Pele and HiiakaPolynesian MythologyLegend / Oral TraditionHawaiian and EnglishSharePele and Hiiaka 203Emerson - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableEmersonLanguageEnglishEspañol‹Pele and Hiiaka 1Pele and Hiiaka 2Pele and Hiiaka 3Pele and Hiiaka 4Pele and Hiiaka 5Pele and Hiiaka 6Pele and Hiiaka 7Pele and Hiiaka 8Pele and Hiiaka 9Pele and Hiiaka 10Pele and Hiiaka 11Pele and Hiiaka 12Pele and Hiiaka 13Pele and Hiiaka 14Pele and Hiiaka 15Pele and Hiiaka 16Pele and Hiiaka 17Pele and Hiiaka 18Pele and Hiiaka 19Pele and Hiiaka 20Pele and Hiiaka 21Pele and Hiiaka 22Pele and Hiiaka 23Pele and Hiiaka 24Pele and Hiiaka 25Pele and Hiiaka 26Pele and Hiiaka 27Pele and Hiiaka 28Pele and Hiiaka 29Pele and Hiiaka 30Pele and Hiiaka 31Pele and Hiiaka 32Pele and Hiiaka 33Pele and Hiiaka 34Pele and Hiiaka 35Pele and Hiiaka 36Pele and Hiiaka 37Pele and Hiiaka 38Pele and Hiiaka 39Pele and Hiiaka 40Pele and Hiiaka 41Pele and Hiiaka 42Pele and Hiiaka 43Pele and Hiiaka 44Pele and Hiiaka 45Pele and Hiiaka 46Pele and Hiiaka 47Pele and Hiiaka 48Pele and Hiiaka 49Pele and Hiiaka 50Pele and Hiiaka 51Pele and Hiiaka 52Pele and Hiiaka 53Pele and Hiiaka 54Pele and Hiiaka 55Pele and Hiiaka 56Pele and Hiiaka 57Pele and Hiiaka 58Pele and Hiiaka 59Pele and Hiiaka 60Pele and Hiiaka 61Pele and Hiiaka 62Pele and Hiiaka 63Pele and Hiiaka 64Pele and Hiiaka 65Pele and Hiiaka 66Pele and Hiiaka 67Pele and Hiiaka 68Pele and Hiiaka 69Pele and Hiiaka 70Pele and Hiiaka 71Pele and Hiiaka 72Pele and Hiiaka 73Pele and Hiiaka 74Pele and Hiiaka 75Pele and Hiiaka 76Pele and Hiiaka 77Pele and Hiiaka 78Pele and Hiiaka 79Pele and Hiiaka 80Pele and Hiiaka 81Pele and Hiiaka 82Pele and Hiiaka 83Pele and Hiiaka 84Pele and Hiiaka 85Pele and Hiiaka 86Pele and Hiiaka 87Pele and Hiiaka 88Pele and Hiiaka 89Pele and Hiiaka 90Pele and Hiiaka 91Pele and Hiiaka 92Pele and Hiiaka 93Pele and Hiiaka 94Pele and Hiiaka 95Pele and Hiiaka 96Pele and Hiiaka 97Pele and Hiiaka 98Pele and Hiiaka 99Pele and Hiiaka 100Pele and Hiiaka 101Pele and Hiiaka 102Pele and Hiiaka 103Pele and Hiiaka 104Pele and Hiiaka 105Pele and Hiiaka 106Pele and Hiiaka 107Pele and Hiiaka 108Pele and Hiiaka 109Pele and Hiiaka 110Pele and Hiiaka 111Pele and Hiiaka 112Pele and Hiiaka 113Pele and Hiiaka 114Pele and Hiiaka 115Pele and Hiiaka 116Pele and Hiiaka 117Pele and Hiiaka 118Pele and Hiiaka 119Pele and Hiiaka 120Pele and Hiiaka 121Pele and Hiiaka 122Pele and Hiiaka 123Pele and Hiiaka 124Pele and Hiiaka 125Pele and Hiiaka 126Pele and Hiiaka 127Pele and Hiiaka 128Pele and Hiiaka 129Pele and Hiiaka 130Pele and Hiiaka 131Pele and Hiiaka 132Pele and Hiiaka 133Pele and Hiiaka 134Pele and Hiiaka 135Pele and Hiiaka 136Pele and Hiiaka 137Pele and Hiiaka 138Pele and Hiiaka 139Pele and Hiiaka 140Pele and Hiiaka 141Pele and Hiiaka 142Pele and Hiiaka 143Pele and Hiiaka 144Pele and Hiiaka 145Pele and Hiiaka 146Pele and Hiiaka 147Pele and Hiiaka 148Pele and Hiiaka 149Pele and Hiiaka 150Pele and Hiiaka 151Pele and Hiiaka 152Pele and Hiiaka 153Pele and Hiiaka 154Pele and Hiiaka 155Pele and Hiiaka 156Pele and Hiiaka 157Pele and Hiiaka 158Pele and Hiiaka 159Pele and Hiiaka 160Pele and Hiiaka 161Pele and Hiiaka 162Pele and Hiiaka 163Pele and Hiiaka 164Pele and Hiiaka 165Pele and Hiiaka 166Pele and Hiiaka 167Pele and Hiiaka 168Pele and Hiiaka 169Pele and Hiiaka 170Pele and Hiiaka 171Pele and Hiiaka 172Pele and Hiiaka 173Pele and Hiiaka 174Pele and Hiiaka 175Pele and Hiiaka 176Pele and Hiiaka 177Pele and Hiiaka 178Pele and Hiiaka 179Pele and Hiiaka 180Pele and Hiiaka 181Pele and Hiiaka 182Pele and Hiiaka 183Pele and Hiiaka 184Pele and Hiiaka 185Pele and Hiiaka 186Pele and Hiiaka 187Pele and Hiiaka 188Pele and Hiiaka 189Pele and Hiiaka 190Pele and Hiiaka 191Pele and Hiiaka 192Pele and Hiiaka 193Pele and Hiiaka 194Pele and Hiiaka 195Pele and Hiiaka 196Pele and Hiiaka 197Pele and Hiiaka 198Pele and Hiiaka 199Pele and Hiiaka 200Pele and Hiiaka 201Pele and Hiiaka 202Pele and Hiiaka 203Pele and Hiiaka 204Pele and Hiiaka 205Pele and Hiiaka 206Pele and Hiiaka 207Pele and Hiiaka 208Pele and Hiiaka 209Pele and Hiiaka 