There formerly1 lived on the Kaala Mountains a chief by the name of Kahaakea. He had two children, a boy and a girl, twins, whose mother had died at their birth. The brother was called Kauawaahila (Waahila Rain), and the girl Kauakiowao (Mountain Mist). Kahaakea was very tenderly attached to his motherless children, and after a while took to himself a wife, thinking thus to provide his children with a mother’s care and love. This wife was called Hawea and had a boy by her former husband. This boy was deformed2 and ugly, while the twins were very beautiful. The stepmother was jealous of their beauty, and resented the universal admiration3 expressed for them, while no one noticed her boy except with looks of aversion. She was very considerate toward the twins when their father was present, but hated and detested4 them most violently. When they were about ten years old their father had occasion to go to Hawaii, and had to remain away a long time. He felt perfectly5 safe in leaving his children with his wife, as she had always feigned6 great love for them, and had successfully concealed7 from him her real feelings in regard to them. [134]But as soon as he was fairly away she commenced a series of petty persecutions of the poor children.
It seems the mother of the children had been “uhae ia” at her death. That is, certain prayers, invocations, fasting, and humiliation8 had been performed by certain relatives of the deceased, and quantities of prepared awa, black, unblemished pig, red fish, and all the customary food of the gods, had been prepared and offered with the object of strengthening the spirit of the departed and of attracting it strongly, as well as giving it a sort of power and control over mundane9 affairs and events. So when Hawea began to persecute10 her stepchildren, the spirit of their own mother would assist and protect them.
The persecutions of the stepmother at last became unendurable to the twins. She not only deprived them of food, clothing, and water, but subjected them besides to all sorts of indignities11 and humiliations. Driven to desperation, they fled to Konahuanui, the mountain peak above the Pali of Nuuanu; but were soon discovered and driven away from there by the cruel Hawea. They then went to the head of Manoa Valley. The stepmother was not at all pleased at their getting out of the way of her daily persecutions, and searched for them everywhere. She finally tracked them by the constant appearance of rainbows at the head of Manoa Valley, those unfailing attendants of rain and mist. The children were again driven away and told to return to Kaala, where they would be constantly under her eye; but they ran and hid themselves in a small cave on the side of the hill of Kukaoo, [135]whose top is crowned by the temple of the Menehunes. Here they lived some time and cultivated a patch of sweet potatoes, their food at this time being grasshoppers12 and greens. The greens were the leaves and the tender shoots of the popolo, aheahea, pakai, laulele and potato vines, cooked by rolling hot stones around and among them in a covered gourd13. This is called the puholoholo.
When their potato tubers were fit to be eaten, the brother (Waahila Rain) made a double imu (oven), having a kapu, or sacred side, for his food and a noa, or free side, for his sister. The little cave that was their dwelling14 was also divided in two, a sacred and a free part, respectively, for brother and sister. The cave can still be seen, and the wall of stone dividing it in two was still intact a few years ago, as also was the double imu. In olden times it was tabooed to females to appear at any eating-place of the males.
When their crops were fairly ripe, the stepmother found them again, and drove them away from their cave, she appropriating the fruit of their labors15. The children fled to the rocky hills just back of Punahou, where they found two small caves, which the brother and sister occupied, respectively, as dwellings16. The rolling plains and small ravines of the surrounding country, and of what was later known as the Punahou pasture, were not then covered with manienie grass, but with the indigenous17 shrubs18 and bushes, tall limas, aheaheas, popolo, etc., making close thickets19, with here and there open spaces covered with manienie-akiaki, the valuable medicinal grass of the olden times. [136]These shrubs and bushes either bore edible20 fruit or flowers, or the leaves and tender shoots made nourishing and satisfying food when cooked in the way previously21 described. The poor children lived on these and grasshoppers, and sometimes wild fowl22.
