XXXII.—THE HULA ILÍO
The dog took his part and played his enthusiastic rôle in the domestic life of every Hawaiian. He did not starve in a fool’s paradise, a neglected object of man’s superstitious regard, as in Constantinople; nor did he vie with kings and queens in the length and purity of his pedigree, as in England; but in Hawaii he entered with full heart of sympathy into all of man’s enterprises, and at his death bequeathed his body a sacrifice to men and gods. It was fitting that the Hawaiian poet should celebrate the dog and his altogether virtuous and altruistic services to mankind. The hula ilío may be considered as part of Hawaii’s tribute to man’s most faithful friend, the dog.
The hula ilío was a classic performance that demanded of the actors much physical stir; they shifted their position, now sitting, now standing; they moved from place to place; indulged in many gestures, sometimes as if imitating the motions of the dog. This hula has long been out of commission. Like the two animal-hulas previously mentioned, it was performed without the aid of instrumental accompaniment.
The allusions in this mele are to the mythical story that tells of Kane’s drinking, revels on the heights about Waipi’o valley; how he and his fellows by the noise of their furious conching disturbed the prayers and rituals of King Liloa and his priests, Kane himself being the chief offender by his blowing on the conch-shell Kihapú, stolen from Liloa’s temple of Paka’alana: its recovery by the wit and dramatic action of the gifted dog Puapua-lenalena. (See p. 131.)
Mele
Ku e, naná e!
Makole [421] o Ku!
Hoolei ia ka lei, [422]
I lei no Puapua-lenalena,
He lei hinano no Kahili, [423]
He wehiwehi no Niho-kú [424]
Kaanini ka lani, [425] uwé ka honua:
A aoa aku oe;
Lohe o Hiwa-uli, [426]
Ka milimili a ka lani.
Noho opua i ka malámaláma
Málama ia ka ipu. [427]
He hano-wai no Kilioe, [428]
Wahine noho pali o Haena.
Enaena na ahi o Kilauea, [429]
Ka haku pali o Kamohoalii. [430]
A noho i Waipi’o,
Ka pali kapu a Kane.
Moe ole ka po o ke alii,
Ke kani mau o Kiha-pú.
Ukiuki, uluhua ke alii:
Hoouna ka elele; [431]
Loaa i Kauai o Máno,
Kupueu a Wai-uli me Kahili;
A ao aku oe, aoa, [432] aoa a aoa.
Hana e o Kaua-hoa, [433]
Ka mea ūi o Hanalei,
Hu’e’a kaua, moe i ke awakea,
Kapae ke kaua o ka hoahanau! [434]
Hookahi no pua o ka oi;
Awili pu me ke kaio’e. [435]
I lei no Puapua-lenalena.
O ku’u luhi ua hiki iho la,
Ka nioi o Paka’a-lana. [436]
A lana ka manao, hakuko’i ’loko,
Ka hae mau ana a Puapua-lenalena,
A hiki i Kuma-kahi, [437]
Kahi au i noho ai,
A hiki iho la ka elele,
Inu i ka awa kau-laau o Puna. [438]
Aoa, he, he, hene!
Footnote 421:[ (return) ] Makole. Red-eyed; ophthalmic.
Footnote 422:[ (return) ] The wreath, lei, is not for the god, but for the dog Puapua-lenalena, the one who in the story recovered the stolen conch, Kiha-pú (verse 20), with which god Kane made night hideous and disturbed the repose of pious King Liloa (Moe ole ka po o ke alii, verse 19).
Footnote 423:[ (return) ] Kahili. Said to be the foster mother of Puapua-lenalena.
Footnote 424:[ (return) ] Niho-kú. Literally an upright tooth, was the name of the hill on which lived the old couple who were the foster parents of the dog.
Footnote 425:[ (return) ] Kaanini ka lani, etc. Portents by which heaven and earth expressed their appreciation of the birth of a new prodigy, the dog Puapua-lenalena.
Footnote 426:[ (return) ] Hiwa-uli. An epithet applied to the island of Hawaii, perhaps on account of the immense extent of territory on that island that was simply black lava; hiwa, black, was a sacred color. The term uli has reference to its verdancy.
