Here is water, the Water of Life.
Give us this Life!
As in archery the character of the arrow, the skill of the archer, and the caprice of the air-currents that blow athwart the course of the arrow’s flight may severally or collectively make or mar success, so likewise with the kahuna and his praying, success or failure were spelled by the quality of his prayer-shaft, by the manner of his utterance of it, and lastly, by the physical and moral state of the atmosphere as to the existence or absence of noise and disturbance.
It was not, then, through a mere silly curiosity or pride of utterance that Hiiaka appealed to her attendant to learn what she thought of her prayer. Nor was it a vain and meaningless compliment when the latter declared the prayer to be good, the conditions favorable. At the same time she could not repress the criticism that from her emotional stand-point of view, the prayer seemed short.
Again Hiiaka sprinkled the body with water from the calabash while she uttered this prayer-song:
Eia ana au, e Laká,[24]
Kane a Ha’i-wahine[25]—
Ha’i pua o ka nahelehele,
Haki hana maile o ka wao,
Houluulu lei, ho’i, o Laká;