Kaneaukai: a Legend of Waialua

Long ago, when the Hawaiians were in the darkness of superstition and kahunaism, with their gods and lords many, there lived at Mokuleia, Waialua, two old men whose business it was to pray to Kaneaukai for a plentiful supply of fish. These men were quite poor in worldly possessions, but given to the habit of drinking a potion of awa after their evening meal of poi and fish.

むかし、ハワイの人々がまだ迷信とカフナ(祈祷師)の闇のなかにあり、神々と主たちを数多く持っていたころ、ワイアルアのモクレイアに二人の老人が住んでいた。その務めは、魚がたくさん獲れるようにとカネアウカイに祈ることだった。この二人は財産という点ではまるで貧しかったが、夕食のポイと魚のあとに、アヴァの飲み物を一杯やる習わしを持っていた。

The fish that frequented the waters of Mokuleia were the aweoweo, kala, manini, and many other varieties that find their habitat inside the coral reefs. Crabs of the white variety burrowed in the sand near the seashore and were dug out by the people, young and old. The squid also were speared by the skilful fishermen, and were eaten stewed, or salted and sun-dried and roasted on the coals. The salt likely came from Kaena Point, from salt-water evaporation in the holes of rocks so plentiful on that stormy cape. Or it may have been made on the salt pans of Paukauwila, near the stream of that name, where a few years ago this industry existed on a small scale.

モクレイアの海によく来る魚は、アヴェオヴェオ、カラ、マニニ、そのほか珊瑚礁の内側をすみかとする多くの種類だった。白い種類の蟹は海辺近くの砂に穴を掘り、老いも若きも人々がそれを掘り出した。蛸もまた腕のよい漁師たちに銛で突かれ、煮て食べたり、塩をして日に干し、炭火で焼いて食べたりした。塩はおそらくカエナ岬から来たもので、あの風の荒い岬にたくさんある岩の窪みで海水が蒸発してできたのだろう。あるいは、パウカウウィラの塩田で作られたものかもしれない。その名の川の近くで、数年前まで小さな規模ながらこの仕事が営まれていた。

But to return to our worshippers of Kaneaukai. One morning on going out upon the seashore they found a log of wood, somewhat resembling the human form, which they took home and set in a corner of their lowly hut, and continued their habit of praying to Kaneaukai. One evening, after having prepared a scanty supper of poi and salt, with perhaps a few roasted kukui-nuts, as a relish, and a couple of cocoanut cups of awa as their usual drink, they saw a handsome young man approaching, who entered their hut and saluted them. He introduced himself by saying, "I am Kaneaukai to whom you have been praying, and that which you have set up is my image; you have done well in caring for it."

さて、カネアウカイを拝む二人の話に戻ろう。ある朝、海辺に出てみると、人の形にいくらか似た木の丸太が落ちていた。二人はそれを家に持ち帰って粗末な小屋の隅に据え、カネアウカイに祈る習わしを続けた。ある晩、ポイと塩、それに口直しの焼いたククイの実をいくつかという乏しい夕食をこしらえ、いつもの飲み物として椰子の実の器に二杯のアヴァを用意していると、立派な若い男が近づいてくるのが見えた。男は小屋に入って二人に挨拶した。そして名乗って言った。「わたしはあなたがたが祈っているカネアウカイです。あなたがたが据えたものはわたしの像です。よく世話をしてくださいました。」

He sat down, after the Hawaiian custom, as if to share their evening meal, which the two old men invited him to partake of with them, but regretted the scanty supply of awa. He said: "Pour the awa back into the bowl and divide into three." This they did and at once shared their meal with their guest.

男はハワイの習わしどおりに腰を下ろし、夕食をともにするかのようにした。二人の老人も一緒に食べるようにと勧めたが、アヴァが乏しいのを申し訳なく思った。男は言った。「アヴァを椀に戻して、三つに分けなさい。」二人がそのとおりにすると、すぐに客とともに食事を分け合うことができた。

After supper Kaneaukai said to the two old men, "Go to Keawanui and you will get fish enough for the present." He then disappeared, and the fishermen went as instructed and obtained three fishes; one they gave to an old sorceress who lived near by, and the other two they kept for themselves.

