at the base of Le-hu-a.
The shady groves there enchant them,
The scarlet plumes of lehua.
Love-dalliance now by the water-reeds,
Till cooled and appeased by the rain-mist.
Pour on, thou rain, the two heads press the pillow:
Lo, prince and princess stir in their sleep!
The scene of this mele is laid on one of the little bird-islands that lie to the northwest of Kauai. The iwa bird, flying heavily to his nesting place in the wiry grass (kala-pahee), symbolizes the flight of a man in his deep-laden pirogue, abducting the woman of his love. The screaming sea-birds that warn him off the island, represented as watch-guards of the shark-god Kuhai-moana (whose reef is still pointed out), figure the outcries of the parents and friends of the abducted woman.
After the first passionate outburst (Puni'a iluna o ka Halau-a-ola) things go more smoothly (ola, …). The flight to covert from the storm, the cove at the base of Le-hu-a, the shady groves, the scarlet pompons of the lehua--the tree and the island have the same name--all these things are to be interpreted figuratively as emblems of woman's physical charms and the delights of love-dalliance.
Mele PALE III (Ai-ha'a)
Ku aku la Kea-aú, lele ka makani mawaho,
Ulu-mano, ma ke kaha o Wai-o-lono.
Ua moani lehua a'e la mauka;
Kani lehua iluna o Kupa-koili,
I ka o ia i ka lau o ka hala,
Ke poo o ka hala o ke aku'i.
E ku'i e, e ka uwalo.
Loli ka mu'o o ka hala,
A helelei ka pua, a pili ke alanui:
Pu ia Pana-ewa, ona-ona i ke ala,
I ka nahele makai o Ka-unu-loa la.
Nani ke kaunu, ke kaunu a ke alii,
He puni ina'i poi na maua.
Ua hala ke Kau a me ka Hoilo,
Mailaila mai no ka hana ino.
Ino mai oe, noho malie aku no hoi au;
Hopo o' ka inaina, ka wai, e-e;
Wiwo au, hopohopo iho nei, e-e!
[Translation]
Song CANTO III (In turgid style)
A storm, from the sea strikes Ke-au,
Ulu-mano, sweeping across the barrens;
It sniffs the fragrance of upland lehua,
Turns back at Kupa-koili;
Sawed by the blows of the palm leaves,
The groves of pandanus in lava shag;
Their fruit he would string 'bout his neck;
Their fruit he finds wilted and crushed,
Mere rubbish to litter the road--
Ah, the perfume! Pana-ewa is drunk with the scent;
The breath of it spreads through the groves.
Vainly flares the old king's passion,
Craving a sauce for his meat and mine.
The summer has flown; winter has come:
Ah, that is the head of our troubles.
Palsied are you and helpless am I;
You shrink from a plunge in the water;
Alas, poor me! I'm a coward.
The imagery of this mele sets forth the story of the fierce, but fruitless, love-search of a chief, who is figured by the Ulu-mano, a boisterous wind of Puna, Hawaii. The fragrance of upland lehua (moani lehua, a'e la mauka, verse 3) typifies the charms of the woman he pursues. The expression kani lehua (verse 4), literally the sudden ending of a rain-squall, signifies the man's failure to gain his object. The lover seeks to string the golden drupe of the pandanus (halo), that he may wear them as a wreath about his neck (uwalo); he is wounded by the teeth of the sword-leaves (o ia i ka lau o ka hala, verse 5). More than this, he meets powerful, concerted resistance (ke poo o ka hala o ke aku'i, verse 6), offered by the compact groves of pandanus that grow in the rough lava-shag (aku'i), typifying, no doubt, the resistance made by the friends and retainers of the woman. After all, he finds, or declares that he finds, the hala fruit he had sought to gather and to wear as a lei about his neck, to be spoiled, broken, fit only to litter the road (loli ka mu'o o ka hala, verse 8; A helelei ka'pua, a pili ke alanui, verse 9). In spite of his repulse and his vilification of the woman, his passion, still feeds on the thought of the one he has lost; her charms intoxicate his imagination, even as the perfume of the hala bloom bewitches the air of Pana-ewa (Pu ia Panaewa, ona-ona i ke ala, verse 10).
It is difficult to interpret verses 12 to 18 in harmony with the story as above given. They may be regarded as a commentary on the passionate episode in the life of the lover, looked at from the standpoint of old age, at a time when passion still survives but physical strength is in abeyance.
As the sugar-boiler can not extract from the stalk the last grain of sugar, so the author finds it impossible in any translation to express the full intent of these Hawaiian mele.
Mele PALE IV
Aole au e hele ka li'u-lá o Maná,
Ia wai crape-kanaka194 o Lima-loa;195
A e hoopunipuni ia a'e nei ka malihini;
A mai puni au: lie wai oupe na.
He ala-pahi ka li'u-lá o Maná;
Ke poloai196 la i ke Koolau-waline.197
Ua ulu mai ka hoaloha i Wailua,
A ua kino-lau198 Kawelo199 mahamaha-i'200
A ua aona201 mai nei lio oiwi e.
He mea e wale au e noho aku nei la.
Noho.
O ka noho kau a ka mea waiwai;
O kau ka i'a a haawi ia mai.
Oli-oli au ke loaa ia oe.
A pela ke ahi o Ka-maile,202
He alualu hewa a'e la ka malihini,
Kukuni hewa i ka ili a kau ka uli, e;
Kau ka uli a ka mea aloha, e.
[Translation]
Song CANTO IV
I will not chase the mirage of Maná,
That man-fooling mist of god Lima-loa,
Which still deceives the stranger--
And came nigh fooling me--the tricksy water!
The mirage of Maná, is a fraud; it
Wantons with the witch Koolau.
A