Unwritten Literature of Hawaii Part 57

I sank to the ground from faintness, My day of utter starvation; 5 Was rescued, revived, by your love: Ours a contest of tears sympathetic-- Let us pour out together our tears.

The Hawaiian thought it not undignified to express sympathy (_aloha-ino_) with tears.

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x.x.xVI.--THE HULA HOO-NA-Na

The hula _hoo-na-na_--to quiet, amuse--was an informal dance, such as was performed without the usual restrictions of tabu that hedged about the set dances of the halau. The occasion of an outdoor festival, an _ahaaina_ or _luau_, was made the opportunity for the exhibition of this dance. It seems to have been an expression of pure sportiveness and mirth-making, and was therefore performed without sacrifice or religious ceremony. While the king, chiefs, and _aialo_--courtiers who ate in the king's presence--are sitting with the guests about the festal board, two or three dancers of graceful carriage make a circuit of the place, ambling, capering, gesturing as they go in time to the words of a gay song.

A performance of this sort was witnessed by the author's informant in Honolulu many years ago; the occasion was the giving of a royal luau. There was no musical instrument, the performers were men, and the mele they cantillated went as follows:

A pili, a pili, A pili ka'u manu Ke kepau[485] o ka ulu-laau.

Poai a puni, 5 Noho ana i muli-wa'a;[486]

Hoonu'u ka momona a ke alii.

Eli-eli[487] ke kapu; ua noa.

Noa ia wai?

Noa ia ka lani.

10 Kau lilua,[488] kaohi ka maku'u E ai ana ka ai a ke alii!

Hoonu'u, hoonu'u hoonu'u I ka i'a a ke alii!

[Footnote 485: _Kepau._ Gum, the bird-lime of the fowler, which was obtained from forest trees, but especially from the _ulu_, the breadfruit.]

[Footnote 486: _Muli-wa'a_ (_muli_, a term applied to a younger brother). The idea involved is that of separation by an interval, as a younger brother is separated from his older brother by an interval. _Muliwai_ is an interval of water, a stream. _Wa'a_, the last part of the above compound word, literally a canoe, is here used tropically to mean the tables, or the dishes, on which the food was spread, they being long and narrow, in the shape of a canoe. The whole term, consequently, refers to the people and the table about which they are seated.]

[Footnote 487: _Eli-eli._ A word that is found in ancient prayers to emphasize the word _kapu_ or the word _noa_.]

[Footnote 488: _Lilua_. To stand erect and act without the restraint usually prescribed in the presence of royalty.]

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[Translation]

She is limed, she is limed, My bird is limed, With the gum of the forest.

We make a great circuit, 5 Outskirting the feast.

You shall feast on king's bounty: No fear of the tabu, all's free.

Free! and By whom?

Free by the word of the king.

10 Then a free rein to mirth!

Banish the kill-joy Who eats the king's dainties!

Feast then till replete With the good king's meat!

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x.x.xVII.--THE HULA ULILI

The hula _ulili_, also called by the descriptive name _kolili_--to wave or flutter, as a pennant--was a hula that was not at all times confined to the tabu restrictions of the halau. Like a truant schoolboy, it delighted to break loose from restraint and join the informal pleasurings of the people. Imagine an a.s.sembly of men and women in the picturesque illumination given by flaring kukui torches, the men on one side, the women on the other. Husbands and wives, smothering the jealousy instinctive to the human heart, are there by mutual consent--their daughters they leave at home--each one ready to play his part to the finish, with no thought of future recrimination. It was a game of love-forfeits, on the same lines as kilu and ume.

Two men, armed with wands furnished with tufts of gay feathers, pa.s.s up and down the files of men and women, waving their decorated staffs, ever and anon indicating with a touch of the wand persons of the opposite s.e.x, who under the rules must pay the forfeit demanded of them. The kissing, of course, goes by favor. The wand-bearers, as they move along, troll an amorous ditty:

_Oli_

Kii na ka ipo ...

Mahele-liele i ka la o Kona![489]

O Kona, kai a ke Akua.[490]

Elua la, huli ka Wai-opua,[491]

5 Nete i ke kula, Leha iluna o Wai-aloha[492]

Kani ka aka a ka ua i ka laau, Hoolaau ana i ke aloha ilaila.

Pili la, a pili i ka'u manu-- 10 O pili o ka La-hiki-ola.

Ola ke kini o-lalo.

Hana i ka mea he ipo.

A hui e hui la!

Hui Koolau-wahine[493] o Pua-ke-i![494]

[Footnote 489: _La o Kona_. A day of Kona, i.e., of fine weather.]

[Footnote 490: _Kai a ke Akua_. Sea of the G.o.ds, because calm.]

[Footnote 491: _Wai-opua_. A wind which changed its direction after blowing for a few days from one quarter.]

[Footnote 492: _Wai-aloha_. The name of a hill. In the translation the author has followed its meaning ("water of love").]

[Footnote 493: _Koolau-wahine_. The name of a refres.h.i.+ng wind, often mentioned in Hawaiian poetry; here used as a symbol of female affection.]

[Footnote 494: _Pua-ke-i_. The name of a sharp, bracing wind felt on the windward side of Molokai; used here apparently as a symbol of strong masculine pa.s.sion.]

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[Translation]

_Song_

A search for a sweetheart...

Sport for a Kona day!

Kona, calm sea of the G.o.ds.

Two days the wind surges; 5 Then, magic of cloud!

It veers to the plain, Drinks up the water of love.

How gleesome the sound Of rain on the trees, 10 A balm to love's wound!

The wand touches, heart-ease!

It touches my bird-- Touch of life from the sun!

Brings health to the million.

15 Ho, now comes the fun!

A meeting, a union-- The nymph, Koo-lau, And the hero, Ke-i.

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