He bound the sash over his shoulders and around his body as a girdle, or malo, threw the cloak from the heavens around him, took his magic spear, Koa-wi Koa-wa, which had the power of human speech, and journeyed to Waikiki. [[229]]
At this time Kakuhihewa was entertaining his sister and her husband, Maui-nui, who was king of the island of Maui. According to custom, the days were devoted to sports and gambling.
Maui-nui had a kupua, a rooster, which was one of the ancestors of Kauilani’s family, but was very cruel and destructive. He could assume a different bird form for each magic power he possessed. This, with his miraculous human powers, made him superior to all the roosters which had ever been his antagonists in cock-fighting. It was the custom of this king to take this kupua in his rooster body, with some other chickens, and visit other chiefs, having many battles and winning large amounts of property, such as the best canoes, the finest mats and kapas, and the most royal feather cloaks, as well as the lands of the chiefs who had not been subject to him. Sometimes, when all available property had been won, he would persuade a chief to “bet his bones.” This meant that the poverty-stricken chief, as a last resort, would wager his body against some of the property lost. If defeated, his life might be taken and his body sent to the most noted heiau (temple) of his opponent and placed on an altar as a human sacrifice, or the body would be burned or cooked in a fire oven and thrown into the sea. [[230]]
Kakuhihewa and Maui-nui had been passing many days in this sport. When the Maui king was afraid the game might be given up, he would let some of the ordinary chickens fight, or would select the weakest from his flock. Then a large amount of property might be returned to the original owners, but he took care to lead his opponents on until their pride or their shame compelled them to wager their very last resources.
Thus the betting had gone on from time to time until the Maui king had provoked Kakuhihewa into betting his kingdom of Oahu in an almost hopeless attempt to win back all that had been lost before.
The Oahu king realized that his brother-in-law was using a bird of magic power, but his bets had been made and word given, and he did not know of any way in which he could get sufficient magic to overcome his antagonist. He had heard about Kauilani, a wonderfully powerful young chief on Kauai, who had conquered a god of the seas and restored a kingdom to his father. He had sent messengers to Kauai to ask this young chief to come to his aid, promising as a reward the hand of his favorite and most beautiful daughter in marriage; but the days passed and no word came from Kauai. Meanwhile Kauilani came before Kakuhihewa and was announced as a young [[231]]chief from Kapalama. No one thought of any connection with the noted warrior of Kauai.
The king was very much pleased with the young chief, and finally asked him if he had seen his chickens, and if he would like to go to the place where they were kept.
Kauilani saw the chickens and sent for water, which the keepers brought to him. Taking it, he sprinkled the eyes of the roosters. None of them had sufficient power to keep from shutting their eyes when the water struck their heads. Then he said to the keeper, “These birds will not be of any use for our chief.”
Then he went to see the king’s tabu rooster, the one reserved by the king for any last and desperate conflict. This he also tried and found wanting.
The keepers then sent word to the king that a strange young man with great wisdom was looking at the chickens, and the king came out and asked Kauilani about the tests.