ACTION OF THE STORY 
Twin sisters, Laieikawai and Laielohelohe, are born in Koolau, 
Oahu, their birth heralded by a double clap of thunder. Their 
father, a great chief over that district, has vowed to slay all his 
daughters until a son is born to him. Accordingly the mother con- 
ceals their birth and intrusts them to her parents to bring up in re- 
tirement, the priest carrying the younger sister to the temple at 
Kukaniloko and Waka hiding Laieikawai in the cave beside the 
pool Waiapuka. A prophet from Kauai who has seen the rainbow 
which always rests over the girl’s dwelling place, desiring to attach 
himself to so great a chief, visits the place, but is eluded by Waka, 
who, warned by her husband, flies with her charge, first to Molokai, 
where a countryman, catching sight of the girl’s face, is so transported 
with her beauty that he makes the tour of the island proclaiming her 
rank, thence to Maui and then to Hawaii, where she is directed 
to a spot called Paliuli on the borders of Puna, a night’s journey in- 
land through the forest from the beach at Keaau. Here she builds a 
house for her “ grandchild ” thatched with the feathers of the oo bird, 
and appoints birds to’serve her, a humpbacked attendant to wait upon 
her, and mists to conceal her when she goes abroad. 
To the island of Kauai returns its high chief, Kauakahialii, after 
a tour of the islands during which he has persuaded the fair mistress 
of Paliuli to visit him. So eloquent is his account of her beauty 
that the young chief Aiwohikupua, who has vowed to wed no woman 
from his own group, but only one from “the land of good women,” 
believes that here he has found his wish. He makes the chief’s 
servant his confidant, and after dreaming of the girl for a 
year, he sets out with his counsellor and a canoeload of pad- 
dlers for Paliuli. On the way he plays .a boxing bout with 
the champion of Kohala, named Cold-nose, whom he dispatches 
with a single stroke that pierces the man through the chest and 
comes out on the other side. Arrived at the house in the forest 
at Paliuli, he is amazed to find it thatched all over with the precious 
royal feathers, a small cloak of which he is bearing as his suitor’s 
gift. Realizing the girl’s rank, he returns at once to Kauai to fetch 
his five sweet-scented sisters to act as ambassadresses and bring him 
honor as a wooer, Laieikawai, however, obstinately refuses the 
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