Page:Pele and Hiiaka; a myth from Hawaii (IA pelehiiakamythfr00emeriala).pdf/105

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Pele and Hiiaka—A Myth
79

Hiiaka she was dumbfounded by the tidings that Ka-ula-hea had waked from seemingly peaceful sleep in great perturbation, and that he had been seized with the most alarming and distressful symptoms. In her distraction and rage she still maintained a defiant attitude:

Aohe make ku'u alii ia oe!
Ke hoole mai nei na akua kane o ia nei,
O Ke-olo-ewa[1] nui a Kama-ua,[2]
He mana, he úi-úi, a-á,
He ana leo no ke Alii,
E ai ana i ka pua'a o Ulu-nui,[3]
I ka lalá Me-ha'i-kana,[4]
Hoole o Uli, akua o ia nei,
E hoole mai ana, aohe e make!

TRANSLATION

My lord shall succumb not to you!
The gods of the King affirm it—
Olo-ewa, son of the Rain-god,
Gifted with power and with counsel,
His voice rings out clear for the King:
He shall eat the fat of the swine,
Pluck the fruit of the bread-tree: Uli,
A god ever true to the king,
Declares that he shall not die.


  1. Ke-olo-ewa, an akua ki'i, i.e., a god of whom an image was fashioned. Some form of cloud was recognized as his body (Ke-ao-lewa(?)). One of his functions was rain-producing. Farmers prayed to him: "Send rain to my field; never mind the others." S. Percy Smith of New Zealand (in a letter to Professor W. D. Alexander) says that in Maori legend Te Orokewa, also called Poporokewa, was one of the male apa, guardians and messengers of Io, the supreme god who presided over the 8th heaven.

    According to Hawaiian tradition Ke-olo-ewa was, as Fornander has it, the second son of Kamauaua, a superior chief, or king of Moloka'i, and succeeded his father in the kingship of that island. His brother, Kau-pe'e-pe'e-nui-kauila, it was who stole away Hina, the beautiful wife of Haka-lani-leo of Hilo, and secreted her on the famous promontory of Haupu on Moloka'i. For the story of this interesting tradition see Fornander’s "The Polynesian Race," Vol. II, p. 31. After death he became deified and was prayed to as a rain god.

  2. Kama-ua, literally, the son of rain.
  3. Ulu-nui, meaning the crop-giver. This was the name of a king, or chief of Makawao, Maui, under whom agriculture greatly flourished.
  4. Me-ha'i-kana, the goddess of the bread-fruit tree; said to be one with Papa.