Unwritten Literature of Hawaii Part 56

Ohiohi ku ka pali o Ulamao, e-e!

A lilo oe, la!

[Footnote 467: _Ka-lalau_ (in the translation by the omission of the article _ka_, shortened to _Lalau_). A deep cliff-bound valley on the windward side of Kauai, accessible only at certain times of the year by boats and by a steep mountain trail at its head.]

[Footnote 468: _Pali ku'i_. _Ku'i_ means literally to join together, to splice or piece out. The cliffs tower one above another like the steps of a stairway.]

[Footnote 469: _Haka_. A ladder or frame such as was laid across a chasm or set up at an impa.s.sable place in a precipitous road. The windward side of Kauai about Kalalau abounded in such places.]

[Footnote 470: _Lae-o-ka-laau_. The southwest point of Molokai, on which is a light-house.]

[Footnote 471: _Makua-ole_. Literally fatherless, perhaps meaning remarkable, without peer.]

[Page 241]

[Translation]

_Song_

Comrade mine in the robe-stripping gusts of Lalau, On the up-piled beetling cliffs of Makua, The ladder... is taken away... it is gone!

Your way is cut off, my man!

5 With you I've backed the uhu of Maka-pu'u, Tugging them up the steeps of Point-o'-woods, A cliff that stands fatherless, even as Sheer stands the pali of Ula-mao-- And thus... you are lost!

This is but a fragment of the song which Hiiaka pours out in her efforts to calm the fateful storm which she saw piling up along the horizon. The situation was tragic. Hiiaka, daring fate, defying the dragons and monsters of the primeval world, had made the journey to Kauai, had s.n.a.t.c.hed away from death the life of Lohiau and with incredible self-denial was escorting the rare youth to the arms of her sister, whose jealousy she knew to be quick as the lightning, her vengeance hot as the breath of the volcano, and now she saw this featherhead, with monstrous ingrat.i.tude, dallying with fate, calling down upon the whole party the doom she alone could appreciate, all for the smile of a siren whose charms attracted him for the moment; but, worst of all, her heart condemned her as a traitress--she loved him.

Hiiaka held the trick-card and she won; by her miraculous power she kept the game in her own hands and foiled the hopes of the lovers.

_Mele_

Ula ka lani ia Ka.n.a.loa,[472]

Ula ma'ema'e ke ahi a ke A'e-loa.[473]

Pohina iluna i ke ao makani, Naue pu no i ka ilikai o Makahana-loa,[474]

5 Makemake i ka ua lihau.[475]

Aohe hana i koe a Ka-wai-loa;[476]

Noho a ka li'u-la i ke kula.

I kula oe no ka makemake, a hiki iho, I hoa hula no ka la le'ale'a, 10 I noho pu me ka uahi pohina.[477]

[Page 242] Hina oe i ka Naulu,[478] noho pu me ka Inuwai.[479]

Akahi no a pumehana ka hale, ua hiki oe: Ma'ema'e ka luna i Haupu.[480]

Upu ka makemake e ike ia Ka-ala.

15 He ala ka makemake e ike ia Lihu'e;[481]

Ku'u uka ia noho ia Halemano.[482]

Maanei oe, pale oe, pale au, Hana ne'e ke kikala i ka ha'i keiki.

Hai'na ka manao--noho i Waimea, 20 Hoonu'u pu i ka i'a ku o ka aina.[483]

E kala oe a kala au a kala ia Ku, Ahuena.[484]

[Footnote 472: _Ka.n.a.loa_. One of the four great G.o.ds of the Hawaiians, here represented as playing the part of Phoebus Apollo.]

[Footnote 473: _A'e-loa_. The name of a wind whose blowing was said to be favorable to the fisherman in this region.]

[Footnote 474: _Makahana-loa_, A favorite fis.h.i.+ng ground. The word _ilikai_ ("skin of the sea") graphically depicts the calm of the region. In the translation the name aforementioned has been shortened to Kahana.]

[Footnote 475: _Lihau_. A gentle rain that was considered favorable to the work of the fisherman.]

[Footnote 476: _Ka-wai-loa_. A division of Waialua, here seemingly used to mean the farm.]

[Footnote 477: _Uahi pohina_. Literally gray-headed smoke. It is said that when studying together the words of the mele the pupils and the k.u.mu would often gather about a fire, while the teacher recited and expounded the text. There is a possible allusion to this in the mention of the smoke.]

[Footnote 478: _Naulu_. A wind.]

[Footnote 479: _Inu-wai_. A wind that dried up vegetation, here indicating thirst.]

[Footnote 480: _Haupu_. A mountain on Kauai, sometimes visible on Oahu in clear weather. (See note _c_, p. 229, on Haupu.)]

[Footnote 481: _Lihu'e_. A beautiful and romantic region nestled, as the Hawaiians say, "between the thighs of the mountain," Mount Kaala.]

[Footnote 482: _Hale-mano_. Literally the mult.i.tude of houses; a sylvan region bound to the southwestern flank of the Konahuanui range of mountains, a region of legend and romance, since the coming of the white man given over to the ravage and desolation that follow the free-ranging of cattle and horses, the vaquero, and the abusive use of fire and ax by the woodman.]

[Footnote 483: _I'a ku o ka aina_. Fish common to a region; in this place it was probably the kala, which word is found in the next line, though in a different sense. Here the expression is doubtless a euphemism for dalliance.]

[Footnote 484: _Ku, Ahuena_. At Waimea, Oahu, stood two rocks on the opposite bluffs that sentineled the bay. These rocks were said to represent respectively the G.o.ds Ku and Ahuena, patrons of the local fishermen.]

[Translation]

_Song_

Ka.n.a.loa tints heaven with a blush, 'Tis the flame of the A'e, pure red, And gray the wind-clouds overhead.

We trudge to the waters calm of Kahana-- 5 Heaven grant us a favoring shower!

The work is all done on the farm.

We stay till twilight steals o'er the plain, Then, love-spurred, tramp o'er it again, Have you as partner in holiday dance-- 10 We've moiled as one in the gray smoke; Cast down by the Naulu, you thirst.

For once the house warms at your coming.

How clear glow the heights of yon Haupu!

I long for the sight of Ka-ala, 15 And sweet is the thought of Lihu'e, And our mountain retreat, Hale-mano.

Here, fenced from each other by tabu, Your graces make sport for the crowd.

What then the solution? Let us dwell 20 At Waimea and feast on the fish That swarm in the neighboring sea, With freedom to you and freedom to me, Licensed by Ku and by Ahu-ena.

[Page 243]

The scene of this idyl is laid in the district of Waialua, Oahu, but the poet gives his imagination free range regardless of the unities. The chief subjects of interest that serve as a trellis about which the human sentiments entwine concern the duties of the fisherman, who is also a farmer; the school for the hula, in which the hero and the heroine are pupils; and lastly an ideal condition of happiness which the lovers look forward to tinder the benevolent dispensation of the G.o.ds Ku and Ahuena.

Among the numerous relatives of Pele was one said to be a sister, who was stationed on a bleak sun-burnt promontory in Koolau, Oahu, where she supported a half-starved existence, striving to hold soul and body together by gathering the herbs of the fields, eked out by unsolicited gifts of food contributed by pa.s.sing travelers. The pathetic plaint given below is ascribed to this G.o.ddess.

_Mele_

Mao wale i ka lani Ka leo o ke Akua pololi.

A pololi a moe au O ku'u la pololi, 5 A ola i kou aloha; I na'i pu no i ka waimaka e uwe nei.

E uwe kaua, e!

[Translation]

_Song_

Engulfed ill heaven's abyss Is the cry of the famished G.o.d.