at one stroke, the benign action of the heavenly powers had freed a fair land from a pestilential mo’o band, disinfected it of the last shred and fragment of their carcases and ushered in a reign of peace in the wooded parks and tangled forests of pana-ewa. hiiaka could afford to celebrate her victory by recuperating her powers in well-earned repose. while she thus lay in profound sleep on the purified battle-field, her two companions busied themselves in preparing such simple refreshment as the wilderness afforded. the piece de resistance of this dinner of herbs was luau, the favorite food of the pele family.

when the women had finished the task of collecting, sorting, making into bundles and cooking the delicate leaves of kalo, hiiaka still slept. paú-o-pala’e thereupon took her station at the feet of her mistress and chanted the dinner-call in the form of a gentle serenade:

e ala, e ala, e!

e ala, e hika’a-lani;

e ala, e ke-ho’oilo-ua-i-ka-lani;

e ala, e ho’omaú,

wahine a makali’i, la!

e ala, e!

[47]

translation

o daughter of heaven,

awake, awake!

hiiaka, awake!

sender of winter rain,

guardian of womanly rites,

spouse of god maka-li’i,

awake thee, awake!

“the luau must be burnt to a crisp,” hiiaka said as she sat up.

as hiiaka and her companions again wended their way through the forest, it was evident that its innocent creatures had unjustly suffered in company with their guilty invaders and time had not yet sufficed for the exercise of that miracle of tropic repair which quickly heals and covers the damage done by a tempest. broken limbs, fallen trees and twisted vines still blocked the narrow trails, while here and there an uprooted forest giant, in unseemly fashion, obtruded a medusa-head of tawny roots in place of its comely coronal of leaves.

in their journey they came at length to a place, maka’u-kiu, where the road seemingly ended abruptly in a precipice with the ocean dashing wildly at its base. the alternative open to their choice was, to seek out some round-about inland way, or to take the shorter route and swim the ocean-made gap. the two women, wahine-oma’o taking the lead, proposed, as a diversion, to swim the ocean and thus avoid a long and wearisome detour. hiiaka strenuously vetoed the proposition; but the two women, not yet trained to subordinate their will and judgment to the decision of the leader, persisted. hiiaka, thereupon, took a stem of the ti plant and, peeling off its rusty bark, left it white and easily visible. “i will throw this stick into the water,” said she, “and if it disappears we will not make of this an au-hula-ana;1 but if it remains in sight, then we will swim across this wild piece of water.”

it seemed to hiiaka that her companions displayed a masculine stubbornness and unreasonableness, a criticism which she uttered in her chanting way: [48]

au ma ka hula-ana!

kai-ko’o ka pali!

pihapiha o eleele,

ke kai o maka’u-kiu!

aole au e hopo i ka loa

o hono-kane-iki.

i kane, la, olua;

i wahine, la, wau, e!

translation

to swim this tossing sea,

while waves are lashing the cliff

and the ocean rages high,

at eleele, the haunt of the shark!

i balk not the length of the road

by hono-kane-iki.

be you two stubborn as men!

let me be guideful as woman.

hiiaka then threw the peeled stick into the ocean and in a moment it was snatched out of sight. “there! if we were to swim we would be seized and eaten by maka’u-kiu.”

“when you tossed the stick into the ocean, the sea-moss covered and concealed it, and you thought it was the work of a shark,” was the reply of wahine-oma’o. again they made ready to plunge into the sea. hiiaka threw another stick and that too was instantly swallowed; whereupon she chanted again:

hookukú ka au-hula-ana o ka pali!

ke pu’e ’a la e ke kai a nalo ka auki;

he i’a ko lalo, he i’a, o maka’u-kiu—

maka’u-kiu, ho’i, e!

translation

have done with this fool-hardy swim!

the ocean just gulps down the stick!

a monster fish dwells in the depth—

that monster shark, maka’u-kiu;

aye, the shark-god maka’u-kiu!

[49]

the women were not yet convinced and still persisted, a stubbornness that drew from hiiaka another remonstrance:

me he uahi máhu, la,

ko lalo o kaka-auki,

i maka’u-kiu.

he kiu, he alele aloha,

eia i o’u nei, e!

translation

a seething whirl of ocean-mist

marks the place where i cast the stick:

’tis the work of the lurking shark.

your loving guard, your faithful spy—

that is my service to you!

at these words the huge form of the shark rose to the surface, and the women, convinced at last, leaped out of the water and abandoned their purpose. hiiaka now gave battle to the shark and that was the end of one more power of evil.

1au-hula-ana. this is the term applied to such a break in a seaside trail as is above described. the word hula indicates the billowy toss of the ocean or of the swimmer’s body while making the passage. the term, following hawaiian usage, is employed either as a noun or as a verb.