Nā Hana Kupanaha a ʻĀleka ma ka ʻĀina Kamahaʻo
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in Hawaiian

By Lewis Carroll, translated into Hawaiian by R. Keao NeSmith

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OUT OF PRINT: First edition, 2012. Cathair na Mart: Evertype. ISBN 978-1-904808-97-8

“In that direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw around, “lives a Hatter: and in that direction,” waving the other paw, “lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.”		“Ma kēlā ʻaoʻao,” wahi a ka Pōpoki me ka hoʻāni pū ʻana i kona kapuaʻi ʻākau ma ka poepoe, “e noho ana kekahi Mea Pāpale: a ma kēlā ʻaoʻao,” e hoʻāni ana ʻo ia i kekahi kapuaʻi, “e noho ana kekahi Lāpaki ʻEuʻeu. E hele ʻoe e kipa e like me kou makemake. He ʻōpulepule lāua ʻelua.”
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.		“Akā, ʻaʻole au makemake e hui me ka poʻe ʻōpulepule,” i pane mai ai ʻo ʻĀleka.
“Oh, you ca’n’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”		“ʻŌ, ʻaʻole hiki ke ʻalo aʻe,” wahi a ka Pōpoki: “he ʻōpulepule kākou a pau i neʻi. He ʻōpulepule wau. He ʻōpulepule ʻoe.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.		“Pehea ʻoe i ʻike ai he ʻōpulepule wau?” wahi a ʻĀleka.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn't have come here.”		“Pēlā nō e pono ai,” wahi a ka Pōpoki, “inā ʻaʻole, ʻaʻole ʻoe i neʻi.”
Lewis Carroll is the pen-name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), a writer of nonsense literature and a mathematician in Christ Church at the University of Oxford in England. He was a close friend of the Liddell family: Henry Liddell had many children and he was the Dean of the College. Carroll used to tell stories to the young Alice (born in 1852) and her two elder sisters, Lorina and Edith. One day—on 4 July 1862—Carroll went with his friend, the Reverend Robinson Duckworth, and the three girls on a boat paddling trip for an afternoon picnic on the banks of a river. On this trip on the river, Carroll told a story about a girl named Alice and her amazing adventures down a rabbit hole. Alice asked him to write the story for her, and in time, the draft manuscript was completed. After rewriting the story, the book was published in 1865, and since that time, various versions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland were released in many various languages. And now, here is a version in Hawaiian as well.		ʻO Lewis Carroll ka inoa kākau puke o Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), he mea kākau puke ʻo ia ma ke ʻano hoʻopohihihi ʻōlelo a he loea makemakika pū ʻo ia ma Christ Church ma ke Kulanui o Oxford ma ʻEnelani. He hoa kamaʻāina ʻo ia no ka ʻohana Liddell: Ua nui nā keiki a Henry Liddell, a ʻo ia ke Poʻo o ke Kulanui. He hahaʻi moʻolelo ka hana a Carroll i ke kaikamahine ʻōpiopio loa, ʻo Alice (hānau ʻia i ka 1852), a me kona mau kaikuaʻana ʻelua, ʻo Lorina lāua ʻo Edith. I kekahi lā—ʻo ia ka lā 4 o Iulai 1862—ua hele aku ʻo Carroll, kona hoaloha, ʻo ke Kahu, ʻo Robinson Duckworth, a me nā kaikāmahine ʻekolu i ka huakaʻi hoehoe waʻapā no ka pāʻina awakea ma kapa muliwai. Ma kēia huakaʻi ma ka muliwai, ua hahaʻi aku ʻo Carroll i kekahi moʻolelo no kekahi kaikamahine, ʻo Alice kona inoa, a me kāna mau hana kupanaha i lalo o kekahi lua lāpaki. Ua noi aku ʻo Alice iā ia e kākau i ia moʻolelo nāna, a i ke au ʻana o ka manawa, ua paʻa ka mana hoʻāʻo mua o ka moʻolelo. Ma hope o ke kākau hou ʻana, ua puka akula ka puke ma ka 1865, a mai ia manawa mai, ua puka nā mana like ʻole o Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ma nā ʻōlelo like ʻole he nui. A i kēia manawa, eia mai kekahi mana ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.
In the nineteenth century, many stories of foreign lands were published in Hawaiian, such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe is a story of William the Conqueror who came from France and con­quered England in 1066, a portion of the story of which is recounted in this tale of ʻĀleka. ʻĀleka is a story of the nineteenth century, though it is not one of the foreign stories that were translated into Hawaiian in that era. I decided to try and maintain the translation and writing style of the era with regard to this translation by using the foreign stories translated into Hawaiian in the nineteenth century as reference texts and models to follow with regards to the type of language and the style of translation used for this story. Through nineteenth-century translations, Hawaiian readers were taught a great many things about various countries, such as animals not found in the Hawaiian Islands and various cultures and foreign tongues. Hawaiians of that century were very curious about peoples and cultures around the world and it is for this reason that those of the era were attracted to stories from various places around the world.		