hiiaka utters many prayers to restore lohiau to life
before proceeding to her task hiiaka instructed malae ha’a-koa to call in the guards stationed at lohiau’s sepulcher and to keep the hula going for the next ten days as an attraction to draw off the people from playing the spy on her performances.
hiiaka and her companion conquered the impossible and scaled the mountain wall as if their feet had the clinging property of the fly. lohiau’s ghost would have escaped, but with birdlike quickness she caught it. at her command wahine-oma’o gathered certain aromatic and fragrant herbs of the wilderness, and having made a fire, they bruised and warmed the samples and spread them upon a sheet of leaves.
while wahine-oma’o kept fast hold of the feet, hiiaka forced the soul-particle to pass in through one of the eye-sockets. it went as far as the cavity of the chest, then turned back and strove to escape. hiiaka guarded the ways of exit and with skillful manipulations compelled it to go on. reaching the loins, it balked again; but hiiaka’s art conquered its resistance and the human particle extended its journey to the feet. there was a twitching of these parts; the hands began to move, the eye-lids to quiver; breath once more entered the body. they lifted and laid it on the blanket of aromatics and restoratives, swathing it from head to foot.
hiiaka set a calabash of water before her and, addressing wahine-oma’o, said, “listen to my prayer. if it is correct and faultless, our man will live; but if it is wrong or imperfect, he will die.”
“he will not survive,” replied wahine-oma’o gloomily.
kuli ke kahuna i-mua
ia ku’i, nei, anapu, iluna, ilalo
o hana-ia-ka-malama,1 o mai-u’u,2 o ma-a’a,2 [139]
o nahinahi-ana,3 awihi, kau kanaloa—
he akua, ua lele i ka lani,
me kuhulu ma4—o ka hanau a kane,5
a na wahine:6—o na wahine i ka pa’i-pa’i:7
o pa’i-kua,8 o pa’i-alo,9 o pa’i-kau-hale;10
o loiele ka aha,11 o lele wale12 ka pule,
a pa ia’u, pa ia oe;13
halulu i ka manawa, he upe,
he waimaka—he waimaka aloha, e-e!
i e-e, holo ho’i, e-e!
translation
stand to the fore, o priest; shrink not
tho thunder’s growl and lightning’s flash
fill heaven’s vault above, below.
come mistress of tabus; come ye who string leis,
and the goddess who mixes the dyes.
kanaloa, alert, soars aloft, [140]
with hairy ku,—the offspring of kane—
and the women who cheer with a touch,
on the back, the chest, or knock at the door;
lest the charm depart, the prayer go wrong,
with damage to me and damage to you—
a pain in the head, a drooling nose,
a shedding of tears—of love and regret.
now let the prayer speed on its way!
“how was my prayer?” asked hiiaka, turning to wahine-oma’o.
“it was a good prayer,” she replied. “its only fault was that it sped on too quickly and came to an end too soon.”
“in its haste to obtain recovery, no doubt,” said hiiaka.
“perhaps so,” the woman replied.
“listen now to this prayer,” hiiaka said. “if it is a good prayer our man will recover:”
a luna i wahine-kapu,14
a kilauea i ka lua;
a lele, e, na hoalii,15
o ku-wa’a,16 o ku-haili-moe,17
o ka naele18 o hawaii.
e hi’i kapu o kanaloa,
o kui-kui,19 o koli-koli,20
o kaha-ula,21 o ka oaka kapa ulaula, [141]
kapa eleele, o kapa-ahu, o lono-makua,22
o ke oahi maka a ka ua la, e-e!
i e, holo e-e!
translation
ho, comrades from the sacred plateau!
ho, comrades from the burning gulf!
hither fly with art and cunning:
ku, who fells and guides the war-boat;
ku, who pilots us through dream-land;
all ye gods of broad hawaii;
kanaloa, guard well your tabus;
candle-maker, candle-snuffer;
goddess, too, of passion’s visions;
lightning red all heaven filling—
pitchy darkness turned to brightness—
lono, come, thou god of all fire;
come, too, thou piercing eye of rain:
speed, speed my prayer upon its quest!
“how is my prayer?” said hiiaka, turning to her companion. the answer was the same as before.
hiiaka devotes herself to gentle ministrations of healing; but without intermitting the chanting of prayer-songs, the burden of whose petition is that the spirit of health shall prevail in lohiau and restore him completely. after again sprinkling the body with water from the calabash, she breaks forth:
ia ho’uluulu ia mai au,
e kane-kapolei23 imua e-e;
ia ulu kini o ke akua, la;
ulu mai o kane, o kanaloa—
o hiiaka, kaula mana ia, e-e, [142]
nana i ho’uluulu i na ma’i—
a a’e, a ulu, a noho i kou kuahu.
eia ka wai la, he wai ola, e-e!
e ola, ho’i, e-e!
translation
come, enter, possess and inspire me;
thou first, god of the flowery wild;
ye roving sprites of the wildwood;
and master gods, kane and loa;—
hiiaka, who calls you, lacks not
in power to heal and inspire—
pray enter, and heal, and abide
in this one, your patron and guard.
here is water, the water of life.
give us this life!
as in archery the character of the arrow, the skill of the archer, and the caprice of the air-currents that blow athwart the course of the arrow’s flight may severally or collectively make or mar success, so likewise with the kahuna and his praying, success or failure were spelled by the quality of his prayer-shaft, by the manner of his utterance of it, and lastly, by the physical and moral state of the atmosphere as to the existence or absence of noise and disturbance.
it was not, then, through a mere silly curiosity or pride of utterance that hiiaka appealed to her attendant to learn what she thought of her prayer. nor was it a vain and meaningless compliment when the latter declared the prayer to be good, the conditions favorable. at the same time she could not repress the criticism that from her emotional stand-point of view, the prayer seemed short.
