(b) Fornander version (2). The three gods Kane, Ku, Lono
come out of the night (po) and create three heavens to dwell in,
the uppermost for Kane, the next below for Ku, and the lowest
for Lono, “a heaven for the parent (makua), a heaven for Ku,
a heaven for Lono.” Next they make the earth to rest their feet
upon and call it “The great earth of Kane” (Ka-honua-nui-a-Kane). Kane then makes sun, moon, and stars, and places them
in the empty space between heaven and earth. He makes the
ocean salt, in imitation of which the priests purify with salt
water. Next an image of man is formed out of earth, the head
out of white clay brought from the seas of the north, south,
east, and west, the body out of red earth (apo ula) mixed with
spittle (wai nao). The right side of the head is made of clay
brought from the north and east, the left side is made of clay
from the south and west. Man is formed after the image of
Kane with Ku as the workman, Lono as general assistant. Kane
and Ku spit (or breathe) into the nostrils, Lono into the mouth,
and the image becomes a living being. “I have shaped this dirt
(lepo); I am going to make it live,” says Kane. “Live! live!” respond Ku and Lono. The man rises and kneels. They name him
Ke-li‘i-ku-honua (the chief Ku(mu)-honua) or Honua-ula because made out of “red earth.” They give him a delightful garden to live in called Kalana-i-hauola, but later Paliuli, situated
in the land of Kahiki-honua-kele (The land that moved off), and
fashion a wife for him out of his right side and call her Ke-ola-Ku-honua (or Lalo-hana). “Great Hawaii of the green back
and mottled seas” this land is called. A law is given him but he
breaks the law and is then known as Kane-la‘a-(kah)uli, “a god
who fell because of the law.”
In the original garden of Kumuhonua and Lalo-hana his
wife, are to be found the pig, dogs of various varieties, mo‘o of
many sorts. A tapu tree, sacred apples which cause death if
eaten by strangers, and tapu bark cloth forbidden to all but the high chiefs are spoken of. Some think that the laau (law or
tree) which caused the expulsion of the pair from the garden
refers to these things. The garden, which is very sacred, goes
by a multiplicity of names. It is the great white albatross of
Kane that drove them out of the garden (Ka Aaia-nukea-nui-a-Kane). Kumuhonua-mokupuni is the land to the eastward to
which Kumuhonua retreats after he has broken the law, and he
returns to Kapakapa-ua-a-Kane and is buried in a place called
Kumu-honua-pu‘u, which was afterwards called Ka-pu‘u-po‘o-kanaka (the hill of human heads).
Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, pp. 43-44.
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