Hither she went and thither in all the coasts of the land.
They tell that she feared not to slumber alone, in the dead of night, In accursed places; beheld, unblenched, the ribbon of light (9)Spin from temple to temple; guided the perilous skiff, Abhorred not the paths of the mountain and trod the verge of the cliff;From end to end of the island, thought not the distance long, But forth from king to king carried the tale of her wrong.
To king after king, as they sat in the palace door, she came, Claiming kinship, declaiming verses, naming her name And the names of all of her fathers; and still, with a heart on the rack, Jested to capture a hearing and laughed when they jested back:
So would deceive them awhile, and change and return in a breath, And on all the men of Vaiau imprecate instant death;And tempt her kings - for Vaiau was a rich and prosperous land, And flatter - for who would attempt it but warriors mighty of hand?
And change in a breath again and rise in a strain of song, Invoking the beaten drums, beholding the fall of the strong, Calling the fowls of the air to come and feast on the dead.
And they held the chin in silence, and heard her, and shook the head;For they knew the men of Taiarapu famous in battle and feast, Marvellous eaters and smiters: the men of Vaiau not least.
To the land of the Namunu-ura, (10) to Paea, at length she came, To men who were foes to the Tevas and hated their race and name.
There was she well received, and spoke with Hiopa the king. (11)And Hiopa listened, and weighed, and wisely considered the thing.
"Here in the back of the isle we dwell in a sheltered place,"Quoth he to the woman, "in quiet, a weak and peaceable race.
But far in the teeth of the wind lofty Taiarapu lies;Strong blows the wind of the trade on its seaward face, and cries Aloud in the top of arduous mountains, and utters its song In green continuous forests. Strong is the wind, and strong And fruitful and hardy the race, famous in battle and feast, Marvellous eaters and smiters: the men of Vaiau not least.
Now hearken to me, my daughter, and hear a word of the wise:
How a strength goes linked with a weakness, two by two, like the eyes.
They can wield the omare well and cast the javelin far;Yet are they greedy and weak as the swine and the children are.
Plant we, then, here at Paea, a garden of excellent fruits;Plant we bananas and kava and taro, the king of roots;Let the pigs in Paea be tapu (12) and no man fish for a year;And of all the meat in Tahiti gather we threefold here.
So shall the fame of our plenty fill the island, and so, At last, on the tongue of rumour, go where we wish it to go.
Then shall the pigs of Taiarapu raise their snouts in the air;But we sit quiet and wait, as the fowler sits by the snare, And tranquilly fold our hands, till the pigs come nosing the food:
But meanwhile build us a house of Trotea, the stubborn wood, Bind it with incombustible thongs, set a roof to the room, Too strong for the hands of a man to dissever or fire to consume;And there, when the pigs come trotting, there shall the feast be spread, There shall the eye of the morn enlighten the feasters dead.
So be it done; for I have a heart that pities your state, And Nateva and Namunu-ura are fire and water for hate."All was done as he said, and the gardens prospered; and now The fame of their plenty went out, and word of it came to Vaiau.
For the men of Namunu-ura sailed, to the windward far, Lay in the offing by south where the towns of the Tevas are, And cast overboard of their plenty; and lo! at the Tevas feet The surf on all of the beaches tumbled treasures of meat.
In the salt of the sea, a harvest tossed with the refluent foam;And the children gleaned it in playing, and ate and carried it home;And the elders stared and debated, and wondered and passed the jest, But whenever a guest came by eagerly questioned the guest;And little by little, from one to another, the word went round:
"In all the borders of Paea the victual rots on the ground, And swine are plenty as rats. And now, when they fare to the sea, The men of the Namunu-ura glean from under the tree And load the canoe to the gunwale with all that is toothsome to eat;And all day long on the sea the jaws are crushing the meat, The steersman eats at the helm, the rowers munch at the oar, And at length, when their bellies are full, overboard with the store!"Now was the word made true, and soon as the bait was bare, All the pigs of Taiarapu raised their snouts in the air.
Songs were recited, and kinship was counted, and tales were told How war had severed of late but peace had cemented of old The clans of the island. "To war," said they, "now set we an end, And hie to the Namunu-ura even as a friend to a friend."So judged, and a day was named; and soon as the morning broke, Canoes were thrust in the sea and the houses emptied of folk.
Strong blew the wind of the south, the wind that gathers the clan;Along all the line of the reef the clamorous surges ran;And the clouds were piled on the top of the island mountain-high, A mountain throned on a mountain. The fleet of canoes swept by In the midst, on the green lagoon, with a crew released from care, Sailing an even water, breathing a summer air, Cheered by a cloudless sun; and ever to left and right, Bursting surge on the reef, drenching storms on the height.
So the folk of Vaiau sailed and were glad all day, Coasting the palm-tree cape and crossing the populous bay By all the towns of the Tevas; and still as they bowled along, Boat would answer to boat with jest and laughter and song, And the people of all the towns trooped to the sides of the sea And gazed from under the hand or sprang aloft on the tree, Hailing and cheering. Time failed them for more to do;The holiday village careened to the wind, and was gone from view Swift as a passing bird; and ever as onward it bore, Like the cry of the passing bird, bequeathed its song to the shore -Desirable laughter of maids and the cry of delight of the child.
And the gazer, left behind, stared at the wake and smiled.
