Unwritten Literature of Hawaii

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

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32

_Mele_

Ku piliki'i Hanalei-lehua,[396] la;
Kao'o[397] 'luna o ka naele,[398] la;
Ka Pili-iki i ka Hua-moa, la;
E ka mauna o ke a'a lewalewa[399] la.
5 A lewa ka hope o ko'u hoa, la,
[Page 211] A ko-u ka hope o ke kolea, la--
Na u'i elua.[400]
Ki-ki'i ka ua i ka nana keia, la.[401]

[Footnote 396: _Hanalei-lehua_. A wilderness back of Hanalei
valley, Kauai, in which the lehua tree abounds. The features
of this region are as above described.]

[Footnote 397: _Kao'o_. To bend down the shrubs and tussocks of
grass to furnish solid footing in crossing swampy ground.]

[Footnote 398: _Nae'le_. Boggy ground; a swamp, such as pitted
the summit of Kauai's central mountain mass, Waialeale.]

[Footnote 399: _A'a lewalewa_. Aerial roots such as are put
forth by the lehua trees in high altitudes and in a damp
climate. They often aid the traveler by furnishing him with a
sort of ladder.]

[Footnote 400: _U'i elua_. Literally two beauties. One
interpreter says the reference is to the arms, with which one
pulls himself up; it is here rendered "flanks."]

[Footnote 401: _Ki-ki'i ka na i ka nana keia, la_. The meaning
of this passage is obscure. The most plausible view is that
this is an exclamation made by one of the two travelers while
crouching for shelter under an overhanging bank. This one,
finding himself unprotected, exclaims to his companion on the
excellence of the shelter he has found, whereupon the second
man comes over to share his comfort only to find that he has
been hoaxed and that the deceiver has stolen his former
place. The language of the text seems a narrow foundation on
which to base such an incident. A learned Hawaiian friend,
however, finds it all implied in this passage.]

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 38 PLATE XXII
AWA-PUHI, A HAWAIIAN GINGER
(ZINGIBER ZERUMBET)]

[Translation]

_Song_

Perilous, steep, is the climb to Hanalei woods;
To walk canny footed over its bogs;
To balance oneself on its ledges,
And toil up ladder of hanging roots.
5 The bulk of my guide overhangs me,
His loins are well-nigh exhausted;
Two beautiful shapes!
'Neath this bank I crouch sheltered from rain.

At first blush this mele seems to be the account of a
perilous climb through that wild mountainous region that lies
back of Hanalei, Kauai, a region of tangled woods, oozy
steeps, fathomless bogs, narrow ridges, and overhanging
cliffs that fall away into profound abysses, making such an
excursion a most precarious adventure. This is what appears
on the surface. Hawaiian poets, however, did not indulge in
landscape-painting for its own sake; as a rule, they had some
ulterior end in view, and that end was the portrayal of some
primal human passion, ambition, hate, jealousy, love,
especially love. Guided by this principle, one asks what
uncouth or romantic love adventure this wild mountain climb
symbolizes. All the Hawaiians whom the author has consulted
on this question deny any hidden meaning to this mele.
[Page 212]

XXVIII.--THE HULA MU'U-MU'U

The conception of this peculiar hula originated from a
pathetic incident narrated in the story of Hiiaka's journey
to bring Prince Lohiau to the court of Pele. Haiika, standing
with her friend Wahine-oma'o on the heights that overlooked
the beach at Kahakuloa, Maui, saw the figure of a woman,
maimed as to hands and feet, dancing in fantastic glee on a
plate of rock by the ocean. She sang as she danced, pouring
out her soul in an ecstasy that ill became her pitiful
condition; and as she danced her shadow-dance, for she was
but a ghost, poor soul! these were the words she repeated:

Auwe, auwe, mo' ku'u lima!
Auwe, auwe, mo' ku'u lima!

[Translation]

Alas, alas, maimed are my hands!
Alas, alas, maimed are my hands!

