hiiaka restores to life mana-mana-ia-kalu-ea
as they drew near wailuku, they crossed a sandy plain dotted with tumuli. at once the captive spirit of mana-mana-ia-kalu-ea became restless, as if eager to be free. “we are nearing the place where rests its body,” explained hiiaka. wahine-oma’o by soft words and gentle touch did her best to soothe the perturbed thing.
it might almost be said that the captive spirit of mana-mana-ia-kalu-ea was the guide (acting like the magnetic needle to point the way) to the home where the as-yet uncorrupted body of the girl still lay, mourned over by her parents.
it was with much prayer and the use of persuasive force that hiiaka compelled the seemingly reluctant spirit to reenter its bodily tenement and to take up its abode there. as it passed from its point of entrance at the toe up into the chest its progress was marked by a kindling warmth that gave the assurance that the spirit was resuming its empiry over the whole body.
the first request made by the girl, on regaining full consciousness, was that her parents would prepare a feast as a thank-offering to hiiaka, her physician, her deliverer. the special articles on which she was most insistent were luau and baked aoaoa.1
when it came to the final dressing of the luau for the table, namely the stripping off of the outer leafy covering from the scalding hot mass within—an operation which the girl insisted on doing with her own newly restored hands—hiiaka watched her critically; for the proper etiquette of the function was most punctilious. but hiiaka could find no fault with her technique: there was no slip, no solecism, no blowing on her fingers to relieve the scalding heat, as she stripped off the wrappings of the bundles.
when the feast was set and all were gathered about the tables, at hiiaka’s command all bowed their heads with closed eyes and she offered up her prayer to the gods of heaven. at the conclusion of her prayer, when they looked, lo, the portion of the feast set apart for the gods had vanished without leaving a trace [74]behind. on this occasion hiiaka was seen to eat of the food that was provided for her.2
the line of travel now chosen by hiiaka was that along the northern or koolau side of the island of maui and led them at first through a barren stretch of country called a kaha, the food-supply of which came from a distance. it was here that wahine-oma’o began to complain bitterly of hunger and exhaustion from the lack of food, and she besought hiiaka to intercede with the people of a neighboring fishing village to give them something to eat.
“how is this, that you are a-hungered so soon after the feast of which you have partaken? this is a kaha,” said hiiaka, “and you must know that food does not grow in this place. they have only fish from the sea. nevertheless, i will venture the request.” this she did in the language of song:
ke kahulihuli a ka papa o wailuku;
he ole ke kaha kuai ai, e:
ho-mai he ai;
ho-mai ana ua ai, e!
translation
as trembles the plank at wailuku
(so trembles the fate of the king):
there’s no market where to buy meat;
give the stranger, then, something to eat:
give us, i pray, of your meat.
some of the people derided them, saying, “mahaoi!”—what impudence! others, with kindness in their tones, explained, “this is a barren place; and all of our food comes from a great distance.” the churlish ones, however, kept up their taunts: “you won’t get any food in this place. go up there;” and they pointed in the direction of iao valley, where was the residence of king ole-pau.
during the whole of the day, while tramping through this [75]region, hiiaka had observed from time to time a ghostly object flitting across the plain within hearing distance and in a direction parallel to their course. though this spirit was not visible to ordinary mortal eye, hiiaka recognized it as the second soul of ole-pau, the very chief to whom the people of the fishing village had bid her make her appeal for food. hiiaka, putting two and two together, very naturally came to the conclusion that this vagrant kino wailua was, in the last resort, responsible for this denial of hospitality to herself and her companion. acting on this conclusion, hiiaka made a captive of the vagrant soul and determined to hold it as a hostage for the satisfaction of her reasonable demands.
on coming within speaking distance of the house where lived the woman wai-hinano, who ostentatiously played the part of kahu and chief adviser to ole-pau, hiiaka made known her wish, concluding her appeal with ominous threats against the life of the king, in case her demands were not met:
e wai-hinanano, wahine a ka po’ipo’i,3 e,
ua make ke alii,4 ka mea nona nei moku.
