E. V. Lucas - "A Boswell of Baghdad"

Henry Mann - "The Land We Live In"

Samuel Johnson [AKA Hurlo Thrumbo] - "The Merry Thought: or the Glass Window and Bog House Miscellany. Part 1"

Alice Turner Curtis - "A Little Maid of Old Maine"

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




_Mele_

Pua ehu kamalena[452] ka uka o Kapa'a;
Luhi-ehu iho la[453] ka pua i Maile-huna;
Hele a ha ka iwi[454] a ke Koolau,
Ke pua mai i ka maka o ka nahelehele,
5 I hali hoo-muu,[455] hoohalana i Wailua.
Pa kahea a Koolau-wahine,
O Pua-ke'i, e-e-e-e!
He pua laukona[456] ka moe e aloh' ai;
O ia moe la, e kaulele hou[457]
10 No ka po i hala aku aku nei.
Hoiho kaua a eloelo, e ka hoa, e,
A hookahi!

[Translation]

_Song_

Misty and dim, a bush in the wilds of Kapa'a,
The paddlers bend to their work, as the flower-laden
Shrub inclines to the earth in Maile-huna;
They sway like reeds in the breeze to crack their bones
5 Such the sight as I look at this tossing grove,
The rhythmic dip and swing on to Wailua.
My call to the witch shall fly with the breeze,
Shall be heard at Pua-ke'i, e-he, e-he!
The flower-stalk Laukona beguiles man to love,
10 Can bring back the taste of joys once our own,
[Page 238] Make real again the hours that are flown.
Turn hither, mine own, let's drench us with love--
Just for one night!

[Footnote 452: _Pua ehu Kamalena_ (yellow child). This
exclamation is descriptive of the man's visual impression on
seeing the canoe with its crowd of passengers and paddlers,
in the misty light of morning, receding in the distance. The
kamalena is a mountain shrub having a yellow flower.]

[Footnote 453: _Luhi ehu iho la_. Refers to the drooping of a
shrub under the weight of its leaves and flowers, a figure
applied to the bending of the paddlemen to their work.]

[Footnote 454: _Hele a ha ka iwi_. An exaggerated figure of
speech, referring to the exertions of the men at their
paddles (_ha_, to strain).]

[Footnote 455: _I hali hoomu_. This refers in a fine spirit of
exaggeration to the regular motions of the paddlers.]

[Footnote 456: _Pua laukona_. A kind of sugar-cane which was
prescribed and used by the kahunas as an aphrodisiac.]

[Footnote 457: _Kaulele hou_. To experience, or to enjoy,
again.]

The unchivalrous indiscretion of the youth in publishing the
secret of his amour elicited from Kamehameha only the
sarcastic remark, "Couldn't he eat his food and keep his
mouth shut?" The lady herself took the same view of his
action. There was no evasion in her reply; her only reproach
was for his childishness in blabbing.

_Mele_

Kalakalaihi, kaha[458] ka La ma ke kua o Lehua;
Lulana iho la ka pihe a ke Akua;[459]
Ea mai ka Unulau[460] o Halali'i;
Lawe ke Koolau-wahine[461] i ka hoa la, lilo;
5 Hao ka Mikioi[462] i ke kai o Lehua:
Puwa-i'a na hoa-makani[463] mai lalo, e-e-e, a.
I hoonalonalo i ke aloha, pe'e ma-loko;
Ha'i ka wai-maka hanini;
I ike aku no i ka uwe ana iho;
10 Pela wale no ka hoa kamalii, e-e, a!

[Translation]

_Song_

The sun-furrow gleams at the back of Lehua;
The King's had his fill of scandal and chaff;
The wind-god empties his lungs with a laugh;
And the Mikioi tosses the sea at Lehua,
5 As the trade-wind wafts his friend on her way--
A congress of airs that ruffles the bay.
Hide love 'neath a mask--that's all I would ask.
To spill but a tear makes our love-tale appear;
He pours out his woe; I've seen it, I know;
10 That's the way with a boy-friend, heigh-ho!

