Legend of Laukiamanuikahiki.

Makiioeoe was the father and Hina was the mother of Laukiamanuikahiki. Kuaihelani was the home of Makiioeoe where he ruled as king and where his queen lived from whom he had one child, Kahikiula by name. Hina belonged to Kauai, where Laukiamanuikahiki1 was born. Makiioeoe in his travels came to Kauai where he met Hina and took her to wife, and after living with her for some time, Hina conceived a child. Shortly after this Makiioeoe prepared to return to Kuaihelani; so he said to Hina: “I am going home. If you should give birth to a boy give him my name; but in case it should be a girl call her Laukiamanuikahiki. If after you bring the child up she should express a desire to come in search of me, these shall be the tokens by which I shall recognize the child: this necklace of whale’s teeth, this bracelet, this feather cloak.2 She must be accompanied by a large canoe, a small canoe, large men, small men, a red canoe, red sails,3 red bailing cup, red cords and a red man.” Makiioeoe then took his leave and returned to Kuaihelani. When he arrived home he instructed his guards as to the sign by which to recognize his daughter4 and he also instructed his servants to proceed and plant all kinds of fruit and other things for his daughter Laukiamanuikahiki. He also caused a pool of water to be made as well as other things and placed a kapu on them all to be free only after the same shall have been used by Laukiamanuikahiki.

After the birth of Laukiamanuikahiki, Hina and her husband brought her up all by themselves. It was Laukiamanuikahiki’s custom to bring in other children to their home and give them all the food; which action caused her father to get angry and very often punished her. This punishment was kept up by the father for some time.5 Because of this, the child suspected that this man could not be her own father; so she began questioning her mother who her own father was until the mother could bear it no longer. Hina then said to Laukiamanuikahiki: “You go to that cliff; that is your father.” Upon coming to the cliff, she asked: “Are you my father?” The cliff denied this saying: “I am not your father.” The child returned to Hina and begged: “Tell me of my father.” “Yes, you go to that bambu bush, that is your father.” When she arrived at the place, she asked the bambu bush: “Are you my father?” “I am not your father, Makiioeoe is your father, he has gone back to Kuaihelani.” When Laukiamanuikahiki again arrived in the presence of her mother she said: “You have deceived me. Makiioeoe I understand is my father and he has gone back to Kuaihelani. You have hidden this from me.” “Yes, he is your father, and he has left word that you must not come to him without a sign or you will have a terrible suffering. You have to go to him in a red canoe having red sails, red cords, red men and must be accompanied by a large canoe, a small canoe, large men and small men.” Laukiamanuikahiki [598]replied: “I am not going to remain, I am going in search of my father.” “Yes, you may go, but you will have to suffer untold agony. Go until you come to two old women roasting bananas by the wayside. They are your grandmothers, for they are my own mother and aunt. Reach down and take away the bananas and let them search for them until they ask whose offspring you are, then tell them, ‘Your own.’ ‘Ours from whom?’ ‘From Hina.’ Then when they ask you, ‘What brings you our lord6 here to us?’ Tell them, ‘I want a roadway.’ ”

When she arrived in the presence of the old women she followed according to the instruction of Hina. At the conclusion the old women said: “There is a roadway; here it is, a bambu stalk. You climb to the top of it and when it leans over it will reach Kuaihelani.” Laukiamanuikahiki then climbed to the top of the bambu stalk and sat there. The bambu then began to shoot up and when it had reached a great distance it leaned over until the end reached Kuaihelani. Laukiamanuikahiki stepped off the bambu and proceeded along the road until she met a girl whom she took as a friend. They then went along until they came to a flower garden. The flowers of this garden were all kapu; none were to string them into wreaths until they shall have been picked by the daughter of Makiioeoe; the flowers of the ilima,7 the marigold and other flowers and also the maile vine. There were guards in the garden who were watching the flowers. Laukiamanuikahiki, however, reached out and picked the flowers, took the maile vines and broke them off. When they came to the pool of water, which had been kapued until it was first used by the daughter of Makiioeoe, Laukiamanuikahiki uncovered herself and plunged into the pool of water, when a turtle came up to her and began rubbing her back. After she finished bathing she went up on the bank. When the guards saw what she had done, they said: “You are indeed a strange girl bathing in the pool of water which is kapued and reserved only for the king’s daughter. You will indeed die.”

When the guards arrived in the presence of Makiioeoe, they told him of all the girl’s doings. Makiioeoe then ordered that wood be prepared for the girl and to pack it to the seashore where the umu was to be started the next day, for on that day the girl was to be killed. The guards then returned, took the girl by the hands, bound them at her back and led her to the pig house where she was tied, the guards standing watch over her that night.

That night her friend came and asked that she too be bound; but Laukiamanuikahiki said: “No, you must be at liberty so as to bring me food, meat and clothing.” Her friend consented to this.