he pua’a kau5 ka uku no moloka’i;
he ilio lohelohe6 lana’i;
a pale ka a-a ka kanaloa;7
he puo’a kai molokini:
huli ka ele8 o na hono;
[76]
haki kepakepa na moku;
pa’iauma9 ka aina;
uwé kamali’i, uwé ka hanehane—
ke uwé la i ka pili,10
i ke kula o ka-ma’o-ma’o;11
ka’a kumakena o maui, e!
ia wai maui?
translation
o waihinano, thou soul-grabber,
dead is the king of this island;
moloka’i shall offer a boar;
lana’i’s a half-baked dog;
kanaloa fends off the a-a;
molokini buffets the waves.
the ship of state turns turtle:
what wailing and beating of breast!
wild anguish of child and of ghost
o’er the sandy plain of kama’o.
the districts are frenzied with grief—
tearing of hair and breaking of teeth—
one wail that lifts to heaven.
who shall be heir to this maui land?
to this the sorceress, waihinano, answered pertly:
ia ole-pau, ia ka lani, ke alii,
ka-uhi-lono-honua;
o ka-uhi-kapu ia a kama,
a kama-lala-walu:
o ke alii kahiko i hanau ia ai a kiha—
o ka-ula-hea nui o ka lani:
iaia maui.
[77]
translation
to ole-pau, the heavenly, the king,
in line from deep-rooted kauhi—
sacred kauhi of kama was he—
kama, the sire of eight branches—
of the ancient stock of kiha,
and ka-ula-hea, the great king:
maui belongs to him.
to this hiiaka retorted:
ua make ia:
ke ha’i mai nei na wahine
i ka hikina la ma puna,
o na wahine i ka la o ha’eha’e,
o na wahine i ka la o ku-ki’i,
ako lehua o kua-o-ka-la,
walea wai o ka milo-holu,
kui pua lei o ma-li’o—
o pele-honua-mea i ka lua;
o hiiaka i ka alawa maka o wakea:
ke i mai nei haumea,
he kalawa ka ma’i a puni:
ua make!
translation
the sentence of death is affirmed
by the women—the gods—who tend
on the rising sun of puna,
are sun-guards at ha’e-ha’e,
pluck lehua-bloom at kuki’i,
rejoice in the stream milo-holu
string the flower-wreaths of mali’o—
confirmed by pele, god of the pit—
once heir to the sacred south-land,
and by hiiaka, her shadow,
gleam shot from the eye of wakea.
thus saith the goddess haumea:
great torment, fever and swelling
shall scorch and rack him to death!
[78]
the woman wai-hinano replied to hiiaka with great spirit and temper:
aole e make ku’u alii ia oe:
ke hoole mai nei na ’kua wahine o ia nei,
o ha-pu’u,12 laua o ka-lei-hau-ola,12
o na ’kua nana i lapu hawaii a puni:
oia ho’i ka i a ke akua:
ke hoole mai nei, aole e make!
translation
my king shall not die by your arts:
his witch-gods deny you the power—
ha-pu’u and ka-lei-hau-ola;—
they peopled hawaii with ghosts:
the voice of the gods, the king’s gods,
declares that he shall not die!
the situation was peculiar: while ka-ula-hea (in the narrative sometimes called ole-pau) lay asleep, his second soul, kino wailua, deserting its post of duty as life-guard over the bodily tenement, had stolen away in pursuit of its own pleasures. it was this very kino wailua that hiiaka had seen flanking her own route, as it flitted through the fields, and which she had caught and now held fast in her hand like a fluttering moth, a hostage answerable for his misbehaviour and disregard of the rites of hospitality. its possession gave hiiaka complete power over the life of the king. it was no empty vaunt when hiiaka again declared in song:
aohe kala i make ai;
ua pu-á ia na iwi;
ua akua13 ka ai a ka ilo!
translation
king death has gripped him ere this;
his bones already are bundled;
the worms—they batten like gods!
