Rupert Hughes - "We Can't Have Everything"

Forbes Robinson - "Letters to His Friends"

Fanny Fern - "Little Ferns For Fanny's Little Friends"

Edward Harper Parker - "Ancient China Simplified"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Unwritten Literature of Hawaii

N >> Nathaniel Bright Emerson >> Unwritten Literature of Hawaii




The make-up and style of these ki'i are so similar that a
description of one will serve for all six. This marionette
represents the figure of a man, and was named _Maka-ku_ (pl.
IX). The head is carved out of some soft wood--either kukui
or wiliwili---which is covered, as to the hairy scalp, with a
dark woven fabric much like broadcloth. It is encircled at
the level of the forehead with a broad band of gilt braid, as
if to ape the style of a soldier. The median line from the
forehead over the vertex to the back-head is crested with the
_mahiole_ ridge. This, taken in connection with the
[Page 92] encircling gilt band, gives to the head a warlike appearance,
somewhat as if it were armed with the classical helmet, the
Hawaiian name for which is _mahi-ole_. The crest of the ridge
and its points of junction with the forehead and back-head
are decorated with fillets of wool dyed of a reddish color,
in apparent imitation of the _mamo_ or _o-o_, the birds whose
feathers were used in decorating helmets, cloaks, and other
regalia. The features are carved with some attempt at
fidelity. The eyes are set with mother-of-pearl.

The figure is of about one-third life size, and was
originally draped, the author was told, in a loose robe,
_holoku_ of tapa cloth of the sort known as _mahuna_, which
is quite thin. This piece of tapa is perforated at short
intervals with small holes, _kiko'i_. It is also stained with
the juice from the bark of the root of the kukui tree, which
imparts a color like that of copper, and makes the Hawaiians
class it as _pa'ikukui_. A portion of its former, its
original, apparel has been secured.

The image is now robed in a holoku of yellow cotton, beneath
which is an underskirt of striped silk in green and white.
The arms are loosely jointed to the body.

The performer in the hula, who stood behind a screen, by
insinuating his hands under the clothing of the marionette,
could impart to it such movements as were called for by the
action of the play, while at the same time he repeated the
words of his part, words supposed to be uttered by the
marionette.

The hula ki'i was, perhaps, the nearest approximation made by
the Hawaiians to a genuine dramatic performance. Its usual
instrument of musical accompaniment was the ipu, previously
described. This drumlike object was handled by that division
of the performers called the hoopa'a, who sat in full view of
the audience manipulating the ipu in a quiet, sentimental
manner, similar to that employed in the hula kuolo.

As a sample of the stories illustrated in a performance of
the hula ki'i the following may be adduced, the dramatis
personae of which are four:

1. _Maka-ku_: a famous warrior, a rude, strong-handed
braggart, as boastful as Ajax.

2. _Puapua-kea_, a small man, but brave and active.

3. _Maile-lau-lii_ (Small-leafed-maile), a young woman, who
becomes the wife of Maka-ku.

4. _Maile-Pakaha_, the younger sister of Maile-lau-lii, who
becomes the wife of Puapua-kea.

Maka-ku, a rude and boastful son of Mars, at heart a bully,
if not a coward, is represented as ever aching for a fight,
in which his domineering spirit and rough-and-tumble ways for
a time gave him the advantage over abler, but more modest,
adversaries.

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, BULLETIN 38 PLATE IX
MARIONETTE, MAKA-KU]

[Page 93]

Puapuakea, a man of genuine courage, hearing of the boastful
achievements of Maka-ku, seeks him out and challenges him.

At the first contest they fought with javelins, _ihe_, each
one taking his turn according to lot in casting his javelins
to the full tale of the prescribed number; after which the
other contestant did the same. Neither was victorious.

Next they fought with slings, each one having the right to
sling forty stones at the other. In this conflict also
neither one of them got the better of the other. The next
trial was with stone-throwing. The result was still the same.

