Those who sing outside the hula house
before the 19th century · Hawaii · The last two lines of the song sung outside the door by someone asking to enter a hula school. The earlier lines sing of the mountains and streams of Kauaʻi. The spelling is as Emerson took it down, without the marks of modern Hawaiian spelling.
Do not hold back your voice! There is no call in answer!
Mai pa'a i ka leo! He ole ka hea mai, e!
The song at the door (mele kāhea) · in N. B. Emerson, Unwritten Literature of Hawaii: The Sacred Songs of the Hula (1909)
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Those who answer from inside the hula house
before the 19th century · Hawaii · The song sung from inside in answer to the song at the door. With it, Emerson writes, the door was opened and the visitor was welcomed as an honoured guest.
Call the one outside to come in, and feed him till his mouth can take no more. This is the payment: the voice, only the voice.
E hea i ke kanaka e komo maloko, E hanai ai a hewa waha; Eia no ka uku la, o ka leo, A he leo wale no, e!
The song of welcome (mele komo) · in N. B. Emerson, Unwritten Literature of Hawaii: The Sacred Songs of the Hula (1909)
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