CHAPTER XXIV

[Footnote 67:  More than 470 species of land snails of a single genus, Achatinella, are to be found in the mountains of Hawaii, a fact of marked interest to science in observing environmental effect upon the differentiation of species.  One of these the natives call pupu kani oi or “shrill voiced snail,” averring that a certain cricketlike chirp that rings through the stillness of the almost insectless valleys is the voice of this particular species.  Emerson says that the name kahuli is applied to the land snail to describe the peculiar tilting motion as the snail crawls first to one side and then to the other of the leaf.  He quotes a little song that runs: 

  Kahuli aku, kahuli mai,
  Kahuli lei ula, lei akolea. 
  Kolea, kolea, e kii ka wai,
  Wai akolea.

  Tilting this way and that
  Tilts the red fern-plume. 
  Plover, plover, bring me dew,
  Dew from the fern-plume.]

[Footnote 68:  This incident is unsatisfactorily treated.  We never know how Waka circumvented Malio and restored her grandchild to the husband designed for her.  The whole thing sounds like a dramatic innovation with farcical import, which appeared in the tale without motivation for the reason that it had none in its inception.  The oral narrator is rather an actor than a composer; he may have introduced this episode as a surprise, and its success as farce perpetuated it as romance.]

CHAPTER XXVI

[Footnote 69:  This episode of the storm is another inconsistency in the story.  The storm signs belong to the gods of Aiwohikupua and his brother, the Sun god, not to Laieikawai, and were certainly not hers when Waka deserted her.  If they were given her for protection by Kahalaomapuana or through the influence of the seer with the Kauai family, the story-teller does not inform us of the fact.]

[Footnote 70:  The pa-u is a woman’s main garment, and consists of five thicknesses of bark cloth 4 yards long and 3 or 4 feet wide, the outer printed in colors, and worn wrapped about the loins, reaching the knees.]

CHAPTER XXVII

[Footnote 71:  In mythical quest stories the hero or heroine seeks, by proving his relationship, generally on the mother’s side, to gain the favor of the supernatural guardian of whatever treasure he seeks.  By breaking down the taboo he proclaims his rank, and by forcing the attention of the relative before the angry god (or chief) has a chance to kill him (compare the story of Kalaniamanuia, where the father recognizes too late the son whom he has slain), he gains time to reveal himself.  In this episode the father’s beard is, like the locks of Dionysus in Euripides’ line, dedicated to the god, hence to seize it was a supreme act of lawlessness.]