At midnight a bird perched on the house where she was being held; it was an owl. This owl was the supernatural aunt of Hina, who had come all the way from Kauai because she knew of the coming peril of her grandchild, and who had in its keeping the tokens that had been given by Makiioeoe to Hina by the means of which she was to be known or recognized upon her arrival at Kuaihelani. [600]

The owl then called out to Laukiamanuikahiki:

Laukiamanuikahiki replied:

This call and reply was repeated twice before the guards heard it, when they sat up and listened to the call and they understood the meaning conveyed by the owl in its call. At this one of the guards said to his companion: “Say, this must be Laukiamanuikahiki, the king’s own daughter.” The other replied: “No, this cannot be the one, for she was to come in a red canoe having red sails, red paddles, red men, a large canoe, a small canoe, large men and small men; these I understand are the things that should accompany her; this girl on the other hand is a poor girl for she has come without any of these things.” The two again listened to the conversation between the owl and girl. After a while they agreed to go up and tell the king of the possibility of this girl being his daughter. They arrived at the home of Makiioeoe after midnight and roused him up saying: “Say, you wake up.” “What is it?” said Makiioeoe. “There is an owl right over the pig house where the girl is held who called out to the girl in the following way:

The girl then answered:

This was the conversation carried on between the two. “Yes, she is my daughter, Laukiamanuikahiki.” The king then accompanied by the guards proceeded to the place where they were stationed when they heard the conversation, and Makiioeoe sat down and listened for the call of the owl and for the girl’s reply.

At the conclusion of the conversation between the owl and the girl, the king knew this was his own daughter, Laukiamanuikahiki. He then broke into the house, took up his daughter and wept over her.

After the guards had departed to inform the king, the owl flew down and clapped its wings on the girl, placed the necklace of whale’s teeth around the girl’s neck, girded [602]a pa-u around her waist and placed the feather cloak over her. These being the tokens left by Makiioeoe in the keeping of Hina.

After it had become broad daylight, Makiioeoe ordered that the umu be started; when it was sufficiently heated the people who had ill-used the girl were then thrown into the umu and they all perished. The girl who befriended Laukiamanuikahiki was made a high chiefess and she lived with Laukiamanuikahiki. Soon after this a kapu was placed over Laukiamanuikahiki and she was forbidden from going out of her living house and no one was allowed to pass by her house or to speak to her. Laukiamanuikahiki was a very beautiful woman to behold and she had no equal in all the land of Kuaihelani, for her beauty could be seen on the outside of the house, like a bright light.

About this time Kahikiula the son of Makiioeoe by his first wife arrived from Kahikiku. This young man was married to Kahalaokolepuupuu of Kahikiku and had come to Kuaihelani without his wife on a visit to his parents. When Kahikiula arrived he was accompanied by his followers in a red canoe, with red sails, red cords, red paddles, red men, large canoes, small canoes, large men and small men.

Upon the arrival of Kahikiula at Kuaihelani he was met by his mother and father and all the people. Soon after this Makiioeoe requested Kahikiula to go and meet his sister, Laukiamanuikahiki, which invitation was accepted. When they were near the house, Kahikiula looked and saw a bright light on the outside of the house; so he said to Makiioeoe: “Say, your house is on fire!” Makiioeoe replied: “That is not a fire, it is some person sleeping within, it is your sister.” They then entered the house and Makiioeoe approached the bed and roused his daughter saying: “Wake up, here is your brother Kahikiula.” Laukiamanuikahiki awoke from her sleep and turned down on her breast. She then looked up at Kahikiula and greeted him.8 What a sight it was to behold these two; one was as handsome as the other was beautiful; both were equal in good looks, Kahikiula and Laukiamanuikahiki.

At sight of this, Makiioeoe said to Kahikiula: “Now I request of you that you take her as your wife.” That night they were covered by the same kapa. They lived as husband and wife for fifty days when Kahikiula begged that he be allowed to return to Kahikiku. Laukiamanuikahiki then said: “You cannot go unless you take me along with you.” “It cannot be, for you will surely experience terrible suffering through the anger of your sister-in-law. You must remain, and I will return.” As Kahikiula kept begging so often to return to Kahikiku, Laukiamanuikahiki finally consented and allowed him to go, saying: “Yes, you may return, but don’t blame me if I should decide to follow you later on, or I will kill you and also your wife, Kahalaokolepuupuu.” Kahikiula then took his departure and returned to Kahikiku to live with Kahalaokolepuupuu. Laukiamanuikahiki remained, but was so overcome with love for Kahikiula, that she wept; and when she saw the clouds drifting in the sky towards Kahikiku, she chanted the following lines:

[604]

When the desire became more than she could bear and the love for Kahikiula could not be put aside from her by day and by night, she decided to go to the seashore one day and weep there; and as her weeping came to an end she called out: “Ye turtle with your shiny back, my grandmother of the sea, come to me; here I am your grandchild, Laukiamanuikahiki, daughter of Makiioeoe and Hina.”

