Did You Know.......
(An excerpt from UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII, by Nathaniel B. Emerson)
The king overhears remark of a new company of hula dancers who have come into the neighborhood. With great interest, the king inquires with a chief. The chief informs his king that this new company are young graduates of the halau, and have set themselves up as great ones; are mere rustics and have no proper acquaintance with the traditions of the art....they mouth and twist the old songs all awry....
The king commands his chief to summon this new company, anyways...Thus it comes about that the new hula company gains audience at court and walks the road that, perchance, leads to fortune. Success to the men and women of the hula means not merely applause, it means a shower of substantial favors -- food, garments, the smile of royalty, perhaps land -- things that make life a festival.
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