It was said that there was a beautiful chiefess of Molokai who wanted to find a young chief of Hawaii for her husband, so she sent her kahu, or guardian, and servants to make the journey while she went back to her sleeping-place and dreamed of a very fine young chief shining like the sun and surrounded by all the colors of the rainbow. Then she awoke and found no one, but she loved that spirit-body which she had seen in her dreams, so she arose and went down to the beach and told her guardian to make haste and reach Hawaii that day.
When the kahu heard her call, he put forth all his power and uttered the proper incantations. He sped through the waters like a skimming bird, passed the great precipices near Waipio, and soon after dawn landed on the beautiful beach.
The people had not yet come from their homes for the work of the day. He went up to the village and came near the house of Lei-makani. A watchman asked where he was from and the purpose of his journey. He said: "I am a stranger from Molokai, a messenger from my chiefess, who seeks a husband of high rank equal to her own. She has no one worthy to be her husband."
The Waipio chief said: "We have a splendid young chief, but there is no one his equal in rank and beauty. You could not ask for him."
Then Lei-makani heard the noise and came out and asked about this conversation. His watchman told him that this man was from Molokai.
Lei-makani asked the man to approach. The Molokai chief thought that Lei-makani was the handsomest man he had ever seen. Ke-au-kai came out of the temple and looked upon the stranger and asked why he had come.
When he learned that the man sought a husband for his chiefess, he advised him to return lest he should meet death at the hands of the watchman, but the man would not go away.
After a time the chiefs of Waipio came before Lei-makani. The Molokai chief explained his errand, and praised his chiefess, and said that he was willing to be killed and cooked in an oven if she were not as beautiful and of as high rank as he had told them. Lono-kai at that moment entered the assembly, and the stranger cried out: "This man is the husband for my chiefess. Her tabu rank is the same as the tabu rank of this fine young chief. No others in all the islands are like these two. It would be glorious for them to meet." Lono-kai said, "You return at once and make preparation, and I will come in the evening."
The kahu returned to Molokai, but the chiefess saw him coming back alone and became very angry, her eyes flashing with wrath because he had not brought the young chief with him. She screamed out, "Where is the value of your journey, if you return without my husband?"