ion and parry the thrust
or satisfy the request. In a Samoan tale a wandering magician requests
in one village "to go dove catching," and has the laugh on his simple
host because he takes him at his word instead of bringing him a wife. In
a Tongan story[2] the chief grows hungry while out on a canoe trip, and
bids his servant, "Look for a banana stalk on the weather side of the
boat." As this is the side of the women, the command meant "Kill a woman
for me to eat." The woman designed for slaughter is in this case wise
enough to catch his meaning and save herself and child by hiding under
the canoe. In Fornander's story a usurper and his accomplice plan the
moment for the death of their chief over a game of _konane_, the
innocent words which seem to apply to the game being uttered by the
conspirators with a more sinister meaning. The language of insults and
opprobrium is particularly rich in such double meanings. The pig god,
wishing to insult Pele, who has refused his advances, sings of her,
innocently enough to common ears, as a "woman pounding _noni_." Now, the
_noni_ is the plant from which red dye is extracted; the allusion
therefore is to Pele's red eyes, and the goddess promptly resents the
implication.

It is to this chiefly art of riddling that we must ascribe the stories
of riddling contests that are handed down in Polynesian tales. The best
Hawaiian examples are perhaps found in Fornander's _Kepakailiula_. Here
the hero wins supremacy over his host by securing the answer to two
riddles--"The men that stand, the men that lie down, the men that are
folded," and "Plaited all around, plaited to the bottom, leaving an
opening." The answer is in both cases a house, for in the first riddle
"the timbers stand, the batons lie down, the grass is folded under the
cords"; in the second, the process of thatching is described in general
terms. In the story of _Pikoiakaala_, on the other hand; the hero
puzzles his contestants by riddling with the word "rat." This word
riddling is further illustrated in the story of the debater, Kaipalaoa,
already quoted. His opponents produce this song:

The small bird chirps; it shivers in the rain, in Puna, at Keaau,
at Iwainalo,

and challenge him to "find another _nalo_." Says the boy:

The crow caw caws; it shines in the rain. In _Kona_, at _Honalo_,
it is hidden (_nalo_).

Thus, by using _nalo_ correctly in the song in