The Founding of Rotuma

 The Founding of Rotuma

(A Legend from Rotuma)

A chief was living in Samoa, named Raho. He had three sisters. The name of the eldest was Mamaere; the middle one, Mamahioväre; the youngest, Mamafiarere. The youngest was the one that ruled over Savai'i, while the eldest was the one that ruled over the place where Raho lived. 

Now it was the custom of the eldest sister, as soon as the sun had set [each evening], to go to the door of the house that faced the west, to sleep there; and as soon as the sun rose, she would go along to sleep at the door that faced the east. 

Now after a short time Mamaere became pregnant; and everybody came to know that the woman was with child, but they were afraid to tell Raho about it, since the woman had no husband. 

But, as time went on, Raho discovered that his sister was approaching confinement. Thereupon he gathered his people together and asked them who it was that was responsible for his sister's condition. To which the people replied that none of them had been near the woman. So Raho then told the people to start making preparations for the birth-feast. 

By and by the woman's time arrived and her pains came on. So Raho sent word round and his people gathered together. But the birth-pains continued until night, and it was not until [the next morning], just at sunrise, that the woman was delivered. The baby was a girl. And then the baby rolled as far as the doorway that faced the east, and immediately sat up,  and called out to her father, "Raho!" 

The man asked [what the child wanted], to which [she] replied that she was hungry. 

Raho then told his people to bring some food, and they brought what had been cooked for the child, namely a hand of bananas and a pig. So they got things ready and fed the child. But her mother was still having pains. And as soon as the child had finished eating, she got up and went out to play, saying to Raho,"I am going, Raho; and note that my name is Nujmaga." 

By and by, as the day wore on, and the sun was on the point of setting, the woman gave birth to another baby girl. And the baby at once called out Raho's name, adding that she was hungry. So Raho told those who were attending to the cooking to bring some food, and the people brought another hand of bananas and a pig wherewith to feed the child. And no sooner had the child finished eating than she got up to go out to play, saying to Raho, "My name is  Nujka'u." 

The two children also gave orders to Raho to refrain from calling them. If, however, a day should arrive when he should have a special task to be performed for him, then (but not till then) he was to call them. 

Now Raho's second sister (Mamahioväre) had no children. But Raho had a daughter whose name was Vaimarasi, who was married to a high chief in Samoa named Tü'toga. Tü'toga, moreover, had a Samoan wife [as well]. And the Samoan wife became pregnant first, and was approaching the time of her confinement, before the fact that Vaimarasi [also] was with child became noticeable. And the Samoans started to make preparations for the feast that would be held in honour of the Samoan woman's baby, without considering Vaimarasi's baby. Raho did not like this-the Samoans preparing a birth-feast for the baby of their own kinswoman, while neglecting the baby of Vaimarasi. 

And so Raho made ready a present, and then sent for his two children (Nujmaga and Nujka'u). After a while these two girls came and asked Raho what it was that he wanted. To which Raho replied that he wanted Vaimarasi's baby to be born before the Samoan woman's. "Unfortunately the woman is approaching the time of her confinement," said the two girls, "whereas the fact that Vaimarasi is with child has only just become [apparent]."

But Raho still wanted Vaimarasi to be delivered before the Samoan woman. So [finally] the two girls said, "It is a prodigious thing that is about to happen here in Savai'i-this change that you are going to bring about." 

So when the Samoan woman's birth-pains began, the two girls went to her at once, and pressed on the feet of the [unborn] child, so that the child turned round and the woman's birth-pains ceased. The two girls then went immediately to Vaimarasi, and pummelled her abdomen to bring on the birth, keeping at it until the woman succeeded in giving birth [to the baby]. The result was that the feast which the Samoans had got ready was given to the baby of Vaimarasi, and was made the feast of the first-born. Now Vaimarasi's baby was a girl, her name being Maiva. 

When the feast was over, the Samoan woman's pains came on again. And after a while she gave birth to a boy, to whom they gave the name Fumaru. 

