Rice — Hazvaiian Legends 71 



At one time when they were in great trouble Laamaomao sent Mailou to 

 her brothers and sisters begging for help. They provided for their outcast 

 sister without letting their parents know. 



As Paakaa grew older he began to wonder where his father was, and 

 so one day, he asked his mother about him. The mother, not wishing to 

 explain to the boy the father's going, told him that Mailou was his father. 

 This the child would not believe, saying. "He cannot be my father. He 

 is very small and I am very large." 



After many such questions Laamaomao was forced to tell Paakaa the 

 truth. She said to him, "Look where the sun rises. There your father lives. 

 We feel the wind which is sent from there by the king, the keeper of all 

 the winds." 



So the boy believed his mother and resolved that when he become older 

 he would seek his father. 



Meanwhile he tried to increase his skill in all things which add to man- 

 hood. He became very skillful in farming, fishing, surfing, and hewing 

 out canoes, but he decided to become a fisherman. 



When the king's fishermen were driving the flying fish, Paakaa would 

 follow the fishermen and they always gave him a few fish. He complained 

 to his mother that he was given only a few fish while all the others received 

 many. She told him that this was because the fishermen considered Mailou 

 very lazy and did not want to help him. 



Then Paakaa began to beg his mother to allow him to join the fisher- 

 men. She feared that he was too small and could not swim well enough. 

 But the boy assured his mother that he could swim as well as any of the 

 men. At last she promised to get her brother's canoe for the boy. 



As Paakaa watched the fishermen he noticed how difficult it was to 

 paddle the canoes out to the deep sea, so he tried to find a way to lessen the 

 labor. Day and night he dreamed. At last a thought came to him. He 

 found and cut two slender, straight sticks nine feet in length. Then he 

 took a roll of lanhala and wove a small square mat. This finished, he tied 

 its ends to the sticks, thus making a sail as he had dreamed of doing, so 

 that his shoulders would not ache from paddling his canoe. Then the boy 

 went home to await his uncle's return. Thus was the first sail made. 



After Mailou had brought birds from the mountains the little family 

 partook of the evening meal. Then Laamaomao told her brother that on 

 the morning he must help lift Paakaa in his canoe into the sea. Mailou 

 complained, saying that he was able to supply enough birds and that they 

 did not need fish. Laamaomao, too, beginning again to fear for her child's 

 safety, urged him to stay at home. But the boy, having the same determi- 

 nation which had led his mother to marry without her parent's consent, 



