G. A. Henty - "At Agincourt"

Amelia Edith Barr - "A Daughter of Fife"

Frank E. Smedley - "Frank Fairlegh"

Anonymous - "The Little Mother Goose"

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




Two men, armed with wands furnished with tufts of gay
feathers, pass up and down the files of men and women, waving
their decorated staffs, ever and anon indicating with a touch
of the wand persons of the opposite sex, who under the rules
must pay the forfeit demanded of them. The kissing, of
course, goes by favor. The wand-bearers, as they move along,
troll an amorous ditty:

_Oli_

Kii na ka ipo ...
Mahele-liele i ka la o Kona![489]
O Kona, kai a ke Akua.[490]
Elua la, huli ka Wai-opua,[491]
5 Nete i ke kula,
Leha iluna o Wai-aloha[492]
Kani ka aka a ka ua i ka laau,
Hoolaau ana i ke aloha ilaila.
Pili la, a pili i ka'u manu--
10 O pili o ka La-hiki-ola.
Ola ke kini o-lalo.
Hana i ka mea he ipo.
A hui e hui la!
Hui Koolau-wahine[493] o Pua-ke-i![494]

[Footnote 489: _La o Kona_. A day of Kona, i.e., of fine
weather.]

[Footnote 490: _Kai a ke Akua_. Sea of the gods, because calm.]

[Footnote 491: _Wai-opua_. A wind which changed its direction
after blowing for a few days from one quarter.]

[Footnote 492: _Wai-aloha_. The name of a hill. In the
translation the author has followed its meaning ("water of
love").]

[Footnote 493: _Koolau-wahine_. The name of a refreshing wind,
often mentioned in Hawaiian poetry; here used as a symbol of
female affection.]

[Footnote 494: _Pua-ke-i_. The name of a sharp, bracing wind
felt on the windward side of Molokai; used here apparently as
a symbol of strong masculine passion.]

[Page 247]

[Translation]

_Song_

A search for a sweetheart...
Sport for a Kona day!
Kona, calm sea of the gods.
Two days the wind surges;
5 Then, magic of cloud!
It veers to the plain,
Drinks up the water of love.
How gleesome the sound
Of rain on the trees,
10 A balm to love's wound!
The wand touches, heart-ease!
It touches my bird--
Touch of life from the sun!
Brings health to the million.
15 Ho, now comes the fun!
A meeting, a union--
The nymph, Koo-lau,
And the hero, Ke-i.
[Page 248]




XXXVIII.--THE HULA O-NIU


The so-called hula _o-niu_ is not to be classed with the
regular dances of the halau. It was rather a popular sport,
in which men and women capered about in an informal dance
while the players engaged in a competitive game of
top-spinning: The instrument of sport was made from the lower
pointed half of an oval coconut shell, or from the
corresponding part of a small gourd. The sport was conducted
in the presence of a mixed gathering of people amid the
enthusiasm and boisterous effervescence which betting always
greatly stimulated in Hawaii.

The players were divided into two sides of equal number, and
each player had before him a plank, slightly hollowed in the
center--like the board on which the Hawaiians pounded their
poi--to be used as the bed for spinning his top. The naked
hand, unaided by whip or string, was used to impart to the
rude top a spinning motion and at the same time the necessary
projectile force--a balancing of forces that called for nice
adjustment, lest the whirling thing reel too far to one side
or run wild and fly its smooth bed. Victory was declared and
the wager given to the player whose top spun the longest.

The feature that most interests us is the singing, or
cantillation, of the oli. In a dance and game of this sort,
which the author's informant witnessed at Kahuku, Oahu, in
1844, one contestant on each side, in turn, cantillated an
oli during the performance of the game and the dance.