Wahine-oma'o, lacking spiritual sight, saw nothing of this;
but Hiiaka, in downright pity and goodness of impulse,
plucked a hala fruit from the string about her neck and threw
it so that it fell before the poor creature, who eagerly
seized it and with the stumps of her hands held it up to
enjoy its odor. At the sight of the woman's pleasure Hiiaka
sang:

Le'a wale hoi ka wahine lima-lima ole, wawae ole,
E ha ana i kana i'a, ku'i-ku'i ana i kana opihi,
Wa'u-wa'u ana i kana limu, Mana-mana-ia-kalu-e-a.

[Translation]

How pleased is the girl maimed of hand and foot,
Groping for fish, pounding shells of opihi,
Kneading her moss, Mana-mana-ia-kalu-ea!

The answer of the desolate creature, grateful for Hiiaka's
recognition and kind attention, was that pretty mele
appropriated by hula folk as the wreath-song, already given
(p. 56), which will bear repetition:

Ke lei mai la o Ka-ula i ke kai, e-e!
Ke malamalama o Niihau, ua malie.
A malie, pa ka Inu-wai.
Ke inu mai la na hala o Naue i ke kai.
5 No Naue ka hala, no Puna ka wahine,
No ka lua no i Kilauea.
[Page 213]

[Translation]

Kaula wreathes her brow with the ocean;
Niihau shines forth in the calm.
After the calm blows the Inu-wai,
And the palms of Naue drink of the salt.
5 From Naue the palm, from Puna the maid,
Aye, from the pit of Kilauea.

The hula _mu'u-mu'u_, literally the dance of the maimed, has
long been out of vogue, so that the author has met with but
one person, and he not a practitioner of the hula, who has
witnessed its performance. This was in Puna, Hawaii; the
performance was by women only and was without instrumental
accompaniment. The actors were seated in a half-reclining
position, or kneeling. Their arms, as if in imitation of a
maimed person, were bent at the elbows and doubled up, so
that their gestures were made with the upper arms. The mele
they cantillated went as follows:

Pii ana a-ama,[402]
A-ama kai nui;
Kai pua-lena;
A-ama, pai-e-a,[403]
5 Naholo i lea laupapa.
Popo'i, popo'i, popo'i!
Pii mai pipipi,[404] alea-lea;
Noho i ka malua kai
O-u,[405] o-i kela.
10 Ai ka limu akaha-kaha;[406]
Ku e, Kahiki, i ke kai nui!
I ke kai pualena a Kane!
A ke Akua o ka lua,
Ua hiki i kai!
15 Ai humu-humu,
E lau, e lau e,
Ka opihi[407] koele!
Pa i uka, pa i kai,
Kahi a ke Akua i pe'e ai.
20 Pe'e oe a nalo loa;
Ua nalo na Pele.
E hua'i e, hua'i e, hua'i,
O Ku ka mahu nui akea![408]
Iho i kai o ka Milo-holu;[409]
25 Auau meliana i ka wai o ke Akua.
Ke a e, ke a mai la
Ke ahi a ka Wahine.
E hula e, e hula e, e hula e!
E hula mai oukou!
30 Ua noa no Manamana-ia-kalu-e-a,
Puili kua, puili alo;
Holo i kai, holo i uka,
Holo i ka lua o Pele--
He Akua ai pohaku no Puna.
35 O Pi,[410] o Pa,[410] uhini mai ana,
O Pele i ka lua.
A noa!

[Footnote 402: _A-ama_. An edible black crab. When the surf is
high, it climbs up on the rocks.]

[Footnote 403: _Pai-e-a_. An edible gray crab. The favorite
time for taking these crabs is when the high tide or surf
forces them to leave the water for protection.]

[Footnote 404: _Pipipi_. A black seashell (Nerita). With it is
often found the _alea-lea_, a gray shell. These shellfish,
like the crabs above mentioned, crawl up the rocks and cliffs
during stormy weather.]

[Footnote 405: _O-u_. A variety of eel that lurks in holes; it
is wont to keep its head lifted. The _o-i'_ (same verse) is
an eel that snakes about in the shallow water or on the sand
at the edge of the water.]

