CHAPTER I

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Alala was the father and Koukou was the mother of Pikoiakaalala; Iole and Opeapea were the sisters of Pikoiakaalala, born before him. The parents as well as the children were rats who sometimes changed into human beings, as this story will clearly show. Wailua in Kauai was the birthplace of Pikoiakaalala. [665] The first child of Koukou was Iole, a daughter; then followed Opeapea, another daughter. These two were brought up by their parents until they were of age, when they moved to Oahu and married husbands who were connected to certain high chiefs and who were large land owners, during the reign of Kaulamawaho [666] and Kekakapuomaluihi. As Iole and Opeapea had left Kauai for Oahu before the birth of Pikoiakaalala, therefore, they were not present [667] at the birth of their young brother. After they had left, Koukou, their mother, conceived and gave birth to Pikoiakaalala, a son, to whom great care was exercised in his bringing up. In the course of time the child grew to be fine looking but with hair that resembled rat’s hair.

At about this time it was customary for the people to gather at Wailua to join in and to witness the different athletic sports. One day while the different games were going on, the shouts and yells to encourage the different contestants were heard by Pikoiakaalala. He therefore asked his father Alala: “Say, Alala, what is the cause of that shouting down at Wailua?” “They are playing olohu,” [668] answered Alala. “What is that?” asked Pikoiakaalala. “It is played in this way: there are two contestants playing; when one has rolled his stone disk farther than the other’s, the multitude would shout. That is the noise you hear.” Pikoiakaalala then asked: “Let me go and witness the games?” “You cannot go and see them until after today,” said Alala. After this the multitude shouted again. When Pikoiakaalala heard the commotion, he again asked Alala, this being the second time: “What is that renewed shouting down there?” “They are playing at a game called pahee. [669] When the stick thrown by one contestant slides farther than the one thrown by the other the people would yell.” “I must go down,” said Pikoiakaalala. Alala refused, saying: “You cannot go.”

Again there was yelling at the place, this being the third time. Pikoiakaalala again asked: “What is that fresh shouting that is going on?” Alala replied: “They are playing koieie, [670] at a place in the river near the rapids. The game is played in this way: it is a short piece of smoothed board which is thrown in the river at a place just near the rapids in such a way that it would float steadily in one place without being carried down the rapids. The one whose piece of board floats the steadiest and is not carried down the rapids wins. The shouting which you have just heard is for the winner.” “May I go down?” asked Pikoiakaalala. “You may,” said Alala.

Alala then proceeded to make a koieie for Pikoiakaalala, and after it was finished, the boy started down for Wailua where the people were gathered at the games. On the arrival of Pikoiakaalala with his koieie the people all looked at him in surprise. Not very long afterwards the people began throwing their koieie boards into the Wailua River; so Pikoiakaalala threw his into the river also. When the people saw how his koieie floated the steadiest, some of the boys got jealous of him and one of them reached down for Pikoiakaalala’s koieie and threw it into the rapids which carried it into the sea. As soon as his koieie was thrown into the rapids, Pikoiakaalala jumped in after it and he too was carried into the sea by the force of the current for two days and two nights when he landed on Oahu at the harbor of Kou (Honolulu), where he sat on the sand like a castaway, weak from want of food.

RELATING TO HIS SISTERS.

The two [sisters] were at this time living with their husbands who were men of note, being large land owners, and who had under them a man by the name of Kauakahi as their chief steward. When Kauakahi saw Pikoiakaalala lying there he came up to him and asked: “Where are you from?” “From the sea,” answered Pikoiakaalala. “Come to the house with me,” said Kauakahi.

Upon their arrival at the house, Kauakahi spoke to Iole and Opeapea, the sisters of Pikoiakaalala: “I have a boy, here he is. I found him asleep [671] on the sand and brought him to the house to live with me.” Iole and Opeapea then asked Pikoiakaalala: “Where are you from? Where were you born and who are your parents?” Pikoiakaalala answered: “Wailua in Kauai is my birthplace. Alala is my father and Koukou is my mother.” When Iole and Opeapea heard these answers given by Pikoiakaalala they knew that he must be their brother, as the names of their parents were correctly given; they therefore sprang on him crying, and at the same time informed Pikoiakaalala of their relationship.

The husbands of the sisters of Pikoiakaalala were out in the fields working with the men, so Kauakahi was sent to bring them home and to tell them that their brother-in-law had arrived. When Kauakahi came up to them he said: “You have been sent for by your two wives to return home because your brother-in-law has arrived from Kauai, and to kill a pig and prepare some food.” The food and pig were gotten ready and as soon as they arrived at home they were cooked in the ground.

