--- title: The Law of the Splintered Paddle — Hawaiian Historical Legends · full text with trees · page 2 description: The Law of the Splintered Paddle, «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: Would you know the story of the Splintered Paddle? --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/18/page/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Hawaiian Historical Legends](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/) / The Law of the Splintered Paddle # The Law of the Splintered Paddle · page 2 [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/18/) **2** The men turned back and struck at him with their paddles, but after a few blows the paddles were destroyed.[106](../../106/ "tree and pragmatics") He managed to grasp a large piece of lava.[107](../../107/ "tree and pragmatics") The men ran away.[108](../../108/ "tree and pragmatics") “The thrown stone struck the trunk of a Noni tree, broke it off and with the tree fell to the bottom of a small ravine, and the spot is shown to this day.”[109](../../109/ "tree and pragmatics") The steersman became anxious concerning his chief and came up from the boat.[110](../../110/ "tree and pragmatics") Meantime the fishermen had secured spears and were returning to kill Ka-meha-meha.[111](../../111/ "tree and pragmatics") The steersman broke the sharp edges of lava away from the imprisoned foot, but did not succeed in liberating his chief before the natives began to thrust at him with their spears.[112](../../112/ "tree and pragmatics") The agile chief, fettered as he was, avoided the thrusts, but the steersman was awkward.[113](../../113/ "tree and pragmatics") One of the spears pierced him.[114](../../114/ "tree and pragmatics") Ka-meha-meha seized this spear and quickly broke it near the body.[115](../../115/ "tree and pragmatics") When the men saw that he had a weapon they ran away.[116](../../116/ "tree and pragmatics") When Ka-meha-meha had freed himself he and his companion came down to the shore.[117](../../117/ "tree and pragmatics") He warned the men not to repeat the story of the injured man and the battle between himself and the flying fishermen of Puna.[118](../../118/ "tree and pragmatics") He did not want his high chiefs to know that he had been struck and hurt by a common man.[119](../../119/ "tree and pragmatics") The chiefs were very strenuous in upholding the dignity of their caste.[120](../../120/ "tree and pragmatics") They thought but little of putting to death their servants.[121](../../121/ "tree and pragmatics") That some of the lower classes should have struck their highest chief was sufficient ground for killing any of his companions who had failed to protect him even at the cost of their own lives.[122](../../122/ "tree and pragmatics") Ka-meha-meha knew how unreasonably wilful he had been in forbidding his steersman to join in the pursuit, and therefore felt the injustice of permitting him to be punished.[123](../../123/ "tree and pragmatics") It was a weary journey for the defeated king and his wounded steersman.[124](../../124/ "tree and pragmatics") The spear-head and part of the shaft still rested in the side of the wounded man.[125](../../125/ "tree and pragmatics") The king could not have the spear removed without great danger, so waited, thinking to have the wound well cared for after reaching Lau-pa-hoe-hoe.[126](../../126/ "tree and pragmatics") However, it was impossible to keep the boatmen from telling the story of the splintered paddle and the wounded steersman.[127](../../127/ "tree and pragmatics") The chiefs soon heard the particulars and called the council of chiefs.[128](../../128/ "tree and pragmatics") There they grimly voted to “heal” the wounded man.[129](../../129/ "tree and pragmatics") Ka-meha-meha appealed to them:[130](../../130/ "tree and pragmatics") “O chiefs\![131](../../131/ "tree and pragmatics") The night of our going away was a very evil night.[132](../../132/ "tree and pragmatics") There was storm and wind and thunder; yet I received no injury, nor was I even wet by the sea.[133](../../133/ "tree and pragmatics") Nor was I permitted to feel the least fear.[134](../../134/ "tree and pragmatics") My steersman was wise and skilful.[135](../../135/ "tree and pragmatics") He was my close friend on the deceitful and dangerous sea.