The Story of Hawaii: History, Customs, Mythology, Geography & Archaeology. Fowke Gerard

Hawaiian poetry.

      [Translation]

       Pa-ú Song

      Gird on the pa-ú, garment tucked in one side,

      Skirt lacelike and beauteous in staining,

      That is wrapped and made fast about the oven.

      Bubbly as foam of falling water it stands,

      Quintuple skirt, sheer as the cliff Kupe-hau.

      One journeyed to work on it at Honokane.

      Have a care the pa-ú is not filched.

      Scent from the robe Manú climbs the valley walls--

      Abysses profound, heights twisting the neck.

      A child is this steep thing of the cliff Kau-kini,

      A swelling cloud on the peak of Auwana.

      Wondrous the care and toil to make the pa-ú!

      What haste to finish, when put a-soak

      In the side-glancing stream of Apua!

      Caught by the rain-scud that searches the glen,

      The tinted gown illumines the pali--

      The sheeny steep shot with buds of lama--

      Outshining the comely malua-ula.

      Which one may seize and gird with a strong hand.

Leaf of ti for his malo, Umi¹²¹ stood covered.

      Look at the oloná fibers inwrought,

      Like the trickling brooklets of Wai-hilau.

      The oloná, fibers knit with strength

      This dainty immaculate web, the pa-ú,

      And the filmy weft of the kilo-hana.

      With the small bamboo the tapa is finished.

      A fire seems to bud on the pali,

      When the tapa is spread out to dry,

      Pressed down with stones at Wai-manu--

      Stones that are shifted about and about,

      Stones that are tossed here and there,

      Like work of the hail-thrower Kane.

      At Wai-manu finished, 'tis cut at Wai-pi'o;

      Ha'l takes the bamboo Ko-a'e-kea;

      Deftly wields the knife of small-leafed bamboo;

      A bamboo choice and fit for the work.

      Cut, cut through, cut off the corners;

      Cut round, like crescent moon of Hoaka;

      Cut in scallops this shift that makes tabu:

      A fringe is this for the pa-ú.

      'Tis lifted by Ka-holo-ku-iwa,

      'Tis borne by Pa-wili-wili;

      A pa-ú narrow at top like a house,

      That's hung on the roof-tree till morning,

      Hung on the roof-tree Ha-la'a-wili.

      Make a bundle fitting the shoulder;

      Lash it fast, rolled tight like a log.

      The bundle falls, red shows the pali;

      The children shout, they scream in derision.

      The a'o bird shrieks itself hoarse

      In wonder at the pa-ú--

      Pa-ú with a sheen like Hi'i-lawe falls,

      Bowed like the rainbow arch

      Of the rain that's now falling.

      The girls of the olapa, their work in the tiring-room completed, lift their voices in a spirited song, and with a lively motion pass out into the hall to bloom before the waiting assembly in the halau in all the glory of their natural charms and adornments:

       Oli

      Ku ka punohu ula i ka moana;

      Hele ke ehu-kai, uhi i ka aina;

      Olapa ka uila, noho ï Kahiki.

      Ulna, nakolo,

      Uwa, ka pihe,

Lau¹²² kánaka ka hula.

      E Laka, e!

      [Translation]

      Tiring Song.

      The rainbow stands red o'er the ocean;

      Mist crawls from the sea and covers the land;

      Far as Kahiki flashes the lightning;

      A reverberant roar,

      A shout of applause

      From the four hundred.

      I appeal to thee, Laka!

      The answering song, led by the kumu, is in the same flamboyant strain:

       Oli

Lele Mahu'ilani¹²³ a luna,

Lewa ia Kauna-lewa!¹²⁴

      [Translation]

       Song

      Lift Mahu'ilani on high;

      Thy palms Kauna-lewa a-waving!

      After the ceremony of the pa-ú came that of the lei, a wreath to crown the head and another for the neck and shoulders. It was not the custom in the old times to overwhelm the body with floral decorations and to blur the outlines of the figure to the point of disfigurement; nor was every flower that blows acceptable as an offering. The gods were jealous and nice in their tastes, pleased, only with flowers indigenous to the soil--the ilima (pl. VI), the lehua, the maile, the ie-ie, and the like (see pp. 19, 20). The ceremony was quickly accomplished. As the company knotted the garlands about head or neck, they sang:

       Oli Lei

      Ke lei mai la o Ka-ula i ke kai, e!

      Ke malamalama o Niihau, ua malie.

      A malie, pa ka Inu-wai.

      Ke inu mai la na hala o Naue i ke kai.

No Naue, ka hala, no Puna ka wahine.¹²⁵

      No ka lua no i Kilauea.

      [Translation]

       Wreath Song

      Ka-ula wears the ocean as a wreath;

      Nii-hau shines forth in the calm.

      After the calm blows the wind Inu-wai;

      Naue's palms then drink in the salt.

      From Naue the palm, from Puna the woman--

      Aye, from the pit, Kilauea.

      Tradition tells a pathetic story (p. 212) in narrating an incident touching the occasion on which this song first was sung.

⁸⁷ Kupukupu. Said to be a fragrant grass.