while wai-hinano was listening to these awful words of [79]hiiaka she was dumbfounded by the tidings that ka-ula-hea had waked from seemingly peaceful sleep in great perturbation, and that he had been seized with the most alarming and distressful symptoms. in her distraction and rage she still maintained a defiant attitude:
aohe make ku’u alii ia oe!
ke hoole mai nei na akua kane o ia nei,
o ke-olo-ewa14 nui a kama-ua,15
he mana, he úi-úi, a-á,
he ana leo no ke alii,
e ai ana i ka pua’a o ulu-nui,16
i ka lalá me-ha’i-kana,17
hoole o uli, akua o ia nei,
e hoole mai ana, aohe e make!
translation
my lord shall succumb not to you!
the gods of the king affirm it—
olo-ewa, son of the rain-god,
gifted with power and with counsel,
his voice rings out clear for the king:
he shall eat the fat of the swine,
pluck the fruit of the bread-tree: uli,
a god ever true to the king,
declares that he shall not die.
[80]
after each incantation that hiiaka had uttered against ka-ula-hea that king’s disorder had flared up in more alarming proportions, and he cried out in agony and despair. but it was equally true that just as often as wai-hinano had uttered her assurances that his trouble was but a trivial indisposition and that the male and female deities—above named—stood on his side and would not let him die, his courage had revived, he had felt a wave of healing influence pass through him and relief had come.
in explanation of this see-saw of hope and despair, sickness and relief, let it be stated that the two goddesses ha-pu’u and ka-lei-hau-ola and the two male deities ke-olo-ewa and kama-ua, to whom wai-hinano had appealed by name as staunch friends of ka-ula-hea, were, in fact, allies, or, more properly speaking, partizans of pele and, therefore, subject to the call of hiiaka. the kahuna kaua-kahi-ma-hiku-lani who had charge of the case of ka-ula-hea derived his power as a kahuna from these very same gods; but he well knew that if there was a conflict of interests the commands of hiiaka would have to be carried out. as for the gods and goddesses above named, they, of course, knew their own position and that, as between ka-ula-hea and hiiaka, their service must be rendered to the latter. willing enough they were, however, in return for the offerings laid on their altars, to feed the hopes of the sick man by temporary relief of his sharpest agonies.
as if this tangle of motives were not enough, the affair was yet further complicated by the appearance of kapo—sister, or aunt of hiiaka—on the scene, who came not only as an interested spectator but as a friend of king ka-ula-hea. her power to intervene was, of course, handicapped by the same limitations that touched the other gods and goddesses. she had the good sense to retire from the scene before things came to a critical pass.
meanwhile messengers are flying about, seeking or bringing assurance of relief and restoration to health to the king. hiiaka saw that the time had come for decisive action. she went close up to the great stone paha-lele that still lies in the road near wai-he’e and, before smiting against the rock the soul she held captive in her hand, she uttered the following kau:
e kaua-kahi-ma-hiku-lani ma, e,
a pala ka hala haalei ma ke kaha o maka-o-kú; [81]
haawi pauku oko’a me ko ha’i kini.
he aloha ole no o kaua-kahi-ma-hiku-lani ma
i ka anaaná ia ole-pau, e.
lapu ole-pau, e:
ua akua ka ai a ka ilo!
she pauses for a moment, then continues:
anu wai-he’e i ka makani kili-o’opu;
he i’a iki mai ke kele honua18 o wailuku,
mai ke kila o pa-ha’a-lele la, e.
ha’alele ke ea o ole-pau;
ua pokaka’a ka uhane,
ua kaalo ia milu.
translation
o kau-akahi-ma-hiku-lani,
you cast away the wilted fruit,
and with it the fortunes of many:
’twas an act of unlove, that of yours—
to hurl this prayer-shaft at ole-pau:
he’ll become but a houseless ghost;
the maggots shall batten like gods.
waihe’e crouches in the cold blast
of the raging kili-o’opu.
