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Red shell
brings a bounty to
a struggling fisherman
‘The Cowry Shell’
Puako stood on the beach with a bit of seaweed in her hand. As she tossed it into the waves for an offering she prayed to the fish god:
"O Ku'ula,Wading out a few steps she gathered another bit of seaweed and prayed again:
Keep me safe from harm from the sea,
Safe from all evil."
She threw this seaweed toward the land."O Hina,
Keep me safe from harm from the land,
Safe from all evil."
After her prayers her work began. She gathered a few shellfish, then waded along the coral to a clump of seaweed she had seen. "I must fill my gourd," she thought. "We must have food!
"Alas! I wish my husband could make a better living. Some fishermen bring home a load of fish, but Kainoa is gone all day and gets only three or four he'e. Perhaps he does not work hard, perhaps he does not pray enough or perhaps he is just unlucky. I don't know. But I wish he had he'e enough to trade for all things that we need: for mats, bowls and vegetable food, for all the things that other people have." And Puako sighed longingly.
Farther out, she saw another clump of seaweed and waded toward it. In a deep pool something caught her eye. Was that a he'e half hidden by a rock? It was! A big one! If only she had a spear! Looking about, she saw a pointed stick on the beach. She waded toward it quietly and a moment later thrust its point into the he'e. How the animal clung to its rock! If only Kainoa were here he would know just how to get it loose. Puako tried a sideways jerk. At last she had it. She bit between the eyes till the animal was limp, then left it on a dry rock well above the reach of waves.
Hardly thinking what she did, she waded back to that same pool and looked below the rock. There, in the very same place, was another he'e! Down went the pointed stick. With a quick jerk she brought up the animal, bit it and laid it by the first.
Straight back to the pool she waded but could hardly believe her eyes. There, in the same place, was a third! This went on until Puako had all the he'e she could carry. Then she hurried home. "Won't my husband be surprised!" That was all she could think of as she scrambled over rocks and crossed moist sand.
There was Kainoa sitting on the beach, his head between his knees. How tired and discouraged he looked! And how surprised and glad he would be in a moment. Puako did not speak until she stood before her husband. Then she said, "Kainoa!"
He looked up startled, then sprang to his fee. "He'e!" he exclaimed. "Who gave them to you?"
"No one! I caught them."
"You could not -- not all those!"
"Put them in a safe place," she said, "and come with me. I shall show you."
Puako led her husband to the beach where she had been gathering shellfish. They waded quietly to her pool and she pointed.
"A he'e!" Kainoa whispered and down went his spear. A moment later he was carrying his catch to the dry rock. "Let us go home," he said. "I will salt two and trade the rest for chickens, kalo and bananas. Tonight we shall feast!"
But Puako stood still beside the pool and beckoned. When Kainoa came to her she pointed. "Another!" In a moment he had that also.
"But why do they come here?" he wondered after he had caught four. He bent over the pool, searching the rocks with his eyes. "That red cowry shell!" he whispered and stooped to pull it loose from its crack in the rock. "This is a cowry loved by the he'e. With this I shall be a lucky fisherman. You shall see!"
A sinister plan
NEXT DAY Kainoa fastened the cowry to a line and used it as bait. He caught two he'e, but one let go of the cowry and was lost. "I need a hook," the fisherman said. He firmly tied a bone hook below the cowry shell and added a small heavy stone as sinker. He paddled to deeper water and dropped his cowry bait. He waited only a moment until he felt something on his line. A he'e! The cowry had, indeed, brought luck.And the luck held. Day after day Kainoa caught all the he'e that he needed, both for food and trade. Part of each day he fished for he'e, and part of each day he worked in his sweet potato garden or cooked or feasted with his friends. He had become an important man because of that cowry shell.
Now word of that wonderful shell went about Kohala and came even to the ears of a chief living in Kona. This chief also was a fisherman. He loved he'e and desired the shell. He called a trusted servant. "Go to Kohala," the chief commanded. "Find a man called Kainoa and see if these rumors of a lucky cowry shell are true. If they are true, then steal the shell for me."
Some days later the servant returned. "The rumors are true," he told the chief. "I have watched Kainoa fish. He has only to drop his shell over the canoe side. In a moment he pulls it up with a fine he'e coiled around it. It is a beautiful shell, deep red, a color these animals love."
"Where is it?" asked the chief. "I commanded you to bring it to me."
"O Heavenly One, Kainoa loves that shell as he loves life itself. He never leaves it in the gourd with his fishhooks but keeps it in a safe fold of his malo. Even in his sleep he holds the cowry in his hand. It is impossible to steal it from him."
