Queen Liliuokalani: Royal Prisoner by Ann Hood

Author:Ann Hood [Hood, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780698159433
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-06-27T04:00:00+00:00

Maisie was still trembling with a combination of fear and excitement when a guard arrived to escort the children to the royal banquet.

As part of aloha, commoners were invited to eat with the king and queen. Maisie and Felix found spots to sit on tatami mats at one of the long, low tables. They feasted on roast suckling pig and fried fish and, of course, the ever-present poi.

Licking her fingers, Maisie caught sight of the adjacent room. It was full of haole—westerners—sitting on beautifully carved wooden chairs at a table draped in white linen, eating from china plates with real silverware and crystal glasses.

Lydia followed Maisie’s gaze, and touched her arm lightly.

“It’s aloha,” she said in a soft voice.

Maisie frowned. “How can it be aloha?” she asked.

Lydia just shook her head.

“Maisie,” she said carefully, “my people lived happily for thousands of years before Captain James Cook arrived here in 1778. We tended our land and worshipped our gods, and we were happy. The kahuna—the priests—set the kapu, which were all the things that were forbidden, and we followed these rules. Until the foreigners came. Then, Kamehameha the Second observed the haole men and women sitting together and ignoring the gods’ wishes, and he saw there were no negative consequences for their actions. No tidal waves or thunder or fire or deaths. So he lifted the kapu. When the missionaries arrived, they found my people without beliefs, struggling. It was easy to convert us,” she added sadly.

Maisie tried to make sense of all she was saying.

“Do you wish the ka…kapu were still in place?”

“I wish my people and our kingdom weren’t getting erased,” she said solemnly.

Maisie wished she could reassure her. But Hawaii would become a state, and the changes Lydia feared were, indeed, inevitable.

“Some people believe it’s only a matter of time before your country claims us,” Lydia was saying.

She took Maisie’s hands in hers and looked her right in the eyes.

“But I can’t imagine it. Hawaii a state? My kingdom gone?” Lydia paused. “Can you?” she asked finally.

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