THE STORY OF HA-LE-MA-NO AND THE PRINCESS KAMA
Given in the Fornander Collection, Vol. V, Part II, of the Memoirs of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, with the title Kaao no Halemano, Legend of Ha-le-ma-no.
Kama, or, to give her her full name, Kamalalawalu, was living under a strict tapu. Ha-le-ma-no is no thoughtless tapu-breaker, as are other young men in Hawaiian romance; there is very little of the mythical element in this story; the enchantress-sister, however, is a figure that often comes into Hawaiian romance. This story is remarkable for its vivid rendering of episodes belonging to the aristocratic life—the surf-riding, [[213]]surely the greatest of sports to participate in, as it is the most thrilling of sports to watch; the minstrelsy; the gambling. The poems that Ha-le-ma-no and Kama repeat to each other are very baffling, and are open to many interpretations. In this respect they are like most Hawaiian poetry, which has a deliberate obscurity that might have won Mallarmé’s admiration.