The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai

ORIGIN OF HA

nd the theft of fire.[1] A close comparative study of the tales from each group should reveal local characteristics, but for our purpose the Polynesian race is one, and its common stock of tradition, which at the dispersal and during the subsequent periods of migration was carried as common treasure-trove of the imagination as far as New Zealand on the south and Hawaii on the north, and from the western Fiji to the Marquesas on the east, repeats the same adventures among similar surroundings and colored by the same interests and desires. This means, in the first place, that the race must have developed for a long period of time in some common home of origin before the dispersal came, which sent family groups migrating along the roads of ocean after some fresh land for settlement;

at the island of Kauai, most western of the group, perhaps guided by Spanish charts, perhaps by Tahitian navigators who had preserved the tradition of ancient voyages,[6] for hundreds of years none but chance boats had driven upon its shores.[7] But the old tales remained, fast bedded at the foundation of Hawaiian imaginative literature. As now recited they take the form of chants or of long monotonous recitals like the Laieikawai, which take on the heightened form of poetry only in dialogue or on occasions when the emotional stress requires set song. Episodes are passed along, from one hero cycle to an

II, 1: Polynesian Ori

Globus intellectualis weit übertrifft (von Hawaii bis Neu-Seeland, von der Oster-Insel bis zu den Marianen), und wenn es sich hier um Inseln handelt durch Meeresweiten getrennt, ist aus solch insularer Differenzirung gerade das Hilfsm

le même culte, les mêmes coutumes, les mêmes usages principaux; qu'ils ont enfin les mêmes moeurs et les mêmes traditions. Tout semble donc, a priori, annoncer que, quelque soit leur éloignement les uns des autres, les Polynesiens ont tiré d'une même source c

on, pp. 1, 19; Smith, Hawaiki, p. 123; Lesson, II, 207, 209; Grey,

ording to Hawaiian tradition, which is by no means historically accurate, what is called the second migration period to Hawaii seems to have occurred between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries (dated from the arrival of the high priest Paao at Kohala, Hawaii, 18 generations befo

to designate a "foreign land" in general and does not refe

6: Lesson,

e 7: Ibi

e 8: Ibi

NESIAN

tales of culture heroes, of conquest and overrule. There is primitive romances-tales of competition, of vengeance, and of love; primitive wit-of drolls and tricksters; and primitive fear in tales of spirits and the power of ghosts.

whole inclosed from chaos like an egg in a shell.[3] Ordinarily the gods seem to be conceived as inhabiting the heavens. As in other mythologies, heaven and the life the gods live there are merely a reproduction or copy of earth and its ways. In heaven the gods are ranged by rank; in the highest heaven dwells the chief god alone enjoying his supreme right of silence, tabu moe; others inhabit the lower heavens in gradually descending grade corresponding to the social ranks recognized among the Polynesian chiefs on earth. This physical world is

by desire, which is represented by the duality of sex generation in a long line of ancestry through specific pairs of forms from the inanimate world-rocks and earth, plants of land and sea forms-to the animate-fish, insects, reptiles, and birds;[7] and the special analysis of the soul

sea as resting places for the gods;[8] or they are named as offspring of the divine ancestors of the group.[9] The

tion II, 2: Poly

, 30): "Kukulu was a wall or vertical erection such as was supposed to stand at the limits of the horizon and support the dome of heaven." Points of the compass were named accordingly Kukulu hikina, Kukulu komohana, Kukulu hema, Kukulu akau-east, west, south, north. The horizon was called Kukulu

ad not been sufficiently religious "must lie under the spreading Kou trees of Milu's world, drink its waters and eat lizards and butterflies for food." Traditional points from which the soul took its leap into this underworld are to be found at t

chart; Gill, Myths and

168

est, chiefs from the north and south sides of the island representing left and right; under chiefs the rafters; individuals the

urner, Samoa, 3; Gill, Myths and Songs, pp. 1-20; Moerenhout I, 419 et seq.; Liliu

ng alone, he changed himself into the universe. The pivots (axes or orbits), this is Taaroa; the rocks, this is he. Taaroa is the sand, so is he named. Taaroa is the day. Taaroa is

roa slept with the woman of the uplands; the first-germ is born. Afterwards is born all that grows upon the earth. Afterwards is bor

n, pp. 395-400; Fison, pp. 139-146; Mariner, I, 2

chants the Hawaiian group is described as the off

DEMIGOD

iven superhuman power-ka mana-which we have not.... Only his taboo rank remains, Therefore fear not; when he comes you will see that he is only a man like us." It is such a character, born of godlike ancestors and inheriting through the favor of this god, or some member of his family group, godlike power or mana, generally in some particular form, who appears as the typical hero of early Hawaiian romance. His rank as a god is gained by competitive tests with a rival kupua/ or with the ancestor from whom he demands recognition and endowment. He has the power of transformation into the shape of some spec