As time went on these two children grew up, and one day they went to the beach to play, and began fishing for penus. And as they continued fishing for penus, Maiva caught a red penu named Tua'nakvalu, which she thereupon took and put into a vessel of water. By and by Fumaru came and found the penu in the vessel of water, and picked it up and surreptitiously put into his mouth the penu that belonged to his sister. Afterwards Maiva came back, and found that her penu had been taken. So she went along and told Fumaru to drop her penu out of his mouth. But the boy refused to do so. So then Maiva went to her grandfather (Raho), crying, and telling [him] what her brother had done to her. Raho then pleaded with his granddaughter, but she would not relent. 

Raho then sent for the twins again, and they came, and Raho told them what had happened to his granddaughter; and [he said that] he wanted to make a home for his granddaughter, which should be far away from Samoa. 

Thereupon the twins filled two baskets with earth-a presentation basket and an ordinary basket. The name of the presentation basket was Fuarei, while the name of the ordinary basket was Fua'a. The twins then put these two baskets on board a canoe of aftea wood, and they, together with Raho and his household, got into the canoe and came to found this island of Rotuma. 

Now it is said that when Raho came to found this island many high chiefs in Tonga and Samoa heard about it. And so, when Raho and his company left, a chief named Tokainiua (it is not known whether he was a Tongan or a Samoan), accompanied by a number of others, went after Raho. [By] and [by] Raho with his company came and found in the midst of the ocean a rock of great size, the two extremities of which were well above the water, while the middle was just awash. So the twins emptied out the presentation basket of earth onto the rock, [thus] forming an island. 

This done, the twins left Raho and his company behind on the island, and took the [other] basket of earth and flew off [with it] towards Futuna. On and on the two girls flew till they got there, and then they emptied out the basket of earth and formed the island known as 'Arofi. 

The twins then came back, and found that Raho and his people were still here, and they suggested to Raho that he should mark the island as his, in case another person should come later on and a dispute should arise. And so Raho marked the island as his by means of a green coconut-leaf tied round the fesi tree at Vakpäre, requesting the twins to go to Tonga to bring him some kava. 

But, as soon as the twins had departed, Tokainiua and his company sighted this island, and thereupon directed their [canoe] towards it. They landed at Oinafa. By and by Tokainiua came to Malhaha, and discovered Raho's coconut-leaf tied round the fesi tree at Vakpäre, and [noticed that] it was still green. Thereupon he resorted to a stratagem: he fetched a coconut-leaf that was already dry, and tied that round the tree to mark the island as his. 

After a while Raho came and found Tokainiua standing by the fesi tree, having marked the island as his by means of a dry coconut-leaf. And so the two men began arguing. Raho said it was his land, while Tokainiua said it was his. Raho said it was he that had formed the land; but Tokainiua maintained that the land was his-his coconut-leaf had been fixed round the tree for a long time, while that of Raho [as shown by the fact that it was still green] had been put on quite recently. 

Upon this, Raho became angry and struck Tokainiua. But the Sa'aitu* came and held Raho back, and covered Tokainiua over at the foot of the fesi tree, and Raho did not see him again. 

Raho then took it into his head to go and break up the island, so that Tokainiua should not have it. So Raho went along to the western end of the island, and took a digging-stick, and drove it into the ground, and levered up the point, and [lo and behold the small islands of] Uea, Hatana and Hafliua sprang into being.

But the woman who lived in the scrub, observing that the land was about to be spoiled by Raho, came running towards him, and bowed herself at his feet, and besought him not to be angry, and not to spoil the land, for Tokainiua had told a lie, the land being really Raho's.

 "That being so," replied Raho, "I will do as you request."

With that, he pulled his digging-stick out of the ground, put it on his shoulder, and returned to Malhaha.

[In doing this] Raho came [first] to Motusa. He then followed the inland road, going on until he reached the country behind the houses at Vai. There he let down his digging-stick, and dragged it towards the coast, and the place where he dragged the stick along became a watercourse, the name of which is the Watercourse of 'Alüstägtäge. 

