He Moʻolelo no ʻUmi: Kekahi Aliʻi Kaulana o Ko Hawaiʻi Nei Pae ʻĀina.

A Moʻolelo for ʻUmi: A Famous Aliʻi of These Hawaiian Islands.

ʻAuhea ʻoukou e nā hoa hele o ke ala ʻūlili. E ka lāhui Kanaka, mai kahi kihi a kahi kihi o ka ʻāina. Aloha nui kākou. I ka lā 31 o nei mahina o Iulai e hoomanao ana ka poʻe aloha ʻāina i ka Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea o ko kākou Aupuni Hawaiʻi aloha, no laila, he kūpono nō hoʻi ko kākou nānā hou ʻana aku i ke kumu manaʻo o ia mea he ea. I ka M.H. 1871 haʻiʻōlelo maila ʻo Davida K. Kahalemaile no ka Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, a he pālima kona manaʻo no ke ea. Wahi āna, “1. Ke ea o na i-a, he wai. 2. Ke ea o ke kanaka, he makani. 3. O ke ea o ka honua, he kanaka, koe nae na mea ola lua, ola i ka wai, ola i ka aina. 4. Ke ea o ka moku, he hoeuli, ka hoeuli o ke kanaka nana e pailata kona noonoo, oia ka uhane. 5. Ke ea o ko Hawaii Pae Aina, nona keia la a kakou e olelo nei a e olioli nei. Oia no ka Noho Aupuni ana. A o ke ano hoi o ka huaolelo aupuni, Oia ka hui ana o na Alii a me na Makaainana e noonoo a e kau i Kanawai no lakou, a kapa ia mai keia hui ana, he Aupuni.” (Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Aug. 12, 1871) No laila, e ka lāhui Kanaka, iā kākou e hea aku nei i nā ʻōlelo kaulana a Kauikeaouli (KIII) i ʻī aku ai i ka Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea mua loa i ka M.H. 1843, ʻo ia nō, “Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono,” e hoʻomanaʻo nō kākou i kēia mau manaʻo no ke kumu pono o ke ea. He kumu ola ke ea, a he kahua nō ia no ka pono o ka aina a me ke kānaka. A iā kākou, e nā hoa heluhelu, e hahai aku nei i ke kuamoʻo o ke aliʻi kaulana nona kēia moʻolelo, e nānā pono kākou i kāna mau hana e kūkulu iho ai i ke ea o ko Hawaiʻi Nei Pae ʻĀina, i kona hui ʻana me nā Makaʻāinana e noʻonoʻo a e hoʻopaʻa i nā kānāwai a i nā pono no ko kākou ʻāina aloha. 

Na Noʻeau Peralto, Mea Kākau
Koholālele, Hāmākua, Hawaiʻi
Iulai 3, 2015

Dear traveling companions of the ala ʻūlili. Oh lāhui Kanaka, from one corner to the other corner of this ʻāina, great aloha to you all. On the 31st of this month of July, many people who love this ʻāina will be commemorating Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (the day that sovereignty was returned) to our beloved Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, and so it is perhaps necessary that we look to the source of the meaning of this word, “ea.” In the year 1871, Davida K. Kahalemaile gave a speech about Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, and his thoughts about ea were fivefold. According to him, “1. The ea of fish is water. 2. The ea of people is the wind (air). 3. The ea of the earth is people, other than the two things that give life: life from the water, life from the ʻāina. 4. The ea of a boat is the rudder. The rudder of a person, which pilots their thoughts, is the spirit. 5. The ea of these Hawaiian Islands—that for which this day we speak of is celebrated—is our continued existence as an independent nation. And the nature of the word ‘aupuni,’ refers to the unification of the chiefs and the common people to think of and enact a set of laws for themselves. This unification is called an Aupuni.” Therefore, oh lāhui Kanaka, as we call out the famous words that Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) spoke at the very first Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea in 1843, “Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono,” we must remember these thoughts regarding the true source of ea. Ea is a source of life, and it is a foundation for the pono of the ʻāina and the people. And as we, oh reading companions, are following in the path of the famous aliʻi for whom this moʻolelo was written, we must thoroughly look at his work to establish the ea of our Hawaiian Islands, as he united with the common people to devise and solidify the laws and the necessities of well-being for our beloved homelands.

