PELE IN THE BOSOM OF HER FAMILY
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Emerson, Nathaniel Bright
Once, when Pele was living in the pit of Kilauea, she roused up from her couch on the rough hearth-plate and said to her sisters, “Let us make an excursion to the ocean and enjoy ourselves, open the opihi shells and sea-urchins, hunt for small squid and gather sea-moss.”
To this all joyfully assented, saying, “Yes, let us go.”
The sisters formed quite a procession as they tramped the narrow downhill path until they came to the hill Pu’u-Pahoehoe—a place in the lower lands of Puna. Pele herself did not visibly accompany them on this journey; that was not according to her custom: she had other ways and means of travel than to plod along a dusty road. When, however, the party arrived at the rendezvous, there, sure enough, they found Pele awaiting them, ready for the business in hand.
In the midst of their pleasurings Pele caught sight of Hopoe and Haena as they were indulging in an al fresco dance and having a good time by the Puna sea. She was greatly pleased and, turning to her sisters, said, “Come, haven’t you also got some dance that you can show off in return for this entertainment by Hopoe and her companion?”
They all hung their heads and said, “We have no hula.”
Hiiaka, the youngest, had stayed behind to gather lehua flowers, and when she came along laden with wreaths, Pele said to her, jestingly, “I’ve just been proposing to your sisters here to dance a hula in response to that of Hopoe and her fellow, but they decline, saying they have not the art. I suppose it’s of no use to ask you, you are so small; but, perhaps, you’ve got a bit of a song.”
“Yes, I have a song,” Hiiaka answered, to the surprise of all.
“Let us have it, then; go on!” said Pele.
Then the little girl, having first decorated all of her sisters with the wreaths, beginning with Pele, sang as follows:
Ke ha’a la Puna i ka makani;
Ha’a ka ulu hala i Keaau;
Ha’a Haena me Hopoe;
Ha’a ka wahine,
Ami i kai o Nana-huki, la—
Hula le’a wale,
I kai o Nana-huki, e-e!
TRANSLATION
Puna’s a-dance in the breeze,
The hala groves of Keaau shaken:
Haena and Hopoe are swaying;
The thighs of the dancing nymph
Quiver and sway, down at Nana-huki—
A dance most sightly and pleasing,
Down by the sea Nana-huki.
Pele was delighted. “Is that all you have?” she asked.
“I have something more,” said the girl.
“Let us hear it then.”
Hiiaka put even more spirit into the song as she complied:
O Puna kai kuwá i ka hala;
Pae ka leo o ke kai;
Ke lu, la, i na pua lehua.
Nana i kai o Hopoe,
Ka wahine ami i kai
O Nana-huki, la;
Hula le’a wale,
I kai o Nana-huki, e-e.
TRANSLATION
The voice of Puna’s sea resounds
Through the echoing hala groves;
The lehua trees cast their bloom.