[Translation.]
Song
The sun-furrow gleams at the back of Lehua;
The King’s had his fill of scandal and chaff;
The wind-god empties his lungs with a laugh;
And the Mikioi tosses the sea at Lehua,
As the trade-wind wafts his friend on her way—
A congress of airs that ruffles the bay.
Hide love ’neath a mask—that’s all I would ask.
To spill but a tear makes our love-tale appear;
He pours out his woe; I’ve seen it, I know;
That’s the way with a boy-friend, heigh-ho!
The art of translating from the Hawaiian into the English tongue consists largely in a fitting substitution of generic for specific terms. The Hawaiian, for instance, had at command scores of specific names for the same wind, or for the local modifications that were inflicted upon it by the features of the landscape. One might almost say that every cape and headland imposed a new nomenclature upon the breeze whose direction it influenced. He rarely contented himself with using a broad and comprehensive term when he could match the situation with a special form.
Footnote 458:[ (return) ] The picture of the sun declining, kaha, to the west, its reflected light-track, kala kalaihi, farrowing the ocean with glory, may be taken to be figurative of the loved and beautiful woman, Kalola, speeding on her westward canoe-flight.
Footnote 459:[ (return) ] Akua. Literally a god, must stand for the king.
Footnote 460:[ (return) ] Unulau. A special name for the trade-wind.
Footnote 461:[ (return) ] Koolau-wahine. Likewise another name for the trade-wind, here represented as carrying off the (man’s) companion.
Footnote 462:[ (return) ] Mikioi. An impetuous, gusty wind is represented as lashing the ocean at Lehua, thus picturing the emotional stir attending Kalola’s departure.
Footnote 463:[ (return) ] The words Puwa-i’a na hoa makani, which literally mean that the congress of winds, na hoa makani, have stirred up a commotion, even as a school of fish agitate the surface, of the ocean, puwa-i’a, refer to the scandal caused by Ka’i-ama’s conduct.
The singer restricts her blame to charging her youthful lover with an indiscreet exhibition of childish emotion. The mere display of emotion evinced by the shedding of tears was in itself a laudable action and in good form.
This first reply of the woman to her youthful lover did not by any means exhaust her armament of retaliation. When she next treats of the affair it is with an added touch of sarcasm and yet with a sang-froid that proved it had not unsettled her nerves.
Mele
Ula Kala’e-loa [464] i ka lepo a ka makani;
Hoonu’anu’a na pua i Kalama-ula,
He hoa i ka la’i a ka manu— [465]
Manu ai ia i ka hoa laukona.
I keke lau-au’a ia e ka moe;
E kuhi ana ia he kanaka e.
Oau no keia mai luna a lalo;
Huná, ke aloha, pe’e maloko.
Ike ’a i ka uwe ana iho.
Pelá ka hoa kamalii—
He uwe wale ke kamalii.