The art of translating from the Hawaiian into the English
tongue consists largely in a fitting substitution of generic
for specific terms. The Hawaiian, for instance, had at
command scores of specific names for the same wind, or for
[Page 239] the local modifications that were inflicted upon it by the
features of the landscape. One might almost say that every
cape and headland imposed a new nomenclature upon the breeze
whose direction it influenced. He rarely contented himself
with using a broad and comprehensive term when he could match
the situation with a special form.

[Footnote 458: The picture of the sun declining, _kaha_, to the
west, its reflected light-track, _kala kalaihi_, farrowing
the ocean with glory, may be taken to be figurative of the
loved and beautiful woman, Kalola, speeding on her westward
canoe-flight.]

[Footnote 459: _Akua_. Literally a god, must stand for the
king.]

[Footnote 460: _Unulau_. A special name for the trade-wind.]

[Footnote 461: _Koolau-wahine_. Likewise another name for the
trade-wind, here represented as carrying off the (man's)
companion.]

[Footnote 462: _Mikioi_. An impetuous, gusty wind is
represented as lashing the ocean at Lehua, thus picturing the
emotional stir attending Kalola's departure.]

[Footnote 463: The words _Puwa-i'a na hoa makani_, which
literally mean that the congress of winds, _na hoa makani_,
have stirred up a commotion, even as a school of fish agitate
the surface, of the ocean, _puwa-i'a_, refer to the scandal
caused by Ka'i-ama's conduct.]

The singer restricts her blame to charging her youthful lover
with an indiscreet exhibition of childish emotion. The mere
display of emotion evinced by the shedding of tears was in
itself a laudable action and in good form.

This first reply of the woman to her youthful lover did not
by any means exhaust her armament of retaliation. When she
next treats of the affair it is with an added touch of
sarcasm and yet with a sang-froid that proved it had not
unsettled her nerves.

_Mele_

Ula Kala'e-loa[464] i ka lepo a ka makani;
Hoonu'anu'a na pua i Kalama-ula,
He hoa i ka la'i a ka manu--[465]
Manu ai ia i ka hoa laukona.
5 I keke lau-au'a ia e ka moe;
E kuhi ana ia he kanaka e.
Oau no keia mai luna a lalo;
Huna, ke aloha, pe'e maloko.
Ike 'a i ka uwe ana iho.
10 Pela ka hoa kamalii--
He uwe wale ke kamalii.

[Translation]

_Song_

Red glows Kala'e through the wind-blown dust
That defiles the flowers of Lama-ula,
Outraged by the croak of this bird,
That eats of the aphrodisiac cane,
5 And then boasts the privileged bed.
He makes me a creature of outlaw:
True to myself from crown to foot-sole,
My love I've kept sacred, pent up within.
He flouts it as common, weeping it forth--
10 That is the way with a child-friend;
A child just blubbers at nothing.

[Footnote 464: _Kala'e-loa_. The full name of the place on
Molokai now known as Kala'e.]

[Footnote 465: _La'i a ka manu_. Some claim this to be a proper
name, _La'i-a-ka-manu_, that of a place near Kala'e. However
that may be the poet evidently uses the phrase here in its
etymological sense.]

To return to the description of the game, the player, having
uttered his vaunt in true knightly fashion, with a dexterous
whirl now sends his kilu spinning on its course. If his play
is successful and the kilu strikes the target on the other
[Page 240] side at which he aims, the audience, who have kept silence
till now, break forth in applause, and his tally-keeper
proclaims his success in boastful fashion:

_Oli_

A uweuwe ke ko'e a ke kae;
Puehuehu ka la, komo inoino;
Kakia, kahe ka ua ilalo.

[Translation]

Now wriggles the worm to its goal;
A tousling; a hasty encounter;
A grapple; down falls the rain.

It is now the winner's right to cross over and claim his
forfeit. The audience deals out applause or derision in
unstinted measure; the enthusiasm reaches fever-point when
some one makes himself the champion of the game by bringing
his score up to ten, the limit. The play is often kept up
till morning, to be resumed the following night.[466]

[Footnote 466: The account above given is largely based on
David Malo's description of the game kilu. In his confessedly
imperfect list of the hulas he does not mention the hula
kilu. This hula was, however, included in the list of hulas
announced for performance in the programme of King Kalakaua's
coronation ceremonies.]

