hiiaka learns of the death of lohiau
with a nice feeling of etiquette, hiiaka’s hosts allowed the day of her arrival to pass with no inquiry as to the purpose of her visit. but on the morning of the morrow malae-ha’a-koa asked the question that put himself in sympathetic touch with his guests.
“i have come to escort lohiau as a lover to the bed of pele,” said hiiaka.
“lohiau has been dead many days,” they both exclaimed. “he took his own life out of a passionate infatuation for one of the hono-pú1 women.”
“let that be as it may,” hiiaka answered; “i will go and see for myself.”
now kahua-nui, the sister of lohiau, had laid his body to rest in a sepulcher close to her own residence; but on examination the place was found to be empty. it was evident that the body had been spirited away. hiiaka, turning her gaze to the mountain, discerned a ghostly form standing at the mouth of a cave. it was the ghost of lohiau. in an effort to soothe and attract him, hiiaka, with arms extended and face uplifted, in passionate utterance gave vent to her emotions:
ku’u kane i ka pali o haena,
mai na aina pali a pau loa,
mai hoolulu no a poli-hale la;
ku’u kane ho’i, e-e!
translation
at last, my dear man, at last,
on this rugged cliff of haena!
i have searched the whole mountain side,
from ho’o-lulu’s booming fall
to poli-hale’s buttressed flank.
i have found thee at last, my man!
[132]
again she scanned the lineaments of the shadowy form if she might find there the picture her mind had imaged. at second view, the ghostly unreality of the tenuous image so greatly shocked her imagination by its contrast to her ideal of a true flesh-and-blood lover, that she amended her first utterance:
aole a’e nei ke kane,
he hoa pili no ke ahiahi,
he hoa kaunu no ke aumoe,
no ka waena po loloa
o ke hooilo, la:
ku’u kane ho’i, e-e!
translation
this, surely, is not the lover
to cling to one in the twilight,
to fondle in the midnight watch
of a long, long, wint’ry night.
where, oh where art thou, my man?
a creepy thrill came over hiiaka as she saw the bloodless lips open and heard these answering words from the mouth of the weird object that stood on the pali wall:
ku’u wahine, e-e!
hoohewahewa oe ia’u, la.
eia au la i ka-lalau, e-e;
i ka pali au o hoo-lulu, la;
ku’u wahine ho’i, e-e!
translation
alas, my woman, alas!
you wail in soul-recognition.
i was yonder at ka-lalau,
or some time perched at ho’o-lulu.
surely thou art the woman, thou!
with the desire to soothe the bewildered soul hiiaka again spoke: [133]
ku’u kane i ka makani kilihau,2 kili-opu,3
ke pu’e4 ka wai o ka mauna;
he mauna pali no ka-lalau
a maua e hele ai—
me oe, me ke kane la, ku’u kane,
ku’u kane o ka wa po wale,
o ku’u wa iluna o ke alo la—
ku’u kane ho-i, e!
translation
my man of the wind-driven mist,
or rain that plunges clean as a diver,
what time the mountain stream runs cold
adown the steps at ka-lalau—
where we shall ere long climb together,
with you, my friend, with you,
companion of the pitchy night,
when heavenward turns my face—
thou art, indeed, my man.
a moment’s pause and she resumed:
e ku’u kane, e-e,
he leo e wale ho’i kou,
he leo no ka hanehane,5
no ka pololei6 kani kau mauna o uka la;
ku’u kane ho’i, e-e!
translation
alas, my man, alas!
how altered is your voice,
changed to the trilling note [134]
of the plaintive pololei
that trills on the mountain ridge:
yet thou art, indeed, my man!
kahua-nui was greatly moved when she heard the words of hiiaka and said, with emotion, “it is evident you loved my brother, that handsome fellow—dead! if only the woman had been like you! what a pity that he should have wasted himself on such a good-for-nothing!”
“tell me, pray, where did you lay your brother’s body?” asked hiiaka.
“yonder,” said she, pointing to a grass house. “lima-loa, who hails from kauna-lewa, in mana, bound on the thatch. that job completed, he went away with all the men of the place to bewail him. we two women alone remain to keep watch over him. there he lies and we stand guard over his sepulcher.”
then hiiaka, girding herself with her divine attributes as a goddess of kilauea—the power which, on occasion, availed to flood the plains of puna with sounding plates of pahoehoe, or to heap up the rugged a? at maukele—reached into the sepulcher in search of lohiau’s body. but it was not there. it had been stolen away by the two mo’o-witches (kilioe and ka-lana-mai-nu’u) and lodged in a cave high up in the inaccessible mountain side.
the emotions of hiiaka at this turn of events found expression in song:
a lima-loa7 i ke kaha
o kauna-lewa ho’i e-e:
ako mana i ka hale ohai—
aina ko hele la, e-e,—
hoopunipuni i ka malihini:
puni ho’i au, e-e!
translation
the deed this of lima-loa,
that wonder-monger who works
in the barren land of maná;
who roofs maná with ohai— [135]
one there munches cane as he plods.
his to deceive the stranger;
i’m the victim of his deceit!