"That we shall see," was the answer of the chief. He called another servant, a sly and clever man and a swift runner. "Go," he said, "to Kohala and find a fisherman named Kainoa. Stay with him, work for him, make yourself his trusted friend. Stay a year if need be but steal for me his lucky cowry shell -- the beautiful red shell he uses to catch he'e. Bring that to me and you shall be rewarded."
A few days after this a stranger came to Kainoa's home. He was a wandering fellow but good-natured, a clever storyteller and a good companion. Kainoa gave him food, for he liked the fellow's talk. Next day he found the man a willing worker. Kainoa had food enough for an extra mouth and let the man stay on to work in the sweet potato patch or paddle the canoe. Kainoa and Puako became fond of the young man. He was like a younger brother and always ready for work or fun. He stayed with them nearly a year.
Then one day he became very sick. He lay upon his mats and did not eat. Kainoa prepared good food and brought it to the young man, but the sick one weakly refused. "Let me alone, my friend," he whispered. "Let me die."
Kainoa went out alone to work in his potato patch. His heart was heavy, for he loved the young man. The sun grew warm, and Kainoa stopped to rest. Suddenly, he thought of his cowry shell. "I did not bring it with me!" he said to himself. "I was thinking of my friend and did not slip the shell inside my malo. I must go for it or some neighbor's prying eyes may find it. Many want that lucky cowry."
He hurried to the sleeping house. The sick man was gone from his mats, and Kainoa could not find the cowry shell. He looked quickly in the house where fishing things were kept and then knew what had happened. His fishhook gourd was on the floor. Beside it lay a tangled line and sinker. He must have left the cowry there last night. The man he called his friend had seen and stolen it!
Seeking a boy's help
KAINOA CLIMBED up a long trail, which ran behind his house. In the distance he saw a man and started after him. But the man saw Kainoa, went faster and disappeared in the direction of Kona. "It was a trick!" Kainoa told himself bitterly. "He was no friend, but one who came to trick me!"Kainoa's only thought was to find his cowry. He went to a wise kahuna, but the kahuna did not know how to help him. For many days the fisherman wandered, thinking bitter thoughts and asking help, but finding none.
At last he found one that could help him. "It is a chief who has your cowry," this kahuna said, "the chief who lives on the Kona coast."
"A chief!" repeated Kainoa. "He sent that man to trick me. How can I ever get my cowry from a chief?"
The kahuna sat long thinking. "I'll tell you, Kainoa," he said at last. "On O'ahu lives a clever boy called 'Iwa. He is still a child, but the day will come when he will be the cleverest trickster in all our islands. Even now he knows juggling tricks and he is sly. Go to this 'Iwa, treat him as if he were a man rather than a child and tell him of your trouble. It may be he can get your cowry back."
So Kainoa went to 'Iwa. The boy was pleased to have a man in trouble come to him for help and listened thoughtfully. At last he said: "Return to your home, O Kainoa. In a few days I shall paddle to the Kona coast and find that chief. I shall bring back your cowry shell to you." Kainoa paddled back to Kohala wondering. This 'Iwa was only a boy. How could he get the cowry?
A successful switch
'IWA MADE READY for a voyage and paddled to Hawai'i. He went along the Kona coast, stopping now and then to eat and chat. He heard where the chief was living and went to his landing place.On the beach in front of the chief's house he found two young girls busy with a game. He stopped and chatted with them. He told them riddles and amused them with his juggling tricks. The girls liked the boy and told him they were daughters of the chief. "Where is your father?" 'Iwa asked carelessly.
"Out fishing. He has a new cowry shell, a red shell that is loved by he'e. He goes fishing with it every day. A little while ago we saw him paddle out." They pointed the direction.
'Iwa stayed a little longer, laughing and chatting with the girls. Then he said that he also was a fisherman and must get back to work. He found an old man to do the paddling while he fished. But 'Iwa had no luck that day. "I do not know these fishing grounds," he said as he moved the canoe from place to place.
At last he came near another canoe -- a red one. That was the chief's canoe. There was the chief fishing with Kainoa's cowry!
A few moments later 'Iwa said to his companion: "My hook is caught on coral. I cannot pull it up. Hold the canoe in this place while I get it loose." He slid quietly over the side and swam underwater to the chief's line. Working carefully he took Kainoa's red cowry from the chief's line and tied a common cowry shell in its place. Then he swam back to his own canoe. "I got my hook free," he said as he pulled it up, "but I have caught nothing and am going home."
The next day Kainoa had his own dearly loved cowry shell. Never again did luck leave him. He and Puako had all things that they needed. 'Iwa returned to O'ahu with a good reward. He spent his life in tricks and thieving, and some of his thieving was not so honest as when he stole the cowry shell for its rightful owner. Men of Hawai'i still catch he'e with a red cowry tied to hook and sinker as Kainoa taught them.
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