How to Steal the Moon

How to Steal the Moon

(A Tale from the Caroline Islands)

Long ago, the chief of a tiny atoll in the Central Caroline Islands had a beautiful daughter. She was so beautiful she refused to marry the young men of her island. Her father worried about her, especially at night, when he would gaze at the moon. He loved the moon. Then he had an idea: he would gather the people of the island together and find someone clever enough to bring it down from the sky. Such a person would be worthy of his daughter.

At the chief's meeting, a boy appeared. He claimed he could deliver to his chief the glowing white moon. He was from a poor family, but the chief didn't mind. “Give it your best try," he told him. So the boy went home to ask his mother's advice.

There is a path that leads to the moon," his mother said. “It's invisible except to those who are walking on it. One end reaches to the beach where the bent palm tree grows. Go there and reach up with your arms. Like this." His mother stood as tall as she could and reached into the sky. “A power like the wind will lift you up. Then the path will grow solid under your feet. It glitters like golden flecks in the sand. Follow the path all the way to the moon.”

The boy did as his mother instructed. He walked all the way up to the moon. On the way, he passed several people sitting by the edge of the path. They gave him many gifts: two plovers, two roosters, one pandanus fruit, and a hibiscus stick.

When he reached heaven, the boy entered a men's house that was taboo for humans. Inside sat Yalulep, the Carolinian high god. And there, hanging from the ridgepole, was the moon! The moon belonged to Yalulep. How could the boy get it away from him?

He began to tell stories to Yalulep‘s guards, who were sitting outside the meeting house. They were beautiful, sweet stories. One by one the guards fell asleep. Then the boy sneaked back inside Yalulep’s house and untied the moon. He hid its bright side against his body so no light would spill. Then he crept back outside as quietly as he could. When he was far enough away, he ran as fast as he could hack to earth!

Yalulep yelled with rage when he discovered he had been robbed. He sent a fast runner to chase after the boy. Fast, fast, they ran, wind whistling in their ears. The runner was faster than the boy. Just as he lunged for the boy's heels, the boy untied the two plovers he had been given on the walk up to the sky. Right away they began to fight! The runner couldn’t help it-he sat down to watch. The boy ran on.

The runner soon realized the boy was escaping, so he got up and chased him. Soon he was so close the boy could feel his hot breath on his neck! Then the boy untied the roosters and let them go. They began to peck each other's eyes out. The runner couldn’t help it-this he had to see. He decided to take the roosters for himself. He wrapped his hands around the roosters' throats and ran back to heaven.

Yalulep was angry. “You greedy rooster-grabber!" he yelled. He called his fastest runner of all, who ran as fast as the wind. “Catch that boy who stole my moon," he yelled. How fast the fastest runner caught the boy! The boy felt his hand tighten around his ankle. Just as he began to fall, the boy threw down the pandanus fruit. A huge jungle of pandanus sprang up, thick as the stars in the heavens! The boy was on one side of this spiny jungle, and the runner was on the other. Yalulep’s runner didn’t have a machete. He could barely crawl through the thick, spiky plants. Soon his hands and feet were covered with blood.

The boy was nearly back on earth. Oh no! The fastest runner came out of the pandanus jungle and grabbed him by the hair! The boy threw down the hibiscus stick. Again a jungle sprang up. This time the boy made it safely home. His mother welcomed him with delicious fish and breadfruit.

The boy went to the chief’s house. Proudly, he handed him the glowing sphere. But he warned the chief that he must follow his mother's words exactly.“Do not take the covers off the moon," he said.

The chief considered these words and nodded. “Now you have earned my blessing to marry my daughter," the chief said.

Alas, the chief could not resist his curiosity. What could be so wrong with peeling off just one layer of the glowing moon? So one day he peeled back the thinnest outer layer of the moon. It grew brighter and more beautiful, like the golden inside of a mango. So he peeled off another. And another. What was wrong with brightness? What was wrong with beauty? Uh oh-the chief took off all of the covers.

The moon slipped from his hands, as slippery as a fish. The bright, beautiful moon, the dazzling moon, flew off to its home in the sky. The chief was very sad about this. He called the boy to ask for advice. “There's nothing I can do,” said the boy. “It is better this way. Now everyone who looks up will know that this moon belongs to you." The chief nodded. He hadn't thought of it that way.