Raho then went down to the beach, but the kava was not there. Now the twins had arrived at Tonga, and had sent the kava plant, which had then come [over the water] alone. But on arriving here, it had learned that Raho, in a fit of anger, had gone to spoil the island, and so the kava plant had left Valta and had gone inland, and had made its way to the queen at Fagʻuta. 

After a while the twins came back, but Raho had not yet had any kava to drink. So Raho sent them again, and once more they returned to Tonga, and brought some dry kava, wrapped in palm-leaves. Raho's kava was then prepared on top of the Kamea stone. And the bowl-like hollow is there even now on top of the rock, and there [nearby] is the spring [that supplied the water] with which the kava was mixed. 

And after drinking the kava, then it was that Raho and his women-folk went to [live at] Hatana.

*Sa’aitu - a certain class of supernatural beings 

Source:

Tales of a Lonely Island: Rotuman Legends

Mesulama Titifanua 

1995

Pages: 10-13

Ko Tangaroa

 Ko Tangaroa

(A Legend from Rapa Nui) 

There was a divine being, the Giant (Teko), and another named Tangaroa.

There was a big dispute between them because Tangaroa wanted to come here, to Te Pito o te Henua. The Giant said to him,"Don't go. You will never get there. You don't know how many days you will need to get there. You will die on the way."

Tangaroa didn't pay any attention. He left on his way here.

Four days later, the Giant saw that Tangaroa was not there. Moe ava, the Giant's son, said,"Tangaroa has gone by sea to an island."

The Giant felt bad for Tangaroa and left. With only a few steps, he arrived here and asked, "Tangaroa, where are you?" There was no answer.

The Giant went back to Hiva, crying for his brother Tangaroa.

One day a seal came here and landed on Hanga iti.

A woman woke up in the morning and went out to make her curanto. She went down to the sea, washed her taropa basket and squeezed it so that the dirt would come out.

Just then, she saw a seal lying on the beach. She went back up the beach and told her husband, "Father, there is a seal lying on the beach."

The husband called some other men and they came.

The seal was sleeping so they put a rope around it and tied it to a rock.

Tangaroa woke up with a start. Seeing the men that were hitting him with sticks, Tangaroa screamed, "I am an Ariki! I am Tangaroa! Leave me alone!"

These men that were killing Tangaroa didn't pay any attention. They yelled, "Lying seal!"

After killing the seal, they cut it up into pieces to be cooked in a curanto. But it didn't cook well. They gave Hanga iti Bay a new name, "Red Tangaroa Bay."

They sent a piece of the seal to the people of the Hanga Hoonu region. They received it and cooked it, but it didn't cook well. So they named that place "Re'e."

Source:

Legends of Easter Island

Father Sebastian Englert

2007

Page: 29

And the Rains Came Tumbling Down

 And the Rains Came Tumbling Down 
(A Myth From Papua New Guinea)

'What we need are houses,' said Kikori. 

'What's one of those?' said Fly (since houses had not yet been invented). 

'Somewhere to shelter from wind and sun and rain other than this cave, I mean, with its spiders.' 

Fly pretended to be unimpressed, but liked the idea. Kikori suggested they build a house together, but Fly had ideas of his own about building the very first house and he was sure they were the best. 

Kikori built a wood frame, then wove the leaves of the rei plant into five glossy waterproof mats: one for a roof and four for the walls. It was laborious, painful work. The sharp leaves cut his hands and irritated his skin, but the finished house was so fine that his family broke into spontaneous clapping.

Not Fly. He had long since finished his house and returned to watch, with much shaking of his head and carping. 'How long you took! Look at your hands. Makes me itch just to think. And it's green. Do you seriously think people want to live in green houses?' 

'How did you make yours, then?' said Kikori patiently. 

Kikori examined Fly's house, his head on one side then on the other. Fly's framework of branches had been daubed all over with mud. The mud had dried into clay, and now the hut crouched on the ground like a collapsed beast, boney with protruding sticks. 

