Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/592

 244 yournal of American Folk-Lore.

Still more pertinent, perhaps, is it to remark that in an advancing society new ideas are continually springing up from within or find- ing their way from without, and overshadowing and obliterating the old. Men pride themselves on being superior to their fathers, and consequently are inclined to look down on them and on their works. Whereas, when a people has ceased to advance, and are going down- hill and degenerating, they feel that all the strength that is in them has come down from the great and glorious olden time, and it is their ambition to preserve as much of its influence as they possibly can.

These considerations induce me to think that, as I have said, the old legendary tales and poems of the Hawaiians bring down to us much of a very remote antiquity. Unfortunately, in very recent years they have been somewhat vitiated and corrupted. Before the arrival of the missionaries, the recital of these tales was a great source of amusement both to chiefs and people. All flocked to hear them. But as the names of the ancient gods were frequently mentioned in them, their recital appeared to these reverend gentlemen an act of idolatry, a grievous sin, and was strictly prohibited. Nevertheless, there were here and there ungodly people who secretly indulged themselves in listening to them, and thus, though they were banished from what may be termed polite society for more than forty years, they maintained an obscure existence among these outcasts. A rational curiosity and more enlightened views have recently drawn them out from the obscure shelter they had found, and through the medium of the press have presented them to the view of all who sufficiently understand the language. As was to have been expected, they have come forth from the lowly abodes in which they have lurked somewhat mutilated and defaced. For nearly two genera- tions they have passed out of the hands of skilled reciters, receiv- ing honor and reward for their labor, and subject to intelligent criti- cism, and as floating waifs have been taken hold of by men unskilled in their use and careless in their preservation. Hence the old lan- guage has been somewhat altered, as is shown in the number of English terms introduced, and hence, also, as I conceive, many epi- sodes have been appended foreign to the main thread of the story, and often of a different character. Still, that main thread stands out, and to us foreigners the change in language in itself probably is of trifling importance.

These kaavs are not merely short snatches of song, they are lengthened narrations with a plot running through them, requiring prolonged attention. The race seems always to have had a great taste for these recitals. The bard, as in the days of Homer, was an attendant on the banquets of his chief, and the people, for night after

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