Laieikawai

In Hawaiian mythology, Laʻieikawai (Lāʻi.e.-i-ka-wai) and her twin sister Laʻielohelohe were princesses, and were born in Lāʻie, Oʻahu.

They were separated and hidden away from their chiefly father who had all his daughters killed at birth, because he wanted a first-born son. Laʻieikawai was hidden in a cave which was only accessed by diving in pool of water named Waiapuka. Soon it was well known that someone of royalty resided nearby because of the tell-tale rainbow that graced the sky above her cave dwelling.

Her grandmother Waka secretly tried to smuggle her to Paliuli, Puna, Hawaiʻi island. On the way there others heard of her beauty and the rumors travelled all throughout the islands. Aiwohikupua, a chief from the island of Kauaʻi, decided he would pursue her. At her home in Paliuli, Laieikawai was attended by supernatural birds such as the 'i'iwi polena. It is said she could float on the wings of the birds.

While other royalty in Hawai'i had mere feather capes and cloaks, Laʻieikawai had a house made of the sacred feathers. After a series of misfortunes, she becomes known as Kawahineliula ("woman of the twilight").

In 1863, S. N. Haleʻole published the story of the figure in The Hawaiian Romance of Laieikawai, the first fictional work of literature produced by a Native Hawaiian.

Further reading

• Beckwith, Martha Warren (1918). The Hawaiian romance of Laieikawai, with introduction and translation by Martha Warren Beckwith. Reprinted from the Thirty-third annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Annual report,33d, 1911-1912. Washington, D. C.: United States Government Publishing Office – via HathiTrust. Full text access