_Oli_

Ke poha, nei; u'ina la!
Kani ole-olei, hau-walaau!
Ke wawa Pu'u-hina-hina;[495]
Kani ka aka, he-hene na pali,
5 Na pali o Ka-iwi-ku'i.[496]
Hanohano, makana i ka Wai-opua.[497]
Malihini ka hale, ua hiki mai;
Kani ka pahu a Lohiau,
A Lohiau-ipo[498] i Haena la.
10 Enaena ke aloha, ke hiki mai;
[Page 249] Auau i ka wai a Kanaloa.[499]
Nana kaua ia Lima-hull,[500] e.
E huli oe a loaa pono
Ka ia nei o-niu.

[Footnote 495: _Pu'u-hina-hina_. A precipitous place on the
coast near Haena.]

[Footnote 496: _Ka-iwi-ku'i_. A high cliff against which the
waves dash.]

[Footnote 497: _Wai-opua_. The name of a pleasant breeze.]

[Footnote 498: _Lohiau-ipo_. The epithet _ipo_, sweetheart,
dear one, was often affixed to the name of Lohiau, in token,
no doubt, of his being distinguished as the object of Pele's
passionate regard.]

[Footnote 499: _Kanaloa_. There is a deep basin, of clear
water, almost fluorescent in its sparkle, in one of the
arched caves of Haena, which is called the water of
Kanaloa--the name of the great God. This is a favorite
bathing place.]

[Footnote 500: Lima-huli. The name of a beautiful valley that
lies back of Haena.]

[Translation]

Song

The rustle and hum of spinning top,
Wild laughter and babel of sound--
Hear the roar of the waves at Pu'u-hina!
Bursts of derision echoed from cliffs,
5 The cliffs of Ka-iwi-ku'i;
And the day is stirred by a breeze.
The house swarms with women and men.
List! the drum-beat of Lohiau,
Lohiau, the lover, prince of Haena--
10 Love glows like an oven at his coming;
Then to bathe in the lake of the God.
Let us look at the vale Lima-huli, look!
Now turn we and study the spinning--
That trick we must catch to be winning.

This fragment from antiquity, as the local coloring
indicates, finds its setting at Haena, the home of the famous
mythological Prince Lohiau, of whom Pele became enamored in
her spirit journey. Study of the mele suggests the occasion
to have been the feast that was given in celebration of
Lohiau's restoration to life and health through the
persevering incantations of Hiiaka, Pele's beloved sister.
The feast was also Lohiau's farewell to his friends at Haena.
At its conclusion Hiiaka started with her charge on the
journey which ended with the tragic death of Lohiau at the
brink of the volcano. Pele in her jealousy poured out her
fire and consumed the man whom she had loved.
[Page 250]




XXXIX.--THE HULA KU'I


The account of the Hawaiian hulas would be incomplete if
without mention of the hula _ku'i_. This was an invention, or
introduction, of the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
Its formal, public, appearance dates from the coronation
ceremonies of the late King Kalakaua, 1883, when it filled an
important place in the programme. Of the 262 hula
performances listed for exhibition, some 30 were of the hula
ku'i. This is perhaps the most democratic of the hulas, and
from the date' of its introduction it sprang at once into
public favor. Not many years ago one could witness its
extemporaneous performance by nonprofessionals at many an
entertainment and festive gathering. Even the
school-children took it up and might frequently be seen
innocently footing its measures on the streets. (Pl. XXIV.)

The steps and motions of the hula ku'i to the eyes of the
author resemble those of some Spanish dances. The rhythm is
in common, or double, time. One observes the following
motions:

_Figure A_.--1. A step obliquely forward with the left foot,
arms pointing the same way, body inclining to the right. 2.
The ball of the left foot (still advanced) gently pressed on
the floor; the heel swings back and forth, describing an arc
of some 30 or 40 degrees. 8. The left foot is set firmly in
the last position, the body inclining to it as the base of
support; the right foot is advanced obliquely, and 4,
performs the heel-swinging motions above described, arms
pointing obliquely to the right.

_Figure B_.--Hands pressed to the waist, fingers directed
forward, thumbs backward, elbows well away from the body;
left foot advanced as in figure A, 1, body inclining to the
right. 2. The left foot performs the heel-waving motions, as
above. 3. Hands in same position, right foot advanced as
previously described. 4. The right foot performs the swinging
motions previously described--the body inclined to the left.