Now it was for them to try the classical Hawaiian game of
_lua_. This was a strenuous form of contest that has many
features in common with the panathlion of the ancient
Hellenes, some points in common with boxing, and still more,
perhaps, partakes of the character of the grand art of
combat, wrestling. Since becoming acquainted with the fine
Japanese art of _jiu-jitsu_, the author recognizes certain
methods that were shared by them both. But to all of these it
added the wild privileges of choking, bone-breaking,
dislocating, eye-gouging, and the infliction of tortures and
grips unmentionable and disreputable. At first the conflict
was in suspense, victory favoring neither party; but as the
contest went on Puapuakea showed a slight superiority, and at
the finish he had bettered Maka-ku by three points, or
_ai_[205], as the Hawaiians uniquely term it.

[Footnote 205: _Ai_, literally a food, a course.]

The sisters, Maile-lau-lii and Maile-pakaha, who had been
interested spectators of the contest, conceived a passionate
liking for the two warriors and laid their plans in concert
to capture them for themselves. Fortunately their preferences
were not in conflict. Maile-lau-lii set her affections on
Maka-ku, while the younger sister devoted herself to
Pua-pua-kea.

The two men had previously allowed their fancies to range
abroad at pleasure; but from this time they centered their
hearts on these two Mailes and settled down to regular
married life.

Interest in the actual performance of the hula ki'i was
stimulated by a resort to byplay and buffoonery. One of the
marionettes, for instance, points to some one in the
audience; whereupon one of the _hoopaa_ asks, "What do you
want?" The marionette persists in its pointing. At length the
interlocutor, as if divining the marionette's wish, says:
"Ah, you want So-and-so." At this the marionette nods assent,
and the hoopaa asks again, "Do you wish him to come to you?"
The marionette expresses its delight and approval by nods and
gestures, to the immense satisfaction of the audience, who
join in derisive laughter at the expense of the person held
up to ridicule.

Besides the marionettes already named among the characters
found in the different hula-plays of the hula ki'i, the
[Page 94] author has heard mention of the following marionettes: _Ku,
Kini-ki'i, Hoo-lehelehe-ki'i, Ki'i-ki'i_, and _Nihi-aumoe_.

Nihi-aumoe was a man without the incumbrance of a wife, an
expert in the arts of intrigue and seduction. Nihi-aumoe is a
word of very suggestive meaning, to walk softly at midnight.
In Judge Andrews's dictionary are found the following
pertinent Hawaiian verses apropos of the word _nihi_:

E hoopono ka hele i ka uka o Puna;
E _nihi_ ka hele, mai hoolawehala,
Mai noho a ako i ka pua, o hewa,
O inaina ke Akua, paa ke alanui,
Aole ou ala e hiki aku ai.

[Translation]

Look to your ways in upland Puna;
Walk softly, commit no offense;
Dally not, nor pluck the flower sin;
Lest God in anger bar the road,
And you find no way of escape.

The marionette Ki'i-ki'i was a strenuous little fellow, an
_ilamuku_, a marshal, or constable of the king. It was his
duty to carry out with unrelenting rigor the commands of the
alii, whether they bade him take possession of a taro patch,
set fire to a house, or to steal upon a man at dead of night
and dash out his brains while he slept.

Referring to the illustrations (pl. VIII), a judge of human
nature can almost read the character of the libertine
Nihi-aumoe written in his features--the flattened vertex,
indicative of lacking reverence and fear, the ruffian
strength of the broad face; and if one could observe the
reverse of the picture he would note the flattened back-head,
a feature that marks a large number of Hawaiian crania.

The songs that were cantillated to the hula ki'i express in
some degree the peculiar libertinism of this hula, which
differed from all others by many removes. They may be
characterized as gossipy, sarcastic, ironical,
scandal-mongering, dealing in satire, abuse, hitting right
and left at social and personal vices--a cheese of rank
flavor that is not to be partaken of too freely. It might be
compared to the vaudeville in opera or to the genre picture
in art.