Ma ke kenekulia ʻumi kumamāiwa, ua paʻi ʻia nā moʻolelo he nui o nā ʻāina ʻē ma ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, e like me Iwakālua Tausani Legue ma Lalo o ka Moana a me ʻIvanahō. ʻO ʻIvanahō ka moʻolelo o Uilama ka Naʻi i holo mai Palani mai a naʻi ma luna o ʻEnelani i ka 1066, a hōʻike ʻia no kekahi māhele o ia moʻolelo ma loko o kēia kaʻao no ʻĀleka. He moʻolelo ʻo ʻĀleka no ke kenekulia ʻumi kumamāiwa, akā naʻe, ʻaʻole kēia kekahi o nā moʻolelo o nā ʻāina ʻē i unuhi ʻia ma ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi i ia au. No laila, ua manaʻo ʻia e hoʻāʻo e mālama i ke kaila unuhi me ke kākau ʻana o ia au no kēia unuhi ʻana ma ka nānā nui ʻana i nā moʻolelo like ʻole o nā ʻāina ʻē i hoʻopuka ʻia ma nā nūpepa ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi i kumu hoʻohālike o ka ʻōlelo a me ka unuhi ʻana o kēia moʻolelo. Ma nā unuhi ʻana o ke kenekulia ʻumi kumamāiwa, aʻo ʻia ka poʻe heluhelu ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi i nā mea he nui hewahewa o nā ʻāina like ʻole—ʻo nā holoholona i loaʻa ʻole ma ka pae ʻāina ʻo Hawaiʻi, nā ʻano nohona kānaka like ʻole, a me nā ʻōlelo ʻē like ʻole kekahi. Ua nui loa nō ka hoihoi o ka poʻe Hawaiʻi o ia au i nā lāhui kānaka a me nā nohona like ʻole o ka honua nei a no ia kumu i puni ai ka poʻe o ia au i nā moʻolelo o nā ʻāina like ʻole.
In this translation, some types of Hawaiian idioms were used in the telling of the story, such as in the part in Chapter III where the daughter crab was scolding her mother who was complaining. The daughter chided her mother so that the animals around them would not hear her complaining. In scolding her, the daughter exclaims, “E hāmau ka leo!” (‘Silence the voice!’) followed up with, “o haunaele ʻEwa i ka Moaʻe!” (‘otherwise ʻEwa will riot in the Moaʻe wind!’). Just as Hawaiian idioms were used at times in foreign stories that were translated into Hawaiian in the nineteenth century, I thought to follow the same approach here.		Ma kēia unuhi ʻana, hoʻohana ʻia kekahi mau ʻano ʻikeoma Hawaiʻi ma ka haʻi moʻolelo ʻana, e like me ia ma ka māhele o ka Mokuna III e nuku ana ka pāpaʻi kaikamahine i kona makuahine e ʻōhumuhumu ana. Palepale aku ke kaika­mahine i kona makuahine i ʻole e lohe ʻia kona ʻōhumuhumu ʻana e nā holoholona ā puni lāua. Ma ia nuku ʻana, hoʻopuka ke kaikamahine, “E hāmau ka leo!” a ukali akula me ka ʻōlelo, “o haunaele ʻEwa i ka Moaʻe!” E like nō me nā moʻolelo o nā ʻāina ʻē i unuhi ʻia ma ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi i ke kenekulia ʻumi kumamāiwa i hoʻohana ʻia ai nā ʻikeoma Hawaiʻi i kekahi mau manawa, penei i manaʻo ʻia ai e hoʻohālike aku.
Some of the poems or songs contained in this tale were translated literally while attempting to integrate some styles of uniquely Hawaiian poetic composition, such as in the poem before Chapter I which begins with the line, “ʻAui ka lā mālaʻelaʻe”, and the song of the Lobster-Quadrille in Chapter X beginning with the line, “E wiki ka hele”. Some of the other songs and poems, however, are rather original compositions that are based on themes or ideas found in the original English text. An example of this is the poem found in Chapter VII of the original English version, “Twinkle, twinkle little bat, how I wonder what you’re at”, which was rendered in Hawaiian: “ʻAuhea ʻoe, e ka ʻōpeʻapeʻa iki, puoho lele ʻōpeʻapeʻa ma ka lewa” (‘Hear me, little bat, startled, the bats take to the air’).		Ua unuhi hāiki ʻia kekahi o nā mele o loko o ua kaʻao nei, me ka hoʻāʻo pū naʻe e hoʻokomo i kekahi mau ʻano o ke kaila maʻamau o ka haku mele Hawaiʻi ʻana, e like me ia ma ka mele ma mua o ka Mokuna I, ʻo ia hoʻi, “ʻAui ka lā mālaʻelaʻe”, a me ka mele o ka hulahula ula o ka Mokuna X, ʻo “E wiki ka hele”. Eia nō naʻe, ua haku ʻia kekahi o nā mele ma ke ʻano he mele hou me kona hoʻokumu ʻia ʻana nō ma luna o kekahi manaʻo o ka mele kumu ma ka ʻōlelo Pelekānia, e like me ka mele ma ka Mokuna VII o ka mana ʻōlelo Pelekānia kumu, ʻo “Twinkle, twinkle little bat, how I wonder what you’re at”, a ʻo ka mana ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, ʻo ia hoʻi, “ʻAuhea ʻoe, e ka ʻōpeʻapeʻa iki, puoho lele ʻōpeʻapeʻa ma ka lewa”.
I thank Jon Lindseth for making me aware of this project and I also thank Michael Everson for his clarifications regarding some of the obscure parts of the original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. All errors or inaccuracies contained in this Hawaiian version are strictly my own.		Ke mahalo aku nei au iā Jon Lindseth no ka hoʻomaopopo ʻana mai iaʻu no kēia papa hana, ʻo “Alice 150” e hoʻomanaʻo ai i ka paʻi ʻia ʻana o Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ma ka 2015—penei i hoʻoulu ʻia mai ai wau e unuhi i ka puke a Carroll ma ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. Mahalo nō hoʻi iā Michael Everson no kona mau hoʻākāka ʻana no kekahi o nā mea pohihihi o ka mana kumu o Alice a no ka paʻi ʻana nō hoʻi ma kekahi kakaʻina unuhi ʻōlelo. Noʻu iho nō nā hemahema i loaʻa ma kēia unuhi ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.
—R. Keao NeSmith Honolulu 2012		—R. Keao NeSmith Honolulu 2012