_Figure C_.--In this figure, while the hands are pressed as
before against the waist, with the elbows thrown well away
from the body, the performer sways the pelvis and central
axis of the trunk in a circular or elliptical orbit, a
movement, which, carried to the extreme, is termed ami.

There are other figures and modifications, which the
ingenuity and fancy of performers have introduced into this
dance; but this account must suffice.

[Illustration:
LADY DANCING THE HULA KU'I]

[Page 251]
Given a demand for a _pas seul_, some pleasing dance
combining grace with dexterity, a shake of the foot, a twist
of the body, and a wave of the hands, the hula ku'i filled
the bill to perfection. The very fact that it belonged by
name to the genus hula, giving it, as it were, the smack of
forbidden fruit, only added to its attractiveness. It became
all the rage among dancing folk, attaining such a vogue as
almost to cause a panic among the tribunes and censors of
society. Even to one who cares nothing for the hula per se,
save as it might be a spectacle out of old Hawaii, or a
setting for an old-time song, the innocent grace and
Delsartian flexibility of this solo dance, which one can not
find in its Keltic or African congeners, associate it in mind
with the joy and light-heartedness of man's Arcadian period.

The instruments generally used in the musical accompaniment
of the hula ku'i are the guitar, the _uku-lele_,[501] the
taro-patch fiddle,[501] or the mandolin; the piano also lends
itself effectively for this purpose; or a combination of
these may be used.

The songs that are sung to this dance as a rule belong
naturally to later productions of the Hawaiian muse, or to
modifications of old poetical compositions. The following
mele was originally a namesong (mele-inoa). It was
appropriated by the late Princess Kino-iki; and by her it was
passed on to Kalani-ana-ole, a fact which should not
prejudice our appreciation of its beauty.


_Mele_

I aloha i ke ko a ka wai,
I ka i mai, e, anu kaua.
Ua anu na pua o ka laina,[502]
Ka wanine noho anu o ke kula.
5 A luna au a o Poli-ahu;[503]
Ahu wale kai a o Wai-lua.
Lua-ole ka hana a ka makani,
A ke Kiu-ke'e[504] a o na pall,
Pa iho i ke kai a o Puna--
10 Ko Puna mea ma'a mau ia.
Pau ai ko'u lihi hoihoi
I ka wai awili me ke kai.
Ke ono hou nei ku'u pu'u
I ka wai hu'ihu'i o ka uka,
[Page 252] 15 Wai hone i ke kumu o ka pali,
I malu i ka lau kui-kui.[505]
Ke kuhi nei au a he pono
Ka ilima lei a ke aloha,
Au i kau nui aku ai,
20 I ka nani oi a oia pua.

[Footnote 501: The _uku-lele_ and the _taro-patch fiddle_ are
stringed instruments resembling in general appearance the
fiddle. They seem to have been introduced into these islands
by the Portuguese immigrants who have come in within the last
twenty-five years. As with the guitar, the four strings of
the uku-lele or the five strings of the taro-patch fiddle are
plucked with the finger or thumb.]

[Footnote 502: _Na pua o ka laina_. The intent of this
expression, which seems to have an erotic meaning, may
perhaps be inferred from its literal rendering in the
translation. It requires a tropical imagination to follow a
Hawaiian poem.]

[Footnote 503: _Poli-ahu_. A place or region on Mauna-kea.]

[Footnote 504: _Kiu-ke'e_. The name of a wind felt at
Nawiliwili, Kauai. The local names for winds differed on the
various islands and were multiplied almost without measure:
as given in the mythical story of Kama-pua'a, or in the
semihistoric tale of Ku-a-Paka'a, they taxed the memories of
raconteurs.]