hiiaka, at the mention of lima-loa and the part he had taken in constructing the house that served as a sepulcher for lohiau, jumped to the conclusion that he had been the body-snatcher of lohiau. kahuanui strongly dissented from this view. “there can be no doubt,” said she, “that my brother’s body lies in that sepulcher at this very moment. that is the reason for my keeping guard over the place. but why stand we here? let us go to my home.”
as hiiaka went with her she again had sight of the ghost-form of lohiau standing in the door of the cavern, and she addressed to him this mele:
ako nanani maka i wawae-nohu,8 e-e;
me he nanai hale la ka-ula i ke kai;
ke amo a’e la i ka lima o kaunu-lau, e-e;
ke hoa la i ke kua o lei-no-ai—
he ai aloha na olua, e-e!
translation
his airy phantoms queer the eye
at wawae-nohu, and yon islet
ka-ula, like a lanai, looms at sea;
while lifts the hand of kauna-la’a
to smite the back of lei-no-ai:
the sight enchants you twain.
hiiaka paused for a moment and then continued in a reflective mood:
o ka-ula nui ka i akaka,
ua po ka-halau-a-ola9 i ka noe; [136]
o ka manu na’e ke lele nei
kai luna o wa’a-hila, la;
ke noho la i lei-no-ai:
he ai aloha keia ia oe la, e-e!
translation
famous ka-ula looms crystal clear;
misty and dark the temple of health:
yet the birds keep flying around
and about the hill wa’a-hila.
they settle at lei-no-ai,
a sight most pleasing to you.
hiiaka now perceived two female figures squatted at the entrance of the cavern, which they had carefully blocked and were guarding. these were the creatures that had stolen away the body of lohiau. she at once raised her voice and addressed them with this threatening language:
e aka, e kilioe-i-ka-pua, e-e!
na wahine kapa ole e nene’e wale nei
i ka hapapa ku’i opihi,
o ka luna i hala-aniani,10 la;
na wahine kapa ole.
translation
ah!—aka, and you kilio?,
dowered with flowerlike beauty,
you women with naked bodies,
who sometime flit o’er the reef-plates,
now squat over hala-aniani!
you shameless, you naked ones!
the magic of these words worked their death-purpose. the way to the sepulchral cave was now unobstructed. as they came, however, to the base of the cliff, they found that the ladder had been removed—the mischievous work of the witches. [137]wahine-oma’o was aghast. “there is no ladder for us to climb up by,” said the woman.
“turn your face to the cliff,” was hiiaka’s answer.
the girl did so and used her best efforts to climb the mountain wall. the day was far spent and darkness would soon come on. thereupon hiiaka invoked the sun, bidding it stand still at the mouth of the river hea:
e kini, e hiki i kauai, i kou aina;
o koa maka-iwa11 o halawa,12
paia kona i ou kino,
akua nui o hiiaka, la.
hiki e, pi’i e, iho e!
e kau i ka muli o hea;13
kau malie oe, e ka la!
translation
come to your land to kauai, ye hosts!
ye warrior-gods, keen eyes of pearl!
put forth your strength, o kona—
the mighty goddess hiiaka!
i bid you rise, climb, and descend!
now stay your flight, o day!
stand still, o sun, o’er hea’s water!
[138]
1 these honopu women, two in number, were mo’o, witches, related to kilioe, a famous witch-mo’o of hawaii, and their names were kili-oe-i-ka-pua and ka-lana-mai-nu’u. ↑
2kili-hau, the name given to a local wind accompanied by a fine rain. ↑
3kili-opu, a name descriptive of a wind and rain-shafts that, plunging into the water, made as little splash as a skillful diver. ↑
4pu’e. this word is here used in an unusual sense to mean cold. ↑
5hanehane, the shrill, seemingly far-off, wailing of a ghost; ghostly. ↑
6pololei, an archaic name applied to the land shell, now known as pupu-kanioi. this was supposed to utter a delicate trilling cry similar to that of the cricket. ↑
7lima-loa, the god mirage. ↑
8wawae-nohu, the name given to a red cloud seen at sunset in the west from mana, kauai. ↑
9ka-halau-a-ola, literally, the hall of health. the more commonly used appellation mauli-ola, was both the name of a deity and of a mystical place. one may infer from their use that halau-a-ola meant rather a sort of house-of-refuge, a place of security from the attack of an enemy, while mauli-ola had in view a mystical, beatific, condition. the former is illustrated in the line describing kama-pua’a’s escape from pele’s onslaught:
noho ana kama-pua’a i ka halau-a-ola.
kama-pua’a finds refuge in the hall of life.
10hala-aniani, a small lake of fresh water in a cave at haena, in which the writer has bathed. ↑
11koa maka-iwa, idols with eyes of mother o’ pearl. to this class belonged ku-kaili-moku, the famous war god of kamehameha. ↑
12halawa, the largest valley on moloka’i, a stronghold of priestcraft and sorcery. “ua o’o na pule o moloka’i,” the incantations of moloka’i are ripe, became a proverbial expression. ↑
13hea, a stream near haena.
