THE DEATH OF LOHIAU
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Emerson, Nathaniel Bright
Lohiau, in his last agony, wandered in mind and babbled of many things. To his credit, be it said that his thoughts were not wholly centered on himself. There was a margin of regard for others, as when he sang in these words:
Aloha na hale o makou i makamaka ole,
Ke ala hele mauka o Huli-wale la, e.
Huli wale; ke huli wale a’e nei no,
I ka makana ole, i ka mohai ole e ike aku ai,
E kanaenae aku ai la ho’i, ia oe, ia oe!
TRANSLATION
My love to the homes made desolate,
On the road which makes this turning.
I turn away with an empty hand,
Lacking an offering fit to make peace,
To soften thy heart and appease thee—
To soften thy heart and content thee.
At the last flicker of life, when the rocky encasement had well nigh completed the envelopment of his body, Hiiaka, daring the barrier of fire that had come between them, sprang to his side and, with the last kiss, whispered into his ear, “Go not on the side whence the wind blows; pass to leeward, on the day of our meeting.” (Mai hele i ka makani; hele i ka pohu, ma ka la a kaua e halawai ai.) By this cryptic expression, Hiiaka meant to put Lohiau on his guard against enemies that lay in wait for him. If he went to the windward he might reveal himself to them by his flair. She also embodied her warning in song:
Aloha ko’u hoa i ka ua pua-kukui,
Kui lehua o Moe-awakea,
Lei pua o Ka-la-hui-pua,
Kae’e lehua o Pu’u-lena, la, mauka:
Mauka oe e hele ai,
Ma ka ulu o ka makani;
O moe’a oe e ka á Pu’u-lena la—
Make, make loa o oe!
TRANSLATION
My love to thee, mate of the sifting rain,
Such time as we strung the lehua,
In the snatches of noonday rest,
On the days when we dreamed of reunion;
And this was done in the uplands.
In the uplands you shall safely journey;
Safe in the hush and lee of the wind;
Lest the blasts of Pu’u-lena shall smite
And sweep you away to an endless doom.
A swarm of emotions buzzed in the chambers of Hiiaka’s mind, of love, of self-destruction, of revenge. In an agony of indecision she strode this way and that, wringing her hands and wailing in a strictly human fashion. The master passion came to the front and had sway: she would find Lohiau, and with him renew the bond of friendliness which had grown up in the midst of the innocent joys and toils of travel shared by them in common. An access of divine power came to her. She immediately began to tear up the strata of the earth. As she broke through the first stratum and the second, she saw nothing. She tore her way with renewed energy: rock smote against rock and the air was full of flying debris.
After passing the third stratum, she came upon a ghastly sight—the god of suicide, suspended by the neck, his tongue protruding from his mouth. It was a solemn lesson. After passing the fourth stratum she came upon the stratum of Wakea, and here she found the inanimate bodies of her former companions of travel, the faithful Wahine-oma’o and Paú-o-pala’e. She restored them to life and animation, bidding them return to the beautiful world of sunshine and fresh air.
She came at last to the tenth stratum with full purpose to break up this also and thus open the flood-gates of the great deep and submerge Pele and her whole domain in a flood of waters. That, indeed, would have been the ruin of all things. At this moment there came to Hiiaka the clear penetrating tone of a familiar voice. It was the voice of her fast friend and traveling companion, Wahine-oma’o, who had but recently left her and who, now, under the inspiration of the great god Kane, had come to dissuade Hiiaka from her purpose. For the execution of that purpose meant a universe in confusion. It was time, then, for Kane to interfere. He did this by putting into the mouth of her dearest friend on earth an appeal to which Hiiaka could not but listen and, listening, heed:
A po Kaena i ka ehu o ke kai;
Ki-pú iho la i ka lau o ke ahi;
Pala e’ehu i ka La ka ulu o Poloa, e!
Po wale, ho’i; e ho’o-po mai ana ka oe ia’u,
I ka hoa o ka ua, o ke anu, o ke ko’eko’e!