[Footnote 505: _Kui-kui._ The older name-form of the tree
(Aleurites triloba), popularly known by some as the
candle-nut tree, from the fact that its oily nuts were used
in making torches. _Kukui_, or _tutui_, is the name now
applied to the tree, also to a torch or lamp. The Samoan
language still retains the archaic name _tuitui_. This is one
of the few instances in which the original etymology of a
word is retained in Hawaiian poetry.]

[Translation]

_Song_

How pleasing, when borne by the tide,
One says, you and I are a-cold.
The buds of the center are chilled
Of the woman who shivers on shore.
5 I stood on the height Poli-ahu;
The ocean enrobed Wai-lua.
Ah, strange are the pranks of the wind,
The Kiu-ke'e wind of the pali!
It smites now the ocean at Puna--
10 That's always the fashion at Puna.
Gone, gone is the last of my love,
At this mixture of brine in my drink!
My mouth is a-thirst for a draught
Of the cold mountain-water,
15 That plays at the foot of the cliff,
In the shade of the kui-kui tree.
I thought our love-flower, ilima--
Oft worn as a garland by you--
Still held its color most true.
20 You'd exchange its beauty for rue!

_Mele_

Kaulana mai nei Pua Lanakila;
Olali oe o ke aupuni hui,
Nana i koke aku ke kahua,
Na ale o ka Pakipika.
5 Lilo i mea ole na enemi;
Puuwai hao-kila, he manao paa;
Na ka nupepa la i hoike mai.
Ua kau Lanakila i ka hanohano,
O ka u'i mapela la o Aina-hau;
10 O ko'u hoa ia la e pili ai--
I hoa kaaua i ka puuwai,
I na kohi kelekele i ka Pu'ukolu.
Ina ilaila Pua Komela,
Ka u'i kaulana o Aina-pua!
15 O ka pua o ka Lehua me ka Ilima
I lei kahiko no ko'u kino,
Ka Palai lau-lii me ka Maile,
Ke ala e hoene i kou poli.
[Page 253]

[Translation]

_Song_

Fame trumpets your conquests each day,
Brave Lily Victoria!
Your scepter finds new hearts to sway,
Subdues the Pacific's wild waves,
5 Your foes are left stranded ashore,
Firm heart as of steel!
Dame Rumor tells us with glee
Your fortunes wax evermore,
Beauty of Aina-hau,
10 Comrade dear to my heart.
And what of the hyacinth maid,
Nymph of the Flowery Land?
I choose the lehua, ilima,
As my wreath and emblem of love,
15 The small-leafed fern and the maile--
What fragrance exhales from thy breast!

The story that might explain this modern lyric belongs to the
gossip of half a century ago. The action hinges about one who
is styled Pua Lanakila--literally Flower of Victory. Now
there is no flower, indigenous or imported, known by this
name to the Hawaiians. It is an allegorical invention of the
poet. A study of the name and of its interpretation, Victory,
at once suggested to me the probability that it was meant for
the Princess Victoria Kamamalu.

As I interpret the story, the lover seems at first to be in a
condition of unstable equilibrium, but finally concludes to
cleave to the flowers of the soil, the _lehua_ and the
_ilima_ (verse 15), the _palai_ and the _maile_ (verse 17),
the meaning of which is clear.
[Page 254]




XL.--THE OLI


The Hawaiian word _mele_ included all forms of poetical
composition. The fact that the mele, in whatever form, was
intended for cantillation, or some sort of rhythmical
utterance addressed to the ear, has given to this word in
modern times a special meaning that covers the idea of song
or of singing, thus making it overlap ambiguously into the
territory that more properly belongs to the word _oli_. The
oli was in strict sense the lyric utterance of the Hawaiians.