[136](../../136/ "tree and pragmatics") Therefore I ask you, if you wish to see him healed, have him brought before my eyes for the treatment.”[137](../../137/ "tree and pragmatics") But some of the chiefs went out and instead of bringing the wounded man into the council took him and twisted the spear-point, pulling it back and forth, until he died.[138](../../138/ "tree and pragmatics") After Ka-meha-meha returned from his Puna excursion he rested for a time.[139](../../139/ "tree and pragmatics") His adventure was not encouraging.[140](../../140/ "tree and pragmatics") He decided that he could not hasten the plans of the gods.[141](../../141/ "tree and pragmatics") The ancient Hawaiian was very much of a fatalist.[142](../../142/ "tree and pragmatics") So also is the Hawaiian of to-day.[143](../../143/ "tree and pragmatics") What has to be is accepted without rebellion.[144](../../144/ "tree and pragmatics") Ka-meha-meha realised that he was too weak, both in personal strength and in the number of warriors, to make further effort for the time being.[145](../../145/ "tree and pragmatics") Therefore, he sent his warriors home to cultivate their fields and prepare new war material for future conflicts.[146](../../146/ "tree and pragmatics") While this preparation was going on, a new element entered into Hawaiian warfare.[147](../../147/ "tree and pragmatics") The white man’s ships and the white man’s weapons were becoming familiar to the great king.[148](../../148/ "tree and pragmatics") White men were secured to take charge of small cannon, and to drill squads of warriors equipped with the rude firearms of a century ago.[149](../../149/ "tree and pragmatics") Some of these white leaders and their muskets found their way into the service of almost all the important chiefs throughout the islands.[150](../../150/ "tree and pragmatics") Ka-meha-meha owned the best harbours and offered the best inducements for trade with the foreigners.[151](../../151/ "tree and pragmatics") He secured the best equipment of arms and men.[152](../../152/ "tree and pragmatics") This gave Ka-meha-meha a vast advantage over the antagonistic kings and chiefs of his own and other islands.[153](../../153/ "tree and pragmatics") He had large boats built and armed with small swivel cannon.[154](../../154/ "tree and pragmatics") He had sixteen foreigners in his service.[155](../../155/ "tree and pragmatics") He led his victorious warriors from island to island.[156](../../156/ "tree and pragmatics") In his last campaign it is said his fleet of canoes lined the beach of one of the islands for a distance of four miles.[157](../../157/ "tree and pragmatics") In a few years his friends saw the prophecy fulfilled.[158](../../158/ "tree and pragmatics") “His cloud was resting on the mountains of all the islands.”[159](../../159/ "tree and pragmatics") He had unified the group under one autocratic government, and had established the Ka-meha-meha dynasty.[160](../../160/ "tree and pragmatics") Then came the memory of that excursion made in 1783 to Puna for the sake of robbery and possible murder.[161](../../161/ "tree and pragmatics") The king wondered what had become of the men who had attacked him.[162](../../162/ "tree and pragmatics") He had gone to Hilo and was having a fine fleet of wide and deep canoes made in the splendid koa forests back of Hilo.[163](../../163/ "tree and pragmatics") While waiting here, some time between the years 1796 and 1802, he determined to find the men of the splintered paddle.[164](../../164/ "tree and pragmatics") He knew that these men might have changed their residence from the Puna district to Hilo.[165](../../165/ "tree and pragmatics") So he sent messengers throughout both districts summoning all the people to a great meeting in Hilo.[166](../../166/ "tree and pragmatics") Certain large grass houses were set apart for the large assembly.[167](../../167/ "tree and pragmatics") The Hilo people were separated from the families of the other district.[168](../../168/ "tree and pragmatics") When the people were thus gathered together they found themselves prisoners.[169](../../169/ "tree and pragmatics") They feared wholesale destruction.[170](../../170/ "tree and pragmatics") The days of human sacrifices among the Hawaiians had not passed by.