Rice — Haivaiian Legends 85 



When Ku-a-paakaa knew that his father's enemies were dead he cov- 

 ered his calabash and at once the sea became calm. The king asked him 

 to take the place of the dead navigators, and so the boy was in command. 



The sun shone brightly and, warming up the king and his followers, 

 soon put them all to sleep. Then Ku-a-paakaa turned the canoe toward 

 Molokai and released from the calabash a fair wind which carried them 

 swiftly along. 



At dawn the king was surprised to find the canoe lying off Hawaii. 

 Great excitement prevailed in the canoe and on land, for often it had 

 seemed that there would be no returning. 



The men in the canoe were anxious to land at once. Ku-a-paakaa 

 knew that in the glad homecoming he would be forgotten and so, indeed, 

 it came to pass. Each man was welcomed by his own. The great crowd 

 was filled with joy to see the king again. As soon as the wailing and the 

 reciting of mele was ended all hurried to their homes. No one thought 

 of the boy who was left alone in the canoe. As he saw the smoke rising 

 from the intu he realized how hungry he was, and hoped that someone 

 would remember him. But the king thought the people were caring for 

 him and the people thought that he was surely with the king. 



Thus it happened that Ku-a-paakaa found himself at evening alone and 

 forgotten. He prepared to spend the night in the canoe and to eat what 

 he could find in the hollow log. Great loneliness filled his heart and he 

 longed for his home. 



For several days the boy saw no one. Then he heard the head fisher- 

 man ordering all the men to prepare the canoes for a flying-fish drive. He 

 asked to be allowed to accompany them, promising to bail out the water 

 and not to claim any share in the fish caught. So it came about that Ku-a- 

 paakaa, plotting much in his heart, was taken into one of the canoes. 



The fish drive was very successful. Each man was given forty fish 

 and started for his own landing. Ku-a-paakaa, paddling with two com- 

 panions, saw a larger canoe with six paddlers. He at once challenged this 

 canoe to a race, the fish being placed as the wager. His friends were not 

 eager to paddle against so many, so he told them to join the others and he 

 would paddle alone. He took the precaution his father had taken so many 

 years before of insisting that all the fish be placed in his canoe. 



Then the race began. At first the eight paddlers quickly out-distanced 

 the one. But Ku-a-paakaa prayed to his grandmother, "Give me a large 

 surf so that I can reach the shore safely. Then we shall eat flying fish 

 together." 