_Mele_

E Wewehi, ke, ke!
Wewehi oiwi, ke, ke!
Punana[206] i ka luna, ke, ke!
Hoonoho kai-oa[207] ke, ke!
[Page 95] 5 Oluna ka wa'a[208], ke, ke!
O kela wa'a, ke, ke!
O keia wa'a, ke, ke!
Ninau o Mawi[209], ke, ke!
Nawai ka luau'i?[209] ke, ke!
10 Na Wewehi-loa[210], ke, ke! 10
Ua make Wewehi, ke, ke!
Ua ku i ka ihe, ke, ke!
Ma ka puka kahiko[211] ke, ke!
Ka puka a Mawi, ke, ke!

15 Ka lepe, ka lepe, la! 15
Ka lepe, ua hina a uwe!
Ninau ka lepe, la!
Mana-mana lii-lii,
Mana-mana heheiao,
20 Ke kumu o ka lepe? 20
Ka lepe hiolo, e?

[Footnote 206: _Punana_. Literally a nest; here a raised couch
on the _pola_, which was a sheltered platform in the waist of
a double canoe, corresponding to our cabin, for the use of
chiefs and other people of distinction.]

[Footnote 207: _Kai-oa_. The paddle-men; here a euphemism.]

[Footnote 208: _Wa'a_. A euphemism for the human body.]

[Footnote 209: _Mawi_. The hero of Polynesian mythology, whose
name is usually spelled _Maui_, like the name of the island.
Departure from the usual orthography is made in order to
secure phonetic accuracy. The name of the hero is pronounced
_Mah-wee_, not _Mow-ee_, as is the island. Sir George Gray,
of New Zealand, following the usual orthography, has given a
very full and interesting account of him in his Polynesian
mythology.]

[Footnote 210: _Wewehi-loa_. Another name for _Wahie-loa_, who
is said to have been the grandfather of Wewehi. The word
_luau'i_ in the previous verse, meaning real father, is an
archaic form. Another form is _kua-u'i_.]

[Footnote 211: _Puka kahiko_. A strange story from Hawaiian
mythology relates that originally the human anatomy was sadly
deficient in that the terminal gate of the _primae viae_ was
closed. Mawi applied his common-sense surgery to the repair
of the defect and relieved the situation. _Ua olelo ia i
kinahi ua hana ia kanaka me ka hemahema no ka nele i ka hou
puka ole ia ka okole, a na Mawi i hoopau i keia pilikia
mamuli o kana hana akamai. Ua kapa ia keia puka ka puka
kahiko._]

[Translation]

_Song_

O Wewehi, la, la!
Wewehi, peerless form, la, la!
Encouched on the pola, la, la!
Bossing the paddlers, la, la!
5 Men of the canoe, la, la! 5
Of that canoe, la, la!

Of this canoe, la, la!
Mawi inquires, la, la!
Who was her grand-sire? la, la!
10 'Twas Wewehi-loa, la, la! 10
Wewehi is dead, la, la!
Wounded with spear, la, la!
The same old wound, la, la!
Wound made by Mawi, la, la!
[Page 96]
15 The flag, lo the flag! 15
The flag weeps at half-mast!
The flag, indeed, asks--
Many, many the flags,
A scandal for number.
20 Why are they overturned? 20
Why their banners cast down?



The author has met with several variants to this mele, which
do not greatly change its character. In one of these variants
the following changes are to be noted:

Line 4. Pikaka[212] e ka luna, ke, ke!
Line 5. Ka luna o ka hale, ke, ke!
Line 8. Ka puka o ka hale, a ke, ke!
Line 9. E noho i anei, a ke, ke!

To attempt a translation of these lines which are
unadulterated slang:

Line 4. The roof is a-dry, la, la!
Line 5. The roof of the house, la, la!
Line 8. The door of the house, la, la!
Line 9. Turn in this way, la, la!

[Footnote 212: _Pikaka_ (full form _pikakao_). Dried up,
juiceless.]

The one who supplied the above lines expressed inability to
understand their meaning, averring that they are "classical
Hawaiian," meaning, doubtless, that they are archaic slang.
As to the ninth line, the practice of "sitting in the door"
seems to have been the fashion with such folk as far back as
the time of Solomon.

