h social value
in the households of chiefs, one in which both men and women take part.

3. In both prose and poetry, for the purpose of social aggrandizement,
the theme is the individual hero exalted through his family connection
and his own achievement to the rank of divinity.

4. The action of the story generally consists in a succession of
contests in which is tested the hero's claim to supernatural power.
These contests range from mythical encounters in the heavens to the
semihistorical rivalries of chiefs.

5. The narrative may take on a high degree of complexity, involving many
well-differentiated characters and a well-developed art of conversation,
and in some instances, especially in revenge, trickster, or recognition
motives, approaching plot tales in our sense of the word.

6. The setting of song or story, both physical and social, is distinctly
realized. Stories persist and are repeated in the localities where they
are localized. Highly characteristic are stories of rock transformations
and of other local configurations, still pointed to as authority for the
tale.

7. Different types of hero appear:

(_a_) The hero may be a human being of high rank and of unusual power
either of strength, skill, wit, or craft.

(_b_) He may be a demigod of supernatural power, half human, half
divine.

(_c_) He may be born in shape of a beast, bird, fish, or other object,
with or without the power to take human form or monstrous size.

(_d_) He may bear some relation to the sun, moon, or stars, a form rare
in Hawaii, but which, when it does occur, is treated objectively rather
than allegorically.

(_e_) He may be a god, without human kinship, either one of the
"departmental gods" who rule over the forces of nature, or of the
hostile spirits who inhabited the islands before they were occupied by
the present race.

(_f_) He may be a mere ordinary man who by means of one of these
supernatural helpers achieves success.

8. Poetry and prose show a quite different process of development. In
prose, connected narrative has found free expression. In poetry, the
epic process is neglected. Besides the formal dirge and highly developed
lyric songs (often accompanied and interpreted by dance), the
characteristic form is the eulogistic hymn, designed to honor an
individual by rehearsing his family's achievements, but in broken and
ejaculatory panegyric rather than in connected narrative. In prose,
again, the picture presente