The Hawaiian Romance of Laieikawai | Page 3

But we shall have something more
to say of his sources later; with his particular style we are not
concerned. The only reason for presenting the romance complete in all
its original dullness and unmodified to foreign taste is with the definite
object of showing as nearly as possible from the native angle the
genuine Polynesian imagination at work upon its own material,
reconstructing in this strange tale of the "Woman of the Twilight" its
own objective world, the social interests which regulate its actions and

desires, and by this means to portray the actual character of the
Polynesian mind.
This exact thing has not before been done for Hawaiian story and I do
not recall any considerable romance in a Polynesian tongue so
rendered.[4] Admirable collections of the folk tales of Hawaii have
been gathered by Thrum, Remy, Daggett, Emerson, and Westervelt, to
which should be added the manuscript tales collected by Fornander,
translated by John Wise, and now edited by Thrum for the Bishop
Museum, from which are drawn the examples accompanying this paper.
But in these collections the lengthy recitals which may last several
hours in the telling or run for a couple of years as serial in some
Hawaiian newspaper are of necessity cut down to a summary narrative,
sufficiently suggesting the flavor of the original, but not picturing fully
the way in which the image is formed in the mind of the native
story-teller. Foreigners and Hawaiians have expended much ingenuity
in rendering the mélé or chant with exactness,[5] but the much simpler
if less important matter of putting into literal English a Hawaiian kaao
has never been attempted.
To the text such ethnological notes have been added as are needed to
make the context clear. These were collected in the field. Some were
gathered directly from the people themselves; others from those who
had lived long enough among them to understand their customs; others
still from observation of their ways and of the localities mentioned in
the story; others are derived from published texts. An index of
characters, a brief description of the local background, and an abstract
of the story itself prefaces the text; appended to it is a series of abstracts
from the Fornander collection, of Hawaiian folk stories, all of which
were collected by Judge Fornander in the native tongue and later
rendered into English by a native translator. These abstracts illustrate
the general character of Hawaiian story-telling, but specific references
should be examined in the full text, now being edited by the Bishop
Museum. The index to references includes all the Hawaiian material in
available form essential to the study of romance, together with the more
useful Polynesian material for comparative reference. It by no means
comprises a bibliography of the entire subject.

Footnotes to Section I: Introduction
[Footnote 1: Compare the Fijian story quoted by Thomson (p. 6).]
[Footnote 2: Daggett calls the story "a supernatural folklore legend of
the fourteenth century," and includes an excellent abstract of the
romance, prepared by Dr. W.D. Alexander, in his collection of
Hawaiian legends. Andrews says of it (Islander, 1875, p. 27): "We have
seen that a Hawaiian Kaao or legend was composed ages ago, recited
and kept in memory merely by repetition, until a short time since it was
reduced to writing by a Hawaiian and printed, making a duodecimo
volume of 220 pages, and that, too, with the poetical parts mostly left
out. It is said that this legend took six hours in the recital." In prefacing
his dictionary he says: "The Kaao of Laieikawai is almost the only
specimen of that species of language which has been laid before the
public. Many fine specimens have been printed in the Hawaiian
periodicals, but are neither seen nor regarded by the foreign
community."]
[Footnote 3: The changes introduced by these editors have not been
followed in this edition, except in a few unimportant omissions, but the
popular song printed below appears first in its pages:
"Aia Laie-i-ka-wai I ka uka wale la o Pali-uli; O ka nani, o ka nani,
Helu ekahi o ia uka.
"E nanea e walea ana paha, I ka leo nahenahe o na manu.
"Kau mai Laie-i-ka-wai I ka eheu la o na manu; O ka nani, o ka nani,
Helu ekahi o Pali-uli.
"E nanea, etc.
"Ua lohe paha i ka hone mai, O ka pu lau-i a Malio; Honehone,
honehone, Helu ekahi o Hopoe.
"E nanea, etc."

Behold Laieikawai On the uplands of Paliuli; Beautiful, beautiful, The
storied one of the uplands.
REF.--Perhaps resting at peace, To the melodious voice of the birds.
Laieikawai rests here On the wings of the birds; Beautiful, beautiful,
The storied one of the uplands.
She has heard perhaps the playing Of Malio's ti-leaf trumpet; Playfully,
playfully, The storied one of Hopoe.]
[Footnote