Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology) / Collected and Translated from the Hawaiian

by W. D. Westervelt

Ea said: "This is not your place. I will kill you. You shall be food for me to eat. When you are dead I will go and kill the watchman who let you come into this tabu-sea of my chief." "Who is your chief?" asked Lono-kai. Ea replied: "Hina-kekai [the calabash for boiling water], the daughter of Pii-moi. Now I will kill you."

Then Ea began to strike the water with his right fin, throwing the water up on all sides in mighty waves, expecting to overthrow Lono-kai and his boat. When he rested to see the result of this battle his fin was on the surface, and the chief struck it and broke it.

Then in another fight, when head and fin were lifted to destroy the boat, Lono-kai struck the neck and broke it, so killing his enemy.

Now he thought all his troubles were over and he could go safely on his way.

But soon there lay before him a new enemy, floating on the sea, a very long thing, like a long stick. He approached and saw that it was like the fin of a shark, but as he came nearer he observed the smooth skin of a long eel. Lifting its head and looking right at him, the eel said: "O, proud man, you are here where you have no business to be. I will mix you with my awa and eat you now." Then he struck at Lono-kai with his tail and hit his eyes and knocked him down, then, thinking Lono-kai was dead, he turned his head to the boat to catch the body, but Lono-kai, leaping up on the head of the eel, holding his boat with one hand and his club with the other, struck the head with the magic club, breaking the bones. Fire came out of the broken head, the eel falling into pieces which became islands of fire in the midst of which appeared a very beautiful woman who asked him whence he came, and why.

He told her he was from Hawaii and was going to Kuai-he-lani and would kill her, for he thought she was a mo-o, or dragon-woman. He said, "You tried to kill me, O woman, and now you must stay and become the fire oven of the ocean." He asked her name. She said to him: "This kupua was Waka, the dragon of the rough head, and I have escaped from his body. I want you now for my husband, and I will accompany you on your journey."

Lono-kai told her, "This would not be right, but when I return, if I come this way, you shall be mine." She said, "My ruler will kill me, for I have been sent to guard this place." Lono-kai asked, "Who is your ruler?" "Hina-kekai, she will kill me. You belong to the Ku-aha-ilo family, which is a very strong family. Therefore we have been watching for you for our chiefess."

Lono-kai told her to go to his land and wait for him. He would be her husband. She must wait there without fault until his return. Then he went away. Waka did not know whence this chief came, so she went to Oahu and landed at Laiewai. There she awaited her husband.

Lono-kai went on to the land of Kuai-he-lani, where he landed and hid his boat among the vines on the beach. He went to the temple where the body of his grandfather lay, clean and beautiful in death. He could not see any door or break in the body for the escape of the spirit.