Here also is a mele, which tradition reports to have been
cantillated by Hiiaka, the sister of Pele, during her famous
kilu contest with the Princess Pele-ula, which took place at
Kou--the ancient name for Honolulu--on Hiiaka's voyage of
return from Kauai to her sister's court at Kilauea. In this
affair Lohiau and Wahineoma'o contended on the side of
Hiiaka, while Pele-ula was assisted by her husband, Kou, and
by other experts. But on this occasion the dice were cogged;
the victory was won not by human skill but by the magical
power of Hiiaka, who turned Pele-ula's kilu away from the
target each time she threw it, but used her gift to compel it
to the mark when the kilu was cast by herself.

_Mele_

Ku'u noa mai ka makani kuehu-kapa o Kalalau,[467]
Mai na pali ku'i[468] o Makua-iki,
Ke lawe la i ka haka,[469] a lilo!
A lilo o-e, la!
5 Ku'u kane i ka uhu ka'i o Maka-pu'u,
Huki iluna ka Lae-o-ka-laau;[470]
Oia pali makua-ole[471] olaila.
Ohiohi ku ka pali o Ulamao, e-e!
A lilo oe, la!

[Footnote 467: _Ka-lalau_ (in the translation by the omission
of the article _ka_, shortened to _Lalau_). A deep
cliff-bound valley on the windward side of Kauai, accessible
only at certain times of the year by boats and by a steep
mountain trail at its head.]

[Footnote 468: _Pali ku'i_. _Ku'i_ means literally to join
together, to splice or piece out. The cliffs tower one above
another like the steps of a stairway.]

[Footnote 469: _Haka_. A ladder or frame such as was laid
across a chasm or set up at an impassable place in a
precipitous road. The windward side of Kauai about Kalalau
abounded in such places.]

[Footnote 470: _Lae-o-ka-laau_. The southwest point of Molokai,
on which is a light-house.]

[Footnote 471: _Makua-ole_. Literally fatherless, perhaps
meaning remarkable, without peer.]

[Page 241]

[Translation]

_Song_

Comrade mine in the robe-stripping gusts of Lalau,
On the up-piled beetling cliffs of Makua,
The ladder... is taken away... it is gone!
Your way is cut off, my man!
5 With you I've backed the uhu of Maka-pu'u,
Tugging them up the steeps of Point-o'-woods,
A cliff that stands fatherless, even as
Sheer stands the pali of Ula-mao--
And thus... you are lost!

This is but a fragment of the song which Hiiaka pours out in
her efforts to calm the fateful storm which she saw piling up
along the horizon. The situation was tragic. Hiiaka, daring
fate, defying the dragons and monsters of the primeval world,
had made the journey to Kauai, had snatched away from death
the life of Lohiau and with incredible self-denial was
escorting the rare youth to the arms of her sister, whose
jealousy she knew to be quick as the lightning, her vengeance
hot as the breath of the volcano, and now she saw this
featherhead, with monstrous ingratitude, dallying with fate,
calling down upon the whole party the doom she alone could
appreciate, all for the smile of a siren whose charms
attracted him for the moment; but, worst of all, her heart
condemned her as a traitress--she loved him.

Hiiaka held the trick-card and she won; by her miraculous
power she kept the game in her own hands and foiled the hopes
of the lovers.

_Mele_

Ula ka lani ia Kanaloa,[472]
Ula ma'ema'e ke ahi a ke A'e-loa.[473]
Pohina iluna i ke ao makani,
Naue pu no i ka ilikai o Makahana-loa,[474]
5 Makemake i ka ua lihau.[475]
Aohe hana i koe a Ka-wai-loa;[476]
Noho a ka li'u-la i ke kula.
I kula oe no ka makemake, a hiki iho,
I hoa hula no ka la le'ale'a,
10 I noho pu me ka uahi pohina.[477]
[Page 242] Hina oe i ka Naulu,[478] noho pu me ka Inuwai.[479]
Akahi no a pumehana ka hale, ua hiki oe:
Ma'ema'e ka luna i Haupu.[480]
Upu ka makemake e ike ia Ka-ala.
15 He ala ka makemake e ike ia Lihu'e;[481]
Ku'u uka ia noho ia Halemano.[482]
Maanei oe, pale oe, pale au,
Hana ne'e ke kikala i ka ha'i keiki.
Hai'na ka manao--noho i Waimea,
20 Hoonu'u pu i ka i'a ku o ka aina.[483]
E kala oe a kala au a kala ia Ku, Ahuena.[484]

[Footnote 472: _Kanaloa_. One of the four great gods of the
Hawaiians, here represented as playing the part of Phoebus
Apollo.]