'What happens when it rains?' said Kikori.

At that moment, a clap of thunder sent them both darting back to their huts, mustering their wives and children. The monsoon broke as if the green sky had split, and the rains came, as they come every year to Papua New Guinea. Every view was lost from sight behind a curtain of rain. Every sound was silenced by the deafening hiss of the downpour. 

Inside Kikori's house, he and his family sat listening to the thunderous rattle of water on rei. But the interwoven leaves threw off the rain as surely as a tortoise's shell, and they stayed warm and dry. They sang songs and planned which crops to plant in the sodden earth. 

Fly, too, sat with his family inside his new house. The rain ran down its brown sides, and gradually the clay walls turned back to mud around them. The mud oozed and trickled. It slopped down like cow pats on to Fly and his wife and children, smothering them from head to foot in brown slurry.

But not for long. Soon so much icy rain was pouring through the roof that they were washed quite clean again. The children's teeth chattered, his wife moaned gently to herself, ground her teeth and wrung out her hair. When the rain slackened briefly, she went out with a panga and cut a great pile of rei leaves, dropping them down at the door. 

'When you've made a house like Kikori's,' she said, 'I and the little ones will come and share it with you. In the meantime, we're going back to the cave.' 

Fly, as he sat ankle-deep in mud, contemplated the unfairness of life and whether he ought to invent dry rain. 

Source

Golden Myths and Legends of the Wold

Geraldine McCaughrean

1999

Pages: 169-170

The Greedy Giant and the Palau Islands

 The Greedy Giant and the Palau Islands 

(A Legend from Palau)

There are many islands in the Palau group. They lie together in an odd way. They are something like the parts of a human body that has been broken up-the body of a giant. An old Palauan legend tells the story of the giant. 

In Angaur Island, long ago, there was born a child whose parents named him Uwab. He was no different from other chil- dren, except that he was very greedy. He ate entirely too much. He grew so fast that it was a surprise to all who saw him.

From the very beginning, he ate more each day than his father and mother together. He ate so much that when he was a few years old, he was much larger than either of them. The more food they gathered and cooked for him, the more he wanted, for he was selfish as well as greedy. He became taller and taller and fatter and fatter. He became too large to live in his home. It took many men to build a house large enough for him. 

He soon outgrew the house. In no time at all, his head hit the roof. The people had to build him a larger house. He outgrew that one also and had to have another one, still larger. 

Like all selfish persons, Uwab had a mean temper. He was always shouting at his poor father and mother to bring him more and more to eat and drink. 

At last, they had only a little food left. They went to the chief of Angaur Island and said, "Oh, Chief, we come to you in great trouble. Our son Uwab is growing to be a giant. We can no longer feed him."

"How much does he eat?" asked the chief. 

"Every day," they said, "he has to have pork, chicken, fish, crabs, lobsters, wild pigeons, coconuts, taro, bananas, sweet potatoes, pandanus, coco syrup and sugarcane; also, many basins of spring water and coconut milk. He eats and drinks it all and shouts for more. He is very angry when we cannot get it for him. We're afraid of him!" 

The chief was surprised. He felt sorry for the parents of such a son. "You shall have help," he said. 

He told all the people of Angaur Island to help feed the monster son. Uwab ate and drank everything that the people brought. He had fifty large baskets of food each day and dozens of basins of spring water and coconut milk, but he shouted for still more. 

He grew and grew, until he was so fat that he could no longer reach up and feed himself. Other people had to push the food into his mouth. It took a number of strong men to do it. People came from near and far to see it done.

The time came when he was so tall that his mouth was hard to reach. So the people fastened long pieces of bamboo together to make a very long pole. They tied Uwab's food to the end of the pole and fed him in that way. Almost every day, they added another pole. 

At last, Uwab became so very fat and tall that nothing in the island could reach his mouth. Then he lay down inside his great house and let the people bring him food and drink. In a short time, he became too large for that house also, and he had to leave one enormous leg outside. Soon the other leg had to stay outside. By and by, both of his arms also were outside. 