夕食のあと、カネアウカイは二人の老人に言った。「ケアワヌイへ行きなさい。さしあたり十分な魚が手に入ります。」そう言うと姿を消した。漁師たちは言われたとおりに行って三匹の魚を得た。一匹は近くに住む年老いた女呪術師に与え、残りの二匹は自分たちのものにした。

Soon after this there was a large school of fish secured by the fishermen of Mokuleia. So abundant were the fish that after salting all they could, there was enough to give away to the neighbors; and even the dogs had more than they desired.

それからほどなく、モクレイアの漁師たちは大きな魚の群れをとらえた。あまりに魚が多かったので、塩漬けにできるだけ塩漬けにしても、まだ近所に配れるほど残った。犬でさえ、欲しい以上のものを与えられた。

Leaving the Mokuleia people to the enjoyment of their unusual supply of fish, we will turn to the abode of two kahunas, who were also fishermen, living on the south side of Waimea Valley, Oahu. One morning, being out of fish, they went out into the harbor to try their luck, and casting their net they caught up a calcareous stone about as large as a man's head, and a pilot fish. They let the pilot fish go, and threw the stone back into the sea. Again they cast their net and again they caught the stone and the pilot fish; and so again at the third haul. At this they concluded that the stone was a representative of some god. The elder of the two said: "Let us take this stone ashore and set it up as an idol, but the pilot fish we will let go." So they did, setting it up on the turn of the bluff on the south side of the harbor of Waimea. They built an inclosure about it and smoothed off the rocky bluff by putting flat stones from the immediate neighborhood about the stone idol thus strangely found.

モクレイアの人々がこの思いがけない魚を楽しんでいるのはそのままに、こんどはオアフ島ワイメア谷の南側に住む、やはり漁師でもある二人のカフナの住まいに目を移そう。ある朝、魚を切らしていたので、二人は運試しに入り江へ出て網を投げた。すると、人の頭ほどの大きさの石灰質の石と、一匹のコバンザメが掛かった。二人はコバンザメを逃がし、石は海へ投げ返した。もう一度網を投げると、また同じ石とコバンザメが掛かった。三度目も同じだった。これで二人は、この石は何かの神の化身だと考えた。年上のほうが言った。「この石を岸へ運んで、神像として据えよう。だがコバンザメは逃がしてやろう。」二人はそのとおりにして、ワイメアの入り江の南側の崖の曲がり角に石を据えた。そのまわりに囲いを築き、すぐ近くから平たい石を運んできて、こうして不思議に見つかった石の神像のまわりに敷き、岩の崖をならした。

About ten days after the finding of the stone idol the two old kahunas were sitting by their grass hut in the dusk of the evening, bewailing the scarcity of fish, when Kaneaukai himself appeared before them in the guise of a young man. He told them that they had done well in setting up his stone image, and if they would follow his directions they would have a plentiful supply of fish. Said he, "Go to Mokuleia, and you will find my wooden idol; bring it here and set it up alongside of my stone idol." But they demurred, as it was a dark night and there were usually quicksands after a freshet in the Kamananui River. His answer was, "Send your grandsons." And so the two young men were sent to get the wooden idol and were told where they could find it.

石の神像を見つけてから十日ほどたったころ、二人の年老いたカフナは夕暮れの薄明かりのなか、草葺きの小屋のそばに座って魚の乏しさを嘆いていた。するとカネアウカイ自身が若い男の姿で二人の前に現れた。カネアウカイは、自分の石像を据えたのはよいことだった、自分の言うとおりにすれば魚は豊かに獲れるだろう、と告げた。そして言った。「モクレイアへ行きなさい。わたしの木の像があります。それをここへ持ってきて、わたしの石の像のかたわらに据えるのです。」けれども二人は渋った。闇夜であり、カマナヌイ川では増水のあとにたいてい流砂ができるからである。カネアウカイは答えた。「孫たちをやりなさい。」こうして二人の若者が木の像を取りに遣わされ、どこで見つかるかを教えられた。

The young men started for Mokuleia by way of Kaika, near the place where salt was made a few years ago. Being strangers, they were in doubt about the true way, when a meteor (hoku kaolele) appeared and went before them, showing them how to escape the quicksands. After crossing the river they went on to Mokuleia as directed by Kaneaukai, and found the wooden idol in the hut of the two old men. They shouldered it, and taking as much dried fish as they could carry, returned by the same way that they had come, arriving at home about midnight.

