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 uncles heard these words they became very angry, and all
decided to return to Kuaihelani, their own land. When their youngest
brother and wife saw that the brothers were about to depart, they
entreated them not to leave them, but the brothers would not listen.
After they were ready for their journey they boarded their ship and set
sail for Kuaihelani; but in mid-ocean they encountered disaster and all
sunk to the bottom of the sea.
Here ends their story for they are all dead. Continuing that of
Namakaokahai and Aukelenuiaiku. After they had lived on in peace and
happiness for some time, Aukelenuiaiku said to his wife: “My wife, we
have lived together now for many days, and I have become old and about
to die in this strange land. I would therefore request of you that you
grant me leave to go and see our parents.”
CHAPTER XVI.
AUKELENUIAIKU’S TRIP TO KUAIHELANI.
After Namakaokahai had given her consent for her husband to return to
his native land, Aukelenuiaiku proceeded to see his brothers-in-law
Kanemoe, Kaneapua, Leapua and Kahaumana, and told them of his
intentions. He said: “I am going to the land of Kuaihelani to see my
parents.” When the brothers of Namakaokahai heard this they all gave
their consent, and Kanemoe, the oldest, expressed a desire to accompany
Aukelenuiaiku to Kuaihelani.
We will here speak of Kanemoe, to prevent confusion. It is said in this
legend that in order to accomplish his desire he had to resort to
cunning and deceived his sister. Namakaokahai was feared by her
brothers; therefore, in order to be able to answer the calls, Kanemoe
planned to take out his spirit from his body and give it another body,
and then to leave the one containing his spirit behind as a substitute
to make the replies to the sister’s calls. No sooner than he hit upon
this plan he proceeded to the making of the new body for his spirit.
After the body was completed Kanemoe took out his spirit and put it
into the new body, which resembled him in all details. In order not to
make any mistakes in reference to the sound of the voice he thought he
would make a test, so he called out, imitating his sister: “Kanemoe,
Kaneapua, Leapua, Kahaumana?” They all answered, the three real bodies
and the spirit. The voice sounded just like his, except that it was
rather weak. Because of this weakness in the voice of his substitute,
he prevailed upon Aukelenuiaiku to delay their trip for a while until
the voice of his substitute grew stronger. This request was granted and
the trip was postponed for a while.
When Kanemoe saw that the voice of his substitute was strong enough for
the purpose, they set out and journeyed to Kuaihelani. The trip took up
two nights and two days. Upon their arrival at Kuaihelani, they looked
over the land but failed to see any of the people; they heard no sound
of any kind; there was nothing good growing on the land, for the land
was overgrown with weeds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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