[Footnote 473: _A'e-loa_. The name of a wind whose blowing was
said to be favorable to the fisherman in this region.]

[Footnote 474: _Makahana-loa_, A favorite fishing ground. The
word _ilikai_ ("skin of the sea") graphically depicts the
calm of the region. In the translation the name
aforementioned has been shortened to Kahana.]

[Footnote 475: _Lihau_. A gentle rain that was considered
favorable to the work of the fisherman.]

[Footnote 476: _Ka-wai-loa_. A division of Waialua, here
seemingly used to mean the farm.]

[Footnote 477: _Uahi pohina_. Literally gray-headed smoke. It
is said that when studying together the words of the mele the
pupils and the kumu would often gather about a fire, while
the teacher recited and expounded the text. There is a
possible allusion to this in the mention of the smoke.]

[Footnote 478: _Naulu_. A wind.]

[Footnote 479: _Inu-wai_. A wind that dried up vegetation, here
indicating thirst.]

[Footnote 480: _Haupu_. A mountain on Kauai, sometimes visible
on Oahu in clear weather. (See note _c_, p. 229, on Haupu.)]

[Footnote 481: _Lihu'e_. A beautiful and romantic region
nestled, as the Hawaiians say, "between the thighs of the
mountain," Mount Kaala.]

[Footnote 482: _Hale-mano_. Literally the multitude of houses;
a sylvan region bound to the southwestern flank of the
Konahuanui range of mountains, a region of legend and
romance, since the coming of the white man given over to the
ravage and desolation that follow the free-ranging of cattle
and horses, the vaquero, and the abusive use of fire and ax
by the woodman.]

[Footnote 483: _I'a ku o ka aina_. Fish common to a region; in
this place it was probably the kala, which word is found in
the next line, though in a different sense. Here the
expression is doubtless a euphemism for dalliance.]

[Footnote 484: _Ku, Ahuena_. At Waimea, Oahu, stood two rocks
on the opposite bluffs that sentineled the bay. These rocks
were said to represent respectively the gods Ku and Ahuena,
patrons of the local fishermen.]

[Translation]

_Song_

Kanaloa tints heaven with a blush,
'Tis the flame of the A'e, pure red,
And gray the wind-clouds overhead.
We trudge to the waters calm of Kahana--
5 Heaven grant us a favoring shower!
The work is all done on the farm.
We stay till twilight steals o'er the plain,
Then, love-spurred, tramp o'er it again,
Have you as partner in holiday dance--
10 We've moiled as one in the gray smoke;
Cast down by the Naulu, you thirst.
For once the house warms at your coming.
How clear glow the heights of yon Haupu!
I long for the sight of Ka-ala,
15 And sweet is the thought of Lihu'e,
And our mountain retreat, Hale-mano.
Here, fenced from each other by tabu,
Your graces make sport for the crowd.
What then the solution? Let us dwell
20 At Waimea and feast on the fish
That swarm in the neighboring sea,
With freedom to you and freedom to me,
Licensed by Ku and by Ahu-ena.
[Page 243]
The scene of this idyl is laid in the district of Waialua,
Oahu, but the poet gives his imagination free range
regardless of the unities. The chief subjects of interest
that serve as a trellis about which the human sentiments
entwine concern the duties of the fisherman, who is also a
farmer; the school for the hula, in which the hero and the
heroine are pupils; and lastly an ideal condition of
happiness which the lovers look forward to tinder the
benevolent dispensation of the gods Ku and Ahuena.

Among the numerous relatives of Pele was one said to be a
sister, who was stationed on a bleak sun-burnt promontory in
Koolau, Oahu, where she supported a half-starved existence,
striving to hold soul and body together by gathering the
herbs of the fields, eked out by unsolicited gifts of food
contributed by passing travelers. The pathetic plaint given
below is ascribed to this goddess.

