Page:Pele and Hiiaka; a myth from Hawaii (IA pelehiiakamythfr00emeriala).pdf/93

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Pele and Hiiaka—A Myth
67

CHAPTER XVI

KAPO-ULA-KINA'U, A RELATIVE OF HIIAKA—THE MAIMED GIRL MANA-MANA-IA-KALU-EA

The canoe-men, having used their utmost expedition in landing the freight and hauling up the canoe and getting it under cover, hastened to meet the two women at the rendezvous they had suggested. But they were nowhere to be found. They had disappeared as completely as though the earth had swallowed them up. When Pi'i-ke-a-nui asked the people of the village as to the whereabouts of the two young women who had just now landed as passengers from the canoe, they one and all denied having set eyes upon them.

Hiiaka had planned a visit with her sister Kapo; but, on reaching Wailuku, the house was empty; Kapo and her husband Pua-nui had but just started to make a ceremonious call on Ole-pau, a famous chief of the district. The receding figure of Kapo was already hazy in the distance, so that it seemed more than doubtful if the words of Hiiaka’s message reached the ears for which they were intended:

He ahui hala[1] ko Kapo-ula-kina'u,[2]
Ko ka pili kaumaha;
I ka pili a hala, la, ha-la!
Hala olua, aohe makamaka o ka hale
E kipa aku ai la ho’i i ko hale,
I kou hale, e-e!

TRANSLATION

The clustered hala is Kapo's shield,
An omen portending disaster.


  1. Hala. The fruit of the hala was so often worn in the form of a wreath by Kapo that it came to be looked upon almost as her emblem. To ordinary mortals this practice savored of bad luck. If a fisherman traveling on his way to the ocean were to meet a person wearing a lei of this description he would feel compelled to turn back and give over his excursion for that day. In this instance Kapo was on her way to visit a sick man—a bad omen for him.
  2. Kapo-ula-kina'u. This was the full name of Kapo, who was one of the goddesses of the kahunas who practiced anaana (po'e kahuna anaana). Ula-kina'u is a term applied to a feather cloak or cape made of yellow feathers which had in them black spots.