After that, the chief was happy. He watched his moon each night, like a glowing ring in the ear of the sky.

Source:

Pacific Island Legends: Tales from Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia and Australia.

Nancy Bo Flood, Beret E. Strong, William Flood

1991

Pages: 51 - 54

The Circle of Birth and Death

The Circle of Birth and Death

(A Legend from Papua New Guinea)

In Papua New Guinea, the tops of the mountains pierce a layer of clouds. As if they had eyes, the mountaintops quietly observe the sky spirits. Down below, the mountains’ rocky roots feel the yams growing. Their dusty sides echo with the sound of people stamp-stamping their dances.

Owen Stanley Range - Papua New Guinea

The people of the high mountains of Simbang say there was a time when all humans lived in the sky. This was because the earth was new and its surface was still very hot. The sleeping-platforms of all people were way up above the clouds. People lived forever. Time did not exist. Every day was the same as every other. Some of the people, especially the young, quick-footed ones, began to grow restless. "Please papa," begged a sky child. “Can’t we just do something?"

A huge lizard lived in the sky. It was said that he was wise. But it was also said that every so often he told big, fat lies. Most of the time he was helpful. Once in a while, he did something cruel. Because everyone lived forever, they needed to forgive when bad things happened.

When the earth had cooled and living things rooted and grew in its soil, the lizard told the sky people tales of amazing food and brilliant beauty. All this existed on earth! Earth’s land cradled all the colours of the rainbow. Sweet songs flowed from brooks, and wind shush-shushing through pine trees. Earth offered sweet coconuts to drink and plenty of tender coconut meat to eat. Even fire! How delicious it was to roast yams.

Pigs and dogs ran through the forests. Fat, sassy birds laid eggs. Flowers to tuck behind your ears blanketed the meadows. Slippery fish with glassy eyes swam in the streams. Earth's lakes were like mirrors. Even the caves echoed your name when you called out to them.

The lizard told how to visit earth: slide down a long, thin bamboo pole. Shinny, shinny, slide! Down to earth you slipped and slid. The people were so excited they could barely wait their turn to slide down the bamboo pole.

“But how do we get back home?" a man asked.

“Yes." said another. “We can't go unless we can come back home again.”

“Oh, that's easy," said the giant lizard, his mouth crooked open in a smile. “Just climb back up the pole. I’ll make it easy for you-I'll put notches in it like the steps of a ladder. See?" He slithered over and gnawed a perfect step into the pole.

“Thank you," said the sky people. Not everyone went. Some believed the lizard's words and some didn't. But many, oh so many, chose to go! One by one they wrapped their hands around the sturdy pole, jumped free of the clouds, and down they slid. They were so busy holding on tight they didn’t see the lizard laughing at them.

Earth was gorgeous. Fresh, cool water bubbled up out of the ground. Orange-red bird-of-paradise blossoms hobbled in the breeze. Everything the lizard had said was true! The people harvested yams and luscious red fruits hanging from trees. They lit a huge fire and watched it dance and wave like the arms of a hundred happy girls.

Later, when they had explored and were ready to rest, the sky people baked their yams in the glowing coals. In the shade of a silvery-green acacia tree, they feasted. The young people danced and sang while their parents warmed themselves before the fire. After the feast, they swam once more in the rivers. They took the burning sticks of fire into the caves and drew sooty pictures on the walls.

Yam

But then something terrible happened. One of the children stepped on an ant and crushed it. “Get up!" said the child to the ant.

The ant didn’t move. It lay in flat black pieces at the child's feet. “Papa," cried the child. “Why won't it get up?” She thought all living things lived forever like the sky people. The little creature should wake up and march across the sand.

Gently the father lifted the dead ant. Other ants scurried about, frightened by his huge human shadow. He reached down and smashed another ant between his fingers. All movement stopped. The man watched and waited. Suddenly he screamed a spine-curdling yell. The tribe came running.

“What’s the matter?” they yelled.

“This creature-” The boy’s father was panting now. “It-it-it won’t move. It is no more.” There was no word in their language for death, so he could not even say that it had died. The people began to tremble. What kind of world had they come to?

