Four Magic Arrows

retold here by Kameona

Adapted from "Four Magic Arrows" from Hawaiian Tales of Heroes and Champions by Vivian Thompson.

This story is about Pikoi and his four magic arrows that his sister the Beauty of Mānoa, who had special powers from the gods, had given him. He was an expert bowman and he wanted his father’s approval. While Pikoi and his father went to Oahu to his oldest sister and her husband who was Chief Pawaa there was a giant squid that attacked their ship. So Pikoi grabbed his magic arrow and shot the squid and he died with one arrow.

When they were on the island of Oahu, Alala, who was Pikoi’s father, told the beauty of Mānoa and Chief Pawaa about the squid Pikoi had killed. Then chief Pawaa asked him if he wanted to compete against Mainele in Rat Shooting. So he went off and noticed that the Queen of Mānoa had just lost the Valley of Mānoa. Pikoi asked her if he could bow for her and she said yes. So the game had begun and Mainele shot first and hit three rats. On his second shot he hit ten rats. He had thirteen rats and needed one more. So Pikoi got one of his magic arrows and shot and it hit fourteen rats and the last one was hanging on the whiskers. Since he won Mainele had finally been beaten.
Pikoi was now the champion rat shooter and he wanted to see more islands. Then Chief Keawenui came and needed an expert Bowman and he was also short one paddler so he took Mainele and Pikoi took the paddler position. Pikoi told the Chief about how he beat Mainele and was surprised. The reason the chief was that there were two cursed birds in the forest and they needed expert Bowman to shoot them. When he got to the Island of Hawaii, he met a girl named Hokulani and he had not thought about a wife until now and he went surfing with her. The only thing he knew about her was that her name was Hokulani. The next day the chief decided to go to the forest and Pikoi went with him and Mainele.

Mainele thought he could shoot these birds, so taking careful aim he shot and missed. Then the birds went higher and were harder to hit. Then it was Pikoi’s chance to shoot at these birds. So a servant brought him a calabash of water and he put it on the ground. He did not look at the birds but he looked at their reflection in the water. So he grabbed one of his magic arrows, aimed, and he shot and hit the two birds with one arrow.
That night they had a feast and as a prize, he would have the high chief’s daughter in marriage. Pikoi was stunned to find out the high chief’s daughter was Hokulani and he brought her back to Oahu and the couple was invited to go surfing with the king and queen. In that time it was against the kapu to ride a queen’s wave. So a youth named Apaki would tell when the time was right to ride the wave right after the queen. He had been tricked and Apaki directed him on the queen’s wave and so now it pulled him all the way to the shore and Mainele’s followers were at the shore. They wanted him to die because he broke the Kapu and didn’t like him because he beat Mainele. The truth was revealed and the king found out that one of Mainele’s followers had tricked Pikoi. So the sentence of the plotters was up to him and he took out his last arrow and let it fly. It hit every single one of the plotters and they all died.

Now Pikoi lives in Kauai with his wife Hokulani and he still has his last arrow, which he caught in his hand after he killed all the people. What other wonders will that last arrow give Pikoi?