again hiiaka sprinkled the body with water from the calabash while she uttered this prayer-song:
eia ana au, e laká,24 [143]
kane a ha’i-wahine25—
ha’i pua o ka nahelehele,
haki hana maile o ka wao,
houluulu lei, ho’i, o laká;
o hiiaka, kaula mana ia, e-e,
nana i ho’ouluulu na ma’i.
a a’e, a ulu, a noho i kou kahu:
eia ka wai la; he wai ola, e-e!
e ola, ho’i, e-e!
translation
here stand i in stress, laká,
thou husband of haina-kolo.
what flowers have i plucked in the wild,
what maile stripped in the forest,
to twine into wreaths for laká:
thus toiled the seer hiiaka;
and her’s was the magic of cure.
but come thou, mount, enter, possess;
give life to thy servant and priest.
here’s water, the water of life!
grant life!
the work of completely restoring lohiau by the necromancies of the kahuna, like a process of nature, required the ripening hand of time. the utterance of prayer must be unremitting. [144]
1hana-ia-ka-malama, a benevolent goddess who presided over the tabus that were the birthright of certain chiefs. the rules and observances that etiquette prescribed in the life and conduct of such a chief were intricate and burdensome to the last degree. it was, for instance, required that an infant who inherited this sort of a tabu must not be placed in such a position that the sun’s rays could shine on its vertex. ↑
2mai-u’u, ma-a’a, two goddesses (of the wilderness) whose function it was to string or twine leis and wreaths for the decoration of the superior gods. all the gods here mentioned were sometimes grouped under the appellation akua o ka wa po—gods of the night-time—the fact being, however, that they worked as much by day as by night. ↑
3nahinahi-ana, another name for the goddess hina-ulu-ohi’a, under which appelation her function was to make the dyes used in coloring and printing the tapas. ↑
4kuhulu ma. the particle-affix ma indicates that this name, or cognomen rather, comprises a group—in this case a family group—of deities. under the family cognomen ku were ranged a large and important group of deities, to whom were given individual appelations appropriate to their functions. thus, ku-huluhulu and ku-ka-ohi’a-laka were deities worshipped by the canoe-makers. ku-hulu and his set (ma) exercised a function akin to that of the water-carrier. they had charge of the fabled, life-giving water of kane, wai a kane, and served it out according to the needs of men. ↑
5hanau a kane, offspring of kane. this appellation is intended, apparently, to cover the whole list of names already mentioned and, perhaps, some to be mentioned later in the mele. ↑
6wahine. who these women, goddesses, were is brought out in what follows. ↑
7na wahine i ka pa’ipa’i, literally, the women who clapped, or applauded; but more closely specified as: ↑
8pa’i-kua, the goddess who slapped the back, as was done in the hula. ↑
9pa’i-alo, the goddess who slapped the chest, as was also done in the hula. ↑
10pa’i-kauhale, she who knocked at the doors of the village, i.e., who roused the people generally. ↑
11aha, the charm of a pule, its ceremonial correctness, its power as an incantation. ↑
12lele wale, to get off the track; to go astray; to fail to hit the point. ↑
13a pa ia’u, pa ia oe, with results disastrous to me and to you. ↑
14wahine-kapu, a bluff in the north-western wall that surrounds the caldera of kilauea, the tabu residence of god ka-moho-alii, a brother of pele. ↑
15hoali’i (hoa, companion and alii, chief); a fellow chief. ↑
16ku-wa’a, a god who presided at the hauling of a canoe-log. the shout raised on such an occasion, though it sounds almost like a repetition of this god’s name, being “ku maumau wa,” had a different origin. ↑
17ku-haili-moe, one of the ku gods, whose function it was to induce or preside over dreams at night. ↑
18naele o hawaii, probably meaning the whole broad area of hawaii. one view would make it refer specially to the swampy lands. ↑
19kui-kui, an archaic form of the word kukui; here meaning both the candle made from the kukui nut and the god who had the same under his special charge. ↑
20koli-koli, the god who presided over the snuffling of the kukui nut candles. these were made by stringing the roasted nuts on a coconut leaf-rib. ↑
21kaha-ula, the goddess who presided over erotic dreams. ↑
22lono-makua, a god one of whose functions was to act as guardian of fire. when pele and kama-pua’a fought together and kama-pua’a had succeeded in extinguishing the fires of kilauea, pele, in dismay, appealed to lono-makua, saying, “there is no fire left.” lono-makua calmly pointed to his armpit and said, “here is the fire, in these fire-sticks,” (aunaki and aulima). the armpit was his place for carrying these sticks. when the hawaiians first saw a white man with a lighted pipe in his mouth, smoke issuing therefrom, they said, “surely, this is the great god lono-makua; he breathes out fire.” ↑
23kane-kapolei, god of flowers and shrubs. ↑
24laka, a god, or demi-god of various functions, such as fishing, agriculture, and house-building. malo mentions ku-ka-ohi’a-laka as a god invoked by canoe-makers. laka is evidently derived from the name rata, which in tahiti, raro-tonga and new zealand is the name of the ohi’a tree. laka is to be distinguished from laka, the goddess of the hula. ↑
25haina-kolo, the same as ha’i-wahine, the name used in the hawaiian text. ha’ina-kolo is a name that spells tragedy. she was a princess of hawaii who married a mythical being, ke-anini-ula-o-ka-lani and went with him to his home in the south. being deserted by her husband, after the birth of her child she started to swim home to hawaii. arriving in a famished condition in kohala, she ate of some ulei berries without first making an offering to the gods. for this offense she was afflicted with insanity, and being distraught, she wandered in the wilderness until her repentant husband sent for her and restored her by his returning love.
