the bird-spies sent out by pana-ewa brought back contradictory reports. the first pair reported that hiiaka was being worsted. soon after another pair, garbling the facts, said “our people are lying down, but they are still alert and keep their eyes open. as for hiiaka, she has fallen into a deep sleep.”
the situation was far from satisfactory and pana-ewa despatched another pair of birds to reconnoitre and report. it was not yet morning and the night was dark; and they accordingly took the form of kukui1 trees, thinking thus to illuminate the scene of operations. the intelligence they brought was confounding: “our people,” they said, “are all dead, save those who have the form of kukui trees. hiiaka lies quietly sleeping in the road.”
this account, though strictly in accord with the facts, was so disconcerting to pana-ewa that he burst forth in a rage, “slaves, liars! you’re deceiving me. i’ll wring your necks!” and he reached out to execute his threat. the birds eluded him and found safety in flight. [37]
pana-ewa now saw that it was necessary to take the field in person at the head of his regular forces, composed of the namú and nawá. the disguise he chose for himself was that of an ohia-lehua tree. no sooner had he taken that form than he found himself unable to move hand or foot. a parasitic network of i-e-i-e embraced his body and a multitude of a?rial roots anchored him to the spot. it was the craft of the sleeping girl that had done this. he had to content himself with the unwarlike guise of the kukui tree.
while hiiaka slept, her faithful servitor paú-o-pala’e kept open eye and detective ear to what was going on in the star-lit forest about them. at the first glimmering of dawn her keen sense felt rather than heard a murmurous rustle that broke the stillness and a movement, as if the forest itself were advancing and closing in upon them. this oncoming of the enemy was in such contrast to the onset of the yelping pack on the previous day as to be most impressive. the sound that touched her keen sense was not the joyous twitter and stir of nature preparing to greet a new day; it was rather the distant mutter of the storm, soon to be heard as the growl of the tempest, or the roar and snarl of an enraged menagerie of wild beasts.
the woman felt her responsibility and, with the double intent of summoning to their aid the friendly gods and of waking hiiaka, she lifted a solemn prayer:
kuli’a, e uli,2 ka pule kala ma ola;
kuli’a imua, i ke kahuna;3
kuli’a i ke alohi-lani.4
e úi aku ana au
i kupua oluna nei, e?
owai kupua oluna nei, e?
o ilio-uli5 o ka lani; [38]
o ilio-ehu,6 o ilio-mea,7 o ka lani;
o ku-ke-ao-iki,8 o ku-ke-ao-poko,9
o ku-ke-ao-loa10 o ka lani;
o ku-ke-ao-awihiwihi11 ula o ka lani;
ua ka ua, kahi wai, a na hoalii;12
o nei ka pali ma ko-wawá;13
o kupina’e,14 o ku-wawá;
o ku-haili-moe;15
o ha’iha’i-lau-ahea;16
o mau-a-ke-alii-hea;17
kánaka18 loloa o ka mauna—
o ku-pulupulu19 i ka nahele,
o na akua mai ka wao kele;
o kuli-pe’e-nui20 ai ahua;
o kiké-alana;21
o ka-uahi-noe-lehua;
o ke kahuna i ka puoko22 o ke ahi; [39]
o i’imi,23 o lalama.24
ku’i ke ahi, ka hekili;
nei ke ola’i;
olapa ka uila.
lohe o kane-hekili;25
ikiiki ka maláma ia ka-ulua.26
elua wahine i hele i ka hikina a ka la—
o kumu-kahi,27 laua o ha’eha’e:28
ha’eha’e ka moe
o kapo-ula-kina’u,29 he alii;
e ho’i, e komo i kou hale,
o ke-alohi-lani;
e auau i kou ki’owai kapu,
o ponaha-ke-one;
e inu i kou puawa hiwa,
awa papa30 a ke akua,
i kanaenae no moe-ha-úna-iki,31 e;
hele a’e a komo
i ka hale o pele.
ua huahua’i kahiki, lapa uwila:
pele e, hua’i’na ho’i!
hua’i’na a’e ana
ka mana o ko’u akua iwaho la, e!
