Haki pu o ka nahelehele,
Haki hana maile o ka wao,
Hooulu 15 lei ou, o Laka, e!
O Hiiaka 16 ke kaula nana e hooulu na ma'i,
5
A aeae a ulu 17 a noho i kou kuahu,
Eia ka pule la, he pule ola,
He noi ola nou, e-e!
Chorus:
E ola ia makou, aohe hala!
[Translation]
Altar-Prayer to Laka
This spoil and rape of the wildwood,
This plucking of wilderness maile--
Collect of garlands, Laka, for you.
Hiiaka, the prophet, heals our diseases.
5
Enter, possess, inspire your altar;
Heed our prayer, 'tis for life;
Our petition to you is for life.
Chorus:
Give us life, save from transgression!
The wildwoods of Hawaii furnished in great abundance and variety small poles for the framework of the kuahu, the altar, the holy place of the halau, and sweet-scented leaves and flowers suitable for its decoration. A spirit of fitness, however, limited choice among these to certain species that were deemed acceptable to the goddess because they were reckoned as among her favorite forms of metamorphosis. To go outside this ordained and traditional range would have been an offense, a sacrilege. This critical spirit would have looked with the greatest disfavor on the practice that in modern times has crept in, of bedecking the dancers with garlands of roses, pinks, jessamine, and other nonindigenous flowers, as being utterly repugnant to the traditional spirit of the hula.
Among decorations approved and most highly esteemed stood pre-eminent the fragrant maile (pl. IV) and the star-like fronds and ruddy drupe of the íe-íe (pl. II) and its kindred, the hála-pépe (pl. III); the scarlet pompons of the lehúa (pl. XIII) and ohi'a, with the fruit of the latter (the mountain-apple); many varieties of fern, including that splendid parasite, the "bird's nest fern" (ekáha), hailed by the Hawaiians as Mawi's paddle; to which must be added the commoner leaves and lemon-colored flowers of the native hibiscus, the hau, the breadfruit, the native banana and the dracæna (ti), plate V; and lastly, richest of all, in the color that became Hawaii's favorite, the royal yellow ilíma (pl. VI), a flower familiar to the eyes of the tourist to Honolulu.
While deft hands are building and weaving the light framework of the kuahu, binding its parts with strong vines and decorating it with nature's sumptuous embroidery, the kumu, or teacher, under the inspiration of the deity, for whose residence he has prepared himself by long vigil and fasting with fleshly abstinence, having spent the previous night alone in the halau, is chanting or cantillating his adulatory prayers, kanaenae--songs of praise they seem to be--to the glorification of the gods and goddesses who are invited to bless the occasion with their presence and inspiration, but especially of that one, Laka, whose bodily presence is symbolized by a rude block of wood arrayed in yellow tapa that is set up on the altar itself. Thus does the kumu sing:
Pule Kuahu
El' au e Laka mai uka,
E Laka mai kai;
O hooulu
O ka ilio 18 nana e hae,
5
O ka maile hihi i ka wao,
O ka lau-ki 19 lei o ke akua,
O na ku'i hauoli
O Ha'i-ka-manawa. 20
O Laka oe,
10
O ke akua i ke kuahu nei, la;
E ho'i, ho'i mai a noho i kou kuahu!
[Translation]
Altar-Prayer (to Laka)
Here am I, oh Laka from the mountains,
Oh Laka from the shore;
Protect us
Against the dog that barks;
5
Reside in the wild-twining maile
And the goddess-enwreathing ti.
All, the joyful pulses.
Of the woman Ha'i-ka-manawa!
Thou art Laka,
10
The god of this altar;
Return, return, abide in thy shrine!
The prayers which the hula folk of old times chanted while gathering the material in the woods or while weaving it into shape in the halau for the construction of a shrine did not form a rigid liturgy; they formed rather a repertory as elastic as the sighing of the breeze, or the songs of the birds whose notes embroidered the pure mountain air. There were many altar-prayers, so that if a prayer came to an end before the work was done the priest had but to begin the recitation of another prayer, or, if the spirit of the occasion so moved him, he would take up again a prayer already repeated, for until the work was entirely accomplished the voice of prayer must continue to be heard.
The pule now to be given seems to be specially suited to that portion of the service which took place in the woods at the gathering of the poles and greenery. It was designed specially for the placating of the little god-folk who from their number were addressed as Kini o ke Akua, the multitude of the little gods, and who were the counterparts in old Hawaii of our brownies, elfins, sprites, kobolds, gnomes, and other woodland imps. These creatures, though dwarfish and insignificant in person, were in such numbers--four thousand, forty thousand, four hundred thousand--and were so impatient of any invasion of their territory, so jealous of their prerogatives, so spiteful and revengeful when injured, that it was policy always to keep on the right side of them.
Pule Kuahu
E hooulu ana I Kini 21 o ke Akua,
Ka lehu o ke Akua,
Ka mano o ke Akua,
I ka pu-ku'i o ke Akua,
5
I ka lalani Akua,
Ia ulu mai o Kane,
Ulu o Kanaloa;
Ulu ka ohia, lau ka ie-ie;
Ulu ke Akua, noho i ke kahua,
10
A a'ea'e, a ulu, a noho kou kuahu.
Eia ka pule la, he pule ola.
Chorus:
E ola ana oe!
[Translation]
Altar-Prayer