LAIEIKAWAI:  “O Waka!  O Waka—­O!”

WAKA:  “Heigh-yo! why waken in the middle of the night?”

LAIEIKAWAI:  “A fragrance is here, a strange fragrance, a cool fragrance, a chilling fragrance; it goes to my heart.”

WAKA:  “That is no strange fragrance; it is certainly Mailehaiwale, the sweet-smelling sister of Aiwohikupua, who has come to get you for his wife, you for the wife and he for the husband; here is the man for you to marry.”

LAIEIKAWAI:  “Bah!  I will not marry him."[42]

When Aiwohikupua heard Laieikawai’s refusal to take Aiwohikupua for her husband, then he was abashed, for they heard her refusal quite plainly.

CHAPTER IX

After this refusal, then Aiwohikupua said to his counsellor, “You and I will go home and let my sisters stay up here; as for them, let them live as they can, for they are worthless; they have failed to gain my wish.”

Said the counsellor, “This is very strange!  I thought before we left Kauai you told me that your sisters were the only ones to get your wish, and you have seen now what one of them can do; you have ordered Mailehaiwale to do her part, and we have heard, too, the refusal of Laieikawai.  Is this your sisters’ fault, that we should go and leave them?  But without her you have four sisters left; it may be one of them will succeed.”

Said Aiwohikupua, “If the first-born fails, the others perhaps will be worthless.”

His counsellor, spoke again, “My lord, have patience; let Mailekaluhea try her luck, and if she fails then we will go.”

Now, this saying pleased the chief; said Aiwohikupua, “Suppose you try your luck, and if you fail, all is over.”

Mailekaluhea went and stood at the door of the chief-house and gave out a perfume; the fragrance entered and touched the rafters within the house, from the rafters it reached Laieikawai and her companion; then they were startled from sleep.

Said Laieikawai to her nurse, “This is a different perfume, not like the first, it is better than that; perhaps it comes from a man.”

The nurse said, “Call out to your grandmother to tell you the meaning of the fragrance.”

Laieikawai called: 

LAIEIKAWAI:  “O Waka!  O Waka—­O!”

WAKA:  “Heigh-yo! why waken in the middle of the night?”

LAIEIKAWAI:  “Here is a fragrance, a strange fragrance, a cool fragrance, a chilling fragrance; it goes to my heart.”

WAKA.  “That is no strange fragrance, it is Mailekaluhea, the sweet-smelling sister of Aiwohikupua, who has come to make you his wife to marry him.”

LAIEIKAWAI:  “Bah!  I will not marry him!”

Said Aiwohikupua to his counsellor, “See! did you hear the princess’s refusal?”

“Yes, I heard it; what of her refusing! it is only their scent she does not like; perhaps she will yield to Mailelaulii.”