HIIAKA EXPERIENCES KOOLAU WEATHER
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Emerson, Nathaniel Bright
Fierceness gleams from his eye.
Now he looks, now turns—and to me!
Awake, thou explorer of heaven!
Awake, thou sender of Winter’s rain!
The spouse, Ma-ú, of Winter is night;
The time of arising has come!
This kupua, Kauhi, termed the watch-tower of heaven, having come from Kahiki in the train of Pele’s followers, and having been stationed in this cliff, had got no further in his travels than Oahu. He bemoaned his fate as that of a malihini god, a stranger to the rest of the group. On being roused by this prayer-song of Hiiaka, as he gazed upon the beautiful goddess, a divine ambition stirred within him—to journey with her, enjoy her society, and make acquaintance with the land to which he was still a stranger. With this purpose in mind, at the conclusion of her address, he chanted this response:
O Pele la ko’u akua:
Miha ka lani, miha ka honua:
Awa i-ku,13 awa i-lani,13 keia awa,
Ka awa nei o Hiiaka,
I ku ai, ku i Mauli-ola;14
I Mauli-ola he awa kaulu-ola,15 e,
No na Wahine,—e kapu-kapu-kai16 ka awa,
E Pele honua-mea!
E kala, e Haumea17 wahine;
O ka Wahine i Kilauea,
Nana i ai18 a hohonu ka Lua;
O Ma-ú,19 wahine a Maka-li’i;
O Lua-wahine20 ka lani;
O Kukuena;21 o na wahine
I ka inu hana awa;
Kanaenae a ke akua malihini,22 e!
Hele ho’i ke ala mauka o Ka-ú
Hele ho’i ke ala makai o Puna,
I Ka-ma’a-ma’a,23 i ka puale’i,24
E loa’a ka awa i Apua;25
Ka pi’i’na i Ku-ka-la-ula;26
Hoopuka aku la i kai o Pu’u-lena—27
Aina a ke Akua28 i noho ai.—
Kanaenae a ke ’kua malihini.
TRANSLATION
Pele, indeed, is my god.
Calm be the heavens, peaceful the earth:
Here’s awa fresh-torn from the ground,
Awa that’s been lifted to heaven,
An off’ring for goddess Hiiaka,
A growth of the kingdom Mauli-ola,
Awa that makes for health and peace;
Its woman-ban cleared by aspersion.