One day the sister, Kauakiowao, told her brother that she wanted to bathe, and complained of their having taken up their residence in a place where no water could be found. Her brother hushed her complaint by telling her that it was a safe place, and one where their stepmother would not be likely to look for them, but he would try to get her some water. In his trips around the neighborhood for fruit and greens he had noticed a large rain-water pond to the east of the hill on which they dwelt. This pond was called Kanawai. Here he sometimes came to snare23 wild ducks. He also had met and knew the Kakea water god, a moo, who had charge of and controlled all the water sources of Manoa and Makiki Valleys. This god was one of the ancestors of the children on the mother’s side, and was on the best of terms with Waahila rain. The boy paid him a visit, and asked him to assist him to open a watercourse from the pond of Kanawai to a place he indicated in front of and below the caves inhabited by himself and his sister. The old water god not only consented to help his young relative, but promised to divide the water supply of the neighboring Wailele spring, and let it run into the watercourse that the boy would make, thus insuring its permanence.
Waahila Rain then went to the pond of Kanawai and [137]dived under, the water god causing a passage to open underground to the spot indicated, and swam through the water underground till he came out at the place now known as the Punahou Spring. The force of the rushing waters as they burst through the ground soon sufficed to make a small basin, which the boy proceeded to bank and wall up, leaving a narrow outlet24 for the surplus waters. With the invisible help of the old water god, he immediately set to work to excavate25 a good-sized pond for his sister to swim in, and when she awoke from a noonday nap, she was astonished to behold26 a lovely sheet of water where, in the morning, was only dry land. Her brother was swimming and splashing about in it, and gayly called to his sister to come and try her bathing-place.
Kauawaahila afterward27 made some kalo patches, and people, attracted by the water and consequent fertility of the place, came and settled about, voluntarily offering themselves as vassals28 to the twins. More and more kalo patches were excavated29, and the place became a thriving settlement. The spring became known as Ka Punahou (the new spring), and gave its name to the surrounding place.
About this time Kahaakea returned, and hearing of the persecutions to which his beloved children had been subjected, killed Hawea and then himself. Rocky Hill, the home of the children, was called after him, and is known by that name to the present day. Hawea has ever since then been a synonyme in the Hawaiian mind for a cruel stepmother.
The Mountain Mist and Waahila Rain afterward [138]returned to the home of their infancy30, Kaala, where they would stay a while, occasionally visiting Konahuanui and upper Manoa Valley, and may be met with in these places at the present day.
They also occasionally visited Punahou, which was under their especial care and protection; but when the land and spring passed into the hands of foreigners, who did not pay homage31 to the twins, and who allowed the springs to be defiled32 by the washing of unclean articles and by the bathing of unclean persons, the twins indignantly left the place, and retired33 to the head of Manoa Valley.
They sometimes pass swiftly over their old home on their way to Kaala, or Konahuanui, and on such occasions will sometimes linger sorrowfully for a few minutes about Rocky Hill. The rain-water pond of Kanawai is now always dry, as the shrubs and bushes which supplied the food of the twins favored of the gods have disappeared. Old natives say that there is now no inducement for the gentle rain of the Uakiowao and Uawaahila to visit those bare hills and plains, as they would find no food there.
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1
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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3
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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4
detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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6
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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7
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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8
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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mundane
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| adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的 | |
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10
persecute
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| vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰 | |
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indignities
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| n.侮辱，轻蔑( indignity的名词复数 ) | |
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12
grasshoppers
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| n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 )；蝗虫；蚂蚱；（孩子）矮小的 | |
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13
gourd
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| n.葫芦 | |
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14
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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15
labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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16
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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indigenous
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| adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的 | |
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18
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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19
thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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20
edible
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| n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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22
fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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23
snare
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| n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑 | |
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outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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25
excavate
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| vt.挖掘，挖出 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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excavated
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| v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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31
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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32
defiled
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| v.玷污( defile的过去式和过去分词 )；污染；弄脏；纵列行进 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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