PELE AND HIIAKA—A MYTH
23
TRANSLATION
Here stand I begirt for travel;
You must tarry at home, and these …
These … women … who sit downcast.
Oh, care for my parks of lehua—
How they bloom in upland Ka-li'u!
Long is the way and many the day
Before you shall come to the bed of love,
But, hark! the call of the lover,
The voice of the lover, Lohiau!
You must tarry at home, and these …
These … women … who sit downcast.
Oh, care for my parks of lehua—
How they bloom in upland Ka-li'u!
Long is the way and many the day
Before you shall come to the bed of love,
But, hark! the call of the lover,
The voice of the lover, Lohiau!
At the utterance of this name Pele brightened and called to Hiiaka, "Yes, that is the name of our man. I purposely kept it back until you should have reached the water-shed (kaupaku[1] o ka hale o kaua, literally the ridgepole) of our house, intending then to reveal it to you; but you have divined the man's name. Go on your journey. Nothing shall avail to block your road. Yours is the power of woman; the power of man is nothing to that."
On reaching the plateau of Wahine-kapu Hiiaka received a spiritual message telling her that Lohiau—the object of her errand—was dead. She at once turned towards Pele and commemorated the fact in song:
I Akani-hia,
I Akani-kolea,
I Pu'u-wa'a-hia,
I Pu'u-manawa-le'a,
I Pu'u-aloha, la:
He mea e ke aloha o ke kane, e.
Ke haale iho nei au e hanini, e;
E uwé au, e!
I Akani-kolea,
I Pu'u-wa'a-hia,
I Pu'u-manawa-le'a,
I Pu'u-aloha, la:
He mea e ke aloha o ke kane, e.
Ke haale iho nei au e hanini, e;
E uwé au, e!
TRANSLATION
Let us sound it aloud—
Far as the plover's flight;
With full breath shout it,
And with a full heart,
Big with affection.
Far as the plover's flight;
With full breath shout it,
And with a full heart,
Big with affection.
- ↑ Kaupaku o ka hale o kaua. A hidden reference to sexual intercourse.
