The Hawaiian Romance of Laieikawai | Page 2

translated by Liliuokalani II. Chants relating to the origin of the group
III. Hawaiian folk tales, romances, or moolelo
Index to references
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE 91. A kahuna or native sorcerer 92. In the forests of Puna 93. A
Hawaiian paddler 94. Mauna Kea in its mantle of snow 95. A native
grass house of the humbler class

INTRODUCTION
I. THE BOOK AND ITS WRITER; SCOPE OF THE PRESENT
EDITION

The Laieikawai is a Hawaiian romance which recounts the wooing of a
native chiefess of high rank and her final deification among the gods.
The story was handed down orally from ancient times in the form of a
kaao, a narrative rehearsed in prose interspersed with song, in which
form old tales are still recited by Hawaiian story-tellers.[1] It was put
into writing by a native Hawaiian, Haleole by name, who hoped thus to
awaken in his countrymen an interest in genuine native story-telling
based upon the folklore of their race and preserving its ancient
customs--already fast disappearing since Cook's rediscovery of the
group in 1778 opened the way to foreign influence--and by this means
to inspire in them old ideals of racial glory. Haleole was born about the
time of the death of Kaméhaméha I, a year or two before the arrival of
the first American missionaries and the establishment of the Protestant
mission in Hawaii. In 1834 he entered the mission school at
Lahainaluna, Maui, where his interest in the ancient history of his
people was stimulated and trained under the teaching of Lorrin
Andrews, compiler of the Hawaiian dictionary, published in 1865, and
Sheldon Dibble, under whose direction David Malo prepared his
collection of "Hawaiian Antiquities," and whose History of the
Sandwich Islands (1843) is an authentic source for the early history of
the mission. Such early Hawaiian writers as Malo, Kamakau, and John
Ii were among Haleole's fellow students. After leaving school he
became first a teacher, then an editor. In the early sixties he brought out
the Laieikawai, first as a serial in the Hawaiian newspaper, the Kuokoa,
then, in 1863, in book form.[2] Later, in 1885, two part-Hawaiian
editors, Bolster and Meheula, revised and reprinted the story, this time
in pamphlet form, together with several other romances culled from
Hawaiian journals, as the initial volumes of a series of Hawaiian
reprints, a venture which ended in financial failure.[3] The romance of
Laieikawai therefore remains the sole piece of Hawaiian, imaginative
writing to reach book form. Not only this, but it represents the single
composition of a Polynesian mind working upon the material of an old
legend and eager to create a genuine national literature. As such it
claims a kind of classic interest.
The language, although retaining many old words unfamiliar to the
Hawaiian of to-day, and proverbs and expressions whose meaning is

now doubtful, is that employed since the time of the reduction of the
speech to writing in 1820, and is easily read at the present day.
Andrews incorporated the vocabulary of this romance into his
dictionary, and in only a few cases is his interpretation to be questioned.
The songs, though highly figurative, present few difficulties. So far as
the meaning is concerned, therefore, the translation is sufficiently
accurate. But as regards style the problem is much more 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 detail--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 conspicuous 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 conceives 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
Laieikawai episode into the popular romances, and of these episodes
Haleole may have availed himself.