By Noʻeau Peralto, Writer
Koholālele, Hāmākua, Hawaiʻi
July 3, 2015

Helu IV.

Pii aku la o Umi iuka o kuahiwi, ma kahi a Kaleioku ma e mahiai ana me na kanaka. A loaa aku o Kaleioku ma e mahiai ana me na kanaka o laua, ninau mai o Kaleioku ia Umi, “Ua hiki mai ua mau wahi elemakule nei? “ Ae aku o Umi. “Ae, ua hiki mai laua, o na mea au i ao mai ai ia’u e hoomakaukau no ko laua hiki ana mai, oia na mea ai, ua hoomakaukau aku nei no au, a ua pau. Ua ona nae ua mau wahi elemakule la i ka awa, ke hiamoe la.” Olelo aku o Kaleioku ia Umi, “E noho kaua me na kanaka ou, a aui ae ka la, hoi kaua, penei nae ka hoi ana. Owau ka makamua o na kanaka, a o oe e ke Alii ka hope loa.” Ua oluolu ia i ko Umi mau maka.

O ka Kaleioku mea i hana ai no ka hoi lalani ana o na kanaka o ke Alii. I hiki ia mamua i na wahi elemakule, loaa ka hoa kamailio o laua. No ka ninaninau o ua mau wahi elemakule nei ia Kaleioku ia Umi. A na Kaleioku e wehewehe aku imua o laua, o kuhihewa laua i keia kanaka, kela kanaka o Umi; no ka mea, o Kaleioku, ua kamaaina ia i ko laua mau maka. Aole no i ike laua ia Umi, a poeleele loa i ka hoi ana mai mai kuahiwi. Oia ka mea i lilo ai ka Mokupuni o Hawaii ia Umi, no ko laua hilahila ana.

I ko Umi pii ana iuka, e huli ia Kaleioku ma, moe iho la ua mau wahi elemakule nei, a mahope iho, ala ae la ka lua o ka elemakule, a kamailio laua ia laua iho. I iho la laua, “Aole me keia ko kaua mau haku o ka noho ana, ia Liloa, a hala ia i ka make, ia Hakau hoi i kana keiki, he ai, he i-a, he kapa, ka mea loaa mai ia kaua, o ko kaua wahi hale pelapela loa, he oi keia a kaua e ike nei. Mai ko kaua wa u-i, a hiki i ko kaua wa hapauea nei, loaa ia kaua keia mau makana maikai, i ko kaua wa ahona iki, aole i loaa.”

A aui ae la ka la, o ka hora 2 paha ia, hoomaka ka iho ana o ka huakai, o Kaleioku mua, ia lakou nei e iho mai ana. Ike aku la ua mau elemakule la i ka iho ana mai, aia hoi, ua nui loa na kanaka imua o ko laua mau maka, i ka ike aku e iho mai ana, aole nae i ikeia’ku ka hope pau mai o na kanaka, i ka puka ana mai maloko o ka laau loloa. Ma kela aina, i haiia ma ka Helu 2 o keia moolelo, (o Waipunalei ma Hilo paliku.) A hiki o Kaleioku imua o ke alo o ua mau wahi elemakule nei, aloha lakou ia lakou iho, akahi no lakou a halawai hou, ua nui loa ko lakou aloha ia lakou. Ke hoi nei no na kanaka ma ko lakou mau hale, e kokoke ana ma ko lakou nei hale e noho ana, (oia ka hale o mua,) o kanaka nui wale no keia e e hiki e nei i kauhale. Ua mahele o Kaleioku i na kanaka o laua, i na apana eha, okoa kanaka nui, okoa kanka [sic] malalo iho o lakou, okoa kanaka liilii, okoa kamalii.

