Unwritten Literature of Hawaii Part 42

The pupil ate the luau, the teacher placed the package of salt on the altar, and the service was complete.

Both olapa and hoopaa took part in the performance of this hula. There was little or no moving about, but the olapa did at times sink down to a kneeling position. The performance was without instrumental accompaniment, but with abundant appropriate gestures. The subjects treated of were of such dignity and interest as to require no extraneous embellishment.

Perusal of the mele which follows will show that the story of Pele dated back of her arrival in this group:

_He Oli-O ka mele mua keia o ka, hula Pele_

Mai Kahiki ka wahine, o Pele, Mai ka aina i Pola-pola, Mai ka punohu ula a Kane, Mai ke ao lalapa i ka lani, 5 Mai ka opua lapa i Kahiki.

Lapa-ku i Hawaii ka wahine, o Pele; Kalai i ka wa'a Houna-i-a-kea, Kou wa'a, e Ka-moho-alii.

I apo'a ka moku i pa'a; 10 Ua hoa ka wa'a o ke Akua,

Ka wa'a o Kane-kalai-honua.

Holo mai ke au, a'ea'e Pele-honua-mea; A'ea'e ka Lani, ai-puni'a i ka moku; A'ea'e Kini o ke Akua, [Page 188] 15 Noho a'e o Malau.

Ua ka ia ka liu o ka wa'a.

Ia wai ka hope, ka uli o ka wa'a, e ne hoa 'lii?

Ia Pele-honua-mea.

A'ea'e kai hoe oluna o ka wa'a.

20 O Ku ma, laua o Lono, Noho i ka honua aina, Kau aku i hoolewa moku.

Hiiaka, noiau, he akua, Ku ae, hele a noho i ka hale o Pele.

25 Huahua'i Kahiki, lapa uila, e Pele.

E hua'i, e!

[Translation]

_A Song--The first song of the hula Pele_

From Kahiki came the woman, Pele, From the land of Pola-pola, From the red cloud of Kane, Cloud blazing in the heavens, 5 Fiery cloud-pile in Kahiki.

Eager desire for Hawaii seized the woman, Pele; She carved the canoe, Honna-i-a-kea, Your canoe, O Ka-moho-alii.

They push the work on the craft to completion.

10 The las.h.i.+ngs of the G.o.d's canoe are done, The canoe of Kane, the world-maker.

The tides swirl, Pele-honua-mea o'ermounts them; The G.o.d rides the waves, sails about the island; The host of little G.o.ds ride the billows; 15 Malau takes his seat; One bales out the bilge of the craft.

Who shall sit astern, be steersman, O, princes?

Pele of the yellow earth.

The splash of the paddles dashes o'er the canoe.

20 Ku and his fellow, Lono, Disembark on solid land; They alight on a shoal.

Hiiaka, the wise one, a G.o.d, Stands up, goes to stay at the house of Pele.

25 Lo, an eruption in Kahiki!

A flas.h.i.+ng of lightning, O Pele!

Belch forth, O Pele!

Tradition has it that Pele was expelled from Kahiki by her brothers because of insubordination, disobedience, and disrespect to their mother, _Honua-mea_, sacred land. (If Pele in Kahiki conducted herself as she has done in Hawaii, rending and scorching the bosom of mother earth--Honua-Mea--it is not to be wondered that her brothers were anxious to get rid of her.) She voyaged north. Her [Page 189] first stop was at the little island of Ka-ula, belonging to the Hawaiian group. She tunneled into the earth, but the ocean poured in and put a stop to her work. She had the same experience on Lehua, on Kiihau, and on the large island of Kauai. She then moved on to Oahu, hoping for better results; but though she tried both sides of the island, first mount Ka-ala--the fragrant--and then Konahuanui, she still found the conditions unsatisfactory. She pa.s.sed on to Molokai, thence to Lanai, and to West Maui, and East Maui, at which last place she dug the immense pit of Hale-a-ka-la; but everywhere she was unsuccessful. Still journeying east and south, she crossed the wide Ale-nui-haha channel and came to Hawaii, and, after exploring in all directions, she was satisfied to make her home at Kilauea. Here is (_ka piko o ka honua_) the navel of the earth. Apropos of this effort of Pele to make a fire-pit for herself, see the song for the hula kuolo (p. 86), "A pit lies (far) to the east."

_Mele_

A Kauai, a ke olewa [332] iluna, Ka pua lana i kai o Wailua; Nana mai Pele ilaila; E waiho aku ana o Aim.[333]

5 Aloha i ka wai niu o ka aina; E ala mai ana mokihana, Wai auau o Hiiaka.

Hoo-paapaa Pele ilaila; Aohe Kau [334] e ulu ai.

10 Keehi aku Pele i ka ale kua-loloa,

He onohi no Pele, ka oaka o ka lani, la.

Eli-eli, kau mai!

[Translation]

_Song_

To Kauai, lifted in ether, A floating flower at sea off Wailua-- That way Pele turns her gaze, She's bidding adieu to Oahu, 5 Loved land of new wine of the palm. 5 There comes a perfumed waft--mokihana-- The bath of the maid Hiiaka.

Scene it was once of Pele's contention, Put by for future attention.

10 Her foot now spurns the long-backed wave; 10 The phosphor burns like Pele's eye, Or a meteor-flash in the sky.

Finished the prayer, enter, possess!

[Footnote 332: _Olewa_. Said to be the name of a wooded region high up on the mountain of Kauai. It is here treated as if it meant the heavens or the blue ether. Its origin is the same with the word _lewa_, the upper regions of the air.]

[Footnote 333: _O Ahu_. In this instance the article still finds itself disunited from its substantive. To-day we have _Oahu_ and _Ola'a_.]

[Footnote 334: _Kau_, The summer; time of warm weather; the growing season.]

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The incidents and allusions in this mele belong to the story of Pele's journey in search of Lohiau, the lover she met in her dreams, and describe her as about to take flight from Oahu to Kauai (verse 4).

Hiiaka's bath, _Wai auau o Hiiaka_ (verse 7), which was the subject of Pele's contention (verse 8), was a spring of water which Pele had planted at Huleia on her arrival from Kahiki.

The ones with whom Pele had the contention were Kukui-lau-manienie and Kukui-lauhanahana, the daughters of Lima-loa, the G.o.d of the mirage. These two women lived at Huleia near the spring. Kamapua'a, the swineG.o.d, their accepted lover, had taken the liberty to remove the spring from the rocky bed where Pele had planted it to a neighboring hill. Pele was offended and demanded of the two women:

"Where is my spring of water?"

"Where, indeed, is your spring? You belong to Hawaii. What have you to do with any spring on Kauai?" was their answer.

"I planted a clean spring here on this rock," said Pele.

"You have no water here," they insisted; "your springs are on Hawaii."

"If I were not going in search of my husband Lohiau," said Pele, "I would set that spring back again in its old place."

"You haven't the power to do that," said they. "The son of Kahiki-ula (Kama-puaa) moved it over there, and you can't undo his action."

The eye of Pele, _He onohi no Pele_ (verse 11), is the phosph.o.r.escence which Pele's footfall stirs to activity in the ocean.

The formal ending of this mele, _Elieli, kau mai_, is often found at the close of a mele in the hula Pele, and marks it as to all intents and purposes a prayer.

_E waiho aku ana, o Ahu_ (verse 4). This is an instance of the separation of the article _o_ from the substantive _Ahu_, to which it becomes joined to form the proper name of the island now called Oahu.