[Footnote 406: _Akahakaha_. A variety of moss. If one ate of
this as he gathered it, the ocean at once became
tempestuous.]

[Footnote 407: _Opihi_. An edible bivalve found in the salt
waters of Hawaii. Pele is said to have been very fond of it.
There is an old saying, _He akua ai opihi o Pele_--"Pele is a
goddess who eats the opihi." In proof of this statement they
point to the huge piles of opihi shells that may be found
along the coast of Puna, the middens, no doubt, of the
old-time people. _Koele_ was a term applied to the opihi that
lives well under water, and therefore are delicate eating.
Another meaning given to the word _koele--opihi koele_,--line
17--is "heaped up."]

[Footnote 408: _O Ku ka mahu nui akea_. The Hawaiians have come
to treat this phrase as one word, an epithet applied to the
god Ku. In the author's translation it is treated as an
ordinary phrase.]

[Footnote 409: _Milo-holu_. A grove of milo trees that stood,
as some affirm, about that natural basin of warm water in
Puna, which the Hawaiians called _Wai-wela-wela_.]

[Footnote 410: _Pi, Pa_. These were two imaginary little beings
who lived in the crater of Kilauea, and who declared their
presence by a tiny shrill piping sound, such, perhaps, as a
stick of green wood will make when burning. Pi was active at
such times as the fires were retreating, Pa when the fires
were rising to a full head.]
[Page 214]

[Translation]

Black crabs are climbing,
Crabs from the great sea,
Sea that is darkling.
Black crabs and gray crabs
5 Scuttle o'er the reef-plate.
Billows are tumbling and lashing,
Beating and surging nigh.
Seashells are crawling up;
And lurking in holes
10 Are the eels o-u and o-i.
But taste the moss akahakaha,
Kahiki! how the sea rages!
The wild sea of Kane!
The pit-god has come to the ocean,
15 All consuming, devouring
By heaps the delicate shellfish!
Lashing the mount, lashing the sea,
Lurking place of the goddess.
Pray hide yourself wholly;
20 The Pele women are hidden.
Burst forth now! burst forth!
Ku with spreading column of smoke!
Now down to the grove Milo-holu;
Bathe in waters warmed by the goddess.
25 Behold, they burn, behold, they burn!
[Page 215] The fires of the goddess burn!
Now for the dance, the dance!
Bring out the dance made public
By Mana-mana-ia-kalu-e-a.
30 Turn about back, turn about face;
Advance toward the sea;
Advance toward the land,
Toward the pit that is Pele's,
Portentous consumer of rocks in Puna.
35 Pi and Pa chirp the cricket notes
Of Pele at home in her pit.
Have done with restraint!

The imagery and language of this mele mark the hula to which
it belonged as a performance of strength.
[Page 216]

XXIX.--THE HULA KOLANI

For the purpose of this book the rating of any variety of
hula must depend not so much on the grace and rhythm of its
action on the stage as on the imaginative power and dignity
of its poetry. Judgedin this way, the _kolani_ is one of the
most interesting and important of the hulas. Its performance
seems to have made no attempt at sensationalism, yet it was
marked by a peculiar elegance. This must have been due in a
measure to the fact that only adepts--_olohe_--those of the
most finished skill in the art of hula, took part in its
presentation. It was a hula of gentle, gracious action, acted
and sung while the performers kept a sitting position, and
was without instrumental accompaniment. The fact that this
hula was among the number chosen for presentation before the
king (Kamehameha III) while on a tour of Oahu in the year
1846 or 1847 is emphatic testimony as to the esteem in which
it was held by the Hawaiians themselves.

