She had been called to the museum to count the feathers on a unique cape, one that radiated kapu. She was a feather maker, so she knew the intricacies of the craft.
The patience, the placement, the wear on tear on the hands, when to be tense, when to relax, to be present of mind and the extirpation of personal worries and issues needed to be addressed before placing the feathers in a lei, a hatband, or a kahili could begin. Otherwise, the work would be kapulu for all to see. Yet, here she was in a vast empty room, standing before a mannequin that shouldered the gold feathered cape of Kamehameha the Great. The work was time-consuming, and there were many moments of standing, bending, and kneeling on the floor. In all, there were present in the cloak of the father conqueror a sum of four hundred and fifty thousand feathers.Now, through her granddaughter's eyes, the same question is posed as to the number of feathers in the small yellow, red ʻahuʻula. Just how many feathers could there be, and to whom did the cape belong?
....to be continued
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