o kukulu ka pahu32 kapu a ka leo; [40]
ho’okikí33 kanawai;
he kua34 á kanawai;
he kai oki’a35 kanawai;
he ala muku36 no kane me kanaloa;
he ki37 ho’iho’i kanawai,
no pele, no ko’u akua la, e!
translation
stand in the breach, o uli;
give heed to this plea for life;
to the front at the call of thy priest;
come in the splendor of heaven!
i entreat these powers on high.
and who are these beings of might?
ye somber clouds that rampart the sky;
ye warm clouds and ye that gleam ruddy;
ye clouds that guard heaven’s border;
ye clouds that mottle the heavenly vault;
ye clouds that embank the horizon;
ye cloud-piles aglow in the sunlight.
descend, o rain; o water, pour—
torrential rush of the princes!
rent be the wall of the crater;
let its groans re?cho and fly!
come, ku who fashions the landscape;
she who crushes the leaves of ahe?;
goddess who guards the outer flame-tip;
ye tall ones who dwell in the forest;
ku, the hirsute god of the wilds;
with his fellows who carve the canoe; [41]
come bent-kneed terrace-consumer,
with crash and groan of lava-plate;
and reeking smoke that glooms the forest.
come, lord of the ruddy flame;
fire-tongues that search and spread;
fire-shafts that smite and crash.
let earthquake groan and lightning flash.
kane the god of lightning shall hear
and warm this frigid month ulua.
two women go to the sun’s east gate
to rouse goddess kapo from sleep—
she of the black-spotted red robe.
o kapo, re?nter your sun-temple
and bathe in your sacred water-pool—
round as a gourd, scooped in the sand;
drink from your black polished awa cup
dark awa that’s offered to the gods,
to placate the goddess of gentle snore;
then enter the house of pele.
pele once burst forth at kahiki;
once again, o pele, break forth;
display thy power, my god, to the world;
let thy voice sound out like a drum;
reütter the law of thy burning back;
that thy dwelling is sacred, apart;
that kane and loa have limits;
that fixed and firm are pele’s laws!
for pele, great pele, is my god!
the sisters, uncles, aunts and other kindred of hiiaka heard this prayer of paú-o-pala’e distinctly enough, and so did pele; and when they saw that she appeared indifferent and made no move, they muttered among themselves. then ku-ili-kaua, a man of war and a leader in battle, spoke up and, addressing ka-moho-alii, said “why is it that she does not send warriors to the assistance of her sister? the girl has fought most bravely all day and is worn out; and there she lies fast asleep.”
ka-moho-alii thereupon bade kilioe-i-ka-pua and olu-wale-i-malo, two handsome lads who were very dear to pele (mau keiki punahele a pele)—her sons in fact—to go in to pele and ask her sanction to their going to the aid of hiiaka.
when these two boys came into pele’s presence they found [42]her poking the fire with a stick (hoelo kapuahi). with a fine show of confidence, they at once went and seated themselves in pele’s lap, one on her right thigh and one on her left. pele’s looks softened as she contemplated them, tears gathered in her eyes and she said, “what is the thought in the heart? speak.” (heaha ka hua i ka umauma? ha’i’na.)
“your commands.” (o ka leo,38 literally, the voice.)
at this pele stood up and, leaving her own home-hearth, went over and took her station in the fire-pit of hale-ma’u-ma’u. then, pointing to the east, she said:
o ka leo o ke kanáka hookahi, mailuna mai;
mailoko mai o ka leo o ka manu.39
o huli kai-nu’u40 a kane;
e wehe ka lani, hamama ka honua;
o wela kahiki-ku me kahiki-moe;
ala mai o ka-moho-alii
e moe ana iloko o ke ao polohiwa.
e ku e, e ho’i ka amama41 i ka lani;
e ku e, e ho’i ke ola ia hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-pele,
a ola loa no, a-a!
it was such a voice of utterance as this (leo) that the two boys who went in before pele desired. these two messenger-boys, by the way, are, in another account, spoken of as birds.
the purpose of kane in sending out this leo seems to have been to rouse into activity the earth-strata, na papa honua. [43]
translation
the voice from above of a man supreme
flies east, flies west, in the cry of a bird:
curl over, thou yeasty billow of kane!
