12
PELE AND HIIAKA—A MYTH
TRANSLATION
Content you now with your god-work:
Down by the sea at Maka-wai
The rocks have smitten together;
The sea has opened a channel.
Goddess you were, now human,
Return to your human clay!
Down by the sea at Maka-wai
The rocks have smitten together;
The sea has opened a channel.
Goddess you were, now human,
Return to your human clay!
Pele slept on and gave no sign of waking. Hiiaka then chanted this serenade:
E ala, e ala, e ala!
E ala, e Hi-ka-po-kuakini!
E ala, e Hi-ka-po-kuamáno!
E ala, e ke Akua, e ke Alo!
E ala, e ka Uwila nui,
Maka ehá i ka lani, la!
E ala, e, e ala!
E ala, e Hi-ka-po-kuakini!
E ala, e Hi-ka-po-kuamáno!
E ala, e ke Akua, e ke Alo!
E ala, e ka Uwila nui,
Maka ehá i ka lani, la!
E ala, e, e ala!
TRANSLATION
Awake now, awake, awake!
Wake, Goddess of multiple god-power!
Wake, Goddess of essence most godlike!
Wake, Queen of the lightning shaft,
The piercing fourth eye of heaven!
Awake; I pray thee awake!
Wake, Goddess of multiple god-power!
Wake, Goddess of essence most godlike!
Wake, Queen of the lightning shaft,
The piercing fourth eye of heaven!
Awake; I pray thee awake!
The effect was magical: Pele's bosom heaved; breath entered her lungs; a fresh color came to her face, and spread to the tips of her ears. She sighed, stretched herself and sat up: she was herself again.
CHAPTER V
PELE MAKES A PROPOSITION TO HER SISTERS
That same day Pele and the other sisters returned to Kilauea, while Hiiaka went back to resume her visit with Hopoe, each party reaching its destination at about the same time. Early the next morning Pele called to her sister Hiiaka-i-ka-ale-i (Hiiaka-of-the-choppy-sea) and said, "I want you to go on an errand for me."
