Farm lore opens Legacy text

KA HO'OILINA THE LEGACY: PUKE PAI 'OLELO HAWAI'I, Journal of Hawaiian Language Sources, Vol. 2; Kamehameha Schools Press, paper, $25

Advertiser Staff

This second volume of the "Legacy" series continues the efforts of the Hawaiian Language Legacy Program to make previously untranslated materials widely available, ranging from stories to government documents. Each piece is presented in four formats: the original Hawaiian, modern Hawaiian (with diacriticals), English and a fourth column of footnotes.

This one begins with a delightful story translated by Mary Kawena Pukui from materials she gathered relating to agricultural lore. It explains the 'olelo no'eau (proverb) ""Haule ka ua i Kahoaea, ihea oe?" — When the rain fell at Kohoaea, where were you? — meant to show that the people of old did not appreciate laziness. A wide variety of other pieces are included, among them the 1864 Constitution of Hawai'i.

Copies of the journals are available at some bookstores and in libraries. To subscribe to the journal (two issues a year for $40), go to www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/journals/kh/ and click on ordering information.