Let us picture this princess of Maui, this granddaughter of
Wahieloa, Wewehi, as a Helen, with all of Helen's frailty, a
flirt-errant, luxurious in life, quickly deserting one lover
for the arms of another; yet withal of such humanity and
kindness of fascination that, at her death, or absence, all
things mourned her--not as Lycidas was mourned:

"With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
.............................................
And daffodillies fill their cups with tears,"

but in some rude pagan fashion; all of which is wrought out
and symbolized in the mele with such imagery as is native to
the mind of the savage.

The attentive reader will not need be told that, as in many
another piece out of Hawaii's old-time legends, the path
through this song is beset with euphuistic stumbling blocks.
The purpose of language, says Talleyrand, is to conceal
thought. The veil in this case is quite gauzy.

The language of the following song for the marionette dance,
hula ki'i, as in the one previously given, is mostly of that
[Page 97] kind which the Hawaiians term _olelo kapekepeke_, or _olelo
huna_, shifty talk, or secret talk. We might call it slang,
though, it is not slang in the exact sense in which we use
that word, applying it to the improvised counters of thought
that gain currency in our daily speech until they find
admission to the forum, the platform, and the dictionary. It
is rather a cipher-speech, a method of concealing one's
meaning from all but the initiated, of which the Hawaiian,
whether alii or commoner, was very fond. The people of the
hula were famous for this sort of accomplishment and prided
themselves not a little in it as an effectual means of giving
appropriate flavor and gusto to their performances.

_Mele_

Ele-ele kau-kau;[213]
Ka hala-le,[214] e kau-kau,
Ka e-ele ihi,
Ele ihi, ele a,
5 Ka e-ele ku-pou;[215]
Ku-pou.
Ka hala, e![216]

[Translation]

_Song_

Point to a dark one,
Point to a dainty piece,
A delicate morsel she!
Very choice, very hot!
5 She that stoops over--
Aye stoops!
Lo, the hala fruit!

The translation has to be based largely on conjecture. The
author of this bit of fun-making, which is couched in
old-time slang, died without making known the key to his
cipher, and no one whom the present writer has met with is
able to unravel its full meaning.

[Footnote 213: _Kau-kau_. Conjectural meaning to point out some
one in the audience, as the marionettes often did. People
were thus sometimes inveigled in behind the curtain.]

[Footnote 214: _Hala-le_. Said to mean a sop, with which one
took up the juice or gravy of food; a choice morsel.]

[Footnote 215: _Ku-pou_. To stoop over, from devotion to one's
own pursuits, from modesty, or from shame.]

[Footnote 216: The meaning of this line has been matter for
much conjecture. The author has finally adopted the
suggestion embodied in the translation here given, which is a
somewhat gross reference to the woman's physical charms.]

The following mele for the hula ki'i, in language colored by
the same motive, was furnished by an accomplished
practitioner who had traveled far and wide in the practice of
her art, having been one of a company of hula dancers that
attended the Columbian exposition in Chicago. It was her good
[Page 98] fortune also to reach the antipodes in her travels, and it
was at Berlin, she says, that she witnessed for the first
time the European counterpart of the hula ki'i, the "Punch
and Judy" show:

_Mele no ka Hula Ki'i_

E le'e kau-kau, kala le'e;
E le'e kau-kau.
E le'e kau-kau, kala le'e.
E lepe kau-kau.
5 E o-ku ana i kai;
E u-au ai aku;
E u-au ai aku;
E u-au ai aku!
E-he-he, e!

[Translation.]

_Song for the Hula Ki'i_

Now for the dance, dance in accord;
Prepare for the dance.
Now for the dance, dance in time.
Up, now, with the flag!
5 Step out to the right
Step out to the left!
Ha, ha, ha!

