120 Bernicc P. Bishop Museum — Bulletin 



found that he was near his home by the sea. As he lowered his bundle 

 to the ground, he saw again his two friends who asked what he thought 

 of tlieir gifts. 



Makua replied, "These staffs will he niv parents. 1 came here as a 

 bird flies, feeling no weight and with great speed. Usually darkness falls 

 before I reach mj' home. Now it is still daylight. I thank you, and have no 

 longer any doubts as to their usefulness." 



The man who had given Makua the digging stick said, "You will not 

 see the real value of my gift until tomorrow when you return to your 

 farm. I warn you to care for these sticks most diligently, but do not 

 injure others through their power or take others' property. You must 

 observe the laws of these sticks. If you do wrong with them, they will lose 

 their magic properties and you will return to your life of hard labor. 

 But if you do as I say, these staffs will retain their power and you may 

 bequeath them to your descendants who in turn must care for them and do 

 no injury to them and they too will receive a blessing from them." 



Then the strangers said that they must depart, but Makua urged them 

 to tarry until they had eaten. They replied that they would stay longer 

 when they came again, for then he would have the means of entertaining 

 strangers without trouble. So saying, they disappeared behind the house. 

 Makua followed, hoping to see in what direction they went, but they were 

 nowhere to be seen and he wondered about their supernatural disappearance. 



Now these strangers were Makua's gods, Kane, who had presented 

 the 0-0, or digging stick, and Kanaloa, who had presented the auamo, or 

 lifting stick. They had come because they had noticed Makua's weariness 

 after his hard work and also because tliey wanted to try his faith, after the 

 death of his wife. 



Calling his son to him, Makua explained the power of the sticks and the 

 care wiiich must be taken of them. ?Te said that on the following day 

 they would go to the farm, and the boy should see how well he could 

 use them. Food enough for forty men to carry would be prepared and the 

 boy should carry it with the magic staff. This pleased the boy, for he 

 thought that men would wonder at his great strength. 



So they ate their evening meal and retired to rest, Makua first offering 

 prayers to his gods. At daybreak, they hurried to the farm, where they 

 were astonished to see that in each hole where the awa had been planted the 

 previous day three big bunches were growing. 



Then Makua realized for the first time that his visitors were not men 

 and he cried out, "The men who came were not strangers. They must 

 have been my gods. No man would have had power to do these things. 

 The strangers are none other than my gods!" 