若者たちは、数年前まで塩を作っていた場所の近くのカイカを通って、モクレイアへ向かった。よそ者だったので正しい道が分からず迷っていると、流れ星(ホク・カオレレ)が現れて先を行き、流砂を避ける道を示してくれた。川を渡ってからは、カネアウカイに言われたとおりモクレイアへ進み、二人の老人の小屋で木の像を見つけた。若者たちはそれを肩に担ぎ、運べるだけの干魚をもらって、来たのと同じ道を引き返し、真夜中ごろに家に着いた。

The next day the two old kahunas set up the wooden idol in the same inclosure with the stone representative of Kaneaukai. The wooden image has long since disappeared, having been destroyed, probably, at the time Kaahumanu made a tour of Oahu after her conversion to Christianity, when she issued her edict to burn all the idols. But the stone idol was not destroyed. Even during the past sixty years offerings of roast pigs are known to have been placed before it. This was done secretly for fear of the chiefs, who had published laws against idolatry.

翌日、二人の年老いたカフナは、カネアウカイの石の化身と同じ囲いのなかに木の像を据えた。木の像はとうの昔に姿を消している。おそらく、カアフマヌがキリスト教に改宗したのちオアフを巡り、すべての神像を焼けという布告を出したときに壊されたのだろう。けれども石の像は壊されなかった。この六十年のあいだでさえ、その前に焼いた豚が供えられたことが知られている。偶像崇拝を禁じる法を公にしていた首長たちを恐れて、それはひそかに行われた。

Accounts differ, various narrators giving the story some embellishments of their own. So good a man as a deacon of Waialua in telling the above seemed to believe that, instead of being a legend it was true; for an old man, to whom he referred as authority, said that one of the young men who went to Mokuleia and brought the wooden idol to Waimea was his own grandfather.

話にはいろいろな伝えがあり、語り手それぞれが自分なりの飾りを加えている。ワイアルアの執事のような立派な人物でさえ、右の話をするとき、これは伝説ではなく本当のことだと信じているように見えた。その人が典拠として挙げた老人が、モクレイアへ行って木の像をワイメアへ運んだ若者の一人は自分の祖父だ、と言ったからである。

An aged resident of the locality gives this version: Following the placement of their strangely found stone these two men dreamed of Kaneaukai as a god in some far-distant land, to whom they petitioned that he would crown their labors with success by granting them a plentiful supply of fish. Dreaming thus, Kaneaukai revealed himself to them as being already at their shore; that the stone which they had been permitted to find and had honored by setting up at Kehauapuu, was himself, in response to their petitions; and since they had been faithful so far, upon continuance of the same, and offerings thereto, they should ever after be successful in their fishing. As if in confirmation of this covenant, this locality has ever since been noted for the periodical visits of schools of the anae-holo and kala, which are prevalent from April to July, coming, it is said, from Ohea, Honuaula, Maui, by way of Kahuku, and returning the same way.

その土地の年老いた住人は、こういう筋で語る。不思議に見つけた石を据えたのち、この二人は、はるか遠い国にいる神としてのカネアウカイの夢を見た。二人はその神に、魚をたくさん恵んでわたしたちの働きを実らせてくださいと願った。そう夢に見ていると、カネアウカイは、自分はすでにあなたがたの岸に来ているのだと明かした。あなたがたが見つけることを許され、ケハウアプウに据えて敬ったあの石は、あなたがたの願いに応えた自分自身なのだ、と。そしてここまで忠実であったのだから、これからも同じようにして供え物を続けるならば、漁はいつまでも成功するだろう、と。この約束を裏づけるかのように、この土地はそれ以来、アナエ・ホロとカラの群れが季節ごとに訪れることで知られている。それは四月から七月にかけてやって来て、マウイ島ホヌアウラのオヘアからカフクを通って来ると言われ、帰りも同じ道をたどるという。

So strong was the superstitious belief of the people in this deified stone that when, some twenty years ago, the road supervisor of the district threw it over and broke off a portion, it was prophesied that Kaneaukai would be avenged for the insult. And when shortly afterward the supervisor lost his position and removed from the district, returning not to the day of his death; and since several of his relatives have met untimely ends, not a few felt it was the recompense of his sacrilegious act.

この神とされた石への人々の迷信深い信心はあまりに強く、二十年ほど前にこの地区の道路監督が石を放り投げて一部を欠いたとき、カネアウカイはこの侮辱の仕返しをするだろうと予言された。そしてまもなくその監督は職を失って地区から去り、死ぬまで戻らなかった。その後、親類の何人かが不慮の死を遂げたので、これは冒瀆の行いの報いだと感じた者は少なくなかった。