96 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 



15 The flag, lo the flag! 



The flag weeps at half-mast! 



The flag, indeed, asks — 



Many, many the flags, 



A scandal for nnmber, 

 20 Why are they overtnrned? 



Why their banners cast down? 



The author has met with several variants to this mele, which do 

 not greatly change its character. In one of these variants the fol- 

 lowing changes are to be noted : 



Line 4. Pikaka" e ka luna, ke, ke ! 



Line 5. Ka luna o ka hale, ke, ke ! 



Line 8. Ka puka o ka hale, a ke, ke ! 



Line 9. E noho i anei, a ke, ke ! 



To attempt a translation of these lines which are unadulterated 

 slang : 



Line 4. The roof is a-dry, la, la ! 



Line 5. The roof of the house, la, la ! 



Line 8. The door of the house, la, la ! 



Line 9. Turn in this way, la, la ! 



The one who supplied the above lines expressed inability to under- 

 stand their meaning, averring that they are " classical Hawaiian," 

 meaning, doubtless, that they are archaic slang. As to the ninth 

 line, the practice of " sitting in the door " seems to have been the 

 fashion with such folk as far back as the time of Solomon. 



Let us picture this princess of Maui, this granddaughter of 

 Wahieloa, Wewehi, as a Helen, with all of Helen's frailty, a flirt- 

 errant, luxurious in life, quickly deserting one lover for the arms of 

 another; yet withal of such humanity and kindness of fascination 

 that, at her death, or absence, all things mourned her — not as Lycidas 

 was mourned : 



" With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, 



***** 

 And daffodillies fill their cups with tears," 



but in some rude pagan fashion; all of which is wrought out and 

 symbolized in the mele with such imagery as is native to the mind of 

 the savage. 



The attentive reader will not need be told that, as in many another 

 piece out of Hawaii's old-time legends, the path tlirough this song is 

 beset with euphuistic stumbling blocks. The purpose of language, 

 says Talleyrand, is to conceal thought. The veil in this case is quite 

 gauzy. 



The language of the following song for the marionette dance, hula 

 ki'i, as in the one previously given, is mostl}'' of that kind which the 



" Pikaka (full form pikakao). Dried up, juiceless. 



