Two rivers that chafe their banks-- A mad rush to enter the sea-- By the tempest whipped into foam; They roar and bark like hounds: Two souls that pine with love,-- A yearning for passion's plunge-- Their touch child's play, as they kiss:-- Ah, mine the master's lunge!
From his very nature Lohiau was not qualified to reckon with the supernatural side of Hiiaka. His appeals had been on the plain of human passion--such appeals as would have subdued and won the heart of an ordinary woman. Still acting under these limitations, Lohiau aimed and shot the arrow that emptied his quiver of song:
O Haupu, mauna kilohana, I ko'e ia e Hula-ia a oki: Oki laula ka uka o Puna, Lulumi i ka pua hau o Malu-aka. Ho'i kao'o i ka wai olohia; Kinakina'i e eha ka pua o ka hala, la. Hala ke aloha, hoomanao iaia i akea, I ka'awale ho'i kau oni'na-- Oni'na mau ho'i, e: eia oe.
Thou mount of enchantment. Haupu, By the dancers greatly beset.-- The whole face of Puna o'errun, Where clusters the bloom of the hau-- I, back-lame and sore in defeat, Shall master the smart of my wrong. The love-bird has flown into space. Away from this wriggle and squirm. You may twist, you may turn, you are here!
Lohiau had broken with Pele-ula; his last hope and appeal was to Hiiaka. He stood before her waiting her fateful decision. Will she consent to turn the canoe-prow and fly back to Kaua'i with him? He had won the woman's heart in her, but not the deity that controlled her nature. The chain that bound her to the Woman of the Pit was too strong to be broken by any mere human appeal. Lohiau had failed in his play with the kilu; he now saw that he had also failed in his attempt to play with this human heart. The game was up; he sat down.
When Lohiau had retired in defeat, it became the turn of Wahine-oma'o to entertain the company--Wahine-oma'o, faithful, rustic soul, that she was, whose only acquaintance with this fine art was what she had picked up from seeing the performances of her mistress and master. Her wits did not desert her and were equal to the occasion: best of all, she had the wit to recognize her own limitations. Instead of pitching her song to some far-fetched hyperbole, she travestied the whole performance in a wholesome bit of nonsense that drifts down to us across the centuries as a most delicious take-off: