BECKWITH] : INTRODUCTION 305 
chief of Kauai, are evidently earthly paradises.t 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 journeyings. The legend of Waiopuka is a modern 
or at least adapted legend. But the route which the little sister fol- 
lows to the heavens corresponds with Polynesian cosmogonic concep- 
tions, and is true to ancient stories of the home of the gods. 
The action of the story, too, is clearly concerned with a family of 
demigods. This is more evident if we compare a parallel story 
translated by Westervelt in “Gods and Ghosts,” page 116, which, 
however confused and fragmentary, is clearly made up: oe some 
of the same material as Haleole’s version.? 
1 As such Paliuli occurs in other Hawaiian folk tales: 
1. At Paliuli grew the mythical trees Makali’i, male and female, which have the 
power to draw fish. The female was cut down and taken to Kailua, Oahu, hence the 
chant: 
“‘Kupu ka laau ona a Makali’i, 
O Makali’i, laau Kaulana mai ka pomai.” 
2. In the Fornander notes from Kepelino and Kamakau, Paliuli is the land given 
to the first man and is called ‘“ hidden land of Kane” and “ great land of the gods.” 
8. In Fornander’s story of Kepakailiula, the gods assign Paliuli to be the hero’s 
home. To reach it the party start at second cockcrow from Keaau (as in the Laieika- 
wai) 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 the whale 
and the shark.” Here “the sugar cane grew until it lay flat, the hogs until the 
tusks were long, the chickens until the spurs were long and sharp, and the dogs until 
their backs were flattened out.’ They leave Paliuli to travel over Hawaii, and ‘no 
man has ever seen it since.’ 
4. In Fornander’s story of Kana, Uli, the grandmother of Kana, goes up to Paliuli 
to dig up the double canoe Kaumaielieli in which Kana is to sail to recover his mother. 
The chant in which this canoe is described is used today by practicers of sorcery to 
exorcise an enemy. 
2The gods Kane and Kanaloa, who live in the mountains of Oahu, back of Honolulu, 
prepare a home for the first-born son of Ku and Hina, whom they send Rainbow to 
fetch from Nuumealani. The messenger, first gaining the consent of the lizard guardian 
at Kuaihelani, brings back Child-adopted-by-tle-gods to the gods on Oahu. Again Hina 
bears a-child, a daughter. Tor this girl also the gods send two sister messengers, who 
bring Paliuli to Waka, where 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 Paliuli. Some say 
that the goddess Laka, patroness of the hula dance, accompanied them. For a time all 
goes well, then the boy is beguiled by Poliahu (Cold-bosom) on the mountain. Paliull, 
aware of her lover's infidelity, sends Waka to bring him back, but Cold-bosom prevents 
his approach by spreading the mountain with snow. Paliuli wanders away to Oahu, 
then to Kauai, learning dances on the way which she teaches to the trees in the forest 
on her return. 
Meanwhile another child is born to Ku and Hina. The lizard guardian draws this 
lovely girl from the head of Hina, calls her Keaomelemele, Golden-cloud, and sets her 
to rule the clouds in the Shining-heavyens. Among these clouds is Kaonohiokala, the 
Hyeball-of-the-sun, who knows what is going on at a distance. From the lizard guar- 
dian Golden-cloud learns of her sister Paliuli’s distress, and she comes to earth to 
effect a reconciliation. There she learns all the dances that the gods can teach. 
Now, Ku and Hina, having learned the lore of the clouds, choose other mates and 
each bears a child, one a boy called Kaumailiula, Twilight-resting-in-the-sky, the other 
a girl named Kaulanaikipokii. 
The boy is brought to Oahu, riding in a red canoe befitting a chief, to be Golden- 
cloud’s husband. His sister follows with her maidens riding in shells, which they pick 
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