BECKWITH] INTRODUCTION 295 
difficult. To convey not only the meaning but exactly the Hawaiian 
way of seeing things, in such form as to get the spirit of the original, 
is hardly possible to our language. The brevity of primitive speech 
must be sacrificed, thus accentuating the tedious repetition of de- 
tail—a trait sufficiently characteristic of Hawaiian story-telling. 
Then, too, common words for which we have but one form, in the 
original employ a variety of synonyms. “Say” and “see” are con- 
spicuous examples. Other words identical in form convey to the 
Polynesian mind a variety of ideas according to the connection in 
which they are used—a play upon words impossible to translate in 
a foreign idiom. Again, certain relations that the Polynesian con- 
ceives with exactness, like those of direction and the relation of the 
person addressed to the group referred to, are foreign to our own 
idiom ; others, like that of time, which we have more fully developed, 
the Polynesian recognizes but feebly. In face of these difficulties the 
translator has reluctantly foregone any effort to heighten the charm 
of the strange tale by using a fictitious idiom or by condensing and 
invigorating its deliberation. Haleole wrote his tale painstakingly, 
at times dramatically, but for the most part concerned for its historic 
interest. We gather from his own statement and from the breaks in 
the story that his material may have been collected from different 
sources. It seems to have been common to incorporate a Laieika- 
wai episode into the popular romances, and of these episodes Haleole 
may have availed himself. 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.t_ 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 
1Dr. N. B. Emerson’s rendering of the myth of Pele and Hiiaka quotes only the poeti- 
cal portions. Her Majesty Queen Liliuokalani interested herself in providing a trans- 
lation of the Laieikawai, and the Hon. Sanford B. Dole secured a partial translation 
of the story; but neither of these copies has reached the publisher’s hands. 
