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 — John Shaqi
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 birds arrived in the presence of Aukelenuiaiku, he greeted
them one by one saying: “My greetings to you, Kanemoe. My greetings to
you, Kaneapua. My greetings to you, Leapua. My greetings to you,
Kahaumana.” At this they all returned the greeting, saying: “Our
greetings to you.” After greeting Aukelenuiaiku, they fell to
conversing in low tones between themselves, wondering how it was
possible that their names were known. After a while Kanemoe said: “How
wonderful! How did he come to know our names? And what are we going to
give him for this?” One of the others replied: “We have but one thing
worthy of giving him, let our sister be given to him for a wife, and he
will then be our brother-in-law.” The others all agreed to this, so the
proposition was referred to Aukelenuiaiku who was of course much
pleased with the idea.
After the thing was settled the four birds started ahead for the house,
while Aukelenuiaiku followed on behind. When the birds arrived,
Namakaokahai asked: “Where is the person that you went in search of?”
The brothers replied: “He is coming later. We have offered you to him
as his wife so that we will have him for a brother-in-law; for he is a
handsome looking man, and is perfect from top to bottom; and he is just
like you. We therefore made up our mind that it would be proper that
you take him as your husband.” When the sister heard this she was
perfectly satisfied, and she expressed her pleasure in accepting the
man.
We will now go back to Aukelenuiaiku and his god Lonoikoualii. When the
four brothers of Namakaokahai returned to their sister, after their
offer was accepted by Aukelenuiaiku, his god Lonoikoualii said to him:
“These evils and death we have so far been able to overcome; the evils
and death that are yet to come which are worse than these are the ones
we must be careful about. When we get to the queen, your intended
wife’s home, don’t enter the house at once, for it will mean your
death; but you must stand outside by the door and you will see for
yourself what they intend to do to you. The first person whom you will
encounter will be the two women who met us first. If they take
compassion on you, then you will be safe. After that the dog will be
released, and if you will overcome him, the brothers will be sent out.
After these things, they will try to get rid of you by poisoning the
food. So you must remember. If they offer you food in the calabash,
don’t eat of it, for therein is your death. What you can eat are the
melons that are still on the vines, and you must expect this to be your
food, meat and water.” The god of Aukelenuiaiku, Lonoikoualii,
explained all these things to him in detail and warned him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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