The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai Part 7

"Until day becomes night and night day."

"If it seems good I will consent; if not, I will refuse."

"Camped at some distance from A's party and A's party from them."

"Sounds only by night, ... never by day."

"Through us the consent, through us the refusal."

"You above, our wife below."

"Thunder pealed, this was Waka's work; thunder pealed, this was Malio's work."

"Do not look back, face ahead."

"Adversity to one is adversity to all;" "we will not forsake you, do not you forsake us."

"Not to windward, go to leeward."

"Never ... any destruction before like this; never will any come hereafter."

"Everyone has a G.o.d, none is without."

"There I stood, you were gone."

"I have nothing to complain of you, you have nothing to complain of me."

The balanced sentence structure is often handled with particular skill:

"If ... a daughter, let her die; however many daughters ... let them die."

"The penalty is death, death to himself, death to his wife, death to all his friends."

"Drive him away; if he should tell you his desire, force him away; if he is very persistent, force him still more."

"Again they went up ... again the chief waited ... the chief again sent a band."

"A crest arose; he finished his prayer to the amen; again a crest arose, the second this; not long after another wave swelled."

"If she has given H. a kiss, if she has defiled herself with him, then we lose the wife, then take me to my grave without pity. But if she has hearkened ... then she is a wife for you, if my grandchild has hearkened to my command."

A series of synonyms is not uncommon, or the repet.i.tion of an idea in other words:

"Do not fear, have no dread."

"Linger not, delay not your going."

"Exert your strength, all your G.o.dlike might."

"Lawless one, mischief maker, rogue of the sea."

"Princess of broad Hawaii, Laieikawai, our mistress."

"House of detention, prison-house."

"Daughter, lord, preserver."]

[Footnote 2: In the course of the story of _Laieikawai_ occur more than 50 ejaculatory phrases, more than half of these in the narrative, not the dialogue, portion:

1. The most common is used to provide suspense for what is to follow and is printed without the point--_aia hoi_, literally, "then (or there) indeed," with the force of our lo! or behold!

2. Another less common form, native to the Hawaiian manner of thought, is the contradiction of a plausible conjecture--_aole ka!_ "not so!". Both these forms occur in narrative or in dialogue. The four following are found in dialogue alone:

3. _Auhea oe?_ "where are you?" is used to introduce a vigorous address.

4. _Auwe!_ to express surprise (common in ordinary speech), is rare in this story.

5. The expression of surprise, _he mea kupapaha_, is literally "a strange thing," like our impersonal "it is strange"

6. The vocable _e_ is used to express strong emotion.

7. Add to these an occasional use, for emphasis, of the belittling question, whose answer, although generally left to be understood, may be given; for example: _A heaha la o Haua-i-liki ia Laie-i-ka-wai? he opala paha_, "What was Hauailiki to Laieikawai? 'mere chaff!'", and the expression of contempt--_ka_--with which the princess dismisses her wooer]

IV. CONCLUSIONS

1. Much of the material of Hawaiian song and story is traditional within other Polynesian groups.

2. Verse making is practiced as an aristocratic art of high social value in the households of chiefs, one in which both men and women take part.

3. In both prose and poetry, for the purpose of social aggrandizement, the theme is the individual hero exalted through his family connection and his own achievement to the rank of divinity.

4. The action of the story generally consists in a succession of contests in which is tested the hero's claim to supernatural power.

These contests range from mythical encounters in the heavens to the semihistorical rivalries of chiefs.

5. The narrative may take on a high degree of complexity, involving many well-differentiated characters and a well-developed art of conversation, and in some instances, especially in revenge, trickster, or recognition motives, approaching plot tales in our sense of the word.

6. The setting of song or story, both physical and social, is distinctly realized. Stories persist and are repeated in the localities where they are localized. Highly characteristic are stories of rock transformations and of other local configurations, still pointed to as authority for the tale.

7. Different types of hero appear:

(_a_) The hero may be a human being of high rank and of unusual power either of strength, skill, wit, or craft.

(_b_) He may be a demiG.o.d of supernatural power, half human, half divine.