Another account says that when the canoe priest began to cut the tree and also as long as they were chopping it down they were talking to the gods thus:
“O Ku Akua! O Paapaaina!
Take care while the tree is falling,
Do not break our boat,
Do not let the tree smash and crack.”
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When the tree began to tremble and its leaves and branches rustle, a tabu of silence was enjoined upon the workmen, that the tree itself might be the only one heard by the watching gods.
When the tree had fallen a careful watch was made for Lea, the wife of Moku-halii, the chief god of the canoe-carvers—those who hollowed out the canoe.
It was supposed that Lea had a double body—sometimes she was a human being and sometimes she appeared as a bird.
Her bird body was that of the Elepaio, a little bird covered with speckled feathers, red and black on the wings, the woodpecker of the Hawaiians.