The people became so frightened that they met secretly in a forest, where Uwab could not hear them. "What are we going to do?" they asked each other. "One of these days, Uwab will break out of his house and walk around the island. All our gardens and food trees will be destroyed. He may harm our children." 

They could think of only one plan. "We must kill him," they said. "Let us all attack him together." 

"But we can't get near him with clubs and spears," someone said. "He's too dangerous."

"Then let's kill him without being near him," said another. And so it was agreed. 

By that time, Uwab was so large that he could keep only his head in the house. The rest of his body lay outside on the beach. 

The people made long ropes out of fibers of leaves and bark. They waited until the giant was asleep. Then some of the bravest men climbed up on his house and tied his long hair to the roof. The other people gathered together hundreds of pieces of firewood and piles of dry coconut leaves and husks. They put them around Uwab and his house and built fires. 

Uwab could not get away. He roared loudly and he kicked with his legs and feet. He fought so hard that the island of Angaur shook. He died quickly, but his last kicks were so strong that he kicked himself into many pieces, large and small. They scattered far and near and settled into the ocean as islands. Many of the people finally went to live on them. 

"We fed Uwab. Now let him feed us," they said.

The Palau Islands remain in the same places today. Uwab's head is one part of the island of Ngerechelong. Some people say that Peleliu is part of his legs, and for that reason, it is rocky and rugged. Others say that his legs, pulled up and kicking, are the high land at Aimeliik. The large island of Babelthuap is the trunk of the giant's body. 

The people of Ngiwal, a village on Babelthuap Island, like to tell visitors about their own part of Uwab's body. "We live right in the middle of Uwab's stomach," they say. "That gives us the right to eat seven times a day." 

Some Palauans say that the people who live on the part of Uwab that was his mouth, talk too much. Those who live on the part that was his legs, can run very fast. Are those things true? Perhaps the people of Palau can tell.

Source 

Legends of the Micronesia (Book One) 

Eve Grey 

1951 

Pages: 53-57

The Migration of Turi to Aotearoa

 The Migration of Turi to Aotearoa

(A legend from New Zealand)

While Kupe was away from Hawaiki on his voyage of discovery a quarrel arose between Turi and the high chief Uenuku, which led to Turi's leaving Hawaiki in the canoe Aotea. This was the second of the two canoes that Toto built, being made from the other half of the tree from which Matahorua had come. It belonged to Turi's wife, Rongorongo, who was the daughter of Toto and sister of Kura marotini.

The quarrel between Turi and Uenuku began when Turi, after getting in his kumara crop, sent Uenuku a portion as his atinga, or tribute, and Uenuku took the smallness of the gift as an insult. The tribute was carried to Uenuku by a little boy named Potiki roroa. Some say that this child was Turi's son. When Uenuku saw how small a portion of the crop had been set aside for him, he killed the boy who brought it, and devoured him.

Then Turi set his mind upon revenge. He decided that the most satisfying form of utu would be to kill Uenuku's own small son, whose name was Oe potiki. In the hope of enticing him to come out he set all the children of his own family to whipping tops, throwing the teka, and other games, on a piece of ground where Oe potiki could see them. This did not work; but later, on a day that was very hot, the children of Turi's household all went bathing in the river, and this time Oe potiki came out to join them. Then Turi snatched him and split his head with a club. The body of this child was eaten by Turi and his friends, but the manawa, or heart and lungs, were kept aside and when some women were carrying gifts of food to Uenuku, Turi handed them a basket of baked kumara, with the manawa of Oe potiki, cut up and cooked as a relish in the middle.

Uenuku had not yet learned the fate of his son, and as he sat down to the feast he sighed: 'Poor little Oe potiki, how he would have liked this delicious food; but he no longer comes to sit and eat beside me.' After he had eaten, one of Uenuku's friends who had been told about it said to him: 'They have made you eat the manawa of Oe potiki.' He answered with the saying, 'Very well, he lies in the belly of Toi,' meaning that there would be a dreadful revenge. But he showed no other sign of feeling, lest he satisfy his enemy.