At the close of the call a turtle with a shiny back approached her and opened up its back. Laukiamanuikahiki then entered into the turtle, the top was closed and the turtle dove under water and swam until it arrived at Kahikiku. Upon its arrival at Kahikiku the turtle uncovered its back and Laukiamanuikahiki walked out on the seashore, while the turtle disappeared. Laukiamanuikahiki then went on her way until she came to a fish pond which belonged to Kahalaokolepuupuu, the wife of Kahikiula. At this place Laukiamanuikahiki changed herself into the form of an old woman and concealed her identity by calling out:

At that very moment she was transformed into an old woman wandering along the seashore with a stick in her hand picking out sea-eggs.

Within this fish pond owned by Kahalaokolepuupuu, were kept the aholehole,9 nehu,10 iao,11 and all fish of this species and moss. Through the supernatural powers of Laukiamanuikahiki all the fish in the pond disappeared, which left the pond without a single fish. While she was crawling along the seashore two messengers from Kahalaokolepuupuu arrived and called out: “Say, you old woman, you have taken all the queen’s fish. You are a thieving old woman.” She replied: “I did not take them. The fish from this pond disappeared long before this; but since you have seen me here you are attributing their disappearance to me.” At this time she was given a new name, Lipewale, by the messengers. They then said to the old woman: “Let us go to the house, your name, Lipewale, is that of the queen’s sickness.” When they arrived at the house, one of the messengers said: “There is not a single fish in the pond, all have been taken by this old woman. When we found her she was taking the sea-eggs.” Kahalaokolepuupuu then addressed the old woman saying: “I am going to call you Lipewale, the name of my ailment. You will take this name, will you not? I will supply you with food, clothing, house to live in and you will live with me.”

That night when they retired, Kahikiula approached the place where Lipewale was sleeping and kissed her. She then cried out: “Who is kissing me?” Upon hearing this Kahalaokolepuupuu called out: “What is it, Lipewale?” But she would not answer. In doing this Kahikiula showed that he had recognized his sister, Laukiamanuikahiki. [606]

This was carried on for several nights. Whenever she knew that her brother and sister-in-law were about to retire together, she would get up and rattle the calabashes forcing her sister-in-law to come and ask her reason for thus creating a disturbance; when she would say, that it was a rat; she did this because she did not want them to sleep together.

One day Kahalaokolepuupuu said to Laukiamanuikahiki: “Say, Lipewale, let us go up and get some kukui nuts to print my pa-u with.” Lipewale consented to this. When they arrived at the place, they collected the kukui nuts and put them into a bundle. After this was done Kahalaokolepuupuu said to Lipewale: “You will have to carry our bundle of kukui nuts.” “Yes, I will take it.” The others then went on ahead leaving Lipewale behind with the bundle of nuts tied to her back. After she started on her way, she put her hands behind her back, opened the bundle and allowed the kukui nuts to drop on the road. When they arrived at the house all the nuts were gone. Upon being questioned: “Say, Lipewale, what has become of your kukui nuts?” She answered: “You fixed the bundle and I put it on my back and followed behind you. I have no eyes at my back to see whether the nuts were falling out of the bundle or not.”

After this Kahalaokolepuupuu said to Lipewale: “You will have to stay home and print my pa-u while the rest of us go down and have a sea bath.” Lipewale was therefore left behind to print the pa-u. She first went out and got some filth and came back and proceeded to carry out the order by smearing the bambu sticks lengthwise and crosswise and began the printing of the pa-u. This did not take very long, so she followed along behind the others and went in sea bathing. On the way down to the sea, she caused herself to be transformed back to her usual self and she again possessed all her beauty. She continued on down and when she was near the others she passed on by and bathed at some distance from them. When she was finished she went right along up home. When the others saw her returning home they chased on behind, but they could not catch up and she arrived at home some time before the others, when she was once more transformed into the form of an old woman. When the others arrived at home, they asked her: “Say, did you see a beautiful woman who came up this way from below?” “No, I have not seen her. I have been sitting out here all this time until you returned.” After the others had gone to the dancing house she remained with her brother Kahikiula. She went outside of the house and called out:

[608]

At that very moment her beauty was restored to her, while the gods set fire to the dancing house, consuming the house, her sister-in-law and all the people who had insulted her; they all perished.

After this Kahikiula called out to his sister: “Come in, Laukiamanuikahiki.” She refused, saying: “I will not come to you, for you have caused me to suffer in your own home. Here I am returning to Kuaihelani.”

In this legend, it is seen that it was not considered wrong for a brother to take his sister to wife. It is also seen that they also suffered in those days just as we do in these days. They also hated one another and in fact lived as we now live.12 Therefore these customs of days gone by are guidings for after generations.

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