XXIV— THE HULA PELE 



The Hawaiian drama could lay hold of no worthier theme than 

 that offered by the story of Pele. In this epic we find the natural 

 and the supernatural, the everyday events of nature and the sublime 

 ])henomena of nature's wonderland, so interwoven as to make a story 

 rich in strong human and deific coloring. It is true that the genius 

 of the Hawaiian was not equal to the task of assembling the dis- 

 severed parts and of combining into artistic unity the materials his 

 own imagination had spun. This vgry fact, however, brings us so 

 much nearer to the inner workshop of the Hawaiian mind. 



The story of Pele is so long and complicated that only a brief ab- 

 stract of it can be offered now : 



Pele, the goddess of the volcano, in her dreams and wanderings 

 in spirit-form, met and loved the handsome Prince Lohiau, She 

 would not be satisfied with mere spiritual intercourse; she demanded 

 the sacrament of bodily presence. "Who should be the embassador to 

 bring the youth from his distant home on Kauai ? She begged her 

 grown-up sisters to attempt the task. They foresaw the peril and 

 declined the thankless undertaking. Hiiaka, the youngest and most 

 affectionate, accepted the mission ; but, knowing her sister's evil tem- 

 per, strove to obtain from Pele a guaranty that her own forests and 

 the life of her bosom friend Hopoe should be safeguarded during her 

 absence. 



Hiiaka was accompanied by Wahine-oma'o — the woman in green — 

 a woman as beautiful as herself. After many adventures they arrived 

 at Haena and found Lohiau dead and in his sepulchre, a sacrifice 

 to the jealousy of Pele. They entered the cave, and after ten days 

 of prayer and incantation Hiiaka had the satisfaction of seeing the 

 body of Lohiau warmed and animated by the reentrance of the spirit; 

 and the company, now of three, soon started on the return to Kilauea. 



The time consumed by Hiiaka in her going and doing and return- 

 ing had been so long that Pele was moved to unreasonable jealousy 

 and, regardless of her promise to her faithful sister, she devastated 

 with fire the forest parks of Hiiaka and sacrificed the life of Hiiaka 's 

 bosom friend, the innocent and beautiful Hopoe. 



Hiiaka and Lohiau, on their arrival at Kilauea, seated themselves 



on its ferny brink, and there, in the open view of Pele's court, Hiiaka, 



in resentment at the broken faith of her sister and in defiance of her 



power, invited and received from Lohiau the kisses and dalliance 



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