Turi then was living in his house Rangiatea, and his wife, Rongorongo, had a new baby daughter, whose name was Tane roroa. One night Rongorongo went outside to feed her baby and she heard Uenuku singing a chant about Oe potiki:

Bring me the thousands,

bring me the many,

bring me all the Ngati rongotea!

Let Oe potiki work death. The first revenge is sweet!

Assemble here!

Let all who hear assemble!

She went to Turi and told him, and Turi at once knew what this meant. He knew that Uenuku was planning a great revenge for the murder of his son and for being made to eat his heart.

Now Kupe had by this time returned to Hawaiki, and when Turi heard of the land he had discovered, this land of high mists inhabited only by birds, he decided to come to Aotearoa. He therefore embarked with all his family in his wife's canoe, the Aotea, and from Kupe he received the directions. 'Mind that you keep sailing to the east,' said Kupe, 'where the sun rises. Keep your bow pointing always in that direction.' Yet Turi reached these islands in spite of this advice. He tried to persuade Kupe to accompany him, but Kupe replied with the saying which we still use, 'E hoki Kupe?', which means in the pakeha's words, 'Not I!'

'When you get there,' said Kupe, 'you had better go at once to the river I found. Its mouth opens to the west, on that side of the island. You will find there only two inhabitants. One carries its tail straight up and sticking out. Do not mistake the voice of the other for a man, it cries out just like one. If you stand on the other side of the river and call out to them, you will hear them answering you from the other side. That will be the place I found.' This place that Kupe spoke of is the mouth of the Patea river.

In his haste to get away Turi nearly forgot to take on board the two great steering paddles that belonged to the Aotea - their names were Kautu ki te rangi and Te Rokuowhiti - and also the two bailing scoops, Tipua horonuku and Rangi ke wheriko. They were fetched for him by his brother-in-law Tuau, and when Tuau had put them on board Turi said to him: 'Just come out a little way and see me started.' Good-naturedly, Tuau agreed and went on board, intending to leave the canoe as it passed the harbour opening.

And so the Aotea left Hawaiki, carrying some seed kumara of the variety called kakau; some edible rats in cages, and some tame green parrots; some pukeko, or swamp-hen; and seeds for growing the gourd, or calabash, and many other necessary things for founding a new settlement. Hence the name of that canoe, 'Aotea of the precious cargo'. There were also taken certain gods, in the form of the carved sticks in which their spirits lived, including Maru. The adze Te Awhiorangi, too, is said to have been brought here in the Aotea.

As they left the shore in the late afternoon Tuau sat in the stern paddling, as a gesture, to help his brother-in-law on his way. Near the harbour entrance Turi said to him: 'You come to the middle here and let me paddle,' which Tuau did. But soon he found that they had gone well past the headland where he intended to get out, and Turi, who was short of crew, paid no attention when he was asked to stop. Thus Tuau was carried off by a trick of Turi's, and left Hawaiki grieving for his family, lest they think he had deserted them.

When daylight came, Tapo, the priest and navigator of that canoe, became insolent and disobedient to his chief (some say because of Turi's trickery to Tuau) and Turi had him thrown over the side. When Tapo found himself in the sea he called out cheerfully: 'Come on, Turi, let me live in the world a little longer,' as if it was all a joke. From his manner Turi realised that Tapo must be under the protection of Maru, one of the gods they had brought with them; and Maru, in fact, let Turi know that he was angry, for Turi distinctly heard the god say: 'If you go without my servant you will never reach Nukuroa'. Not to anger Maru any further, he therefore turned about, and took that navigator on board again.

And so they sailed across the ocean, in the direction of these islands and not towards the east as Kupe had directed. When they had been at sea for some days and had been through some heavy weather, the Aotea's seams began to open. Water from the waves was pouring through the cracks beneath the topstrakes, the bailers were hard at it day and night, and Turi was constantly reciting chants to keep the canoe afloat. At last they sighted the small rocky island of Rangitahua. They landed there, and replaced the lashings and caulking of their topstrakes, and refitted the whole canoe. It is said they also obtained some berries of the karaka tree and brought them to this land. If this is so, then they were there in the month of March.

