76
Pele and Hiiaka—A Myth
TRANSLATION
O Waihinano, thou soul-grabber,
Dead is the king of this island;
Moloka'i shall offer a boar;
Lana'i's a half-baked dog;
Kanaloa fends off the A-a;
Molokini buffets the waves.
The ship of state turns turtle:
What wailing and beating of breast!
Wild anguish of child and of ghost
O'er the sandy plain of Kama'o.
The districts are frenzied with grief—
Tearing of hair and breaking of teeth—
One wail that lifts to heaven.
Who shall be heir to this Maui land?
Dead is the king of this island;
Moloka'i shall offer a boar;
Lana'i's a half-baked dog;
Kanaloa fends off the A-a;
Molokini buffets the waves.
The ship of state turns turtle:
What wailing and beating of breast!
Wild anguish of child and of ghost
O'er the sandy plain of Kama'o.
The districts are frenzied with grief—
Tearing of hair and breaking of teeth—
One wail that lifts to heaven.
Who shall be heir to this Maui land?
To this the sorceress, Waihinano, answered pertly:
Ia Ole-pau, ia ka Lani, ke Alii,
Ka-uhi-lono-honua;
O Ka-uhi-kapu ia a Kama,
A Kama-lala-walu:
O ke alii kahiko i hanau ia ai a Kiha—
O Ka-ula-hea nui o ka Lani:
Iaia Maui.
Ka-uhi-lono-honua;
O Ka-uhi-kapu ia a Kama,
A Kama-lala-walu:
O ke alii kahiko i hanau ia ai a Kiha—
O Ka-ula-hea nui o ka Lani:
Iaia Maui.
- ↑ Pa'iauma. This is a word that has presented some difficulties in the discovery of its meaning. The reference, I believe, is to breast-beating practiced by persons distracted with grief. Uma, the final part of the word, I take to be the shortened form of umauma, the bosom.
- ↑ Pili, to meet, the point or line of meeting, the boundaries of a land, therefore, the whole land.
- ↑ Ka-ma'o-ma'o, the name given to the sandy plain between Kahului and Wailuku, Maui.
