The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai. S. N. Haleole
As we know, Laieikawai is at Paliuli.
In the first part of the story we saw that Kapukaihaoa commanded Waka in a dream to take Laieikawai to Paliuli, as the seer saw.
The command was carried out. Laieikawai dwelt at Paliuli until she was grown to maidenhood.
When Kauakahialii and Kailiokalauokekoa returned to Kauai after their meeting with the "beauty of Paliuli" there were gathered together the high chiefs, the low chiefs, and the country aristocracy as well, to see the strangers who came with Kailiokalauokekoa's party. Aiwohikupua came with the rest of the chiefs to wail for the strangers.
After the wailing the chiefs asked Kauakahialii, "How did your journey go after your marriage with Kailiokalauokekoa?"
Then Kauakahialii told of his journey as follows: "Seeking hence after the love of woman, I traversed Oahu and Maui, but found no other woman to compare with this Kailiokalauokekoa here. I went to Hawaii, traveled all about the island, touched first at Kohala, went on to Kona, Kau, and came to Keaau, in Puna, and there I tarried, and there I met another woman surpassingly beautiful, more so than this woman here (Kailiokalauokekoa), more than all the beauties of this whole group of islands."
During this speech Aiwohikupua seemed to see before him the lovely form of that woman.
Then said Kauakahialii: "On the first night that she met my man she told him at what time she would reach the place where we were staying and the signs of her coming, for my man told her I was to be her husband and entreated her to come down with him; but she said: 'Go back to this ward of yours who is to be my husband and tell him this night I will come. When rings the note of the oo bird I am not in that sound, or the alala, I am not in that sound; when rings the note of the elepaio then am I making ready to descend; when the note of the apapane sounds, then am I without the door of my house; if you hear the note of the iiwipolena[19] then am I without your ward's house; seek me, you two, and find me without; that is your ward's chance to meet me.' So my man told me.
"When the night came that she had promised she did not come; we waited until morning; she did not come; only the birds sang. I thought my man had lied. Kailiokalauokekoa and her friends were spending the night at Punahoa with friends. Thinking my man had lied, I ordered the executioner to bind ropes about him; but he had left me for the uplands of Paliuli to ask the woman why she had not come down that night and to tell her he was to die.
"When he had told Laieikawai all these things the woman said to him, 'You return, and to-night I will come as I promised the night before, so will I surely do.'
"That night, the night on which the woman was expected, Kailiokalauokekoa's party had returned and she was recounting her adventures, when just at the edge of the evening rang the note of the oo; at 9 in the evening rang the note of the alala; at midnight rang the note of the elepaio; at dawn rang the note of the apapane; and at the first streak of light rang the note of the iiwipolena; as soon as it sounded there fell the shadow of a figure at the door of the house. Behold! the room was thick with mist, and when it passed away she lay resting on the wings of birds in all her beauty."
At these words of Kauakahialii to the chiefs, all the body of Aiwohikupua pricked with desire, and he asked, "What was the woman's name?"
They told him it was Laieikawai, and such was Aiwohikupua's longing for the woman of whom Kauakahialii spoke that he thought to make her his wife, but he wondered who this woman might be. Then he said to Kauakahialii: "I marvel what this woman may be, for I am a man who has made the whole circuit of the islands, but I never saw any woman resting on the wings of birds. It may be she is come hither from the borders of Tahiti, from within Moaulanuiakea."[20]
Since Aiwohikupua thought Laieikawai must be from Moaulanuiakea, he determined to get her for his wife. For before he had heard all this story Aiwohikupua had vowed not to take any woman of these islands to wife; he said that he wanted a woman of Moaulanuiakea.
The chiefs' reception was ended and the accustomed ceremonies on the arrival of strangers performed. And soon after those days Aiwohikupua took Kauakahialii's man to minister in his presence, thinking that this man would be the means to attain his desire.
Therefore Aiwohikupua exalted this man to be head over all things, over all the chief's land, over all the men, chiefs, and common people, as his high counsellor.
As this man became great, jealous grew the former favorites of
Aiwohikupua, but this was nothing to the chief.
CHAPTER IV
After this man had become great before the chief, even his high counsellor, they consulted constantly together about those matters which pleased the chief, while the people thought they discussed the administration of the land and of the substance which pertained to the chief; but it was about Laieikawai that the two talked and very seldom about anything else.
Even before Aiwohikupua heard from Kauakahialii about Laieikawai he had made a vow before his food companions, his sisters, and before all the men of rank in his household: "Where are you, O chiefs, O my sisters, all my food companions! From this day until my last I will take no woman of all these islands to be my wife, even from Kauai unto Hawaii, no matter how beautiful she is reported to be, nor will I get into mischief with a woman, not with anyone at all. For I have been ill-treated by women from my youth up. She shall be my wife who comes hither from other islands, even from Moaulanuiakea, a place of kind women, I have heard; so that is the sort of woman I desire to marry."
When Aiwohikupua had heard Kauakahialii's story, after conferring long with his high counsellor about Laieikawai, then the chief was convinced that this was the woman from Tahiti.
Next day, at midday, the chief slept and Laieikawai came to Aiwohikupua in a dream[21] and he saw her in the dream as Kauakahialii had described her.
When he awoke, lo! he sorrowed after the vision of Laieikawai, because he had awakened so soon out of sleep; therefore he wished to prolong his midday nap in order to see again her whom he had beheld in his dream.
The chief again slept, and again Laieikawai came to him for a moment, but he could not see her distinctly; barely had he seen her face when he waked out of sleep.
For this reason his mind was troubled and the chief made oath before all his people:
"Where are you? Do not talk while I am sleeping; if one even whispers, if he is chief over a district he shall lose his chiefship; if he is chief over part of a district, he shall lose his chiefship; and if a tenant farmer break my command, death is the penalty."
The chief took this oath because of his strong desire to sleep longer in order to make Laieikawai's acquaintance in his dream.
After speaking all these words, he tried once more to sleep, but he could not get to sleep until the sun went down.
During all this time he did not tell anyone about what he saw in the dream; the chief hid it from his usual confidant, thinking when it came again, then he would tell his chief counsellor.
And because of the chief's longing to dream often, he commanded his chief counsellor to chew awa.
So the counsellor summoned the chief's awa chewers and made ready what the chief commanded, and he brought it to him, and the chief drank with his counsellor and drunkenness possessed him. Then close above the chief rested the beloved image of Laieikawai as if they were already lovers. Then he raised his voice in song, as follows:[22]
"Rising fondly before me,
The recollection of the lehua blossom of Puna,
Brought hither on the tip of the wind,
By the light keen wind of the fiery pit.
Wakeful—sleepless with heart longing,
With desire—O!"
Said