His grass house was decaying. The thatch was falling to pieces. It was becoming a poor shelter from the storms which so frequently swept down the valley. Kapoi went to the Kewalo marsh near the beach, where tall pili grass was growing, to get a bundle of the grass to use for thatching. He found a nest of owl’s eggs. He took up his bundle of grass and nest of eggs and returned home.
In the evening he prepared to cook the eggs. With his fire-sticks he had made a fire in his small imu, or oven. An owl flew down and sat on the wall by the gate. Kapoi had almost finished wrapping the eggs in ti leaves and was about to lay them on the hot stones when the owl called to him: “O Kapoi! Give me my eggs.”
Kapoi said, “How many eggs belong to you?”
The owl replied, “I have seven eggs.”
Then Kapoi said, “I am cooking these eggs for I have no fish.” [[134]]
The owl pleaded once more: “O Kapoi! Give me back my eggs.”
“But,” said Kapoi, “I am already wrapping them for cooking.”
Then the owl said: “O Kapoi! You are heartless, and you have no sorrow for me if you do not give back my eggs.”
Kapoi was touched, and said, “Come and get your eggs.”
Because of this kindness the owl became Kapoi’s god, and commanded him to build a heiau (temple) and make a raised place and an altar for sacrifice. The name of the place where he was to build his temple was Manoa. Here he built his temple. He laid a sacrifice and some bananas on the altar, established the day for the tabu to begin and the day also when the tabu should be lifted.