Together they carved spears and hunted a bird, a gecko, and a pig. “We honour your spirit, living creature. May you live forever." they chanted. Then they took a heavy rock and killed the bird, the gecko, and the pig. The pig's dark blood gushed from its neck into the sand. Prayers drifted away in the evening wind. Nothing could bring these creatures back to life.

This is not what the lizard had told them! Liar! Nothing lasted here. The bees made their honey and then they died. The flowers bloomed and their open faces shrivelled. Dogs and pigs and even wives grew old and died.

Too late for the people from heaven! They had eaten the food of the earth. Now they too would experience all of earth's gifts, even the bitter ones: birth, sickness, old age, and death.

The sky people huddled together and wept. One brave woman said. “Don't give up! We must climb back into the sky. We don't need these full bellies. It is better to live forever!" The people ran to where the bamboo pole had been stuck into the ground. It must still be there, waiting for them to slip their toes into the carved notches and climb hand over hand back to heaven.

But no! The evil lizard had bitten the bamboo pole clear through. It lay in pieces on the ground, splintered and still dripping with his saliva. Look!" cried the man who had asked the lizard how they would return to the sky. “He didn't even carve the notches! All the time he was planning to leave us here!"

Sadly, the people turned away. The sound of weeping grew dimmer and dimmer as small groups wandered off by themselves. One followed the snaky curves of the river bank. Another group walked under the canopy of broad-leafed trees. A third one climbed up into the hills that led to the mountains.

They were the ancestors of the people who live on earth today. Because of them, you were born. And because our home is the earth, living things will experience forever the great cycle of birth and death.

Source:

Pacific Island Legends: Tales from Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia and Australia.

Nancy Bo Flood, Beret E. Strong, William Flood

1991

Pages: 107 - 110

How Hotu Matua Found This Land

How Hotu Matua Found This Land

(A Legend from Rapa Nui – Easter Island)

Our homeland Marae Renga lay a distant journey to the west. There Hotu Matua our king was one of the chiefs: Oroi was his rival. There was a war between their tribes.

Hotu Matua's tattooer called Haumaka had a dream: that he went across the sea to a land with holes, with beaches also of fair white sand. There were six men in the dream who landed on that place. Haumaka told his dream to Hotu Matua.

Hotu Matua thought, 'There is a promise in this dream of Haumaka's.' He, therefore, sent away six men to find that land. “Look for a handsome country with sand for the king, to live on.’ They came those six, across the sea in their canoe Te Oraora Miro, bringing with them yams and breadfruit, coconuts and other things to plant. They found those rocky islets off the western headland, saw them first; jumped upon them, jumped off, came to this land here and landed at Te Pu.

They searched the land, they looked for what the king desired. They found this open land of waving grasses, grasses rolling like the sea. There were no tall trees, nor any streams. They climbed the rocks, they came to Orongo. They came to Ana Marikuru on the slopes of Rano Kao and there they dug the ground, they mounded earth to plant their yams. When they had finished this work they climbed up Rano Kao, they saw the crater there. They said, 'This is Haumaka's hole-the hole of which Haumaka dreamed.’

Rapa Nui

They came on again, they came to Te Manavai, to Canoe Bay, to Anavaero and all those places along the south coast. They came to Onetea where the white sand is, and said, ‘This is the land for the ariki to live on.’ But one said. ‘No, this is poor land, our breadfruit and our coconuts will not grow here. Let us search, let us go.’ Therefore they came on, they came to Anahavea, to Tongariki, to Big Bay, to Mount Parehe and all those places. They came around the eastern headland.

They saw the fair sand of Taharoa. Said one, ‘This is the king's land, here.’ But the rest said. ‘No, this land is not good.’ Therefore they continued until they saw the good fair sand at Anakena; it was like the beaches of the homeland. Then all those young men said. ‘Here the king will live in a handsome place.’ They rested in the dry cave at that place and therefore called it Anakena.

On the sand, at Turtle Bay they saw a turtle sleeping. Those six young men came on, they arrived at the turtle, they seized it. The turtle struck with its flipper, one was wounded. They carried; the turtle escaped. They carried a man instead of the turtle!

They found the cave called lhuarero and carried the man to that shelter, to wait for his wound to heal. The five kept watch-one day, two days, three days. They were ashamed to leave that man. One man grew bored. He said, ‘What do you say, that we go on and leave this person?’