Now another canoe was travelling in company with Aotea. It was called Te Ririno, and its chief was Potoru. This canoe also landed at Rangitahua. It was carrying some dogs, to supply both food and clothing for the chiefs in their new country. On Rangitahua they killed two of these dogs, Whakapapa tuakura and Tangi kakariki. One, they cut up and offered as a sacrifice to the gods, and the other they cooked and shared amongst themselves. When they had eaten, they unwrapped a sacred cloak called Hunakiko and spread it on the ground, and called upon the gods to see them safely over the last part of their journey. They set up posts to the gods on that island, and removed all bad luck from the canoes by saying over them the prayers Keuenga, Takanga, and Whaka inuinumanga. After that they were ready to embark.

Then there was a great argument down on the shore between Turi and Potoru, the chiefs of the two canoes. They had different ideas about the proper sailing directions. Turi was for sailing east, according to Kupe's strict advice, and Potoru was for heading in the direction where the sun went down. Turi kept repeating what Kupe had said, but Potoru insisted that they must travel west; so Turi gave in, and it is said that they left Rangitahua on a south-west course. As a result of this the Ririno was wrecked on a reef in that island group, and hence the popular saying about the 'obstinacy of Potoru'.

Now Potoru was right, of course. But after this Turi set his canoe toward the rising sun, and still reached Aotearoa. During this last part of the voyage Turi's wife Rongorongo gave birth to a son, whom they named Tutawa. By this time they had only nine of their kumara left. Turi offered one of them to the gods to secure protection for Tutawa. He touched the roof of the baby's mouth with it and spoke the appropriate prayers and cast it into the sea, and then sailed on. Some days later they sighted land, and even at that time there was trouble on board. One of the crew, a man named Tuanui a te ra, who had a crooked foot, was disobedient and insolent to Turi, so he was thrown overboard.

At last the Aotea was run ashore on the western side of the north island, in a little harbour north of Kawhia to which the name Aotea was given. One of the first things the voyagers saw when they walked on the beach to stretch their legs was the crooked footprint of a man-none other than Tuanui a te ra.

They rested for a while and then, leaving Aotea in the harbour, set off to the south to look for the river running west that Kupe had described. One party, Turi sent ahead under Pungarehu, with stones from some of their karaka berries, to be planted on the way. Then Turi followed with another party, crossing many rivers facing west and giving them the names they bear today. He skirted round Kawhia harbour and named it. He crossed what we call the Mokau river, naming it Moekau from his sleeping there. The Waitara he named from the wide steps he took when fording its mouth. At two places he spread out the sacred cloak or kura called Hunakiko, and from this act those places were named Oakura and Maraekura. To other places also, Turi gave the names that are written down in the book by Governor Grey.

At last Turi reached the river mouth that Kupe had described, and there he built a pa, or fortified village, which he called Rangitawhi. It is said that there were no inhabitants when Kupe came to these islands, yet Turi built a pa. He erected a post there which he called Whakatopea, a house which he named Matangirei, and a latrine called Paepae hakehake. His whata, or storehouse, he named Paeahua, and the well he dug was Parara ki te uru. To the river itself he gave its name, Patea.

At this settlement Turi planted his kumara seed. Because of the sacrifice at sea, they had now only eight. These they divided into pieces and planted separately, and when the shoots came up Turi used the chant called Ahuroa to make the ground tapu and pro- mote the plants. As a result, in due season they lifted eight hundred baskets of kumara from that kumara plot.

Rows of puke (earth mounds) where kūmara will be planted

In this way Turi took possession of this part of the land that Kupe found. Rongorongo was his principal wife, and from their children sprang the tribes of the Whanganui district, and the Ngati Ruanui.

Source:

Maori Myths and Tribal legends

Antony Alpers

1966

Pages: 141-147