Ia Kaleioku ma e noho pu ana me na wahi elemakule, ninau mai kekahi wahi elemakule ia Kaleioku, “Auhea o Umi, aia o kela kanaka maikai la?” Hoole aku o Kaleioku. “Aole ia, e i aku no mahope mai.” I ka pau ana o na kanaka mui, i ke komo ma ko lakou mau hale, a ae iluna o na kanaka liilii. O ka hana mau no ia o ka ninau pinepine a ua mau wahi elemakule nei, a pau ka huakai kanaka liilii, a ae iluna o ka huakai keiki, ninau no ua mau wahi elemakule nei, a pau ia huakai, a ae iluna o ka huakai kamalii aole i pau ia huakai, poeleele loa iho la, nalowale ka ili o kanaka. Aia o Umi mahope loa o ka huakai kamalii.


(Aole i pau)

Kākau ʻia e J. H. Z. Kalunaaina, Mal. 8, 1862
Hoʻopuka hou ʻia a ʻunuhi ʻia e Kealaulili

Chapter IV.

ʻUmi then ascended to the uplands, to where Kaleiokū was farming with their people. When he found Kaleiokū farming with their people, Kaleiokū asked of ʻUmi, “Have those old men arrived?” ʻUmi nodded. “Yes, they have arrived. I prepared all the things you taught me to prepare for their arrival, such as the food. Those old men became dizzy from the ʻawa, and are now sleeping.” Kaleiokū then said to ʻUmi, “Let us stay here with your people, and when the sun begins the set, we shall return. That is how we shall return. I will be the first of the people, and you, the Aliʻi, shall be the very last.” And so it was, agreeable, in the eyes of ʻUmi.

The reason why Kaleiokū chose to have the people of the chief return together in a line is so that when they arrived before the old men, he would be the first person they spoke to. Because the old men would ask Kaleiokū about ʻUmi, and Kaleiokū would be the one to explain to them that they had mistaken ʻUmi to be another man. Because Kaleiokū was familiar to their eyes, and they had not seen ʻUmi before. And it would be the dark of night when he returned from the uplands. And so that is what would bring the island of Hawaiʻi under the control of ʻUmi—their shame.

When ʻUmi was ascending towards the uplands to look for Kaleiokū and the others, the old men were sleeping. Soon after, the second of the old men woke up, and the two conversed with each other. They said to each other, “This is not how our chiefs treated us in their reigns. During the time of Līloa, until he passed on, and during that of Hakau his son, food, fish and kapa were the things we received. Ours was but a small filthy house. This, however, is the best that we have ever experienced. From the days of our handsome youth until this time of our old age, only now have we received these wonderful gifts. In our days of better health, we had none of this.”

As the sun lowered in the sky, perhaps around 2 o’clock, they began their descent, and Kaleiokū was the first of them to go down. When the old men saw them coming, because there were so many people before their eyes, they could not see the last of the people coming as they emerged from the tall trees of the forest of that ʻāina, which was spoken of in Chapter 2 of this moʻolelo (Waipunalei, in Hilo Palikū.) When Kaleiokū arrived in the presence of those old men, they expressed aloha for each other. It was the first time they were meeting again, and they had a great deal of aloha for each other. As the people returned to their houses, they passed close by the house where the old men were staying, (that is, the hale o mua [the men’s house]). These were just the tall people who had arrived at the village. Kaleiokū had divided their people into four groups: the biggest people, the people just under them, the smaller people, and the children.

While Kaleiokū and the others were sitting there with the old men, one of the old men asked Kaleiokū, “Where is ʻUmi? Is he that good looking man there?” Kaleiokū responded, “That is not him. He is coming behind them.” After the tall people had passed by and returned to their houses, then came the smaller people. And the old men continued to ask repeatedly, as the smaller people had passed by, and then as the children passed, they asked again. And before all the children had come down past them, it began to get dark, until they could not see their own skin. And ʻUmi remained, in the very back of the procession of children.


(To be continued)

Written by J. H. Z. Kalunaaina, Mar. 8, 1862
Republished and translated by Kealaulili

Read Previous 

- 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8  

Read Next