Lady Dancing The Hula Ku’I]

Given a demand for a pas seul, some pleasing dance combining grace with dexterity, a shake of the foot, a twist of the body, and a wave of the hands, the hula ku’i filled the bill to perfection. The very fact that it belonged by name to the genus hula, giving it, as it were, the smack of forbidden fruit, only added to its attractiveness. It became all the rage among dancing folk, attaining such a vogue as almost to cause a panic among the tribunes and censors of society. Even to one who cares nothing for the hula per se, save as it might be a spectacle out of old Hawaii, or a setting for an old-time song, the innocent grace and Delsartian flexibility of this solo dance, which one can not find in its Keltic or African congeners, associate it in mind with the joy and light-heartedness of man’s Arcadian period.

The instruments generally used in the musical accompaniment of the hula ku’i are the guitar, the uku-lele, the taro-patch fiddle, or the mandolin; the piano also lends itself effectively for this purpose; or a combination of these may be used.

The songs that are sung to this dance as a rule belong naturally to later productions of the Hawaiian muse, or to modifications of old poetical compositions. The following mele was originally a namesong (mele-inoa). It was appropriated by the late Princess Kino-iki; and by her it was passed on to Kalani-ana-ole, a fact which should not prejudice our appreciation of its beauty.

Mele

I aloha i ke ko a ka wai, I ka i mai, e, anu kaua. Ua anu na pua o ka laina, Ka wahine noho anu o ke kula. A luna au a o Poli-ahu; Ahu wale kai a o Wai-lua. Lua-ole ka hana a ka makani, A ke Kiu-ke’e a o na pali, Pa iho i ke kai a o Puna— Ko Puna mea ma’a mau ia. Pau ai ko’u lihi hoihoi I ka wai awili me ke kai. Ke ono hou nei ku’u pu’u I ka wai hu’ihu’i o ka uka, Wai hone i ke kumu o ka pali, I malu i ka lau kui-kui. Ke kuhi nei au a he pono Ka ilima lei a ke aloha, Au i kau nui aku ai, I ka nani oi a oia pua.

[Translation.]

Song

How pleasing, when borne by the tide, One says, you and I are a-cold. The buds of the center are chilled Of the woman who shivers on shore. I stood on the height Poli-ahu; The ocean enrobed Wai-lua. Ah, strange are the pranks of the wind, The Kiu-ké’e wind of the pali! It smites now the ocean at Puna— That’s always the fashion at Puna. Gone, gone is the last of my love, At this mixture of brine in my drink! My mouth is a-thirst for a draught Of the cold mountain-water, That plays at the foot of the cliff, In the shade of the kui-kui tree. I thought our love-flower, ilima— Oft worn as a garland by you— Still held its color most true. You’d exchange its beauty for rue!

Mele

Kaulana mai nei Pua Lanakila; Olali oe o ke aupuni hui, Nana i koké áku ke kahua, Na ale o ka Pakipika. Lilo i mea ole na enemi; Puuwai hao-kila, he manao paa; Na ka nupepa la i hoike mai. Ua kau Lanakila i ka hanohano, O ka u’i mapela la o Aina-hau; O ko’u hoa ia la e pili ai— I hoa kaaua i ka puuwai, I na kohi kelekele i ka Pu’ukolu. Ina ilaila Pua Komela, Ka u’i kaulana o Aina-pua! O ka pua o ka Lehua me ka Ilima I lei kahiko no ko’u kino, Ka Palai lau-lii me ka Maile, Ke ala e hoene i kou poli.

[Translation.]

Song

Fame trumpets your conquests each day, Brave Lily Victoria! Your scepter finds new hearts to sway, Subdues the Pacific’s wild waves, Your foes are left stranded ashore, Firm heart as of steel! Dame Rumor tells us with glee Your fortunes wax evermore, Beauty of Aina-hau, Comrade dear to my heart. And what of the hyacinth maid, Nymph of the Flowery Land? I choose the lehua, ilima, As my wreath and emblem of love, The small-leafed fern and the maile— What fragrance exhales from thy breast!

The story that might explain this modern lyric belongs to the gossip of half a century ago. The action hinges about one who is styled Pua Lanakila—literally Flower of Victory. Now there is no flower, indigenous or imported, known by this name to the Hawaiians. It is an allegorical invention of the poet. A study of the name and of its interpretation, Victory, at once suggested to me the probability that it was meant for the Princess Victoria Kamamalu.

As I interpret the story, the lover seems at first to be in a condition of unstable equilibrium, but finally concludes to cleave to the flowers of the soil, the lehua and the ilima (verse 15), the palai and the maile (verse 17), the meaning of which is clear.