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

style, termed ai-ha'a. This is the signal for the whole company to chime in, in the same style as the kumu. The result, as it seems to the untutored ear, is a confusion of sounds like that of the many-tongued roar of the ocean.

      The songs cantillated for the hula ala'a-papa were many and of great variety. It seems to have been the practice for the kumu to arrange a number of mele, or poetical pieces, for presentation in the hula in such order as pleased him. These different mele, thus arranged, were called pale, compartments, or mahele, divisions, as if they were integral parts of one whole, while in reality their relation to one another was only that of the juxtaposition imposed upon them by the kumu.

      The poetical pieces first to be presented were communicated to the author as mahele, divisions--hardly cantos--in the sense above defined. They are, however, distinct poems, though there chances to run through them all a somewhat similar motive. The origin of many of these is referred to a past so remote that tradition assigns them to what the Hawaiians call the wa po, the night of tradition, or they say of them, no ke akua mai, they are from the gods. It matters not how faithful has been the effort to translate these poems, they will not be found easy of comprehension. The local allusions, the point of view, the atmosphere that were in the mind of the savage are not in our minds to-day, and will not again be in any mind on earth; they defy our best efforts at reproduction. To conjure up the ghostly semblance of these dead impalpable things and make them live again is a problem that must be solved by each one with such aid from the divining rod of the imagination as the reader can summon to his help.

      Now for the play, the song:

       Mele no Ka Hula Alá'a-papa

      MAHELE-HELE I

      PAUKU 1

      A Koolau wau, ike i ka ua,

      E ko-kolo la-lepo ana ka ua,

      E ka'i ku ana, ka'i mai ana ka ua,

      E nu mai ana ka ua i ke kuahiwi,

      E po'i ana ka ua me he nalu la.

      E puka, a puka mai ka ua la.

      Waliwali ke one i ka hehi'a e ka ua;

      Ua holo-wai na kaha-wai;

      Ua ko-ké wale na pali.

Aia ka wai la i ka ilina,¹²⁶ he ilio,

      He ilio hae, ke nahu nei e puka.

      [Translation]

       Song for the Hula Alá'a-papa.

      CANTO I

      STANZA 1

      'Twas in Koolau I met with the rain:

      It comes with lifting and tossing of dust,

      Advancing in columns, dashing along.

      The rain, It sighs In the forest;

      The rain, it beats and whelms, like the surf;

      It smites, it smites now the land.

      Pasty the earth from the stamping rain;

      Full run the streams, a rushing flood;

      The mountain walls leap with the rain.

      See the water chafing its bounds like a dog,

      A raging dog, gnawing its way to pass out.

      This song is from the story of Hiiaka on her journey to Kauai to bring the handsome prince, Lohiau, to Pele. The region is that on the windward, Koolau, side of Oahu.

      PAUKU 2

      Hoopono oe, he aina kai Waialua i ka hau;

Ke olelo¹²⁷ wale no la i ka lani.

Lohe ka uka o ka pehu i Ku-kani-loko.¹²⁸

      I-loko, i-waho kaua la, e ka hoa,

      I kahi e pau ai o ka oni?

      Oni ana i ka manawa o ka lili.

      Pee oe, pee ana iloko o ka hilahila.

      I hilahila wale ia no e oe;

Nou no ka hale,¹²⁹ komo mai maloko.

      The lines from, the fourth to the ninth in this stanza (pauku) represent a dialogue between two lovers.

      [Translation]

      STANZA 2

      Look now, Waialua, land clothed with ocean-mist--

      Its wilderness-cries heaven's ear only hears,

      The wilderness-gods of Ku-kani-loko.

      Within or without shall we stay, friend,

      Until we have stilled the motion?

      To toss is a sign of impatience.

      You hide, hiding as if from shame,

      I am bashful because of your presence;

      The house is yours, you've only to enter.

      PAUKU 3

      (Ko'i-honua)

Pakú Kea-au,¹³⁰ lulu Wai-akea;¹³¹

Noho i ka la'i Ioa o Hana-kahi,¹³²

O Hilo, i olokea¹³³ ia, i au la, e, i kai,

O Lele-iwi,¹³⁴ o Maka-hana-loa.¹³⁵

Me he kaele-papa¹³⁶ la Hilo, i lalo ka noho.

Kaele¹³⁷ wale Hilo i ke alai ia e ka ua.

      Oi ka niho o ka ua o Hilo i ka lani;

      Kua-wa'a-wa'a Hilo eli 'a e ka wai;

      Kai-koo, haki na nalu, ka ua o Hilo;

      Ha'i lau-wili mai ka nahele.

      Nanalu, kahe waikahe o Wai-luku;

Hohonu Waiau,¹³⁸ nalo ke poo o ka lae o Moku-pane;¹³⁹

Wai ulaula o Wai-anue-nue;¹⁴⁰

Ka-wowo nui i ka wai o Kolo-pule-pule;¹⁴¹

      Halulu i ha-ku'i, ku me he uahi la

      Ka puá, o ka wai ua o-aka i ka lani.

      Eleele Hilo e, pano e, i ka ua;

      Okakala ka hulu o Hilo i ke anu;

Pili-kau¹⁴² mai Hilo ia ua loa.

Pali-ku laau ka uka o Haili