hiiaka arrived at the pit in good time to partake with the others of the frugal feast ordered by pele. at its conclusion, pele turned to the girl hiiaka and put the question in her blunt way, “will you be my messenger to fetch our lover—yours and mine—from kaua’i? your sisters here”—she glanced severely about the group—“have refused to go. will you do this for me?”
the little maid, true to her sense of loyalty to the woman who was her older sister, the head of the family, and her alii, to the surprise and dismay of her other sisters, answered, “yes, i will go and bring the man.”
it was a shock to their sense of fitness that one so young should be sent on an errand of such danger and magnitude; but more, it was a reproof that slapped them in the face to have this little chit accept without hesitation a commission which they had shrunk from through lack of courage. but they dared not say a word; they could but scowl and roll the eye and shrug the shoulder.
“when you have brought our lover here,” continued pele, “for five nights and five days he shall be mine; after that, the tabu shall be off and he shall be yours. but, while on the way, you must not kiss him, nor fondle him, nor touch him. if you do it will be the death of you both.”
in spite of the gestured remonstrances of the group, hiiaka, in utter self-forgetfulness and diplomatic inexperience, agreed to pele’s proposition, and she framed her assent in a form of speech that had in it the flavor of a sacrament:
kukulu ka makia a ka huaka’i hele moe ipo:
ku au, hele, noho oe.
e noho ana na lehua lulu’u,
ku’u moku lehua i uka o ka-li’u, e.
li’uli’u wale ka hele ana
o ka huaka’i moe ipo.
aloha mai ka ipo—
o lohiau ipo, i haena.
[16]
translation
firm plant the pillar, seal of our love-pact;
here stand i, begirt for this love-quest;
you shall abide, and with you my groves—
lehua and hala—heavy with bloom.
the journey is long and toilsome the task
to bring our fine lover to bed.
mark! a love-hail—from beloved lohiau!
beloved lohiau of haena!
(i am impelled by my admiration for this beautiful song to give another version of it:)
ku kila ke kaunu moe ipo;
ku au, hele, noho oe, a no-ho,
a noho ana i na lehua o lu-lu’u,
o ka pae hala, moku lehua, i uka o ka-li’u.
li’u-li’u ho’i, li’u-li’u wale
ka hele ana o ka huaka’i moe ipo.
aloha mai ka ipo,
o lohiau ipo, e!
translation
fixed my intent for the lover-quest:
here i stand to depart; you remain,
and with you my bloom-clad lehuas,
and the palm-groves that wave in ka-li’u.
long, wearisome long, shall the journey be
to find and to bring our lover—
that dearest of lovers, lohiau!
hiiaka would sleep on it. her start was to be in the morning. the next day, while hiiaka was climbing the long ascent up the crater-pali, her sisters, anxious and appreciating the danger of the undertaking, were quietly weeping outside the cave; but they dared not utter a word that might come to the ears of pele. they began, however, to beckon and signal to hiiaka to return. she saw them and turned back, uttering the following plaint:
e ku ana au e hele;
e lau ka maka o ua nei ino; [17]
e ka po’e ino, o lakou nei, e:
e mana ana, ka, ia’u e hele;
e hele no au, e-e!
translation
while i stand ready for travel,
you bad lot! ’tis you that i mean!
this weight of travel you’d lay on me;
these bad ones sit with impudent stare:
and so it is i that must go!
the opposition of the sisters was based largely on hiiaka’s youth and inexperience. the girl did not understand nor give them credit for this generous regard for herself; she saw only their disobedience and disloyalty to pele’s command.
pele, impatient at her vacillation, broke out on her savagely: “here you are again! be off on your journey! you shall find no food here, no meat, no raiment, no roof, no sisterly greeting, nothing, until you return with the man. it would have been useless to dispatch these homely women on this errand; it seems equally useless to send a beautiful girl like you.”
to this outburst hiiaka retorted:
ke hanai a’e la ka ua1 i ka lani:
maka’u au i ka ua awa i ka uka o kiloi.
iná2 ia ia la, he loiloi3, e—
i loiloi no oe elua4 oiwi—
loiloi iho la, e-e!
translation
the rain doth replenish the heavens;
i dread the fierce rain of upland kiloí.
behold now this one, the fault-finder!
you, in two shapes, are hard to please—
aye, in either shape, hard to please!
[18]
“i am not grumbling or finding fault with you (loiloi): it was simply because you turned back that i spoke to you. do you call that reproaching you?”
hiiaka, though a novice in diplomacy, as shown by her instant and unconditional acceptance of pele’s proposition, having once got her second breath, now exacted of pele a condition that proved her to be, under the discipline of experience, an apt pupil in the delicate art of diplomacy. “i am going to bring our lover, while you remain at home. if during my absence you go forth on one of your raids, you are welcome to ravage and consume the lands that are common to us both; but, see to it that you do not consume my forests of lehua. and, again, if the fit does come upon you and you must ravage and destroy, look to it that you harm not my friend hopoe.”
pele readily agreed to hiiaka’s reasonable demand, thinking thus to hasten her departure. to the inexperienced girl the terms of the agreement seemed now complete and satisfactory, and, in the first blush of her gratification, hiiaka gave expression to her pleasure:
ke kau aloha wale mai la ka ua, e-e;
ka mauna o ka haliü kua, a-a.
i ku au a aloha oe, ka lua, e-e!
aloha ia oe, e-e!
translation
kindly falls the rain from heaven;
now may i turn my back and travel:
travel-girt, i bid farewell to the pit;
here’s a farewell greeting to thee.
even now hiiaka made an ineffectual start. some voice of human instinct whispered that something was wanting, and she again faced her sister with a request so reasonable that it could not be denied:
ke ku nei au e hele:
hele au a ke ala,
mihi mai e-e:
mana’o, ho’i mai no au,
ia oe la, ia o-e.
la’i pohu mai la [19]
lalo o ka lua, e:
i elua mai la, pono au.
olelo i ke aka,
ka hele ho’okahi, e;
mamina ka leo—
he leo wale no, e-e!
translation
my foot still shod for travel,—
i made a misstart on my journey;
i’ve come to repair my neglect.
a need, a request, brings me back,
to plead in thy presence once more:
joy springs up within;
there’s calm in the pit.
give me but a travel-mate:
that would content me.
who travels alone has
for speech-mate his shadow.
futile is speech, with
no answering voice—
empty words, only a voice.
