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.”
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 plod3 along a dusty road. When, however, the party arrived at the rendezvous4, 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 fresco6 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 laden7 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!
[2]
TRANSLATION
Puna’s a-dance in the breeze,
Haena and Hopoe are swaying;
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
Through the echoing hala groves;
The lehua trees cast their bloom.
Look at the dancing girl Hopoe;
A-dance on the beach Nana-huki:
A dance that is full of delight,
Down by the sea Nana-huki.
At the conclusion of this innocent performance—the earliest mention of the hula that has reached us—Hiiaka went to stay with her friend Hopoe, a person whose charm of character had fascinated the imagination of the susceptible13 girl and who had already become her dearest intimate, her inspiring mentor14 in those sister arts, song, poesy and the dance.
Pele herself remained with her sister Hiiaka-i-ka-pua-enaena (Hiiaka-of-the-fire-bloom), and presently she lay down to sleep [3]in a cave on a smooth plate of pahoehoe. Before she slept she gave her sister this command: “Listen to me. I am lying down to sleep; when the others return from fishing, eat of the fish, but don’t dare to wake me. Let me sleep on until I wake of myself. If one of you wakes me it will be the death of you all. If you must needs wake me, however, call my little sister and let her be the one to rouse me; or, if not her, let it be my brother Ke-o-wahi-maka-o-ka-ua—one of these two.”
When Ke-o-wahi-maka-o-ka-ua, who was so closely related to Pele that she called him brother, had received this command and had seen her lapse15 into profound sleep he went and reported the matter to Hiiaka, retailing16 all that Pele had said. “Strange that this havoc-producer should sleep in this way, and no bed-fellow!” said Hiiaka to herself. “Here are all the other Hiiakas, all of equal rank and merit! Perhaps it was because my dancing pleased her that she wishes me to be the one to rouse her.”
The cavern17 in the hill Pahoehoe in which Pele lay and slept, wrapped in her robe (kapa-ahu), remains18 to this day.
In her sleep Pele heard the far-off beating of hula drums, and her spirit-body pursued the sound. At first it seemed to come from some point far out to sea; but as she followed, it shifted, moving to the north, till it seemed to be off the beach of Waiakea, in Hilo; thence it moved till it was opposite Lau-pahoehoe. Still evading19 her pursuit, the sound retreated till it came from the boisterous20 ocean that beats against the shaggy cliffs of Hamakua. Still going north, it seemed presently to have reached the mid5 channel of Ale-nui-haha that tosses between Hawaii and Maui.
“If you are from my far-off home-land Kahiki, I will follow you thither21, but I will come up with you,” said Pele.
To her detective ear, as she flitted across the heaving waters of Ale-nui-haha, the pulsing of the drums now located itself at the famous hill Kauwiki, in Hana; but, on reaching that place, the music had passed on to the west and sounded from the cliffs of Ka-haku-loa.
The fugitive22 music led her next across another channel, until in her flight she had traversed the length of Moloka’i and had come to the western point of that island, Lae-o-ka-laau. Thence she flew to cape23 Maka-pu’u, on Oahu, and so on, until, after crossing that island, she reached cape Kaena, whose finger-point reaches out towards Kaua’i. In that desolate24 spot dwelt an aged25 creature of myth, Pohaku-o-Kaua’i by name, the personal representative of that rock whose body-form the hero Mawi [4]had jerked from its ocean bed ages before, in his futile26 attempt to draw together the two islands Kaua’i and Oahu and unite them into one mass.
Pele, arguing from her exasperation27, said, “It must be my old grandfather Pohaku-o-Kaua’i who is playing this trick with the music. If it’s he that’s leading me this chase, I’ll kill him.”
The old fellow saw her approach and, hailing her from a distance, greeted her most heartily28. Her answer was in a surly mood: “Come here! I’m going to kill you to-day. So it’s you that’s been fooling me with deceitful music, leading me a wearisome chase.”
“Not I, I’ve not done this. There they are, out to sea; you can hear for yourself.” And, sure enough, on listening, one could hear the throbbing29 of the music in the offing.
Pele acknowledged her mistake and continued her pursuit, with the parting assurance to the old soul that if he had been the guilty one, it would have been his last day of life.
The real authors of this illusive30 musical performance were two little creatures named Kani-ka-wí and Kani-ka-wá, the former a sprite that was embodied31 in the nose-flute, the latter in the hokeo, a kind of whistle, both of them used as accompaniments to the hula. Their sly purpose was to lure32 Pele to a place where the hula was being performed.
Pele now plunged33 into the water—from this point at least she swam—and, guided by the call of the music, directed her course to the little village of Haena that perched like a gull34 on the cape of the same name, at the northernmost point of the island of Kaua’i. It was but a few steps to the hall of the hula—the halau—where throbbed35 the hula drums and where was a concourse of people gathered from the whole island.
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1
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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2
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
plod
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| v.沉重缓慢地走，孜孜地工作 | |
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4
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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5
mid
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| adj.中央的，中间的 | |
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6
fresco
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| n.壁画；vt.作壁画于 | |
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7
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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8
groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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9
thighs
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| n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿 | |
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10
resounds
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的第三人称单数 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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11
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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12
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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13
susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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14
mentor
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| n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导 | |
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15
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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16
retailing
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| n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词) | |
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17
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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18
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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19
evading
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| 逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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20
boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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21
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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22
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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23
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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24
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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25
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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26
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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27
exasperation
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| n.愤慨 | |
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28
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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29
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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30
illusive
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| adj.迷惑人的，错觉的 | |
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31
embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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32
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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33
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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34
gull
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| n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈 | |
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35
throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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