Unwritten Literature of Hawaii Part 14

PAUKU 4

(Ai-ha'a)

Kua loloa Kea-au i ka nahele; Hala kua hulu-hulu Pana-ewa i ka laau; Inoino ka maha o ka ohia o La'a.

Ua ku kepakepa ka maha o ka lehua; 5 Ua po-po'o-hina i ka wela a ke Akua.

Ua u-ahi Puna i ka oloka'a pohaku, I ka huna pa'a ia e ka wahine.

Nanahu ahi ka papa o Olu-ea; Momoku ahi Puna hala i Apua; 10 Ulu-a ka nahele me ka laau.

Oloka'a kekahi ko'i e Papa-lau-ahi; I eli 'a kahi ko'i e Ku-lili-kaua.

Kai-ahea a hala i Ka-li'u; A eu e, e ka La, ka malama-lama.

15 O-na-naka ka piko o Hilo ua me ke one, I hull i uka la, i hulihia i kai; Ua wa-wahi 'a, ua na-ha-ha, Ua he-hele-lei!

[Translation]

STANZA 4

(Bombastic style)

Ke'-au is a long strip of wildwood; s.h.a.g of panda.n.u.s mantles Pan'-ewa; Scraggy the branching of Laa's ohias; The lehua limbs at sixes and sevens-- 5 They are gray from the heat of the G.o.ddess.

[Page 63] Puna smokes mid the bowling of rocks-- Wood and rock the She-G.o.d heaps in confusion, The plain Oluea's one bed of live coals; Puna is strewn with fires clean to Apua, 10 Thickets and tall trees a-blazing.

Sweep on, oh fire-ax, thy flame-shooting flood!

Smit by this ax is Ku-lili-kaua.

It's a flood tide of lava clean to Kali'u, And the Sun, the light-giver, is conquered.

15 The bones of wet Hilo rattle from drought; She turns for comfort to mountain, to sea, Fissured and broken, resolved into dust.

This poem is taken from the story of Hiiaka. On her return from the journey to fetch Lohiau she found that her sister Pele had treacherously ravaged with fire Puna, the district that contained her own dear woodlands. The description given in the poem is of the resulting desolation.

PAUKA 5

No-luna ka Hale-kai[149] no ka ma'a-lewa,[150]

Nana ka maka ia Moana-nui-ka-lehua.[151]

Noi au i ke Kai, e mali'o.[152]

Ina ku a'e la he lehua[153] ilaila!

5 Hopoe-lehua[154] kiekie.

Maka'u ka lehua i ke kanaka,[155]

Lilo ilalo e hele ai, e-e, A ilalo hoi.

O Kea-au[156] ili-ili nehe ke kai, [Page 64] 10 Hoo-lono[157] ke kai o Puna I ka ulu hala la, e-e, Kai-ko'o Puna.

Ia hooneenee ia pili mai[158] kaua, e ke hoa.

Ke waiho e mai la oe ilaila.

15 Ela ka mea ino la, he anu, A he anu me he mea la iwaho kaua, e ke hoa; Me he wai la ko kaua ili.

[Footnote 149: _Hale-kai_. A wild mountain, glen back of Ha.n.a.lei valley, Kauai.]

[Footnote 150: _Ma'alewa_. An aerial root that formed a sort of ladder by which one climbed the mountain steeps; literally a shaking sling.]

[Footnote 151: _Moana-nui-ka-lehua_. A female demiG.o.d that came from the South (_Ku-kulu-o-Kahiki_) at about the same mythical period as that of Pele's arrival--If not in her company--and who was put in charge of a portion of the channel that lies between Kauai and Oahu. This channel was generally termed _Ie-ie-waena_ and _Ie-ie-waho_. Here the name _Moana-nui-ka-lehua_ seems to be used to indicate the sea as well as the demiG.o.ddess, whose dominion it was.

Ordinarily she appeared as a powerful fish, but she was capable of a.s.suming the form of a beautiful woman (mermaid?).

