新連載企画第2回目、本日のお話はハワイにまつわる都市伝説からです。
ハワイの火山をコントロールする女神Peleと半神半人の豚神Kamapua‘a。
2人の物語が日常生活にこんな影響を与えてしまうとは!?
※storyはフィクションです。

Urban Legend Series: SECOND CUT

Legend: THE PALI HIGHWAY

There is an old highway, on Oahu, the Pali Highway.  It connects Honolulu to Kaneohe and Kailua towns. It is said that if you have any pork in your car, hot dogs, teriyaki pork, or pig etc; you will not be able to cross the highway.  Your car engine will stop, you will have an accident or for some other reason you will be prevented from reaching the other side.  

Story:

Pele. The Hawaiian Volcano Goddess was known to have an on and off relationship with Kamapua‘a, the half-human, half-pig demigod.  After Kamapua‘a was unfaithful for the third time, Pele washed her hands of him.  She also put a curse on the island.  She didn’t want pork being brought anywhere as it reminded her of him.  It was symbolically taking a piece of Kamapua‘a from one side of the island to the other.  So, if you had pork in your car and attempted to drive across the island on the Pali Highway, she would have your car stopped by way of engine trouble, or worse, an accident. Ikaika was a bus driver for “THE BUS”, Oahu’s public bus transport system.  He was born and raised on the island so he knew the ins and outs of island life.  One day, as he was driving the Honolulu to Kaneohe route, the bus engine suddenly stopped and the bus pulled over on the side of the Pali Highway.  Ikaika knew what was happening. He stood up and said “Okay, who has the pork? You know you gotta throw it out.” This had happened many times.  But this time something different happened. A tourist stood up. He had a small reusable bag with him. He said he had hot dogs in them for his trip to the beach.  He went to the door and threw them off the bus. Ikaika then turned the bus keys and the engine started again. But when he looked up, he saw a woman outside, in front of the bus with fiery red hair.  She took out a cigarette and lit it with her finger, smiled at Ikaika and then disappeared. Ikaika couldn’t believe it.  Could he have just seen the volcano goddess, Pele? To this day, he still doesn’t know if he was imagining her or if she was really there.

Vocabulary:

To be prevented from – 〜を妨げられる

Demigod – 神格化された英雄 半神半人

Unfaithful – 不誠実な

To wash (one’s) hands of – 手を切る 関係を断つ

Curse – 呪い

Symbolically – 象徴的に

Ins and outs – 裏も表も

To pull over –  (道路の)沸きによる脇に寄る

To light – 火をつける

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