210Pele and Hiiaka 211Pele and Hiiaka 212Pele and Hiiaka 213Pele and Hiiaka 214Pele and Hiiaka 215Pele and Hiiaka 216Pele and Hiiaka 217Pele and Hiiaka 218Pele and Hiiaka 219Pele and Hiiaka 220›TranslationPele and Hiiaka 203ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1The Mount is convulsed; the surging fire Sweeps o'er the height of Kui-hana-lei; The rocks ablaze; the hillocks explode Far out by Ax-quarry, aye, and beyond, Where gleefully chirped the pololei, And the grasshopper trilled on the mountain A resonant intermittent cry. Now comes the tall man of the mount, Ku-pulupulu, the Lord of the Woods. In his train swarm the pigmy gods of the wilds, The knock-kneed monster Kuli-pe'e-- That subterraneous eater of towns-- And watchful Pi'i-kea, the Roach god. A blinding smoke blurs the hinter-land; A milk-white cloud obscures the lowland, Enshrouding the groves of lehua. The smoke-rack bulks huge in the upland;-- The fire has its head in the Mount, And thence the Pele gang start on a raid. The ash of their ravage reaches the sea: She's made a fell sweep of forest and grove Clean down to Pohaku-o-kapu. Now, tabu is Puna, forbidden to man: The fire-tongues dart and hedge it about. A torch buds out from Moku-aweö, To answer the beacon flung by Laka. Now she's eaten her way from sleepy noon Till when the windy mountain ridge Buds with the rosy petals of dawn. Here stand I to wait her relenting: I see naught but desolate Puna And the quivering plain of Apua: All about is flame--the rock-plain rent; The coco-palms that tufted the plain Are gone, all gone, clean down to Ka-poho. On rushes the dragon with flaming mouth, Eating its way to Oma'o-lala. For tinder it has the hair of the fern. A ghastly rain blots out the sky; 2The sooty birds of storm whirl through the vault; Heaven groans, adrip, as with dragon-blood. Here Pele comes from her fortress, her Mount, Deserting her resting place, her hearth-- A wild raid down to Malama. Kali'u's highlands shine like the moon; All Puna glows at the Goddess' coming. The crater's upset; the ama flies up; The God of night plods about in the dark; The Upland God makes a dash for Vavau. The pali are notched like teeth, dissevered, Their front clean shaven, where sailed the bosen,-- White breast of down--on outstretched wings. The gods ascend to the highlands; The goddess Pele tears in a frenzy; She raves and beats about in the Pit: Its crumbled walls float like boats in the gulf: An ash-heap is Puna, melted its sand-- Crisp-done by thy fire, Thine, O Woman! 3When Hiiaka recognized the desperate strait of her friend and lover she urged him to betake himself again to prayer. 4"Prayer may serve in time of health; it's of no avail in the day of death," was his answer. 5It was not now a band of women with firebrands, but a phalanx of fire that closed in upon Lohiau. The whole land seemed to him to be a-flame. The pictures that flit through his disturbed mind are hinted at in the song he utters. The pangs of dissolution seem to have stirred his deeper nature and to have given him a thoughtfulness and power of expression that were lacking in the heyday of his lifetime. Hiiaka called on him for prayer and this was his response: 6Pau Puna, ua koele ka papa; Ua noe ke kuahiwi, ka mauna o ka Lua; Ua awa mai ka luna o Uwé-kahuna-- Ka ohu kolo mai i uka, Ka ohu kolo mai i kai. Ke aá la Puna i ka uka o Na'ena'e; [453] O ka lama kau oni'oni'o, [454] O na wahine i ke anaina, I ka piha a ka naoa o mua nei. Oia ho'i ke kukulu [455] a mua; Oia ho'i ke kukulu awa; O kai awa i ka haki pali, O kai a Pele i popo'i i Kahiki-- Popo'i i ke alo o Kilauea; O kai a Ka-hulu-manu: [456] Opiopi [457] kai a ka Makali'i; Ku'uku'u kai a ka pohaku, Ke ahi a ka noho [458] uka, Kukuni i ke kua [459] o ka makani. Wela ka ulu [460] o ka La i Puna, e; Kiná Puna i ka ai'na e ke Akua, e. He akua [461] ke hoa, e; Ke kuhi la iaia he kanáka-- He akua ke hoa, e! ‹Previous chapterPele and Hiiaka 202Next chapterPele and Hiiaka 204›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the United States via Project Gutenberg