[Translation.]
Song
They bear the god’s ax up the mountain;
Trampling the mire, like waves from Kahiki
That beat on the front of Kilauea.
The people with offerings lift up a prayer;
A woman strings wreaths in Olaa—
Lehua grove mine bord’ring He-eia.
And now Kukuena, mother god,
Covers her loins with a pa-ú of ti leaf;
She mounts the altar; she sits.
Behold us, your conclave of priests.
Enter in, possess us!
This has the marks of a Hawaiian prayer, and as such it is said to have been used in old times by canoe-builders when going up into the mountains in search of timber. Or it may have been recited by the priests and people who went up to fell the lehua tree from which to carve the Makahiki [337] idol; or, again, may it possibly have been recited by the company of hula folk who climbed the mountain in search of a tree to be set up in the halau as a representation of the god whom they wished to honor? This is a question the author can not settle. That it was used by hula folk is indisputable, but that would not preclude its use for other purposes.
Mele
Ku i Wailua ka pou hale [338]
Ka ipu hoolono i ka uwalo,
Ka wawa nui, e Ulupo.
Aole uwalo mai, e.
Aloha nui o Ikuwa, Mahoena.
Ke lele la ka makawao o ka hinalo.
Aia i Maná ka oka’i o ka ua o Eleao;
Ke holu la ka a’ahu o Ka-ú [339] i ka makani;
Ke puhi a’e la ka ale kumupali o Ka-ú, Honuapo;
Ke hakoko ka niu o Paiaha’a i ka makani.
Uki-uki oukou:
Ke lele la ke kai;
Lele iao, [340] lele!
O ka makani Koolau-wahine,
O ka Moa’e-ku.
Lele ua, lele kawa! [341]
Lele aku, lele mai!
Lele o-ó, [342] o-ó lele; [343]
Lele opuhi, [344] lele;
Lele o Kauná, [345] kaha oe.
E Hiiaka e, ku!
Footnote 337:[ (return) ] For an account of the Makahiki idol see Hawaiian Antiquities, p. 189, by David Malo; translated by N.B. Emerson, A.M., M.D., Honolulu, Hawaiian Gazette Company (Limited), 1903.
Footnote 338:[ (return) ] Pou hele. The main post of a house, which is here intended, was the pou-haná; it was regarded with a superstitious reverence.
Footnote 339:[ (return) ] A’hu o Ka-u. A reference, doubtless, to the long grass that once covered Ka-ú.
Footnote 340:[ (return) ] I-áo. A small fish that took short flights in the air.
Footnote 341:[ (return) ] Lele kawa. To jump in sport from a height into the water.
Footnote 342:[ (return) ] Lele o-ó. To leap feet first into the water.
Footnote 343:[ (return) ] O-ó lele. To dive head first into the water.
Footnote 344:[ (return) ] Lele opuhi. The same as pahi’a, to leap obliquely into the water from a height, bending oneself so that the feet come first to the surface.
Footnote 345:[ (return) ] Kauná. A woman of Ka-ú celebrated for her skill in the hula, also the name of a cape that reaches out into the stormy ocean.