Rice — Hazvaiian Legends 101 



that it was a war canoe, the king ordered war preparations to be carried 

 out. In a short time the fortress was filled with soldiers ready to fight for 

 their king. 



In the meantime the canoe had landed, and Niheu had commenced to 

 climb up the steep clifif by the aid of his long spear. The people believed 

 that this small man was only a boy, but they wondered at the size of his 

 spear. 



Haka-lani-leo, safely guarded in the fortress, heard the words of the 

 soldiers and, ordering them to stand aside, saw the man scaling the cliff 

 and recognized her son, Niheu. Bitterly she wailed for the dear husband 

 and strong sons from whom she had been torn. 



The king gave his order to kill Niheu should he try to enter the fortress. 

 But when the soldiers refused to allow him to enter, he struck them down 

 with his spear. Then, using his spear as a bridge, he entered the fortress 

 and rescued his mother. Placing her on his back, he crossed again on 

 his spear and walked safely away. 



As Mo-i saw the mother and her son going down the cliflf, he called 

 to the plover, "Anyone who is brave enough to pull some hairs from the 

 head of Niheu can destroy his strength." 



One of the plovers bravely descended the hill, and pulled five hairs 

 from Niheu's head. Niheu stopped to count his hairs and, finding that 

 five were gone, he cried out^ "What slave has dared to steal some of my 

 hair?" 



In his anger Niheu dropped his mother and at once the soldiers seized 

 her and carried her back to the fortress. Poor Niheu ! He had lost both 

 hair and mother ! He was most unhappy. He sent his spear to find the 

 person who had stolen his five precious hairs. It soon caught the plover 

 and brought him, pinioned on its sharp point, to earth at Niheu's feet. 



Niheu then rolled down the cliff, breaking his arm and injuring his 

 leg. Weeping, he came to the canoe, and accused his brother of having 

 sent him on this errand because he was small. 



Kana was very angry, for he knew that now they would have a great 

 deal of trouble in rescuing their mother again. Kana turned over in the 

 mats and having thus broken the ropes, stood up. The king saw that this 

 man was taller than his fortress, just as Mo-i had said. He ordered his 

 turtles to raise the fortress. As Haupu was slowly raised higher and 

 higher, Kana stretched his body, first his human body, then his rope body, 

 next his convolvulus-vine body, his banana body, and last his spider web 

 body. 