In its most familiar form the Hawaiians--many of whom
possessed the gift of improvisation in a remarkable
degree--used the oli not only for the songful expression of
joy and affection, but as the vehicle of humorous or
sarcastic narrative in the entertainment of their comrades.
The traveler, as he trudged along under his swaying burden,
or as he rested by the wayside, would solace himself and his
companions with a pensive improvisation in the form of an
oli. Or, sitting about the camp-fire of an evening, without
the consolation of the social pipe or bowl, the people of the
olden time would keep warm the fire of good-fellowship and
cheer by the sing-song chanting of the oli, in which the
extemporaneous bard recounted the events of the day and won
the laughter and applause of his audience by witty, ofttimes
exaggerated, allusions to many a humorous incident that had
marked the journey. If a traveler, not knowing the language
of the country, noticed his Hawaiian guide and
baggage-carriers indulging in mirth while listening to an oli
by one of their number, he would probably be right in
suspecting himself to be the innocent butt of their
merriment.

The lover poured into the ears of his mistress his gentle
fancies: the mother stilled her child with some bizarre
allegory as she rocked it in her arms; the bard favored by
royalty--the poet laureate--amused the idle moments of his
chief with some witty improvisation; the alii himself, gifted
with the poetic fire, would air his humor or his didactic
comments in rhythmic shape--all in the form of the oli.

The dividing line, then, between the oli and those other
weightier forms of the mele, the _inoa_, the _kanikau_
(threnody), the _pule_, and that unnamed variety of mele in
which the poet dealt with historic or mythologic subjects, is
to be found almost wholly in the mood of the singer. In
truth, the Hawaiians not unfrequently applied the term pule
to compositions which we moderns find it hard to bring within
our definitions of prayer. For to our understanding the
Hawaiian pule often contains neither petition, nor entreaty,
nor aspiration, as we measure such things.
[Page 255]
The oli from, its very name (_oli-oli_, joyful) conveys the
notion of gladness, and therefore of song. It does not often
run to such length as the more formal varieties of the mele;
it is more likely to be pitched to the key of lyric and
unconventional delight, and, as it seems to the writer, more
often than other forms attains a gratifying unity by reason
of closer adherence to some central thought or mood; albeit,
when not so labeled, one might well be at a loss whether in
any given case he should term the composition mele or oli.

It may not be entirely without significance that the first
and second examples here given come from Kauai, the island
which most vividly has retained a memory of the southern
lands that were the homes of the people until they came as
emigrants to Hawaii.

The story on which this song is founded relates that the
comely Pamaho'a was so fond of her husband during his life
that at his death she was unwilling to part with his bones.
Having cleaned and wrapped them in a bundle, she carried them
with her wherever she went. In the indiscretion begotten of
her ill-balanced state of mind she committed the mortal
offense of entering the royal residence while thus
encumbered, where was Kaahumanu, favorite wife of Kamehameha
I. The king detailed two constables (_ilamuku_) to remove the
woman and put her to death. When they had reached a safe
distance, moved with pity, the men said: "Our orders were to
slay; but what hinders you to escape?" The woman took the
hint and fled hot-foot.

_Oli_

Ka wai opua-makani o Wailua,[506]
I hulihia e ke kai;
Awahia ka lau hau,
Ai pala-ka-ha, ka ai o Maka'u-kiu.
5 He kin ka pua kukui,
He elele hooholo na ke Koolau;[507]
Ke kipaku mai la i ka wa'a--[508]
"E holo oe!"
Holo newa ka lau maia me ka pua hau,
10 I pili aloha me ka mokila ula i ka wai;
Maalo pulelo i ka wai o Malu-aka.
He aka kaua makani kaili-hoa;
Kaili ino ka lau Malua-kele,
Lalau, hopu hewa i ka hoa kanaka;[509]
[Page 256] 15 Koe a kau me ka manao iloko.
Ke apo wale la no i ke one,
I ka uwe wale iho no i Mo'o-mo'o-iki,[510] e!
He ike moolelo na ke kuhi wale,
Aole ma ka waha mai o kanaka,
20 Hewa, pono ai la hoi au, e ka hoa;
Nou ka ke aloha,
I lua-ai-ele[511] ai i o, i anei;
Ua kuewa i ke ala me ka wai-maka.
Aohe wa, ua uku i kou hale--
25 Hewa au, e!

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