eeping always before it an objective picture of this heavenly superstructure-bearing him thither upon a cloud or bird, on the path of a cobweb, a trailing vine, or a rainbow, or swung thither on the tip of a bamboo stalk. Arrived in the region of air, by means of tokens or by name chants, he proves his ancestry and often substantiates his claim in tests of power, ability thus sharing with blood the determining of family values. If his deeds are among men, they are of a marvelous nature. Often his godlike nature is displayed by apparent sloth and indolence on his part, his followers performing miraculous feats while he remains inactive; hence he is reproached for idleness by the unwitting. Sometimes he acts as a transformer, changing the form of mountains and valleys with a step or stroke; sometimes as a culture hero bringing gifts to

ction II, 3: Th

Gracia, pp. 41-44; Kr?mer (Samoa Inseln, p. 22) and Stair (p. 211) distinguished akua as the original gods, aiku as their

lled "feeding" the god. See Fornander's stories of Pumaia, and Nihoalaki. In Fison's story of Mantandua the mother has died of exhaustion in rescuing her child. As he grows up her spirit acts as his supernatural helper, and appears to him in dreams to direct his course. He accordingly achieves prodigies through her aid. In Kuapakaa the boy

est messenger birds named in Hawaiian stories are the plover, wandering tattler, and turnstone, all migratory from about April to August, and hence naturally fastened upon by the imagination as

wonder tales as are to be found in Kr?mer, pp. 108, 116, 121, 413-419; Fi

RADISE; DIVINITY

ace of the dragons and other beast gods who came from "the shining heavens" to people Hawaii, the gods and goddesses who governed the appearances in the heavens, and the myriad race of divine helpers who dwelt in the tiniest forms of the forest and did in a night the task of months of labor, all those god men who shaped the islands and named their peaks and valleys, rocks, and crevices as they trampled hollows with a spring and thrust their spears through mountains, were superseded by a humaner race of heroes who ruled the islands by subtlety and skill, and instead of climbing the heavens after the fiery drink

land about which clustered those same wistful longings which men of other races have pictured in their visions of an earthly paradise-the "talking tree of knowledge," the well of life, and plenty without labor.[3] "Thus they dwelt at Paliuli," says Haleole of the sisters' life with Laieika

formed themselves into men, they dwelt on earth and shaped the social customs of mankind. Hence we have in such a romance as the Laieikawai a realistic picture, first, of the activities of the gods in the heavens and on earth, second, of the social ideas and activities of the people among whom the tale is told. The supernatural blends into the natural in exactly the same way as to the Polynesian mind gods relate themselves to men, facts about one being regarded as, even though re

tion II, 4: The

6; Baessler, Neue Südsee-Bilder, pp. 244

after the pearl fishhooks kept by Night and Day in the twofold heavens with the Ha

went to

se Sina'

to the two

dparents, N

hence drops fa

ir counsel

ntered t

he unlucky

ay that of

t

, 272, 483 (see index); Mariner, II, 100, 102, 115, et seq.; Moerenhout, I, 432; Gracia

o land save that on which the gods lived; no dry land was there for men to dwell upon; all was sea; the sky covered it above and bounded it on every side. There wa

: ITS MYTHIC

high chief of Kauai, are evidently earthly paradises.[1] Ask a native where either of these places is to be found and he will say, smiling, "In the heavens." The long lists of local place names express the Polynesian interest in local jou

f we compare a parallel story translated by Westervelt in "Gods and Ghosts," page 116, which, howeve

er is seduced from his fidelity by the beauty of another woman. This woman of the mountain, Poliahu, though identical in name and nature, plays a minor part in Haleole's story. In other details the stories show discrepancies.[3] It is pretty clear that Haleole's version has suppressed, out of deference to foreign-taught proprieties, the original relationship of brothe

the gods, with their singing birds, their forest trees whose leaves dance in the wind, their sweet-scented maile vine, with those fine mists which still perpetually shroud the landscape and give the name Haleohu, House-of-mist, to the district, and above all the rainbows so constantly arching over the land,

N THE FORESTS OF

tors to his gate, and guards of the shade-Moving-cloud and Great-bright-moon-close it to shut out his brightness. The three regions below him are guarded by maternal uncles and by his father, who never comes near the taboo house, which only his mother shares with him. His signs are those of the rainstorm-thunder, lightning, torrents of "red rain," high seas, and long-continued mists-these he inherits from his father. An ancestress rears Rainbow in the forests of Puna. Birds bear her upon their wings and serve her with abun