(the exigencies of the narrative have induced me, in the above song, to couple together two mele which the story-tellers have given us as belonging to two separate incidents in hiiaka’s fence with pele.)
“your request is reasonable,” said pele; “to travel alone is indeed to converse with one’s shadow. you shall have a companion.”
pele designated a good-natured waiting woman as her attendant, who had the poetical name of paú-o-pala’e (or paú-o-palaá). this faithful creature heartily accepted the trust, that of kahu—a servant with the pseudo responsibility of a guardian—and, having expressed her fealty to her new mistress, she at once took her station. thus everything seemed arranged for a start on the eventful journey.
the terms and conditions of hiiaka’s going were not even yet to the satisfaction of her watchful sisters and relatives. one matter of vital importance had been omitted from the outfit: pele had not bestowed upon hiiaka the mana, power and authority, [20]to overcome and subdue all the foes that would surely rise up to oppose and defeat her. with wild gestures they signalled to hiiaka once more to return.
hiiaka’s answering song, though pointed with blame, gives proof that her own intuitions were not entirely at fault:
a ka luna, i pu’u-onioni,
noho ke anaina a ke ’kua.
kilohi a’ ku’u maka ilalo,
i ka ulu o wahine-kapu:
he o’ioina kilauea,
he noho-ana o papa-lau-ahi, e.
ke lau-ahi mai la o pele ia kai o puna:
ua one-á, oke-á, kai o maláma, e.
e málama i ka iki kanaka,
i ka nu’a kanáka;
o kakou no keia ho-akua—
akua mo’o-lau, e!
o mo’o-lau ke ala, e!
translation
from the crest of tremble5 hill
i look on the concourse of gods,
at ease on the gossip-ground,
the seat of wahine-kapu,
rest-station to kilauea,
its pavement of lava-plate:
such plates pele spreads in puna—
hot shards, gray sands at maláma.
succor and life for small and great!
be it ours to play the god; our way
beset by demons four hundred!
the communication between hiiaka and her sisters had, on their part, been carried on mostly by means of gesture and sign-language. but on this return of hiiaka the whole family of brothers and sisters were so moved at the thought of the danger to hiiaka that they spoke out at last and frankly advised hiiaka to go before pele and demand of her the gift of spiritual power, mana, that she might be able to meet her enemies on [21]equal terms at least, so that she need not feel powerless in their presence. but nothing came of this move at the time, for at this moment out came pele from her cave, and, seeing hiiaka standing with the others, she addressed her sharply and said: “what! you still here? why are you not on the way to fetch our man?”
face to face with pele, hiiaka’s courage oozed away and she promised to make another start in the morning. when on this new start she had come near the top of the ascent, she turned about and sang:
punohunohu i ka lani
ka uahi o ka lua;
he la’i ilalo o kilauea;
maniania ’luna o wahine-kapu.
i kapu, la, i ke aha ka leo, e?
translation
the pit-smoke blankets the heavens;
clear is the air in kilauea,
tranquil wahine-kapu’s plain—
the woman, why silent her voice?
hiiaka now made common cause with the group of sisters and relatives who were bent on securing for her justice and fair treatment. among them, taking council together, sat ka-moho-alii, kane-milo-hai, kapo and pohakau6. by this action hiiaka took a new attitude: while not coming out in open defiance to her sister, she virtually declared her determination no longer to be domineered over by pele.
in the council that took place it was determined that ka-moho-alii, who stood high in pele’s regards and whose authority was second only to hers, was the proper one to approach pele in the matter of conferring upon hiiaka the necessary mana. when, therefore, pele put to hiiaka the question why she had returned, why she was not on her journey, ka-moho-alii spoke up and said, “it is because of fear she has returned. she sees danger by the way. you have not given her the mana to protect her from the [22]dragons and monsters that infest the road. o mo’o-lau ke ala, e: the way is beset by dragons four hundred.”
“ah, that is the trouble?” said pele. then she called upon the sun, the moon, the stars, wind, rain, thunder, lightning—all the heavenly powers—to aid and safeguard hiiaka and she authorized her to exercise the powers of these heavenly beings. the gods, thereupon, ratified this act of pele; and at last the way was made clear for hiiaka’s departure.
1ua, rain. it is suggested this may refer—sarcastically—to the watery secretion in pele’s eyes, as found in old people. ↑
2ina, here means consider. ↑
3loiloi. if a chief was not pleased or satisfied with a gift, loiloi would express his state of mind. ↑
4elua oiwi, literally, two shapes. pele had many metamorphoses. ↑
5 the wavering of indecision. ↑
6 this pohakau was the friend, previously mentioned, who had brought to pele the faithful dog that lay fasting and mourning at lohiau’s grave. pohakau remained at pele’s court; the dog pele hid away in her own secret place.