The t.i.tle _lehua_ was given her on account of her womanly charms.]

[Footnote 152: _Mali'o_. Apparently another form of the word _malino_, calm; at any rate it has the same meaning.]

[Footnote 153: _Lehua_. An allusion to the ill-fated' young woman Hopoe, who was Hiiaka's intimate friend. The allusion is amplified in the next line.]

[Footnote 154: _Hopoe-lehua_. The lehua tree was one of the forms in which Hopoe appeared, and after her death, due to the jealous rage of Pele, she was turned into a charred lehua tree which stood on the coast subject to the beating of the surf.]

[Footnote 155: _Maka'u ka lehua i ke kanaka_. Another version has it _Maka'u ke kanaka i ka lehua_; Man fears the lehua.

The form here used is perhaps an ironical allusion to man's fondness not only to despoil the tree of its scarlet flowers, but womanhood, the woman it represented.]

[Footnote 156: _Kea-au_. Often shortened in p.r.o.nunciation to _Ke-au_, a fis.h.i.+ng village in Puna near Hilo town. It now has a landing place for small vessels.]

[Footnote 157: _Hoolono_. To call, to make an uproar, to spread a report.]

[Footnote 158: _Ia hoo-nee-nee ia pili mai_. A very peculiar figure of speech. It Is as if the poet personified, the act of two lovers snuggling up close to each other. Compare with this the expression _No huli mai_, used by another poet in the thirteenth line of the lyric given on p. 204. The motive is the same in each case.]

The author of this poem of venerable age is not known. It is spoken of as belonging to the _wa po_, the twilight of tradition. It is represented to be part of a mele taught to Hiiaka by her friend and preceptress in the hula, Hopoe.

Hopoe is often called _Hopoe-wahine_. From internal evidence one can see that it can not be in form the same as was given to Hiiaka by Hopoe; it may have been founded on the poem of Hopoe. If so, it has been modified.

[Translation]

STANZA 5

From mountain retreat and root-woven ladder Mine eye looks down on G.o.ddess Moana-Lehua; I beg of the Sea, Be thou calm; Would there might stand on thy sh.o.r.e a lehua-- 5 Lehua-tree tall of Ho-poe.

The lehua is fearful of man; It leaves him to walk on the ground below, To walk the ground far below.

The pebbles at Ke'-au grind in the surf.

10 The sea at Ke'-au shouts to Puna's palms, "Fierce is the sea of Puna."

Move hither, snug close, companion mine; You lie so aloof over there.

Oh what a bad fellow is cold!

15 'Tis as if we were out on the wold; Our bodies so clammy and chill, friend!

The last five verses, which sound like a love song, may possibly be a modern addition to this old poem. The sentiment they contain is comparable to that expressed in the Song of Welcome on page 39:

Eia ka pu'u nui o waho nei, he anu.

The hill of Affliction out there is the cold.

[Page 65]

MAHELE-HELE II

Hi'u-o-lani,[159] kii ka ua o Hilo[160] i ka lani; Ke hookiikii mai la ke ao o Pua-lani;[161]

O mahele ana,[162] pulu Hilo i ka ua-- O Hilo Hana-kahi.[163]

5 Ha'i ka nalu, wai kaka lepo o Pii-lani; Hai'na ka iwi o Hilo, I ke ku ia e ka wai.

Oni'o lele a ka ua o Hilo i ka lanu

Ke hookiikii mai la ke ao o Pua-lani, 10 Ke holuholu a'e la e puka, Puka e nana ke kiki a ka ua, Ka nonoho a ka ua i ka hale o Hilo.

Like Hilo me Puna ke ku a mauna-ole[164]

He ole ke ku a mauna Hilo me Puna.

15 He kowa Puna mawaena Hilo me Ka-u; Ke pili wale la i ke kua i mauna-ole; Pili hoohaha i ke kua o Mauna-loa.