While the pig and food were being cooked, Pikoiakaalala left the house and walked over to where the king and queen of Oahu were residing. When he arrived he found them betting on rat shooting. [672] Kaulamawaho the king and Kekakapuomaluihi the queen were betting their possessions. Mainele was the king’s rat shooter, but the queen had no one to do the shooting for her; so when Pikoiakaalala saw this he boasted in the presence of Mainele in the following manner: “That is simple enough, anybody can do that.” When the queen heard this she called for Pikoiakaalala to come near to her. As he stood in the presence of the queen she asked him: “Do you know how?” Pikoiakaalala answered: “Yes.” “If you know how to shoot rats,” said the queen, “then I will stake my property on your skill and you can compete with Mainele.” As soon as they agreed on the conditions the bet was made.

Mainele was a high chief [673] and was an expert in the art of rat shooting; he was known to win all the contests in which he took part. He could hit ten rats with one arrow at one shot. In regard to the wager: the king staked his property on Mainele, while the queen staked her property on Pikoiakaalala. The condition was that whoever could shoot and hit ten rats with one arrow would win, the one failing to do this would lose.

Mainele took the first shot, and when the people looked they saw that the arrow had entered into ten rats, so they shouted, “Mainele has won! Mainele has won!” Pikoiakaalala then sarcastically remarked to Mainele: “How awkward! It is easy enough to hit the rat in the body because the object is large. I thought you were going to shoot at the whiskers in order to prove your great skill, but I see I am mistaken.” Mainele answered: “You are a deceitful boy. From the day I first began shooting rats until this day, I have never seen a man who could shoot at the rats’ whiskers.” Because the two were arguing over the matter so long, bets were again made about hitting the rats’ whiskers. After the new bets were made, Pikoiakaalala took his shot. At this time there were no rats to be seen, the brush in the near neighborhood was without rats; so Pikoiakaalala prayed his Kalokalo [674] prayer. By this we can see that his parents and sisters must have had the forms of rats.

Here is Pikoiakaalala, I am the offspring of Alala, Brought forth by Koukou. Alala [was] the father, Koukou [was] the mother, The bent bow of the night. I am about to shoot at you, At Uluku; at Ululono. Kaulamawaho the king, Kekakapuomaluihi [the queen], It is you to drive them along There they are! There they are!! There are the rats at the outskirts of the aweoweo, [675] At the trunk of the aweoweo, At the leaf of the aweoweo, Aweoweo [that is] made red by the sun [The rats are] lying in the pili grass, let them be driven this way They sleep, the rats are asleep They have returned.

Pikoiakaalala then let fly his arrow, which hit ten rats, and at the point of the arrow was held a bat, making eleven; all the rats were made fast by their whiskers. Mainele, Pikoiakaalala’s opponent, then said, together with the people who were present: “It is a draw! It is a draw, because you have hit ten rats and one bat with your arrow, and Mainele has hit ten rats with his arrow. The bat should not be counted as it is not a rat.” Pikoiakaalala replied: “That bat should be counted as a rat, as I have hit it with my arrow, and according to the old saying, which is as follows:

The bat in the stormless season Is your younger brother, O rat, Make a squeak.

There you are, it is a rat,” said Pikoiakaalala to Mainele, the chiefs and all the people. So Mainele and the king, Kaulamawaho, were beaten. Therefore we can see plainly that the sisters of Pikoiakaalala, Iole and Opeapea, were rats.

As Pikoiakaalala was very hungry he disappeared from the people who had gathered at this place and returned to his sisters, where he found the pig and food cooked. Before he sat down to eat Pikoiakaalala addressed the people, saying: “I want you all to understand that I have certain rules in connection with my meals. There must be no talking, no whispering, no nodding, no pinching and no noise of any kind should be heard until I finish my meal.” He then reached for a piece of pork and a dish of potato, taking one bite of each which he swallowed; he then reached for another piece of pork, almost finishing the pig, and all the food of the oven. At this one of the men remarked: “He eats like a god.” On hearing this Pikoiakaalala stopped eating. His brothers-in-law then said: “Why don’t you go on eating?” “No, I have had enough.” “Yes, we already heard your rule,” said his brother-in-law. In this one meal partaken by Pikoiakaalala, he grew into a large and fine looking man, but his hair was [like] rat’s hair.

When Pikoiakaalala disappeared from the queen and the people after the contest, the queen was greatly worried; so a proclamation was issued calling the chiefs and common people together, the aged, those whose eyes had become dim; those who were bent with age, excepting those whose skin had become yellow [with age], those who were sick and those who staggered and fell. This call for a universal gathering was made in order to find Pikoiakaalala. When the people were gathered Pikoiakaalala was not recognized as he stood among them as he had grown larger after partaking of that one meal; for at the time he had his contest with Mainele he was but a mere boy. He was, however, later on recognized by means of his great skill at shooting rats.

Among the people gathered was an aged woman whose eyes were dim and had grown small till they looked like those of a rat. When Pikoiakaalala saw her, he shouted out: “See that big rat! What a large rat!! It is not afraid of the people. My arrow will hit you! My arrow will hit you!”

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