Note 353 — XXIV—THE HULA PELE
Reading edition
Footnote 353: (return)
The words apapa nu’u and apapa lani, which convey to the mind of the author the picture of a series of terraced plains or steppes—no doubt the original meaning—here mean a family or order of gods, not of the highest rank, at or near the head of which stood Pele. Apropos of this subject the following lines have been quoted:
Hanau ke apapa nu’u: Hanau ke apapa lani; Hanau Pele, ka hihi’o na lani.
Begotten were the gods of graded rank; Begotten were the gods of heavenly rank; Begotten was Pele, quintessence of heaven.
This same expression was sometimes used to mean an order of chiefs, alii. Apapa lani was also used to mean the highest order of gods, Ku, Kane, Kanaloa, Lono. The kings also were gods, for which reason this expression at times applied to the alii of highest rank, those, for instance, who inherited the rank of niau-pi’o or of wohi.