return from Kauai to her sister's court at Kilauea. In this
affair Lohiau and Wahineoma'o contended on the side of
Hiiaka, while Pele-ula was assisted by her husband, Kou, and
by other experts. But on this occasion the dice were cogged;
the victory was won not by human skill but by the magical
power of Hiiaka, who turned Pele-ula's kilu away from the
target each time she threw it, but used her gift to compel it
to the mark when the kilu was cast by herself.
_Mele_
Ku'u noa mai ka makani kuehu-kapa o Kalalau,[467]
Mai na pali ku'i[468] o Makua-iki,
Ke lawe la i ka haka,[469] a lilo!
A lilo o-e, la!
5 Ku'u kane i ka uhu ka'i o Maka-pu'u,
Huki iluna ka Lae-o-ka-laau;[470]
Oia pali makua-ole[471] olaila.
Ohiohi ku ka pali o Ulamao, e-e!
A lilo oe, la!
[Footnote 467: _Ka-lalau_ (in the translation by the omission
of the article _ka_, shortened to _Lalau_). A deep
cliff-bound valley on the windward side of Kauai, accessible
only at certain times of the year by boats and by a steep
mountain trail at its head.]
[Footnote 468: _Pali ku'i_. _Ku'i_ means literally to join
together, to splice or piece out. The cliffs tower one above
another like the steps of a stairway.]
[Footnote 469: _Haka_. A ladder or frame such as was laid
across a chasm or set up at an impassable place in a
precipitous road. The windward side of Kauai about Kalalau
abounded in such places.]
[Footnote 470: _Lae-o-ka-laau_. The southwest point of Molokai,
on which is a light-house.]
[Footnote 471: _Makua-ole_. Literally fatherless, perhaps
meaning remarkable, without peer.]
[Page 241]
[Translation]
_Song_
Comrade mine in the robe-stripping gusts of Lalau,
On the up-piled beetling cliffs of Makua,
The ladder... is taken away... it is gone!
Your way is cut off, my man!
5 With you I've backed the uhu of Maka-pu'u,
Tugging them up the steeps of Po
|