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
After Aukelenuiaiku and the others had landed, Aukelenuiaiku said to
his son, Kauilanuimakaehaikalani: “When your uncles and cousin come
ashore and you should have a quarrel with your cousin, don’t use bad
words, because he is a boy whose very words are sacred; he is a great
favorite, and his very words are to be obeyed, even to death and the
offering on the altar. My older brothers themselves are very touchy
upon hearing words not altogether proper; so I want you to be very
quiet; don’t answer back, but be at peace with one another. This will
also be the course of your parents.” Upon hearing these words from his
father, the boy promised to do as he was told.
While Aukelenuiaiku was cautioning his son, the older brothers and
nephew came ashore where they all met and wept over each other, and
after their greeting they went to the house and settled down. The
length of time from their death until the bringing back to life of
these people was three years.
After they had lived together for some time, Aukelenuiaiku gave all his
lands to his brothers, and furthermore he also gave them his wife,
Namakaokahai, and they virtually had all the say about her, and they
slept with her, traveled with her and lived with her. The brothers took
turns with the wife in this way: first one brother would have her for a
day and a night, then the next brother would have her for a day and a
night, and so on down; but the older brother, Kekamakahainuiaiku, the
one who hated Aukelenuiaiku, had a double portion; that is, he took
their wife for two days and two nights at a time.
From the time in which this legend deals until today, who can be
compared with Aukelenuiaiku for his great liberal nature in giving away
his own possessions and even his wife to others? There is none like
him.
In thus giving away his wife and lands, Aukelenuiaiku reserved nothing
for himself, and he therefore became like a dependent. While living in
this humble way his one occupation was to go down to the seashore daily
with a rod and spend his time fishing, and in time he became an expert.
In his daily trips out rod fishing he often met Pele and Hiiaka,
cousins of Namakaokahai. In their meetings Aukelenuiaiku began to
admire the two girls, and he spent more of his time with them than he
did at fishing. In time Aukelenuiaiku could do but very little fishing,
for the desire to see the two girls, Pele and Hiiaka, was his greatest
pleasure, and after a time he became infatuated with them and thought
of very little else but the features of Pele and Hiiaka, and he found
himself oftener with them than anywhere else.
We have seen that Namakaokahai had altogether become the property of
his brothers, and that Aukelenuiaiku was without a wife; but
Namakaokahai never forgot Aukelenuiaiku; she loved him still and held
him as dear to her as before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account