this atom soul i plucked from the grave,
from a fastness desolate now:
the spirit flits from ole-pau,
goes down the steep to destruction,
to the somber caverns of milu.
with this she dashed the captive soul against the rock, and that was the end of ka-ula-hea.
there was something in the manner of hiiaka as she called the name of the kahuna kau-akahi that chilled the courage of the group of sorcery gods. they saw that their game was played out, and they sneaked away and hid themselves. [82]
1aoaoa, an imitative word, meaning dog. ↑
2 the most acceptable bonne bouche that could be offered to pele, or to hiiaka, by way of refreshment, was the tender leaf of the taro plant. we of this day and generation eat it when cooked under the name of lu-au. in the old old times, when the gods walked on the earth, it was acceptable in the raw state under the name of paha; but, when cooked, it was called pe’u. the word luau seems to be modern. ↑
3po’ipo’i. po’i uhane, soul catching, was one of the tricks of hawaiian black art and sorcery. ↑
4 there seems to be a disagreement in the different versions as to who is the king with whom hiiaka is now contending, whether ole-pau or ka-ula-hea. for historical reasons i deem it to be ole-pau, unless, indeed, the two names represent the same person. ↑
5kau, offered, literally put upon the altar. ↑
6lohelohe. by some inadvertence, this word was wrongly written as kohekohe, and i was cudgelling my wits and searching heaven and earth, and all the dictionaries, to learn the meaning of this artifact, this false thing. after having vainly inquired of more than a score of hawaiians, one man, wiser than the rest, suggested that it should be lohelohe, not kohekohe, meaning underdone, or half-baked dog. the word-fit was perfect; the puzzle was solved. ↑
7kanaloa, a name given to kaho’olawe, the island that faces east maui, lying opposite to lahaina, and acts as a sort of buffer against the blasts of the south wind, allusion to which is made, as i believe, in the word a-a, in the same line. ↑
8ele. some critics claim that ka and ele properly form one word (kaele), meaning overturned. the grammatical construction of the sentence forbids this claim, and favors the interpretation i have given it. the figure is that of a canoe whose black body has turned turtle. ↑
9pa’iauma. this is a word that has presented some difficulties in the discovery of its meaning. the reference, i believe, is to breast-beating practiced by persons distracted with grief. uma, the final part of the word, i take to be the shortened form of umauma, the bosom. ↑
10pili, to meet, the point or line of meeting, the boundaries of a land, therefore, the whole land. ↑
11ka-ma’o-ma’o, the name given to the sandy plain between kahului and wailuku, maui. ↑
12 female deities of necromancy. ↑
13akua, literally, a god, or godlike, i.e., in an awe-inspiring manner. ↑
14ke-olo-ewa, an akua ki’i, i.e., a god of whom an image was fashioned. some form of cloud was recognized as his body (ke-ao-lewa(?)). one of his functions was rain-producing. farmers prayed to him: “send rain to my field; never mind the others.” s. percy smith of new zealand (in a letter to professor w. d. alexander) says that in maori legend te orokewa, also called poporokewa, was one of the male apa, guardians and messengers of io, the supreme god who presided over the 8th heaven.
according to hawaiian tradition ke-olo-ewa was, as fornander has it, the second son of kamauaua, a superior chief, or king of moloka’i, and succeeded his father in the kingship of that island. his brother, kau-pe’e-pe’e-nui-kauila, it was who stole away hina, the beautiful wife of haka-lani-leo of hilo, and secreted her on the famous promontory of haupu on moloka’i. for the story of this interesting tradition see fornander’s “the polynesian race,” vol. ii, p. 31. after death he became deified and was prayed to as a rain god. ↑
15kama-ua, literally, the son of rain. ↑
16ulu-nui, meaning the crop-giver. this was the name of a king, or chief of makawao, maui, under whom agriculture greatly flourished. ↑
17me-ha’i-kana, the goddess of the bread-fruit tree; said to be one with papa. ↑
18kele honua, an instance of a noun placed after its adjective. the meaning of kele honua, literally, the miry soil, a deep taro patch.