Footnote 427:[ (return) ] Ipu. Wai-uli, the foster father of the dog, while fishing in a mountain brook, brought up a pebble on his hook; his wife, who was childless and yearned for offspring, kept it in a calabash wrapped in choice tapa. In a year or two it had developed into the wonderful dog, Puapua-lenalena. The calabash was the ipu here mentioned, the same as the hano wai (verse 13), a water-container.
Footnote 428:[ (return) ] Kilióe. A sorceress who lived at Haena, Kauai, on the steep cliffs that were inaccessible to human foot.
Footnote 429:[ (return) ] Ena-ena, na ahi o Kilauea. “Hot are the fires of Kilauea.” The duplicated word ena-ena, taken in connection with Ha-ena in the previous verse, is a capital instance of a form of assonance, or nonterminal rhyme, much favored and occasionally used by Hawaiian poets of the middle period. From the fact that its use here introduces a break in the logical relation which it is hard to reconcile with unity one may think that the poet was seduced from the straight and narrow way by this opportunity for an indulgence that sacrifices reason to rhyme.
Footnote 430:[ (return) ] Kamoho-alii. The brother of Pele; his person was so sacred that the flames and smoke of Kilauea dared not invade the bank on which he reposed. The connection of thought between this and the main line of argument is not clear.
Footnote 431:[ (return) ] Hoouna ka elele. According to one story Liloa dispatched a messenger to bring Puapua-lenalena and his master to Waipi’o to aid him in regaining possession of Kiha-pú.
Footnote 432:[ (return) ] A ao aku oe, aoa ... This indicated the dog’s assent. Puapua-lenalena understood what was said to him, but could make no reply in human speech. When a question was put to him, if he wished to make a negative answer, he would keep silent; but if he wished to express assent to a proposition, he barked and frisked about.
Footnote 433:[ (return) ] Hana e o Kaua-hoa ... No one has been found who can give a satisfactory explanation of the logical connection existing between the passage here cited and the rest of the poem. It treats of an armed conflict between Kauahoa and his cousin Kawelo, a hero from Oahu, which took place on Kauai. Kauahoa was a retainer and soldier of Ai-kanaka, a king of Kauai. The period was in the reign of King Kakuhihewa, of Oahu. Kawelo invaded Kauai with an armed force and made a proposition to Kauahoa which involved treachery to Kauahoa’s liege-lord Ai-kanaka. Kauahoa’s answer to this proposition is given in verse 28; Hu’e a kaua, moe i ke awakea!—“Strike home, then sleep at midday!” The sleep at midday was the sleep of death.
Footnote 434:[ (return) ] Kapae ke kaua o ka hoahanau! This was the reply of Kawelo, urging Kauahoa to set the demands of kinship above those of honor and loyalty to his liege-lord. In the battle that ensued Kauahoa came to his death. The story of Kawelo is full of romance.
Footnote 435:[ (return) ] Kaio’e. Said to be a choice and beautiful flower found on Kauai. It is not described by Hillebrand.
Footnote 436:[ (return) ] Ka nioi o Paka’a-lana. The doorsill of the temple, heiau, of Paka’a-lana was made of the exceedingly hard wood nioi. It was to this temple that Puapua-lenalena brought the conch Kiha-pú when he had stolen (recovered) it from god Kane.
Footnote 437:[ (return) ] Qumukahi. See note c on p. 197.
Footnote 438:[ (return) ] Awa kau-laau o Puna. It is said that in Puna the birds sometimes planted the awa in the stumps or in the crotches of the trees, and this awa was of the finest quality.
The author of this mele, apparently under the sanction of his poetic license, uses toward the great god Ku a plainness of speech which to us seems satirical; he speaks of him as makole, red-eyed, the result, no doubt, of his notorious addiction to awa, in which he was not alone among the gods. But it is not at all certain that the Hawaiians looked upon this ophthalmic redness as repulsive or disgraceful. Everything connected with awa had for them a cherished value. In the mele given on p. 130 the cry was, “Kane is drunken with awa!” The two gods Kane and Ku were companions in their revels as well as in nobler adventures. Such a poem as this flashes a strong light into the workings of the Hawaiian mind on the creations of their own imagination, the beings who stood to them as gods; not robbing them of their power, not deposing them from the throne of the universe, perhaps not even penetrating the veil of enchantment and mystery with which the popular regard covered them, at the most perhaps giving them a hold on the affections of the people.