" The
long lists of local place names express the Polynesian interest in local
journeyings. The legend of _Waiopuka_ is a modern or at least adapted
legend. But the route which the little sister follows to the heavens
corresponds with Polynesian cosmogonic conceptions, and is true to
ancient stories of the home of the gods.
The action of the story, too, is clearly concerned with a family of
demigods. This is more evident if we compare a parallel story translated
by Westervelt in "Gods and Ghosts," page 116, which, however confused
and fragmentary, is clearly made up of some of the same material as
Haleole's version.[2]
The main situation in this story furnishes a close parallel to the
_Laieikawai_ A beautiful girl of high rank is taken from her parents and
brought up apart in an earthly paradise by a supernatural guardian,
Waka, where she is waited upon by birds. A great lizard acts as her
protector. She is wedded to a high taboo chief who is fetched thither
from the gods, and who later is seduced from his fidelity by the beauty
of another woman. This woman of the mountain, Poliahu, though identical
in name and nature, plays a minor part in Haleole's story.
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