In the heart of Pana-ewa-- Lehuas were heavy with bud, The dim aisles solemn with shadow-- I met with a suckling pig, The pet of Wahine-oma'o, A wailing voice in the wilderness: 'Twas the creature wail of the thing, Foredoomed as an offering, this Wailing thing was a sacrifice, An appeal to Pele for life, To the Woman who dwells in the Pit.
At this moment a young woman of attractive person appeared on the scene and, prostrating herself to the earth, said, "O, Pele, behold my offering, which I bring to thee in fulfillment of the pledge made by my parents, that I should first seek thee, O Pele, before I come to my marriage bed. Accept this suckling which I offer to thee, O Pele."
"I am not the one you are seeking: I am not Pele," said Hiiaka. "Pele is over yonder in the Pit."
The woman was persistent and begged that Hiiaka would not despise her offering. After undeceiving her, Hiiaka carefully instructed her, lest she make some fatal mistake in her approach to the jealous goddess: "When you come to the Pit you must be careful in your approach to Pele. The least departure from the etiquette she demands would be the cause of your death. Do not imagine that the fine large woman sitting at the door is Pele, nor that any one of the women seated within is she. You must pay no attention to these. Look for the figure of a wrinkled old woman lying bundled up on the hearth: that is Pele: make the offering to no one else but to her."
"Alas for me," said Wahine-oma'o. "You will be gone a long way from this place by the time I shall return to seek you. I shall not be able to find you."
"You will find us here," replied Hiiaka assuringly.
Hiiaka used her power to bring the woman at once to her destination. Following the instructions given her, Wahine-oma'o was quickly transported into the presence of Pele and, having made her offering in due form, was about to retire, when Pele called her back and said, "Did you not meet some women going from here as you came this way?"
"Make haste and come up with them," said Pele. "The younger woman is very dear to me. Attach yourself to her as a friend."
"That I will do," said Wahine-oma'o. Then, moved by an impulse that came to her (the work, it is said, of Hiiaka), she said to Pele, "I had imagined you to be a beautiful woman, Pele. But, lo, you are old and wrinkled; and your eyes are red and watery." Thus saying, Wahine-oma'o took her departure and almost immediately found herself again with Hiiaka.