. We shall see the sports of this land. Soon we shall meet the priests and the people."
They arose and opened their bundles of kapa, very fine and soft for red malos (girdles) for the uncles. Ke-au-nini put on his malo, called Ke-kea-awe-awe-ula (the red girdle with long ends, shaded in the tints of the rainbow) and his red feather cloak and his red feather helmet, nodding like a bird. His skin, polished and perfumed, shone resplendently. He was most gorgeous in his appearance.
When he went out of his house, thatched with bird feathers and built of polished bones, darkness spread over the sky. The voices of the little fairies, the Kana-mu and Kana-wa were heard. The people in the great cocoanut lanai were filled with wonder, for they had never seen darkness come in this way. It was like the sun eclipsed. When Ke-au-nini and his companions entered the lanai, the darkness passed away and all the people saw them in their splendor. The chiefs opened a way for the three. Ke-au-miki came in first and the people thought he was the husband, but when Ke-au-kai came they said, "This one is more beautiful," and when Ke-au-nini passed before them they fell on their faces, although he had a gauze kapa thrown over him. He passed on between rows of chiefs to the place of marriage. His uncles stepped aside, and then he threw off his thin kapa and the people shouted again and again until the echoes shook the precipices around the valley.
A YOUNG CHIEF OF HAWAII