HIIAKA HAS VARIOUS ADVENTURES--THE SHARK MAKAU-KIU
At one stroke, the benign action of the heavenly powers had freed
a fair land from a pestilential mo'o band, disinfected it of the
last shred and fragment of their carcases and ushered in a reign of
peace in the wooded parks and tangled forests of Pana-ewa. Hiiaka
could afford to celebrate her victory by recuperating her powers
in well-earned repose. While she thus lay in profound sleep on
the purified battle-field, her two companions busied themselves in
preparing such simple refreshment as the wilderness afforded. The
piece de resistance of this dinner of herbs was luau, the favorite
food of the Pele family.
When the women had finished the task of collecting, sorting, making
into bundles and cooking the delicate leaves of kalo, Hiiaka still
slept. Paú-o-pala'e thereupon took her station at the feet of her
mistress and chanted the dinner-call in the form of a gentle serenade:
E ala, e ala, e!
E ala, e Hika'a-lani;
E ala, e Ke-ho'oilo-ua-i-ka-lani;
E ala, e Ho'omaú,
Wahine a Makali'i, la!
E ala, e!
TRANSLATION
O Daughter of heaven,
Awake, awake!
Hiiaka, awake!
Sender of winter rain,
Guardian of womanly rites,
Spouse of God Maka-li'i,
Awake thee, awake!
"The luau must be burnt to a crisp," Hiiaka said as she sat up.
As Hiiaka and her companions again wended their way through the forest,
it was evident that its innocent creatures had unjustly suffered in
company with their guilty invaders and time had not yet sufficed for
the exercise of that miracle of tropic repair which quickly heals and
covers the damage done by a tempest. Broken limbs, fallen trees and
twisted vines still blocked the narrow trails, while here and there
an uprooted forest giant, in unseemly fashion, obtruded a Medusa-head
of tawny roots in place of its comely coronal of leaves.
In their journey they came at length to a place, Maka'u-kiu, where the
road seemingly ended abruptly in a precipice with the ocean dashing
wildly at its base. The alternative open to their choice was, to seek
out some round-about inland way, or to take the shorter route and
swim the ocean-made gap. The two women, Wahine-oma'o taking the lead,
proposed, as a diversion, to swim the ocean and thus avoid a long and
wearisome detour. Hiiaka strenuously vetoed the proposition; but the
two women, not yet trained to subordinate their will and judgment to
the decision of the leader, persisted. Hiiaka, thereupon, took a stem
of the ti plant and, peeling off its rusty bark, left it white and
easily visible. "I will throw this stick into the water," said she,
"and if it disappears we will not make of this an au-hula-ana; [74]
but if it remains in sight, then we will swim across this wild piece
of water."
It seemed to Hiiaka that her companions displayed a masculine
stubbornness and unreasonableness, a criticism which she uttered in
her chanting way:
Au ma ka hula-ana!
Kai-ko'o ka pali!
Pihapiha o Eleele,
Ke kai o Maka'u-kiu!
Aole au e hopo i ka loa
O Hono-kane-iki.
I Kane, la, olua;
I wahine, la, wau, e!
TRANSLATION
To swim this tossing sea,
While waves are lashing the cliff
And the ocean rages high,
At Eleele, the haunt of the shark!
I balk not the length of the road
By Hono-kane-iki.
Be you two stubborn as men!
Let me be guideful as woman.
Hiiaka then threw the peeled stick into the ocean and in a moment
it was snatched out of sight. "There! If we were to swim we would be
seized and eaten by Maka'u-kiu."
"When you tossed the stick into the ocean, the sea-moss covered
and concealed it, and you thought it was the work of a shark," was
the reply of Wahine-oma'o. Again they made ready to plunge into the
sea. Hiiaka threw another stick and that too was instantly swallowed;
whereupon she chanted again:
Hookukú ka au-hula-ana o ka pali!
Ke pu'e 'a la e ke kai a nalo ka auki;
He i'a ko lalo, he i'a, o Maka'u-kiu--
Maka'u-kiu, ho'i, e!
TRANSLATION
Have done with this fool-hardy swim!
The ocean just gulps down the stick!
A monster fish dwells in the depth--
That monster shark, Maka'u-kiu;
Aye, the shark-god Maka'u-kiu!
The women were not yet convinced and still persisted, a stubbornness
that drew from Hiiaka another remonstrance:
Me he uahi máhu, la,
Ko lalo o Kaka-auki,
I Maka'u-kiu.
He kiu, he alele aloha,
Eia i o'u nei, e!
TRANSLATION
A seething whirl of ocean-mist
Marks the place where I cast the stick:
'Tis the work of the lurking shark.
Your loving guard, your faithful spy--
That is my service to you!
At these words the huge form of the shark rose to the surface, and
the women, convinced at last, leaped out of the water and abandoned
their purpose. Hiiaka now gave battle to the shark and that was the
end of one more power of evil.