HIIAKA CHOOSES THE ROUTE THROUGH PANA-EWA
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Emerson, Nathaniel Bright
A pall from the smoke of my home land!
(By Pana-ewa).
“Here’s food for me and mine!
Behold the blaze of the ovens!”
(The last two lines are said to be the utterance of Pana-ewa who feigned to regard the fires as those of his own people, who, in anticipation of an easy victory, had made ready their ovens to receive the bodies of Hiiaka and her party.)
Hiiaka bravely answered Pana-ewa:
O Pana-ewa, ohi’a loloa,
Ohi’a uliuli i ka uä,
I moku pewa ia
E ka laau o kepakepa,
A ka uka i Haili la.
Ilihia, ilihia i ka leo—
He leo wale no, e!
TRANSLATION
Pana-ewa, a tall ohi’a,
The fruit red-ripe in the rain,
Is vilely slashed with the stick
Of the mountaineer.
It stands in upland Haili:
Terrific—the voice is terrific;
Yet it’s merely a voice!
“The voice was threatening only because my servants reported that some people were trespassing. That set my tongue agoing about poi - - - and - taro. - - - After all it’s a question of strength. Your valor it is that must win for you a passage through this land of mine.”
This was Pana-ewa’s ultimatum.
Hiiaka accepted the defiance of Pana-ewa by chanting a solemn kahoahoa, which was at once a confident prediction of victory and an appeal to the gods:
Kua loloa Keäau i ka nahele hala;
Kua huluhulu Pana-ewa i ka laau;
Inoino ka maha, ka ohi’a o La’a, e;
Ku kepakepa ka maha o ka laau,
U-á po’ohina i ka wela a ke Akua;
U-a-uahi Puna o ka oloka’a pohaku ia,
I ka huná pa’a ia e ka Wahine.
Nanahu ahi ka ka papa o Olueä;
Momoku ahi Puna, hala i Apua;
Ulu-á ka nahele me ka laau;
Ka ke kahiko ia o Papa-lau-ahi.
Ele-i2 kahiko, e Ku-lili-kaua;
Ka ia,3 hea4 hala o Ka-li’u;
E ne5 ka La, ka malama;
Onakaka ka piko6 o Hilo i ke one,
I hu-lá7 ia aku la e, hulihia i kai.