Unwritten Literature of Hawaii Part 43

_Mele_

Ke amo la ke ko'i ke akua la i-uka; Haki nu'a-nu'a mai ka nalu mai Kahiki, Po-po'i aku la i ke alo o Kilauea.[335]

Kanaka hea i ka lakou puaa kanu; 5 He wahine kui lei lehua i uka o Olaa, Ku'u moku lehua i ke alo o He-eia.

O Kuku-ena[336] wahine, Komo i ka lau-ki, [Page 191] A'e-a'e a noho.

10 Eia makou, kou lau kaula la.

Eli-eli, kau mai!

[Footnote 335: The figure in the second and third verses, of waves from Kahiki (_nalu mai Kahiki_) beating against the front of Kilauea (_Po-po'i aku la i ke alo o Kilauea_), seems to picture the trampling of the mult.i.tude splas.h.i.+ng the mire as if it were, waves of ocean.]

[Footnote 336: _Kukuena_. There is some uncertainty as to who this character was; probably the same as Haumea, the mother of Pele.]

[Translation]

_Song_

They bear the G.o.d's ax up the mountain; Trampling the mire, like waves from Kahiki That beat on the front of Kilauea.

The people with offerings lift up a prayer; 5 A woman strings wreaths in Olaa-- Lehua grove mine bord'ring He-eia.

And now Kukuena, mother G.o.d, Covers her loins with a pa-u of ti leaf; She mounts the altar; she sits.

10 Behold us, your conclave of priests.

Enter in, possess us!

This has the marks of a Hawaiian prayer, and as such it is said to have been used in old times by canoe-builders when going up into the mountains in search of timber. Or it may have been recited by the priests and people who went up to fell the lehua tree from which to carve the Makahiki[337] idol; or, again, may it possibly have been recited by the company of hula folk who climbed the mountain in search of a tree to be set up in the halau as a representation of the G.o.d whom they wished to honor? This is a question the author can not settle. That it was used by hula folk is indisputable, but that would not preclude its use for other purposes.

_Mele_

Ku i Wailua ka pou hale[338]

Ka ipu hoolono i ka uwalo, Ka wawa nui, e Ulupo.

Aole uwalo mai, e.

5 Aloha nui o Ikuwa, Mahoena.

Ke lele la ka makawao o ka hinalo.

Aia i Mana ka oka'i o ka ua o Eleao; Ke holu la ka a'ahu o Ka-u [339] i ka makani; Ke puhi a'e la ka ale k.u.mupali o Ka-u, Honuapo; 10 Ke hakoko ka niu o Paiaha'a i ka makani.

Uki-uki oukou: Ke lele la ke kai; Lele iao,[340] lele!

O ka makani Koolau-wahine, [Page 192] 15 O ka Moa'e-ku.

Lele ua, lele kawa! [341]

Lele aku, lele mai!

Lele o-o,[342] o-o lele; [343]

Lele opuhi,[344] lele; 20 Lele o Kauna,[345] kaha oe.

E Hiiaka e, ku!

[Footnote 337: For an account of the Makahiki idol see Hawaiian Antiquities, p. 189, by David Malo; translated by N.B.

Emerson, A.M., M.D., Honolulu, Hawaiian Gazette Company (Limited), 1903.]

[Footnote 338: _Pou hele_. The main post of a house, which is here intended, was the _pou-hana_; it was regarded with a superst.i.tious reverence.]

[Footnote 339: _A'hu o Ka-u_. A reference, doubtless, to the long gra.s.s that once covered Ka-u.]

[Footnote 340: _I-ao_. A small fish that took short flights in the air.]

[Footnote 341: _Lele kawa_. To jump in sport from a height into the water.]

[Footnote 342: _Lele o-o_. To leap feet first into the water.]

[Footnote 343: _O-o lele_. To dive head first into the water.]

[Footnote 344: _Lele opuhi_. The same as _pahi'a_, to leap obliquely into the water from a height, bending oneself so that the feet come first to the surface.]

[Footnote 345: _Kauna_. A woman of Ka-u celebrated for her skill in the hula, also the name of a cape that reaches out into the stormy ocean.]

[Translation]

_Song_

At Wailua stands the main house-post; This oracle harks to wild voices, Tumult and clamor, O Ulu-po; It utters no voice to entreaty.

5 Alas for the prophet that's dumb!

But there drifts the incense of hala.

Mana sees the rain-whirl of Eleao.

The robe of Ka-u sways in the wind, That dashes the waves 'gainst the sea-wall, 10 At Honu-apo, windy Ka-u; The Pai-ha'a palms strive with the gale.

Such weather is grievous to you: The sea-scud is flying.

My little i-ao, O fly 15 With the breeze Koolau!

Fly with the Moa'e-ku!

Look at the rain-mist fly!

Leap with the cataract, leap!

Plunge, now here, now there!

20 Feet foremost, head foremost; Leap with a glance and a glide!

Kauna, opens the dance; you win.

Rise, Hiiaka, arise!

The meaning of this mele centers about a phenomenon that is said to have been observed at Ka-ipu-ha'a, near Wailua, on Kauai. To one standing on a knoll near the two cliffs Ikuwa and Mahoena (verse 5) there came, it is said, an echo from the murmur and clamor of the ocean and the moan of the wind, a confused mingling of nature's voices. The listener, however, got no echoing answer to his own call.

The mele does not stick to the unities as we understand them.

The poets of old Hawaii felt at liberty to run to the ends of their earth; and the auditor must allow his imagination to be transported suddenly from one island to another; in this [Page 193] case, first from Wailua to Mana on the same island, where he is shown the procession of whirling rain clouds of Eleao (verse 7). Thence the poet carries him to Honuapo, Hawaii, and shows him the waves das.h.i.+ng against the ocean-walls and the clas.h.i.+ng of the palm-fronds of Paiaha'a in the wind.

The scene s.h.i.+fts back to Kauai, and one stands with the poet looking down on a piece of ocean where the people are wont to disport themselves. (Maka-iwa, not far from Ka-ipu-ha'a, is said to be such a place.) Verses 12 to 19 in the Hawaiian (13 to 21 in the translation) describe the spirited scene.

It is somewhat difficult to determine whether the Kauna mentioned in the next poem is the name of the woman or of the stormy cape. In the mind of a Hawaiian poet the inanimate and the animate are often tied so closely together in thought and in speech as to make it hard to decide which is intended.

_Mele_

Ike ia Kauna-wahine, Makani Ka-u, He umauma i pa ia e ka Moa'e, E ka makani o-maka o Unulau.

Lau ka wahine kaili-pua o Paia, 5 Alualu puhala o ka Milo-pae-kanaka, e-e-e-e!

He kanaka ke koa no ka ehu ahiahi, O ia nei ko ka ehu kakahiaka-- O maua no, me ka makua o makou.

Ua ike 'a!

[Translation]

_Song_