CHAPTER VIII

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HOW KILA MADE HIMSELF KNOWN TO HIS MOTHER, AUNT AND BROTHERS.

On the night following the day when the proclamation was issued calling the people together, the night before the day when the sacrifices were to be offered in the temple, the king and his chief priests and the people connected with the chief priests came to recite their prayers in the mua house. From the beginning of the recital of the prayers until midnight everything went off smoothly without a single hitch. After midnight and along the hours before dawn, Kunaka, Kila and the chief priest entered the kapu house and joined in the recital of the prayer called Oneoneohonua. [123] Toward morning the note of a mud-hen was heard, when the chief priest immediately informed the king and Kila: “Our prayer has been interrupted. Here we are with daylight almost upon us, when the recital of the prayer would end and everything would be satisfactory. Therefore there will be no sacrifice for the altar today.” Kila, on the other hand, had known that there would be some interruption in the recital of the prayers that night, because he did not think Kaialea would be killed.

On this same morning Kila and Kunaka went out of the temple and Kila proceeded to the house where his mother and aunt were living and brought them into the temple. Just as the sun was coming up Kaialea and his brothers were brought in, all being held by the king’s officers, and were led up to the base of the altar, when Kila came and stood by the anuu [124] and faced his brothers. His mother and aunt, the chiefs and all the people were gathered there.

While Kila was standing before the people, his mother stood up and spoke for herself and sister as follows: “As four of our sons are to die today, let there be eight of our people killed with them [125] and the two of us, making ten.” Kila did not pay any attention to these words from his mother, as he knew that his brothers were not going to be killed. Standing on the steps of the altar, he turned and faced his brothers and said:

“I am Kila of the uplands, Kila of the lowlands, Kila-pa-Wahineikamalanai, the offspring of Moikeha. I had thought that your evil designs against me were ended, but I see you still think evil of me. You brought me and left me here while you went home secretly. I called after you, but you would not turn back. After you had gone I lived as a slave under some of the Waipio people just for the sake of my living. I obeyed all the orders given me and went out to labor in the fields, did the cooking, prepared the food and brought firewood from those cliffs, the cliffs of Puaahuku. In this way did I labor patiently until I found a father in this person, Kunaka, when my labor for my living ended and I received my reward. I received the blessing you see me enjoying today only through my patience. All would have been well if this was the only crime committed by you. But no; you kidnapped a favorite son from this place; you killed him and took his hands and gave them to my mother and aunt and told them that they were my hands, and that I had been eaten up by a shark. As far as your treatment of me is concerned, I am able to overlook that, but your treatment of one of the favorite sons of Waipio is an act from the consequences of which I am unable to protect you, your life and death being entirely at the disposal of the parents of the boy whom you murdered.”

While Kila was making himself known, the people with whom he had labored for his living began to realize that he was a very high chief, and they repented of their actions.

After Kila had made himself known to his mother and aunt and to all the people, Hooipoikamalanai and her sister for the first time discovered the great crime committed by their sons. They then immediately ordered that their sons be forthwith placed on the altar which had been made ready for them, and that death be meted out to them as their just dues.

Upon hearing these orders Kila deferred putting his brothers to death until the next day, while he studied a way of saving them, for he well knew they would not be killed. During that night he spoke to his mother and aunt as follows: “Let Umalehu and the rest of them be saved, because by their leaving me here in Waipio you are all saved from dying of hunger. Had they thrown me into the ocean you would not have had any food. I think they ought to be saved.” When his mother and aunt heard Kila’s intentions they would not entertain them, for they had made up their mind that their sons should die.

When Kila saw that his mother and aunt were bent on seeing their sons punished, they being overcome with anger, he decided to keep the matter of saving them to himself, and that he would wait until his brothers were led to the altar, when he would make the last attempt and save them. At the time that Umalehu and his brothers were about to be killed, Kila also went inside of the place of their expected death and said: “Let me die first, and my brothers after me.” When his mother and aunt saw that Kila loved his brothers more than he did himself, they gave up their determination to have their sons killed.

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