[Translation.]
Song
Let’s worship now the bird-cage.
Seest thou the furzy woodland,
The shag of herb and forest,
The low earth-tinting rainbow,
Child of the Sun that swings above?
O, happy bird, to drink from the pool,
A bliss free to the million!
Footnote 217:[ (return) ] Punohu. A compact mass of clouds, generally lying low in the heavens; a cloud-omen; also a rainbow that lies close to the earth, such as is formed when the sun is high in the heavens.
This is the language of symbolism. When Venus went about to ensnare Adonis, among her other wiles she warbled to him of mountains, dales, and pleasant fountains.
The mele now presented is of an entirely different character from those that have just preceded. It is said to have been the joint composition of the high chief Keiki-o-ewa of Kauai, at one time the kahu of Prince Moses, and of Kapihe, a distinguished poet—haku-mele—and prophet. (To Kapihe is ascribed the prophetic and oracular utterance, E iho ana o luna, e pii ana o lalo; e ku ana ka paia; e moe ana kaula; e kau ana kau-huhu—o lani iluna, o honua ilalo—“The high shall be brought low, the lowly uplifted; the defenses shall stand; the prophet shall lie low; the mountain walls shall abide—heaven above, earth beneath.”)
This next poem may be regarded as an epithalamium, the celebration of the mystery and bliss of the wedding night, the hoáo ana of a high chief and his high-born kapu sister. The murmur of the breeze, the fury of the winds, the heat of the sun, the sacrificial ovens, all are symbols that set forth the emotions, experiences, and mysteries of the night:
Mele
(Ko’ihonua)
O Wanahili [218] ka po loa ia Manu’a, [219]
O ka pu kau kama [220] i Hawaii akea;
O ka pu leina [221] kea a Kiha—
O Kiha nui a Pii-lani— [222]
O Kauhi kalana-honu’-a-Kama; [223]
O ka maka iolena [224] ke koohaulani i-ó!
O kela kanaka hoali mauna, [225]
O Ka Lani ku’i hono i ka moku. [226]
I waihona kapuahi kanaka ehá, [227]
Ai’ i Kauai, i Oahu, i Maui,
I Hawaii kahiko o Keawe enaena, [228]
Ke a-á, mai la me ke o-koko,
Ke lapa-lapa la i ka makani,
Makani kua, he Naulu. [229]
Kua ka Wainoa i ka Mikioi,
Pu-á ia lalo o Hala-li’i, [230]
Me he alii, alii, la no ka hele i Kekaha,
Ka hookiekie i ka li’u-la, [231]
Ka hele i ke alia-lia la, alia!
Alia-lia la’a-laau Kekaha.
Ke kaha o Kala-ihi, Wai-o-lono.
Ke olo la ke pihe a ka La, e!
Ke nu la paha i Honua-ula.
Footnote 218:[ (return) ] Wanahili. A princess of the mythological period belonging to Puna, Hawaii.
Footnote 219:[ (return) ] Manu’a. A king of Hilo, the son of Kane-hili, famous for his skill in spear-throwing, maika-rolling, and all athletic exercises. He was united in marriage, ho-ao, to the lovely princess Wanahili. Tradition deals with Manua as a very lovable character.
Footnote 220:[ (return) ] Pu kau kama. The conch (pu) is figured as the herald of fame. Kau is used in the sense of to set on high, in contrast with such a word as waiho, to set down. Kama is the word of dignity for children.
Footnote 221:[ (return) ] Pu leina. It is asserted on good authority that the triton (pu), when approached in its ocean habitat, will often make sudden and extraordinary leaps in an effort to escape. There is special reference here to the famous conch known in Hawaiian story as Kiha-pu. It was credited with supernatural powers as a kupua. During the reign of Umi, son of Liloa, it was stolen from the heiau in Waipio valley and came into the hands of god Kane. In his wild awa-drinking revels the god terrified Umi and his people by sounding nightly blasts with the conch. The shell was finally restored to King Umi by the superhuman aid of the famous dog Puapua-lena-lena.
Footnote 222:[ (return) ] Kiha-nui a Piilani. Son of Piilani, a king of Maui. He is credited with the formidable engineering work of making a paved road over the mountain palis of Koolau, Maui.
Footnote 223:[ (return) ] Kauhi kalana-honu’-a-Kama. This Kauhi, as his long title indicates, was the son of the famous king, Kama-lala-walu, and succeeded his father in the kingship over Maui and, probably, Lanai. Kama-lala-walu had a long and prosperous reign, which ended, however, in disaster. Acting on the erroneous reports of his son Kauhi, whom he had sent to spy out the land, he invaded the kingdom of Lono-i-ka-makahiki on Hawaii, was wounded and defeated in battle, taken prisoner, and offered up as a sacrifice on the altar of Lono’s god, preferring that death, it is said, to the ignominy of release.
Footnote 224:[ (return) ] I-olena. Roving, shifty, lustful.
Footnote 225:[ (return) ] Kanaka hoali mauna. Man who moved mountains; an epithet of compliment applied perhaps to Kiha, above mentioned, or to the king mentioned in the next verse, Kekaulike.
Footnote 226:[ (return) ] Ku’i hono i ka moku. Who bound together into one (state) the islands Maui, Molokai, Lanai, and Kahoolawe. This was, it is said, Kekaulike, the fifth king of Maui after Kama-lala-walu. At his death he was succeeded by Kamehameha-nui—to be distinguished from the Kamehameha of Hawaii—and he in turn by the famous warrior-king Kahekili, who routed the invading army of Kalaniopuu, king of Hawaii, on the sand plains of Wailuku.
Footnote 227:[ (return) ] I waihona kapuahi kanaka ehá. This verse presents grammatical difficulties. The word I implies the imperative, a form of request or demand, though that is probably not the intent. It seems to be a means, authorized by poetical license, of ascribing honor and tabu-glory to the name of the person eulogized, who, the context leads the author to think, was Kekaulike. The island names other than that of Maui seem to have been thrown in for poetical effect, as that king, in the opinion of the author, had no power over Kauai, Oahu, or Hawaii. The purpose may have been to assert that his glory reached to those islands.
Footnote 228:[ (return) ] Keawe enaena. Keawe, whose tabu was hot as a burning oven. Presumably Keawe, the son of Umi, is the one meant.
Footnote 229:[ (return) ] Naulu. The sea-breeze at Waimea, Kauai.
Footnote 230:[ (return) ] Hala-lii. A sandy plain on Niihau, where grows a variety of sugar-cane that lies largely covered by the loose soil, ke ko eli o Hala-lii.
Footnote 231:[ (return) ] Li’u-la. The mirage, a common phenomenon on Niihau, and especially at Mana, on Kauai.