be rent, o heaven, and quake, o earth!
kahiki’s pillars, flame ye and burn!
ka-moho-alii doth wake and rise
from his couch on banks of purple cloud.
to heaven return with thy tabu, o ku!
salvation, o ku, for hi’iaka—
hi’iaka the darling of pele!
immortal life to her!
at this the gods of war sprang into array, as if unleashed by the words of pele. at their head marched ku-lili-ai-kaua, a veteran who had followed pele in her voyage from kahiki. with him, went ke-ka-ko’i, a guide (hookele) well acquainted with the forest trails. in the van strode three weird figures (ka-maiau, ka-hinihini and mápu) bearing conchs, to which they ever and anon applied their lips and sent forth resounding blasts. but even more thrilling and inspiring than the horns of triton was the voice of these gods of war as they chanted their war-song:
mele ka’i kaua
hulihia ka mauna, wela i ke ahi;
wela mo’a-nopu ka uka o kui-hanalei,42
i ke a pohaku pu’u-lena43 e lele mai iuka.
o ke-ka-ko’i44 ka hookele mai ka lua;
o ka-maiau45 kani pololei, kani le’ale’a;
o ka hinihini46 kani kua mauna;
o ka mápu47 leo nui, kani kóhakohá; [44]
o hulihia i ka ale ula,48 i ka ale lani,49
i ka pu-ko’a,50 i ka a’aka51—
i ke ahu a lono52 e!
e lono anei, e hookuli?
e hookuli i ka uwalo, e!
eü, e hele no e!
hé-he-hé-e-e!
translation
the mount is convulsed, it belches flame;
fire-scorched is upland kui-hanalei—
a hail of stones shot out with sulphur-blasts.
ka-ko’i guides the warrior-van;
the rousing peals of pearly conch
and thrilling notes of woodland shells
stir every heart with tuneful cheer.
heaven’s blue is turmoiled with fire-clouds—
boiling fountains of flame and cinder—
such the form we give to our message:
will he heed it, or turn a deaf ear?
ah, you see, he scorns our entreaty.
be valiant! now forward to battle!
hé-he-hé-e-e!
thus chanting their battle-mele (mele ka’i kaua), these gods of an old-time mythology marched, or flew, with resolute purpose to their task of rescuing hiiaka and her little band and of ridding the land, at one and the same stroke, of their old entrenched foe, pana-ewa. heaven and earth stirred at their onset. the visible signs of their array were manifest in columns of seething fire-shot clouds that hovered like vultures over the advancing army. arrived at striking distance, they let loose their lightning-bolts and sounded their thunder-gongs. earth [45]and heaven at once became turmoiled in one confused whirl of warring elements.
the warriors of pana-ewa, who—in imitation of their chief—had for the most part taken the guise of trees and other natural objects, found themselves from the first fettered and embarrassed by a tangle of parasitic vines, so that their thrusts against hiiaka were of little avail. now comes the onset of the pele gods in the tempest-forms of hurricane, lightning, hail, and watery cloud-bursts that opened heaven’s flood-gates. against these elemental forces the dryad-forms of pana-ewa’s host could not stand for a moment. their tree-shapes were riven and torn limb from limb, engulfed in a swirling tide that swept them down to the ocean and far out to sea.
two staunch fighters remained, kiha, who had chosen to retain the honest dragon-form; and pua’a-loa, a creature, like kama-pua’a, in the demi-shape of a boar, whom pana-ewa, at the scent of disaster, had thrust into the confinement of a secret cave. this manner of retreat saved the twain from the immediate disaster by flood but not from the vengeance of pele’s army. detected in their lairs, they were slain and their petrified bodies are pointed out to this day in verification of this story.
the fate of pana-ewa himself was most tragical. he no sooner had taken the form of a kukui tree than he found himself overlaid and entangled with meshes of parasitic growth; he could neither fight nor fly. the spot on which he stood sank and became a swamp, a lake, a sink; the foundations on which its bottom rested were broken up and fell away. pana-ewa, swallowed up in the gulf, was swept out to sea and perished in the waves. kane-lu-honua had broken up the underlying strata and made of the place a bottomless sink.