[171](../../171/ "tree and pragmatics") The new king, against whom they had at one time fought, might intend their sacrifice in numbers.[172](../../172/ "tree and pragmatics") They were his property to be burned or cut to pieces and placed in the temples of the gods.[173](../../173/ "tree and pragmatics") No one could dispute the will of the chief.[174](../../174/ "tree and pragmatics") It was a political condition which the Hawaiians of a hundred years later could scarcely begin to realise.[175](../../175/ "tree and pragmatics") That man is very ignorant who thinks the old days best.[176](../../176/ "tree and pragmatics") The king passed through the houses allotted to the Hilo people.[177](../../177/ "tree and pragmatics") It must have been an anxious time for the prisoners.[178](../../178/ "tree and pragmatics") Wholesale destruction, possibly because of the bitter war of 1783, stared them in the face.[179](../../179/ "tree and pragmatics") But the chief touched them not and passed through their lines out to the houses in which the Puna people were confined.[180](../../180/ "tree and pragmatics") A suspicion at least of the reason for their imprisonment must have come to the guilty men.[181](../../181/ "tree and pragmatics") The story runs that when they saw Ka-meha-meha they bowed their heads, hoping to escape recognition.[182](../../182/ "tree and pragmatics") But this revealed them at once to Ka-meha-meha, and he approached them with the command to raise their heads.[183](../../183/ "tree and pragmatics") It was an interesting scene when these common men were brought before the chiefs for final judgment.[184](../../184/ "tree and pragmatics") It is said the chief asked them if they were not at the sea of Papai.[185](../../185/ "tree and pragmatics") They assented.[186](../../186/ "tree and pragmatics") Then came the question to two of them:[187](../../187/ "tree and pragmatics") “You two perhaps are the men who broke the paddle on my head?”[188](../../188/ "tree and pragmatics") They acknowledged the deed.[189](../../189/ "tree and pragmatics") “To the death, to the death!” cried the chiefs around the king.[190](../../190/ "tree and pragmatics") “Down the face!”[191](../../191/ "tree and pragmatics") “Command the stones!”[192](../../192/ "tree and pragmatics") “Let the man and his friends be stoned to death!”[193](../../193/ "tree and pragmatics") The king listened to the suggestions of his companions.[194](../../194/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he said: “Listen\![195](../../195/ "tree and pragmatics") I attacked the innocent and the defenceless.[196](../../196/ "tree and pragmatics") This was not right.[197](../../197/ "tree and pragmatics") In the future no man in my kingdom shall have the right to make excursions for robbery without punishment, be he chief or priest.[198](../../198/ "tree and pragmatics") I make the law, the new law, for the safety of all men under my government.[199](../../199/ "tree and pragmatics") If any man plunders or murders the defenceless or the innocent he shall be punished.[200](../../200/ "tree and pragmatics") This law is given in memory of my steersman and shall be known as ‘Ke Kana-wai Ma-mala-hoa,’ or the law of the friend and the broken oars.[201](../../201/ "tree and pragmatics") The old man or the old woman or the child may lie down to sleep by the roadside and none shall injure them.”[202](../../202/ "tree and pragmatics") The law with the name Ma-mala-hoa is still on the statute books of Hawaii.[203](../../203/ "tree and pragmatics") It has been greatly modified and enlarged, but the decree against robbery by any man, and especially the plunder of the weak by the powerful, had its beginning for Hawaii in the days of Ka-meha-meha.[204](../../204/ "tree and pragmatics") Alexander says in his history of the islands: “During the days of Ka-meha-meha energetic measures were taken for the suppression of brigandage, murder and theft throughout the kingdom.”[205](../../205/ "tree and pragmatics") “The Law of the Splintered Paddle” marked the awakening of a pagan conscience to a sense of just dealing between the strong and the weak.[206](../../206/ "tree and pragmatics") XVIII[207](../../207/ "tree and pragmatics") [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/18/) **2** - ← 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