The mele that accompanied this hula when performed for the
king's entertainment at Waimanalo was the following:

He ua la, he ua,
He ua pi'i mai;
Noe-noe halau,
Halau loa o Lono.
5 O lono oe;
Pa-a-a na pali
I ka hana a Ikuwa--
Poha ko-ele-ele.
A Welehu ka malama,
10 Noho i Makali'i;
Li'i-li'i ka hana.
Aia a e'e-u,
He eu ia no ka la hiki.
Hiki mai ka Lani,
15 Nauweuwe ka honua,
Ka hana a ke ola'i nui:
Moe pono ole ko'u po--
Na niho ai kalakala,
Ka hana a ka Niuhi
20 A mau i ke kai loa.
He loa o ka hiki'na.
A ua noa, a ua noa.
[Page 217]

[Translation]

Lo, the rain, the rain!
The rain is approaching;
The dance-hall is murky,
The great hall of Lono.
5 Listen! its mountain walls
Are stunned with the clatter,
As when in October,
Heaven's thunderbolts shatter.
Then follows Welehu,
10 The month of the Pleiads.
Scanty the work then done,
Save as one's driven.
Spur comes with the sun,
When day has arisen.
15 Now comes the Heaven-born;
The whole land doth shake,
As with an earthquake;
Sleep quits then my bed:
How shall this maw be fed!
20 Great maw of the shark--
Eyes that gleam in the dark
Of the boundless sea!
Rare the king's visits to me.
All is free, all is free!

If the author of this Hawaiian idyl sought to adapt its
descriptive imagery to the features of any particular
landscape, it would almost seem as if he had in view the very
region in which Kauikeaouli found himself in the year 1847 as
he listened to the mele of this unknown Hawaiian Theocritus.
Under the spell of this poem, one is transported to the
amphitheater of Mauna-wili, a valley separated from Waimanalo
only by a rampart of hills. At one's back are the abrupt
walls of Konahuanui; at the right, and encroaching so as
almost to shut in the front, stands the knife-edge of
Olomana; to the left range the furzy hills of Ulamawao;
while directly to the front, looking north, winds the green
valley, whose waters, before reaching the ocean, spread out
into the fish-ponds and duck swamps of Kailua. It would seem
as if this must have been the very picture the idyllic poet
had in mind. This smiling, yet rock-walled, amphitheater was
the vast dance-hall of Lono--_Halau loa o Lono_ (verse
4)--whose walls were deafened, stunned (_pa-a-a_, verse 6),
by the tumult and uproar of the multitude that always
followed in the wake of a king, a multitude whose night-long
revels banished sleep: _Moe pono ole ko'u po_ (verse 17). The
poet seems to be thinking of this same hungry multitude in
verse 18, _Na niho ai kalakala_, literally the teeth that
tear the food; also when he speaks of the Niuhi (verse 19), a
mythical shark, the glow of whose eyes was said to be visible
[Page 218 for a great distance in the ocean, _A mau i ke
kai loa_ (verse 20). _Ikuwa, Welehu, Makali'i_ (verses 7, 9,
and 10). These were months in the Hawaiian year corresponding
to a part of September, October and November, and a part of
December. The Hawaiian year began when the Pleiades
(_Makali'i_) rose at sunset (about November 20), and was
divided into twelve lunar months of twenty-nine or thirty
days each. The names of the months differed somewhat in the
different parts of the group. The month _Ikuwa_ is said to
have been named from its being the season of thunderstorms.
This does not of itself settle the time of its occurrence,
for the reason that in Hawaii the procession of the seasons
and the phenomena of weather follow no definite order; that
is, though electrical storms occur, there is no definite
season of thunderstorms.

_Maka-li'i_ (verse 10) was not only the name of a month and
the name applied to the Pleiades, but was also a name given
the cool, the rainy, season. The name more commonly given
this season was _Hooilo_. The Makahiki period, continuing
four months, occurred at this time of the year. This was a
season when the people rested from unnecessary labor and
devoted themselves to festivals, games, and special religious
observances. Allusion is made to this avoidance of toil in
the words _Li'ili'i ka hana_ (verse 11).

