KAMEHAMEHA AND HIS WARRIOR KEKŪHAUPI‘O
Kamehameha and his warrior Kekūhaupi‘o
Written in Hawaiian by Reverend Stephen L. Desha
Translated by Frances N. Frazier
Produced with the assistance of the State of Hawai‘i Historic Preservation Division, DLNR
Kamehameha Schools Press Honolulu • 2000
We have arrived at the very end of this story of Kekūhaupi‘o, the famed warrior and martial arts instructor of the ali‘i Kamehameha, and perhaps you are wondering how he died. When Kamehameha was triumphant over this archipelago, Kekūhaupi‘o left the court of his ali‘i and returned to the land of his birth at Ke‘ei, spending the elder days of his life at Nāpo‘opo‘o. However, because he was accustomed to his profession, he began to teach skill with the spear to the young men of Nāpo‘opo‘o and Ke‘ei. In teaching them, he used spears made of hau wood with the tips wrapped in overlaid kapa.
On a certain day on which he trained the young of Nāpo‘opo‘o, together with the young men of Ke‘ei, he dipped in the water of the sea and then bathed in the water of a certain spring. The spring lies in a ravine that goes down seaward of the home of Kekumano, which is the home of the mother of the children of the minister of Haili Church. While he was girding on his malo after his bath, he was attacked by a certain man with a spear made of hau. Kekūhaupi‘o did not see the blow struck by this robber. Kekūhaupi‘o was struck in the fold of his belly, and it was torn open. A short time after being struck thus, Kamehameha’s famous warrior drew his last breath, he who had taught Kamehameha the arts of war of that ancient time.
Kekūhaupi‘o had entered onto numerous battlefields, and perhaps only twice did he come near to losing his life. Once was when that sizzling slingstone was thrown by ‘Oulu, Kahekili’s famous warrior, and when Kekūhaupi‘o had asked that the sling-stone be for himself.
Perhaps the second time he was in trouble was at the Battle of the Stone Wall at Kaupō where he might have been killed by the Maui warriors if Kamehameha had not leapt from the canoe and made a path through the Maui warriors to Kekūhaupi‘o, and if they had not then made their way to the canoe fleet where his uncle was waiting.191 Kekūhaupi‘o was struck by an unimportant (wahi) spear made of hau wood, as used on that field of sham battle, and it was hurled by an unimportant covert robber. When Kekūhaupi‘o was killed, that robber was pursued and caught in the upland of Kahauloa. He was killed, and his body was cut up with the idea that on the next day it would be taken as a kūpenu mana‘o [kupene mana‘o, permanent reminder?].
That evening, however, the body of that rogue was taken secretly by his blood relatives and hidden in a place where it could not be found by Kekūhaupi‘o’s people. The name of that robber has been forgotten by the writer. Z.P. Kalokuokamaile of Nāpo‘opo‘o is the person who remembers the name of that robber who took the life of Ali‘i Kamehameha’s famous warrior. However, the conquest of all the islands of Hawai‘i Nei by this famous warrior of Ke‘ei, who accompanied his hānai ali‘i, was not in vain.
Let us lay aside Kekūhaupi‘o, his work is done. His eyes had seen the fulfillment of the prophecy concerning his hānai ali‘i. Let us speak a little about the ali‘i Kamehameha before we end this story of the entwining of Kekūhaupi‘o with his high-ranking hānai ali‘i. Of the many versions pertaining to the story of the conqueror of Hawai‘i Nei, a few have been told to our readers. The famous motto of that conqueror was what he proclaimed at the battlefield of the Dammed Waters of ‘Īao: “Forward my brethren, drink of the bitter waters, there shall be no going back.”
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