(a reef is pointed out in the ocean opposite papa’i which is the remains of the body of the mo’o pana-ewa.)
the part taken by hiiaka in this last act of her deliverance was hardly more than that of a spectator. she had but to look on and witness the accomplishment of her own salvation. having been roused from the refreshment of sleep by the long-drawn recitative of paú-o-pala’e’s prayer-mele (see pp. 37–40), she did her best to cheer her two companions with assurances of coming deliverance and, gathering her little brood about her, after the [46]manner of a mother-hen, figuratively, bade them cling to her, nestle under her wings, lest they should be swept away in the flood of waters that soon began to surge about them—a flood which carried far out to sea the debris of battle—as already described.
the victory for hiiaka was complete. hawaii for once, and for all time, was rid of that pestilential, man-eating, mo’o band headed by pana-ewa who, from the time of pele’s coming, had remained entrenched in the beautiful forest-land that still bears the name—pana-ewa.
1kukui, the tree whose nuts furnished torches. ↑
2uli, an elder sister of pele, a character much appealed to by sorcerers. ↑
3kahuna, in this case probably hiiaka. ↑
4alohi-lani, literally, the brightness of heaven; a term applied to the residence or heavenly court of both uli and kapo. in verses 36 and 37 it is distinctly mentioned as the abode of kapo-ula-kina’u: “e ho’i, e komo i kou hale, o ke-alohi-lani.” ↑
5ilio-uli, literally, a dog of dark blue-black color. the primitive aryans, according to max müller, poetically applied the term “sheep” to the fleecy white clouds that float in the sky. the hawaiian poet, in the lack of a nobler animal, spoke of the clouds as ilio, dogs. with this homely term, however, he coupled—by way of distinction—some ennobling adjective. ↑
6ilio-ehu, literally, a white dog. ↑
7ilio-mea, literally, a dog—cloud—of a warm pinkish hue. ↑
8ku-ke-ao-iki, ao-iki, small clouds that stand ranged about the horizon. ↑
9ao-poko, a short cloud, in contrast with ao-loa.—j. h. ↑
10ao-loa, long clouds—stratus?—such as are seen along the horizon. ↑
11ao-awihiwihi-ula, a cloud-pile having a pinkish, or ruddy, tint. ↑
12hoalii, the relatives of hiiaka. ↑
13ko-wawa, a notched pali that formed part of the wall enclosing the caldera of kilauea—on its kau side. ↑
14kupina’e, echo, hero personified and endowed with the attributes of a superhuman being. ↑
15ku-haili-moe, one of the forms, or characters, of god ku, representing him as a smoother and beautifier of the landscape. ↑
16ha’iha’i-lau-ahea, a goddess who had to do with the flame of fire. her share in the care of a fire, or, perhaps, of pele’s peculiar fire, seems to have been confined to the base of the flame. ↑
17mau-a-ke-alii-hea, a being who had special charge of the flame-tip. ↑
18kanaka loloa o ka mauna, this included ku-pulupulu and his fellows. ↑
19ku-pulupulu, described as a hairy being, the chief god of canoe-makers, who had his residence in the wildwoods. ↑
20kuli-pe’e-nui. this much-used term is the embodiment in a word of the wild, lumbering, progress of a lava-flow, or lava-tongue. translating the figure into words, my imagination pictures a huge, shapeless monster, hideous as caliban drunk, wallowing, sprawling, stumbling along on swollen disjointed knees—a picture of uncouth desolation. ↑
21kike-alana, the formulation in a word of the rending and crashing sounds—rock smiting rock—made by a lava-flow. ↑
22kahuna i ka, puoko o ke ahi. the word kahuna is used here where the word akua or kupua would seem to have served the purpose of the meaning, which, as i take it, is the spirit, or genius, of flame. ↑
23i’imi, derived seemingly from imi, to seek. ↑
24lalama, derived seemingly from lala, a branch; or possibly, from lama, a flambeau. ↑
25kane-hekili. thunder is always spoken of as under the control of god kane. ↑
26ka-ulua, the name of one of the months in the cool season of the year; one can not say positively which month is intended, for the reason that the nomenclature varied greatly in the different islands, and varied even on the same island. ↑