One can not fail to perceive a vein of gentle sarcasm
cropping up in this idyl, softened, however, by a spirit of
honest good feeling. Witness the following: _Noe-noe_ (verse
3), primarily meaning cloudy, conveys also the idea of
agreeable coolness and refreshment. Again, while the
multitude that follows the king is compared to the ravenous
man-eating _Niuhi_ (verse 19), the final remark as to the
rarity of the king's visits, _He loa o ka hiki'na_ (verse
21), may be taken not only as a salve to atone for the
satire, but as a sly self-gratulation that the affliction is
not to be soon repeated.
[Page 219]

XXX.--THE HULA KOLEA

There was a peculiar class of hulas named after animals, in
each one of which the song-maker developed some
characteristic of the animal in a fanciful way, while the
actors themselves aimed to portray the animal's movements in
a mimetic fashion. To this class belongs the hula _kolea_.[411]
It was a peculiar dance, performed, as an informant asserts,
by actors who took the kneeling posture, all being placed in
one row and facing in the same direction. There were gestures
without stint, arms, heads, and bodies moving in a fashion
that seemed to imitate in a far-off way the movements of the
bird itself. There was no instrumental accompaniment to the
music. The following mele is one that was given with this
hula:

Kolea kai piha![412]
I aha mai nei?
Ku-non[413] mai nei.
E aha kakou?
5 E ai kakou.[414]
Nohea ka ai?[415]
No Kahiki mai.[415]
Hiki mai ka Lani,[415]
Olina Hawaii,
10 Mala'ela'e ke ala,
Nou, e ka Lani.
Puili pu ke aloha,
Pili me ka'u manu.[416]
Ka puana a ka moe?
15 Moe oe a hoolana
[Page 220] Ka hali'a i hiki mai;
Ooe pu me a'u
Noho pu i ka wai aliali.
Hai'na ia ka pauna.
20 O ka hua o ke kolea, aia i Kahiki.[417]
Hiki mai kou aloha, mae'ele au.

[Footnote 411: The plover.]

[Footnote 412: _Kolea kai piha_. The kolea is a feeder along
the shore, his range limited to a narrower strip as the tide
rises. The snare was one of the methods used by the Hawaiians
for the capture of this bird. In his efforts to escape when
snared he made that futile bobbing motion with his head that
must be familiar to every hunter.]

[Footnote 413: Usually the bobbing motion, _ku-nou_, is the
prelude to flight; but the snared bird can do nothing more, a
fact which suggests to the poet the nodding and bowing of two
lovers when they meet.]

[Footnote 414: _E ai kakou_. Literally, let us eat. While this
figure of speech often has a sensual meaning, it does not
necessarily imply grossness. Hawaiian literalness and
narrowness of vocabulary is not to be strained to the
overthrow of poetical sentiment.]

[Footnote 415: To the question _Nohea ka ai?_, whence the food?
that is, the bird, the poet answers, _No Kahiki mai_, from
Kahiki, from some distant region, the gift of heaven, it may
be, as implied in the next line, _Hiki mai ka Lani_. The
coming of the king, or chief, _Lani_, literally, the
heaven-born, with the consummation of the love. Exactly what
this connection is no one can say.]

[Footnote 416: In the expression _Pili me ka'u manu_ the poet
returns to his figure of a bird as representing a loved one.]

[Footnote 417: _O ka hua o ke kolea, aia i Kahiki_. In
declaring that the egg of the kolea is laid in a foreign
land, Kahiki, the poet enigmatizes, basing his thought on
some fancied resemblance between the mystery of love and the
mystery of the kolea's birth.]

[Translation]

A plover at the full of the sea--
What, pray, is it saying to me?
It keeps bobbing its noddy.
To do what would you counsel?
5 Why, eat its plump body!
Whence comes the sweet morsel?
From the land of Kahiki.
When our sovereign appears,
Hawaii gathers for play,
10 Stumble-blocks cleared from the way--
Fit rule of the king's highway.
Let each one embrace then his love;
For me, I'll keep to my dove.
Hark now, the signal for bed!
15 Attentive then to love's tread,
While a wee bird sings in the soul,
My love comes to me heart-whole--
Then quaff the waters of bliss.
Say what is the key to all this?
20 The plover egg's laid in Kahiki.
Your love, when it comes, finds me dumb.

The plover--kolea--is a wayfarer in Hawaii; its nest-home is
in distant lands, Kahiki. The Hawaiian poet finds in all this
something that reminds him of the spirit of love.
[Page 221]

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32