Fornander collection of Hawaiian antiquities and folk-lore, Volume 1 (of 3) : $b The Hawaiians' account of the formation of their islands and origin of their race, with the traditions of their migrations, etc., as gathered from original sources
History
Fornander collection of Hawaiian antiquities and folk-lore, Volume 1 (of 3) : $b The Hawaiians' account of the formation of their islands and origin of their race, with the traditions of their migrations, etc., as gathered from original sources
Folklore -- Hawaii; Hawaii -- Social life and customs; Hawaiian language -- Texts; Legends -- Hawaii
When the aku season in Laupahoehoe came around, Omaokamau, Piimaiwaa
and Koi went out with the people of the place aku fishing, and would
come home with aku, adding more joy to the parents of their wives.
This, of course, did not help Umi’s cause at all, for his wives’
parents were more disappointed in their son-in-law for not going out to
get some aku. So one day the father and mother of the wives of Umi said
to their daughters: “If the well-proportioned physique of your husband
could only be used paddling a canoe we would have some aku. It was
indeed a mistake when you two took him to be your husband.”
Shortly after this Umi was requested by some of the people to go out
with them to help paddle their canoe, and Umi, being only too glad to
go out, gave his consent and they set out. On this fishing trip Umi
showed his great strength, and on their return he was given his share
of the catch. In the division Umi saw that the fish given him, although
a large one, was taken from under the seat of the paddlers. When Umi
saw this he took the fish, but again exchanged it with one of the other
paddlers for one that he saw was taken from the middle of the canoe and
not from under the seat like the one he had. In asking for the exchange
Umi said to the man: “Here, take my aku in exchange for your’s; mine is
a larger fish.” The man consented to this and the exchange was made.
Umi did not, however, take the fish home to be eaten, but took it and
gave it as an offering to his god, Kaili, [148] which was hidden in a
crevice in the cliff at Hokuli, in a place which no one but himself
knew. Umi after this went out very often to fish for aku, and every
time he was given his share he would take some and offer it to Kaili
his god at its hiding place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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