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
In this flight to heaven, Aukelenuiaiku did not think that he was going
to meet anyone who would oppose him, and consequently he went along
unguarded; but through the powers of his god Lonoikoualii he was warned
in time, for the god called out to him: “Say, Aukelenuiaiku, watch or
else we will be killed, for I see that we are going to be attacked. Put
on your garment of ashes and cover yourself from head to feet; don’t be
slow or we will be killed.” By this warning Aukelenuiaiku knew that a
conflict was about to begin, and he immediately put on his war pau. As
soon as his god finished giving the warning a bolt of fire was sent out
from the hand of Kuwahailo and the land began to be in flames. The name
of this bolt of fire was Kukuena. After which a large black rock was
sent out, called Ikuwa, the thunder. When these things came in contact
with the robe of ashes of Aukelenuiaiku, they became as nothing, like
chaff and were blown away by the wind.
In this story it was said that when the thunderbolt came in contact
with the garment of Aukelenuiaiku it caused the roaring and rumbling of
the thunder which is heard to this day. After the bolt of fire was
extinguished and the rock became as nothing, Kuwahailo looked at
Aukelenuiaiku and lo, he was still in the place where he saw him, still
alive. This grieved Kuwahailo heavily: it bode dire trouble that his
enemy, the defiant [85] of Kuaihelani, should stand alive before him.
After a time he sent another bolt of fire, called Mahuia, and another
rock, called Welehu, the second strongest bolt of thunder. The roar was
deafening, the heaven rocked, the foundations of the earth were shaken,
the waves of the ocean rose high as mountains, large rocks were
loosened from the cliffs, the cliffs were opened up and the birds on
the mountain heights were alarmed. When these came in contact with the
robe of ashes of Aukelenuiaiku they became as nothing, like a gust of
wind.
After these death aims of Kuwahailo he again looked and saw
Aukelenuiaiku standing in the same place, and still alive. Kuwahailo
then said to himself: “Here I have exhausted all my death-dealing
weapons and still that man is not killed yet. This is the first man
that has been able to withstand all this.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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