_Mele_

Mao wale i ka lani
Ka leo o ke Akua pololi.
A pololi a moe au
O ku'u la pololi,
5 A ola i kou aloha;
I na'i pu no i ka waimaka e uwe nei.
E uwe kaua, e!

[Translation]

_Song_

Engulfed ill heaven's abyss
Is the cry of the famished god.
I sank to the ground from faintness,
My day of utter starvation;
5 Was rescued, revived, by your love:
Ours a contest of tears sympathetic--
Let us pour out together our tears.

The Hawaiian thought it not undignified to express sympathy
(_aloha-ino_) with tears.
[Page 244]




XXXVI.--THE HULA HOO-NA-NA


The hula _hoo-na-na_--to quiet, amuse--was an informal dance,
such as was performed without the usual restrictions of tabu
that hedged about the set dances of the halau. The occasion
of an outdoor festival, an _ahaaina_ or _luau_, was made the
opportunity for the exhibition of this dance. It seems to
have been an expression of pure sportiveness and
mirth-making, and was therefore performed without sacrifice
or religious ceremony. While the king, chiefs, and
_aialo_--courtiers who ate in the king's presence--are
sitting with the guests about the festal board, two or three
dancers of graceful carriage make a circuit of the place,
ambling, capering, gesturing as they go in time to the words
of a gay song.

A performance of this sort was witnessed by the author's
informant in Honolulu many years ago; the occasion was the
giving of a royal luau. There was no musical instrument, the
performers were men, and the mele they cantillated went as
follows:

A pili, a pili,
A pili ka'u manu
Ke kepau[485] o ka ulu-laau.
Poai a puni,
5 Noho ana i muli-wa'a;[486]
Hoonu'u ka momona a ke alii.
Eli-eli[487] ke kapu; ua noa.
Noa ia wai?
Noa ia ka lani.
10 Kau lilua,[488] kaohi ka maku'u
E ai ana ka ai a ke alii!
Hoonu'u, hoonu'u hoonu'u
I ka i'a a ke alii!

[Footnote 485: _Kepau._ Gum, the bird-lime of the fowler,
which was obtained from forest trees, but especially from the
_ulu_, the breadfruit.]

[Footnote 486: _Muli-wa'a_ (_muli_, a term applied to a younger
brother). The idea involved is that of separation by an
interval, as a younger brother is separated from his older
brother by an interval. _Muliwai_ is an interval of water, a
stream. _Wa'a_, the last part of the above compound word,
literally a canoe, is here used tropically to mean the
tables, or the dishes, on which the food was spread, they
being long and narrow, in the shape of a canoe. The whole
term, consequently, refers to the people and the table about
which they are seated.]

[Footnote 487: _Eli-eli._ A word that is found in ancient
prayers to emphasize the word _kapu_ or the word _noa_.]

[Footnote 488: _Lilua_. To stand erect and act without the
restraint usually prescribed in the presence of royalty.]

[Page 245]

[Translation]

She is limed, she is limed,
My bird is limed,
With the gum of the forest.
We make a great circuit,
5 Outskirting the feast.
You shall feast on king's bounty:
No fear of the tabu, all's free.
Free! and By whom?
Free by the word of the king.
10 Then a free rein to mirth!
Banish the kill-joy
Who eats the king's dainties!
Feast then till replete
With the good king's meat!
[Page 246]




XXXVII.--THE HULA ULILI


The hula _ulili_, also called by the descriptive name
_kolili_--to wave or flutter, as a pennant--was a hula that
was not at all times confined to the tabu restrictions of the
halau. Like a truant schoolboy, it delighted to break loose
from restraint and join the informal pleasurings of the
people. Imagine an assembly of men and women in the
picturesque illumination given by flaring kukui torches, the
men on one side, the women on the other. Husbands and wives,
smothering the jealousy instinctive to the human heart, are
there by mutual consent--their daughters they leave at
home--each one ready to play his part to the finish, with no
thought of future recrimination. It was a game of
love-forfeits, on the same lines as kilu and ume.

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