27kumu-kahi, the name of a hill in puna on the easternmost cape of hawaii; also the name of a monolith once set up there; in this connection the name of the female kupua who acted as keeper of the sun’s eastern gate. this name is almost always coupled with that of … ↑
28ha’eha’e, of whom the same account can be given as above. ↑
29kapo-ula-kina’u, one of the family. the epithet ula-kina’u is used in allusion to the fact that her attire, red in color, is picked out with black spots. the name kapo alone is the one by which she is usually known. ↑
30 the awa papa had a small root, but it was of superior quality. ↑
31moe-ha-una-iki, literally, the sleep with a gentle snore—such sleep as follows the use of awa. the poet personifies this sleep. to such lengths does the hawaiian poetic imagination go. ↑
32pahu kapu a ka leo. one—who ought to know—tells me this means the ear; as if the ear were the drum on which the voice played. ↑
33ho’okiki kanawai, to enforce, to carry out the law. ↑
34he kua a kanawai. it was said of pele that her back was hot like fire, and that a bundle of taro leaves laid thereon was cooked and turned into luau. it was an offense punishable by death for any one to stand at her back or to approach her by that way. ↑
35he kai oki’a kanawai, literally, an ocean that separates. exclusiveness, to live apart, was the rule of pele’s life. this principle is enforced with further illustration in the next line:— ↑
36he ala muku no kane me kanaloa. even to the great gods kane and kanaloa the path of approach to pele was cut off by the edict, thus far shalt thou come and no further. ↑
37he ki ho’iho’i kanawai. the ki is said, to my surprise, to be the thong with which a door was made fast, ho’iho’i, in the olden times of hawaii. i cannot but look upon this statement with some suspicion. ↑
38leo, the voice; articulate speech. leo o ka kanaka hookahi. this one supreme man was kane. the poet evidently had in mind the myth which is embodied in a certain kumu-lipo, or song of creation: kane, the supreme one, looking from heaven, saw chaos, or the god of chaos, kumu-lipo, spread out below and he called to him to send his voice—leo—to the east, to the west, to the north and to the south. kumu-lipo, thus roused from inaction, despatched the bird halulu, who flew and carried the message to the east, to the west, to the north and to the south. ↑
39ka manu, the bird halulu, above mentioned. ↑
40kai-nu’u a kane. this expression is an allusion to god kane’s surf-riding, which is often mentioned in hawaiian mythology. huli refers to the curling or bending over of the breaker’s crest; nu’u to the blanket of white and yeasty water that follows as the wake of the tumbling wave. the hawaiians who are best informed in these matters have only vague ideas on the whole subject. ↑
41amama, a word frequently used at the end of a prayer in connection with the word noa (free), as in the expression amama, ua noa. the evident meaning is it (the tabu) is lifted, it is free. i conjecture that the word amama is derived from, or related to, the word mama, light, in the sense of levitation. ↑
42kui-hanalei, a region in puna, not far from the caldera of kilauea, said to be covered now with pahoehoe and aa. ↑
43pu’u-lena, a wind that blows in the region of the volcano. ↑
44ke-ka-ko’i (literally, the ax-maker), the name of the guide and path-finder to the company. ↑
45ka-maiau, their trumpeter who carried a conch. ↑
46hinihini, a poetical name for a land-shell, probably one of the genus achatinella, which was popularly believed to give a shrill piping note. ↑
47mapu, one of the trumpeters. ↑
48ale ula, a cloud of steam and smoke, such as accompanied an eruption. ↑
49ale lani, the patches of blue sky between masses of clouds. ↑
50pu-ko’a, a column of steam and smoke bursting up from a volcanic eruption. ↑
51a’aka, a column of lapillae, accompanied by hot vapor and smoke, such as jet up from a volcanic crater or fissure. ↑
52lono, a message; to hear a message, i.e., to receive it. the expression ahu a lono is at first a little puzzling. it means the visible bulk, or sign, of the message.
