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Overview
After Aukelenuiaiku kills the man-eating Halulu, the surviving prisoners face a second difficulty: reaching the ground from their cliff cave. The Fornander edition’s English account identifies another bird present there as Kiwaha, Halulu’s mate. Kiwaha offers a shortened rainbow bearing yellow, red and green, and the five men descend by it.
Once they reach the bottom, Kiwaha retrieves the rainbow and places it back on the cliff. The bird thus rescues the men despite its relationship to the dead predator. The account gives neither its motives nor its physical size. The four captives subsequently die after ignoring warnings about kapu foods; their deaths occur after the successful descent.
Origins & earliest records
Fornander Collection IV, Legend of Aukelenuiaiku VIII, printed p. 66; preceding encounter on p. 64, with Hawaiian on facing pages. Thrum revised and edited the collected translations.
Records & interpretation
Printed p. 66 directly names Kiwaha as Halulu’s mate and narrates its rainbow gift and retrieval. A footnote explains the shortened rainbow term.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Fornander Collection IV: Legend of Aukelenuiaiku, VIII, pp. 64–66
Complete Halulu encounter and descent; Hawaiian on facing pages. English calls Halulu Namakaokahai’s cousin and Kiwaha its mate.
- 02
Fornander CollectionIV: Legend of Aukelenuiaiku, VIII: Kiwaha
Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-lore, first series, Memoirs of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop MuseumIV, Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press,1916–1917. Hawaiian manuscript collection gathered by AbrahamFornander with native helpers; English translations largely supervised by W.D.Alexander, revised and edited by ThomasG.Thrum, as the independently read preface states. No particular tale’s otherwise unnamed translator or informant is invented.
Family, evolution & connections
Halulu
The English translation calls Kiwaha the mate of Halulu. It does not specify either bird’s sex or give them offspring; the rainbow rescue is a separate narrative action.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Fornander Collection IV: Legend of Aukelenuiaiku, VIII, pp. 64–66
Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-lore, first series, Memoirs of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop MuseumIV, Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press,1916–1917. Hawaiian manuscript collection gathered by AbrahamFornander with native helpers; English translations largely supervised by W.D.Alexander, revised and edited by ThomasG.Thrum, as the independently read preface states. No particular tale’s otherwise unnamed translator or informant is invented.
- After Halulu dies, another bird in the cave, Kiwaha, is identified as its mate. It provides Aukelenuiaiku and four captives a short-ended rainbow of yellow, red and green for reaching the foot of the cliff. It then takes up the rainbow again and places it on the cliff. The human escape is complete, but the four captives subsequently die after eating forbidden foods despite warnings. The hero continues home alone.
Complete common encounter64–66; Kiwaha’s rainbow and subsequent withdrawal66
Specific historical translation/version only; Hawaiian facing pages present but not independently retranslated. Entire collection and the full Aukelenuiaiku voyage are not claimed read. Web tool failed on the item page; retained original primary cache was used without bypassing access restrictions.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textFornander Collection IV, original bilingual scanResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
