COURTESY OF KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS

Boy defeats champion
rat shooter

"Pikoi -- Rat Shooting"

'Why is that crowd down the valley? Brother! What are all those people doing?"

Pikoi's brother was preparing food for the imu and did not hear the boy's question. Pikoi and his father had come from Kaua'i the day before. They had come to Manoa Valley on O'ahu to visit a married sister. A crowd the very first day! Pikoi must find out what was going on.

At first he went slowly down the trail, watching the people eagerly. He saw someone with a bow and arrows. Rat shooting! That was a sport the boy loved and in a moment he was running.

Pikoi reached the crowd and pushed his way among them. He bumped a tall woman who turned to him angrily. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "Why do you push in beside your chiefess?"

Pikoi did not quite understand that this woman was the chiefess -- the high chiefess of O'ahu. "It is rat shooting, isn't it?" he asked eagerly. "I love rat shooting."

The chiefess must have liked the boy's love of her favorite sport, for she spoke good-naturedly now. "Can you shoot rats?"

"A little."

"That man with a red lei and with a bow in his hand is Ma'inele," the chiefess said. "He is the best rat shooter on O'ahu. I am looking for a champion to shoot against him. Do you want to be my champion?"

The chiefess was joking. A boy could not shoot against Ma'inele! But Pikoi did not know she was joking. "Oh yes," he said. "May I use your arrows?"

The chiefess let him take her arrows and Pikoi looked at them carefully. "These are not good," he said slowly. He could not shoot against the champion with poor arrows. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, the boy saw his father. He had followed Pikoi with a bundle in his hand. "My bow and arrows!" the boy thought. He broke the poor arrows of the chiefess and let the pieces fall to the ground.

She was angry this time. "You bad, bad boy!" she exclaimed. "You have broken all my arrows! Now I can't get a champion to shoot against Ma'inele!"

"I will shoot for you," said Pikoi. "I told you I would." People had heard the angry voice of the chiefess and they came crowding around.

"So you are going to shoot against me?" a new voice asked.

Pikoi looked up into the face of Ma'inele. "Yes," he said. "What is the game?"

"Fifteen rats. The one who first kills fifteen rats is the winner," Ma'inele answered. "Will you shoot first or shall I?"

"You shoot first," the boy answered, and everybody shouted with laughter.

"He's a clever boy!" they said. "He tells Ma'inele to shoot first. Ma'inele is sure to get his fifteen rats. Then the boy won't have to shoot at all. He is beaten without ever showing that he can't shoot! Oh, he's a clever one!"

But Pikoi did not hear the laughter and jokes. "You shoot, Ma'inele," he said again. "Look! There's a rat!" He said this in an excited whisper. "There by that weed stalk! Do you see?"

"I have eyes!" Ma'inele made ready an arrow.

"Good! You got it!" Pikoi exclaimed. "There is another one, a big one beside the kamani tree. Quick, Ma'inele.

"Good! Two rats! There is one way over there --"

"Keep still!" warned Ma'inele. "I shot rats before you were born. I can see them without your help!"

And he shot again and again -- 12 -- 13 -- 14! The people watching smiled at each other. "There won't be any left for the boy to shoot," they said.

Ma'inele looked around. Everyone looked. Ma'inele must have killed every rat in that part of the valley! Surely there was not one to be seen.

"There's one!" exclaimed Pikoi in an excited whisper. "In the weeds!" He was pointing.

Ma'inele looked carefully. "I don't see it," he said.

"No, you can't see the rat -- only the whiskers. It is eating weed seeds and you can see its whiskers move. Shoot the whiskers, Ma'inele!"

Ma'inele turned angrily toward the boy. "Whiskers!" he said. "I am a champion rat shooter! I have good sight! I have shot rats in the head. I have shot rats in the front legs. I have shot rats in the hind legs. But I never shot one in the whiskers. There is no rat there. Let us see you shoot a rat where there is no rat!"

PIKOI KEPT HIS eyes fixed on the clump of weeds, watching the whiskers move as the rat ate. He knew his father was standing close behind him and he held out his hand.

His father put bow and arrow into the outstretched hand. Pikoi chanted a prayer. While he prayed he raised the bow and took aim. He did not once take his eyes from those moving whiskers. His arrow whistled and Pikoi drew a long breath. "I got the rat!" he said.

The chiefess nodded to a servant who ran in among the weeds and held up Pikoi's arrow for all to see. There were three rats on the arrow and one had been shot through the whiskers! People looked at each other in great surprise. There was no laughter now.

Pikoi held out his hand for another arrow. "Not that one," he whispered to his father. "That is not a good ratting arrow. I need a long one -- a strong one."

At last he had an arrow that pleased him. He bent his bow. Then he stood looking off among the trees and prayed for power to shoot well. His prayer ended in a whisper: "Hush! Be still. There are the rats!"

His arrow flew. Everyone was watching, but the arrow went among the bushes and no one could see what it hit. There was a squeak. Then all was still.

A servant ran to get the arrow. The crowd saw him stoop down among the bushes. Then he called to another man to help him. A moment later they held up Pikoi's arrow, loaded with rats!

The people had been very quiet, almost holding their breath. Now they began to shout.

"Fifteen! Why, the boy got more than fifteen with one shot!"

"Wonderful!"

"This is something to tell our grandchildren!"

"Ma'inele has been beaten by a boy."

Pikoi got his arrows and he and his father went quietly home to the feast the brother had made ready.