The sisters, Maile-lau-lii and Maile-pakaha, who had been interested spectators of the contest, conceived a passionate liking for the two warriors and laid their plans in concert to capture them for themselves. Fortunately their preferences were not in conflict. Maile-lau-lii set her affections on Maka-ku, while the younger sister devoted herself to Pua-pua-kea. The two men had previously allowed their fancies to range abroad at pleasure; but from this time they centered their hearts on these two Mailes and settled down to regular married life. Interest in the actual performance of the hula ki’i was stimulated by a resort to byplay and buffoonery. One of the marionettes, for instance, points to some one in the audience; whereupon one of the _hoopaa_ asks, “What do you want?” The marionette persists in its pointing. At length the interlocutor, as if divining the marionette’s wish, says: “Ah, you want So-and-so.” At this the marionette nods assent, and the hoopaa asks again, “Do you wish him to come to you?” The marionette expresses its delight and approval by nods and gestures, to the immense satisfaction of the audience, who join in derisive laughter at the expense of the person held up to ridicule. Besides the marionettes already named among the characters found in the different hula-plays of the hula ki’i, the [Page 94] author has heard mention of the following marionettes: _Ku, Kini-ki’i, Hoo-lehelehe-ki’i, Ki’i-ki’i_, and _Nihi-aumoe_. Nihi-aumoe was a man without the incumbrance of a wife, an expert in the arts of intrigue and seduction. Nihi-aumoe is a word of very suggestive meaning, to walk softly at midnight. In Judge Andrews’s dictionary are found the following pertinent Hawaiian verses apropos of the word _nihi_: E hoopono ka hele i ka uka o Puna; E _nihi_ ka hele, mai hoolawehala, Mai noho a ako i ka pua, o hewa, O inaina ke Akua, paa ke alanui, Aole ou ala e hiki aku ai. [Translation.] Look to your ways in upland Puna; Walk softly, commit no offense; Dally not, nor pluck the flower sin; Lest God in anger bar the road, And you find no way of escape.