Unwritten Literature of Hawaii Part 52

[Footnote 421: _Makole_. Red-eyed; ophthalmic.]

[Footnote 422: The wreath, _lei_, is not for the G.o.d, but for the dog Puapua-lenalena, the one who in the story recovered the stolen conch, _Kiha-pu_ (verse 20), with which G.o.d Kane made night hideous and disturbed the repose of pious King Liloa (_Moe ole ka po o ke alii_, verse 19).]

[Footnote 423: _Kahili_. Said to be the foster mother of Puapua-lenalena.]

[Footnote 424: _Niho-ku_. Literally an upright tooth, was the name of the hill on which lived the old couple who were the foster parents of the dog.]

[Footnote 425: _Kaanini ka lani_, etc. Portents by which heaven and earth expressed their appreciation of the birth of a new prodigy, the dog Puapua-lenalena.]

[Footnote 426: _Hiwa-uli_. An epithet applied to the island of Hawaii, perhaps on account of the immense extent of territory on that island that was simply black lava; _hiwa_, black, was a sacred color. The term _uli_ has reference to its verdancy.]

[Footnote 427: _Ipu_. Wai-uli, the foster father of the dog, while fis.h.i.+ng in a mountain brook, brought up a pebble on his hook; his wife, who was childless and yearned for offspring, kept it in a calabash wrapped in choice tapa. In a year or two it had developed into the wonderful dog, Puapua-lenalena.

The calabash was the _ipu_ here mentioned, the same as the _hano wai_ (verse 13), a water-container.]

[Footnote 428: _Kilioe_. A sorceress who lived at Haena, Kauai, on the steep cliffs that were inaccessible to human foot.]

[Footnote 429: _Ena-ena, na ahi o Kilauea_. "Hot are the fires of Kilauea." The duplicated word _ena-ena_, taken in connection with _Ha-ena_ in the previous verse, is a capital instance of a form of a.s.sonance, or nonterminal rhyme, much favored and occasionally used by Hawaiian poets of the middle period. From the fact that its use here introduces a break in the logical relation which it is hard to reconcile with unity one may think that the poet was seduced from the straight and narrow way by this opportunity for an indulgence that sacrifices reason to rhyme.]

[Footnote 430: _Kamoho-alii_. The brother of Pele; his person was so sacred that the flames and smoke of Kilauea dared not invade the bank on which he reposed. The connection of thought between this and the main line of argument is not clear.]

[Footnote 431: _Hoouna ka elele_. According to one story Liloa dispatched a messenger to bring Puapua-lenalena and his master to Waipi'o to aid him in regaining possession of Kiha-pu.]

[Footnote 432: _A ao aku oe, aoa_ ... This indicated the dog's a.s.sent. Puapua-lenalena understood what was said to him, but could make no reply in human speech. When a question was put to him, if he wished to make a negative answer, he would keep silent; but if he wished to express a.s.sent to a proposition, he barked and frisked about.]

[Footnote 433: _Hana e o Kaua-hoa_ ... No one has been found who can give a satisfactory explanation of the logical connection existing between the pa.s.sage here cited and the rest of the poem. It treats of an armed conflict between Kauahoa and his cousin Kawelo, a hero from Oahu, which took place on Kauai. Kauahoa was a retainer and soldier of Ai-kanaka, a king of Kauai. The period was in the reign of King Kakuhihewa, of Oahu. Kawelo invaded Kauai with an armed force and made a proposition to Kauahoa which involved treachery to Kauahoa's liege-lord Ai-kanaka. Kauahoa's answer to this proposition is given in verse 28; _Hu'e a kaua, moe i ke awakea!_--"Strike home, then sleep at midday!" The sleep at midday was the sleep of death.]

[Footnote 434: _Kapae ke kaua o ka hoahanau!_ This was the reply of Kawelo, urging Kauahoa to set the demands of kins.h.i.+p above those of honor and loyalty to his liege-lord. In the battle that ensued Kauahoa came to his death. The story of Kawelo is full of romance.]

[Footnote 435: _Kaio'e_. Said to be a choice and beautiful flower found on Kauai. It is not described by Hillebrand.]

[Footnote 436: _Ka nioi o Paka'a-lana_. The doorsill of the temple, _heiau_, of Paka'a-lana was made of the exceedingly hard wood _nioi_. It was to this temple that Puapua-lenalena brought the conch Kiha-pu when he had stolen (recovered) it from G.o.d Kane.]

[Footnote 437: _Qumukahi_. See note _c_ on p. 197.]

[Footnote 438: _Awa kau-laau o Puna_. It is said that in Puna the birds sometimes planted the awa in the stumps or in the crotches of the trees, and this awa was of the finest quality.]

The author of this mele, apparently under the sanction of his poetic license, uses toward the great G.o.d Ku a plainness of speech which to us seems satirical; he speaks of him as _makole_, red-eyed, the result, no doubt, of his notorious addiction to awa, in which he was not alone among the G.o.ds.

But it is not at all certain that the Hawaiians looked upon this ophthalmic redness as repulsive or disgraceful.

Everything connected with awa had for them a cherished value.

In the mele given on p. 130 the cry was, "Kane is drunken with awa!" The two G.o.ds Kane and Ku were companions in their revels as well as in n.o.bler adventures. Such a poem as this flashes a strong light into the workings of the Hawaiian mind on the creations of their own imagination, the beings who stood to them as G.o.ds; not robbing them of their power, not deposing them from the throne of the universe, perhaps not even penetrating the veil of enchantment and mystery with which the popular regard covered them, at the most perhaps giving them a hold on the affections of the people.

