Their meeting was that of lovers, who stood abashed in each other’s presence. Pele’s beauty and charm were like that of a young bride coming to the nuptial couch.…
The dalliance and love-making of Pele and Paoa was a honeymoon that continued for three days and three nights. By virtue of this mysterious union with the goddess, Paoa acquitted himself of a ceremonial duty, as it were, and thus gained Pele’s dispensation from further obligations to her bed and the liberty of exercising free choice among all the beautiful women that thronged Pele’s court. It was there he made his abode until the time for his return to his own Kaua’i.
[1] Aohe o kahi nana oluna o ka pali. Iho mai a lalo nei; ike i ke au nui me ke au iki, he alo a he alo; nana i ka makemake. The exact meaning of ke au iki and ke au nui is not clear. [↑]
[2] Keehi … e nalo kapua’i. I am informed that Hawaiians, in order to conceal their goings, would erase their footprints by blurring them with their feet. [↑]
[3] Onohi ula i ka lani, a fragment of a rainbow. [↑]
[4] Lele kapu i kai. This may be put,—the old order has passed. [↑]
[5] Hoole akua, hoole mana. (To deny God, to deny supernatural power). It thus appears that the old Hawaiians were not unacquainted with those phases of skepticism that have flourished in all philosophic times. [↑]
[6] Ho’o-malau, to treat one’s religious duties, or solemn things, with scorn. [↑]
[7] Ho’o-maloka, to be neglectful of one’s religious duties, or of solemn things. In old times, how often did the writer hear the term ho’o-maloka applied as a stigma to those who persistently neglected and showed indifference to the services and ordinances of the church. [↑]