II, 5: The Story: I

Paliuli occurs in oth

d female, which have the power to draw fish. The female

laau ona

aau Kaulana m

nd cockcrow from Keaau (as in the Laieikawai) and arrive in the morning. It is "a good land, flat, fertile, filled with many things desired by man." The native apples are as large as breadfruit. They see a pond "lying within the land stocked with all kinds of fish of the sea except th

the double canoe Kaumaielieli in which Kana is to sail to recover his mother. The chant in

re she cares for the birds in the forests of Puna. Here a beautiful home is prepared for the girl and a garden planted with two magical food-producing trees, Makalei, brought from Nuumealani to provide fish and prepared food in abundance. These two children, brother and sister, are the most beautiful pair on earth, and the gods arrange their marriage. Kane precedes the boy, dressed in his lightning body, and the tree people come to dance and sing before

to rule the clouds in the Shining-heavens. Among these clouds is Kaonohiokala, the Eyeball-of-the-sun, who knows what is going on at a distance. From the lizard guar

her mates and each, bears a child, one a boy called Kaumailiula, T

r maidens riding in shells, which they pick up and put in their pockets when they come to land. Ku, Hina, and the lizard fam

in this story, appears again in the tale collected by Fornander of Kaulanapokii, where, like the wise little sister of Haleole's story, she is the leader and spokesman of her four Maile sisters, and carries he

t generation: Wak

nanuia

lihaikawaokele, Laukiele

a (brothers t

onohiokala m. Laieik

Aiwohikupua, Maileha

ailepakaha, Ka

REFLECTION OF ARIS

rs; again, the picture of the social group-the daughter of a high chief, mistress of a group of young virgins, in a house apart which is forbidden to men, and attended by an old woman and a humpbacked servant; the chief's establishment with its soothsayers, paddlers, soldiers, executioner, chief counselor, and the group of under chiefs fed at his table; the ceremonial wailing at his reception, the awa drink passed about at the feast, the taboo signs, feather cloak, and wedding paraphernalia, the power over life and death, and the choice among virgins.

xt consider how the style of the story-teller has been shaped by his manner of observing nature and by the social requirements which determine his art-by the world of nature and the world of man. And in the fi

's place in the community. The families of chiefs claim these rights and titles from the gods who are their ancestors.[2] They consist not only in land and property rights but in certain privil

understood that back of the community disapproval is the unappeased challenge of the gods. In the case of the Polynesian taboo, the god himself is represented in the person of the chief, whose divine right none dare challenge and who may enforce obedience within his taboo right, under the penalty of death. The limits of this right are prescribed by grade. Before some chiefs the bystander must

wife from a superior rank. For this reason women held a comparatively important position in the social framework, and this place is reflected in the folk tales.[5] Many Polynesian romances are, like the Laieikawai, centered about the heroine of the tale. The mother, when she is of higher rank, or the maternal relatives, often protect the child. The virginity of a girl of high ran

ipment, since none but the chief can command the labor for their execution. In the second place, this very effort to aggrandize him above his fellows puts every material advantage in the hands of the chief. The taboo means that he can command, at the community expense, the best of the food supply, the most splendid ornaments, equipment, and clothing. He is further able, again at the community expense, to keep dependent upon himself, because fed at his table, a large following, all held in duty bound to carry out his will. Even the land was, in Hawaii and other Polynesian communities, under the contro

n and the patronage he is able to secure for himself.[9] Even though the priest may be, when inspired by his god, for the time being treated like a god and given divine honors, as soon as the possession leaves him he returns to his old rank in the community.[

gods on matters of administration and state policy, read the omens, understood medicine, guarded the genealogies and the ancient lore, often acted as panegy

The story as a reflection

ring the literary ability of primitive people: "Those who possess the mo

Moerenhout,

, I, 528-533. Fornander says of conditions in Hawaii: "The chiefs in the genealogy from Kane were called Ka Hoalii or 'anointed' (poni ia) with the water of Kane (wai-niu-a-Kane) and they became 'divine tabu chiefs' (na lii kapu-akua). Their genealogy is called Iku-pau, because it alone leads up to the beginning of all gene

amoa, p. 173; White, II, 62, and the Fornander stories of Aukele and of K

pp. 15, 39; Mariner, II, 89, 98. Compare Mariner, II, 210-212; Stair, p. 222. In Fison (p. 65) the

irgin to her husband. She is called taupo, "dove," and, when she comes of age, passes her time with the other girls of her own age in the fale

ories of Kapuaokaohelo

10; Mariner, II, 142

in the Marquesas for the priesthood are

Rivers, I, 37

goddesses married and representing a genealogy of chiefs. To the thirtieth generation

waiian chief (Islander, 1875) gives a good id

ied dish is t

ed sleeping-hou

ating-hous

ead down, upon the

backs, with heads

to and fro at the do

tapa is

le in refreshing sl

n the silence where

o and two, doubl

e fare of the l

e spear the ch

ng of poin

season of fish,

with fish, when one

ed with food, O

d with land is

he Fiji chief in William

. 210. The name used for the priesthood of Hawaii, kahuna, is the same as that a

. 46; Mariner, II, 87,

21; Moerenhou

11: Malo

77) says that on the Marshall Islands knowledge of the stars and weather signs is handed

Moerenhout, I, 409; Willi