"Little like the smooth quoit that runs the full course,"
responds the short one, and retorts "Long and lanky, he will go down in
the gale like a banana tree." "Like the _ea_ banana that takes long to
ripen," is the quick reply. Compare also the derisive chants with which
Kuapakaa drives home the chiefs of the six districts of Hawaii who have
got his father out of favor, and Lono's taunts against the revolting
chiefs of Hawaii.]
[Footnote 27: The idiomatic passages "_aohe puko momona o Kohala_,"
etc., and (on page 387) "_e huna oukou i ko oukou mau maka i ke aouli_"
are of doubtful interpretation.]
[Footnote 28: This boast of downing an antagonist with a single blow is
illustrated in the story of _Kawelo_. His adversary, Kahapaloa, has
struck him down and is leaving him for dead. "Strike again, he may
revive," urge his supporters. Kahapaloa's refusal is couched in these
words:
"He is dead; for it is a blow from the young,
The young must kill with a blow
Else will the fellow go down to Milu
And say Kahapaloa struck frim twice,
Thus was the fighter slain."
All Hawaiian stories of demigods emphasize the ease of achievement as a
sign of divine rather than human capacity.
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