This translation is the result of much research, yet its
absolute accuracy can not be vouched for. The most learned
authorities (_kaka-olelo_) in old Hawaiian lore that have
been found by the writer express themselves as greatly
puzzled at the exact meaning of the mele just given. Some
scholars, no doubt, would dub these nonsense-lines. The
author can not consent to any such view. The old Hawaiians
were too much in earnest to permit themselves to juggle with
words in such fashion. They were fond of mystery and
concealment, appreciated a joke, given to slang, but to
string a lot of words together without meaning, after the
fashion of a college student who delights to relieve his mind
by shouting "Upidee, upida," was not their way. "The people
of the hula," said one man, "had ways of fun-making peculiar
to themselves."

When the hula-dancer who communicated to the author the above
song--a very accomplished and intelligent woman--was asked
for information that would render possible its proper
translation, she replied that her part was only that of a
mouthpiece to repeat the words and to make appropriate
gestures, _he pono hula wale no_, mere parrot-work. The
language, she said, was such "classic" Hawaiian as to be
beyond her understanding.
[Page 99]
Here, again, is another song in argot, a coin of the same
mintage as those just given:

_Mele_

E kau-kau i hale manu, e!
Ike oe i ka lola huluhulu, e?
I ka huluhulu a we'uwe'u, e?
I ka punohu,[217] e, a ka la e kau nei?
5 Walea ka manu i ka wai, e!
I ka wai lohi o ke kini, e!

[Translation]

_Song_

Let's worship now the bird-cage.
Seest thou the furzy woodland,
The shag of herb and forest,
The low earth-tinting rainbow,
5 Child of the Sun that swings above?
O, happy bird, to drink from the pool,
A bliss free to the million!

[Footnote 217: _Punohu_. A compact mass of clouds, generally
lying low in the heavens; a cloud-omen; also a rainbow that
lies close to the earth, such as is formed when the sun is
high in the heavens.]

This is the language of symbolism. When Venus went about to
ensnare Adonis, among her other wiles she warbled to him of
mountains, dales, and pleasant fountains.

The mele now presented is of an entirely different character
from those that have just preceded. It is said to have been
the joint composition of the high chief Keiki-o-ewa of Kauai,
at one time the kahu of Prince Moses, and of Kapihe, a
distinguished poet--haku-mele--and prophet. (To Kapihe is
ascribed the prophetic and oracular utterance, _E iho ana o
luna, e pii ana o lalo; e ku ana ka paia; e moe ana kaula; e
kau ana kau-huhu--o lani iluna, o honua ilalo_--"The high
shall be brought low, the lowly uplifted; the defenses shall
stand; the prophet shall lie low; the mountain walls shall
abide--heaven above, earth beneath.")

This next poem may be regarded as an epithalamium, the
celebration of the mystery and bliss of the wedding night,
the _hoao ana_ of a high chief and his high-born _kapu_
sister. The murmur of the breeze, the fury of the winds, the
heat of the sun, the sacrificial ovens, all are symbols that
set forth the emotions, experiences, and mysteries of the
night:
[Page 100]

_Mele_

(Ko'ihonua)

O Wanahili[218] ka po loa ia Manu'a,[219]
O ka pu kau kama[220] i Hawaii akea;
O ka pu leina[221] kea a Kiha--
O Kiha nui a Pii-lani--[222]
5 O Kauhi kalana-honu'-a-Kama;[223]
O ka maka iolena[224] ke koohaulani i-o!
O kela kanaka hoali mauna,[225]
O Ka Lani ku'i hono i ka moku.[226]
I waihona kapuahi kanaka eha,[227]
10 Ai' i Kauai, i Oahu, i Maui,
I Hawaii kahiko o Keawe enaena,[228]
Ke a-a, mai la me ke o-koko,
Ke lapa-lapa la i ka makani,
Makani kua, he Naulu.[229]
10 Kua ka Wainoa i ka Mikioi,
[Page 101] Pu-a ia lalo o Hala-li'i, [230]
Me he alii, alii, la no ka hele i Kekaha,
Ka hookiekie i ka li'u-la,[231]
Ka hele i ke alia-lia la, alia!
20 Alia-lia la'a-laau Kekaha.
Ke kaha o Kala-ihi, Wai-o-lono.
Ke olo la ke pihe a ka La, e!
Ke nu la paha i Honua-ula.

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