hat island in that vast sea, and it hath mountains and valleys
and plains and seas and rivers and lakes, and I am the chief overall.
Atua made that island for me and put it in that mighty sea, for I am
the son of Atua, and over that island in that sea I shall rule forever."

Great wonder had they to hear tell of these things, and they knew now
that Marama was the child of Atua, who made the universe and is the
all-god. Then Marama said on:

"Atua bade me search and find me a wife, and upon the stars have I
walked two hundred years, fishing and hunting, and seeing maidens, but
of all maidens seen there is none that I did love. So now at last, in
this island of this earth, I have found Kaulualua, and have seen the
pearl of her beauty and smelled the cinnamon of her breath, and I would
fain have her to wife that she may be ruler with me over the moon, my
island in the vast, black sea of night."

It was not for Talakoa, being of earth such as all human kind, to
gainsay the words of Marama. And there was a flame in Kaulualua's
heart and incense in her breath and honey in her eyes toward this tall,
fair man that was the son of Atua. So the old father said to her:
"Take up the fish and the hare and roast them, my daughter, and spread
them before us, and we will eat them and so pledge our troth, one to
another."

This thing did Kaulualua, and so the man from the moon had her to wife.

That night they went from the home of Talakoa to the island in the sea
of night, and Talakoa and the three maidens watched for a signal from
that island, for Kaulualua told them she would build a fire thereon
that they might know when she was come thither. Many, many nights they
watched, and their hair grew white, and Time marked their faces with
his fingers, and the moss gathered on the palm trees. At last, as if
he would sleep forever, Talakoa laid himself upon his mat by the door
and asked that the skies be opened to him, for he was enfeebled with
age.

And while he asked this thing the three sisters saw a dim light afar
off in the black sea of night, and it was such a light as had never
before been seen. And this light grew larger and brighter, so that in
seven nights it was thrice the size of the largest palm leaf, and it
lighted up all that far-off island in the sea of night, and they knew
that Kaulualua and the moon-god were in their home at last. So old
Talakoa was soothed and the skies that opened unto him found him
satisfi