Introduction to La‘ieikawai

Martha Warren Beckwith, Translator


La‘ieikawai 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 ka‘ao, a narrative rehearsed in prose interspersed with song, in which form old tales are still recited by Hawaiian storytellers. It was put into writing by a native Hawaiian, S.N. Hale‘ole, who hoped thus to awaken in his countrymen an interest in genuine native storytelling 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.

Hale‘ole was born about the time of the death of Kamehameha I, a year or two before the arrival of the first American missionaries and the establishment of the Protestant mission in Hawai‘i. 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 Hale‘ole’s fellow students. After leaving school he became first a teacher, then an editor. In the early sixties he brought out La‘ieikawai, first as a serial in the Hawaiian newspaper, the “Kuokoa,” then, in 1863, in book form. 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. The romance of La‘ieikawai therefore remains the sole piece of Hawaiian imaginative writing to reach book form. [Another book, “Moolelo Hawaii o Pakaa a me Ku-a-Pakaa,” “The Hawaiian Story of Paka‘a and Ku-a-Paka‘a,” was published by Moses K. Nakuina in 1902.] 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.

This work of translation has been undertaken out of love for the land of Hawai‘i and for the Hawaiian people. To all those who have generously aided to further the study I wish to express my grateful thanks. I am indebted to the curator and trustees of the Bishop Museum for so kindly placing at my disposal the valuable manuscripts in the museum collection, and to Dr. Brigham, Mr. Stokes, and other members of the museum staff for their help and suggestions, as well as to those scholars of Hawaiian who have patiently answered my questions or lent me valuable material – to Mr. Henry Parker, Mr. Thomas Thrum, Mr. William Rowell, Miss Laura Green, Mr. Stephen Desha, Judge Hazelden of Wai‘ohinu, Mr. Curtis Iaukea, Mr. Edward Lilikalani, and Mrs. Emma Nawahi. Especially am I indebted to Mr. Joseph Emerson, not only for the generous gift of his time but for free access to his entire collection of manuscript notes. My thanks are also due to the hosts and hostesses through whose courtesy I was able to study in the field, and to Miss Ethel Damon for her substantial aid in proofreading. Nor would I forget to record with grateful appreciation those Hawaiian interpreters whose skill and patience made possible the rendering into English of their native romance – Mrs. Pokini Robinson of Maui, Mr. and Mrs. Kamakaiwi of Pahoa, Hawai‘i, Mrs. Kama and Mrs. Supe of Kalapana, and Mrs. Julia Bowers of Honolulu. I wish also to express my thanks to those scholars in this country who have kindly helped me with their criticism – to Dr. Ashley Thorndike, Dr. W. W. Lawrence, Dr. A. C. L. Brown, and Dr. A. A. Goldenweiser. I am indebted also to Dr. Roland Dixon for bibliographical notes. Above all, thanks are due to Dr. Franz Boas, without whose wise and helpful enthusiasm this study would never have been undertaken.

For the translation of Hale‘ole’s foreword, which is in a much more ornate and involved style than the narrative itself, I am indebted to Miss Laura Green, of Honolulu. 

Columbia University, October, 1917