[Translation]

_Song_

Look forth, G.o.d Ku, look forth!

Huh! Ku is blear-eyed!

Aye, weave now the wreath-- A wreath for the dog Pua-lena; 5 A hala plume for Kahili, Choice garlands from Niho-ku.

[Page 226] There was a scurry of clouds, earth, groaned; The sound of your baying reached Hawaii the verdant, the pet of the G.o.ds; 10 A portent was seen in the heavens.

You were kept in a cradle of gourd, Water-gourd of the witch Kilioe, Who haunted the cliffs of Haena-- The fiery blasts of the crater 15 Touch not Kamoho-alii's cliff.

Your travel reaches Waipi'o, The sacred cliff of G.o.d Kane.

Sleep fled the bed of the king At the din of the conch Kiha-pu.

20 The king was tormented, depressed; His messenger sped on his way; Found help from Kanai of Mano-- The marvelous foster child, By Waiuli, Kahuli, upreared; 25 Your answer, a-o-a, a-o-a!-- 'Twas thus Kauahoa made ready betimes, That hero of old Ha.n.a.lei-- "Strike home! then sleep at midday!"

"G.o.d fend a war between kindred!"

30 One flower all other surpa.s.ses; Twine with it a wreath of kai-o'e, A chaplet to crown Pua-lena.

My labor now has its reward, The doorsill of Pa-ka'a-lana.

35 My heart leaps up in great cheer; The bay of the dog greets my ear, It reaches East Cape by the sea, Where Puna gave refuge to thee, Till came the king's herald, hot-foot, 40 And quaffed the awa's tree-grown root.

A-o-a, a-o-a, he, he, hene!

The problem to be solved by the translator of this peculiar mele is a difficult one. It involves a constant readjustment of the mental standpoint to meet the poet's vagrant fancy, which to us seems to occupy no consistent point of view. If this difficulty arises from the author's own lack of insight, he can at least absolve himself from the charge of negligence and lack of effort to discover the standpoint that shall give unity to the whole composition; and can console himself with the reflection that no native Hawaiian scholar with whom he has conferred has been able to give a key to the solution of this problem. In truth, the native Hawaiian scholars of to-day do not appreciate as we do the necessity of holding fast to one viewpoint. They seem to be willing to accept with gusto any production of their old-time singers, though they may not be able to explain them, and though to us, in whose hearts the songs of the masters ever make music, they may seem empty riddles.

[Page 227]

The solution of this problem here furnished is based on careful study of the text and of the allusions to tradition and myth that therein abound. Its expression in the translation has rendered necessary occasional slight departures from absolute literalness, and has involved the supplying of certain conjunctive and explanatory words and phrases of which the original, it is true, gives no hint, but without which the text would be meaningless.

One learned Hawaiian with whom the author has enjoyed much conference persists in taking a most discouraging and pessimistic view of this mele. It is gratifying to be able to differ from him in this matter and to be able to sustain one's position by the consenting opinion of other Hawaiians equally accomplished as the learned friend just referred to.

The incidents in the story of Puapua-lenalena alluded to in the mele do not exactly chime with any version of the legend met with. That is not strange. Hawaiian legends of necessity had many variants, especially where, as in this case, the adventures of the hero occurred in part on one and in part on another island. The author's knowledge of this story is derived from various independent sources, mainly from a version given to his brother, Joseph S. Emerson, who took it down from the words of an intelligent Hawaiian youth of Kohala.

English literature, so far as known to the author, does not furnish any example that is exactly comparable to or that will serve as an ill.u.s.tration of this nonterminal rhyme, which abounds in Hawaiian poetry. Perhaps the following will serve the purpose of ill.u.s.tration:

'Twas the swine of Gadara, fattened on _mast_.

The _mast_-head watch of a s.h.i.+p was the last To see the wild herd careering past,

Or such a combination as this:

He was a mere _flat_, Yet _flat_tered the girls.

Such artificial productions as these give us but a momentary intellectual entertainment. While the intellectual element in them was not lacking with the Hawaiians, the predominant feeling, no doubt, was a sensuous delight coming from the repet.i.tion of a full-throated vowel-combination.

[Page 228]

x.x.xIII.--THE HULA PUA'A

The hula _pua'a_ rounds out the number of animal-dances that have survived the wreck of time, or the memory of which has come down to us. It was a dance in which only the olapa took part without the aid of instrumental accompaniment. Women as well as men were eligible as actors in its performance. The actors put much spirit into the action, beating the chest, flinging their arms in a strenuous fas.h.i.+on, throwing the body into strained att.i.tudes, at times bending so far back as almost to touch the floor. This energy seems to have invaded the song, and the cantillation of the mele is said to have been done in that energetic manner called _ai-ha'a_.

The hula pua'a seems to have been native to Kauai. The author has not been able to learn of its performance within historic times on any other island.

The student of Hawaiian mythology naturally asks whether the hula pua'a concerned itself with the doings of the mythological hog-deity Kama-pua'a whose amour with Pele was the scandal of Hawaiian mythology. It takes but a superficial reading of the mele to answer this question in the affirmative.

The following mele, or oli more properly, which was used in connection with the hula pua'a, is said to have been the joint production of two women, the daughters of a famous bard named Kana, who was the reputed brother of Limaloa (long-armed), a wonder-working hero who piled up the clouds in imitation of houses and mountains and who produced the mirage:

_Oli_

Ko'i maka nui,[439]

Ike ia na pae moku, Na moku o Mala-la-walu,[440]