So the five built cairns of stones. Each man brought stones, they built five things like men in cloaks outside the opening of the cave. They then said to the cairns, to the five things of stone like men: ‘If the young man asks you questions, tell him lies, you five, if he asks again, tell him only lies.’ Thus they left him cared for. They came out and went away, the five.

They came to Rapanga, to Ira, to Ringiringi and all those places; and so they came to Mataveri. At Mataveri they met a young man in the middle of their way, and so again were six. They now had come around the land, completely round. Therefore they climbed the slopes of Rano Kao to where their yams were planted. The grass was tall again, the place was full of weeds, of waving weeds like waves upon the beach. They said this word: ‘Poor land, covered with weeds there.’

Rapa Nui

They came on again, they came once more to Orongo-and on the sea they saw the king! They saw the double canoe of Hotu Matua. There were two canoes-that of Hotu Matua the ariki and that of Tu'u Ko Ihu the priest. When they came in close to shore the bindings that tied them were cut.

Cried Hotu Matua the king: ‘What is it like inland?‘

His six men answered him: ‘It is a poor land, mostly weeds and grass. If it were cleaned it would be clean. If it were weeded it would be weeded.’

Said Hotu Matua about those grasses waving like the sea: ‘A poor land this. When the tide is low we die few. When the tide is high we die many.’ This was the first occasion of the saying of those words.

Then one of the six called our “Why do you speak that bad news over the surf, Hotu Matua? Because of this, there will be bad luck for us.’

Then Hotu cut the bindings of those two canoes. His ship went along the south and his relation Tu'u Ko Ihu went to the north, they both went round the land. When the king’s ship came again and passed the headland Vai mahaki, Hotu Matua saw the navigator’s ship at Veronga. Tu’u Ko Ihu was going to land at Anakena, to be the flat chief to stand on this land. Therefore Hotu Matua said a word which made his own ship speed to shore and Tu’u Ko Ihu's be delayed. This was his word, his word that was filled with the mana of Hotu Matua: Ka hakamau te konekone !. ‘Stay the paddling!’

Thus the canoe of Hotu Matua came on and was the first one to touch this land. As it was being beached at Hiramoko the child Tu’u Ma Heke, son of Hotu Matua, was born. The mother gave birth there at the beach. The ship of Tu'u Ko Ihu came on also, and as it was beached at Hanga Ohio there was born the girl Avareipua, daughter of the priest and navigator Tu’u Ko Ihu.

Then Hotu sent a messenger to his relation Tu'u Ko Ihu: ‘Come and cut the son's navel cord. Make ceremonies for this chief Tu'u Ma Heke.’

Tu 'u Ko Ihu came, he spoke the chants, the red chiefly halo then was around that child's head. Then Tu'u Ko Ihu bit the navel cord, he cut it with his teeth. It was placed in a gourd and sent out to sea. When this ceremony was properly concluded Tu'u Ko Ihu returned to his own people at Hanga Ohio, tied the navel cord of his chiefly daughter Avareipua. He bit it, he sent the cord to sea, he finished.

Then all the people came ashore; they landed from the two canoes and stretched their legs, and rested-Tu'u Ko Ihu's people at Hanga Ohio, Hotu Matua's at Hiramoko.

There came to this land on those canoes the man, the fowl, the turtle, the banana plant; the aute tree whose bark gives taps cloth; the crayfish, the gourd, the kumara and the yam. These things all came with Hotu Matua the king. Hundreds and hundreds were the people, the mahingo who came to this land on that canoe of Hotu Matua the king.

Source:

Legends of the South Seas

Antony Alpers

1970

Pages: 233-236

The Story of the Rat and the Flying-Fox

The Story of the Rat and the Flying-Fox

(A Tale from Samoa)

The rat and the peka were friends, but the rat was longing for the peka’s thin black wings.

Peka - Flying Fox (Samoa)

This chief, the rat, sat still and thought, he thought of a trick to get the peka’s wings; for the peka flew about in the treetops while the rat crept along the ground.

The rat looked out for a tree with fruit which the peka liked, and one day he noticed that the peka was always eating gatae berries so he climbed that tree to where the bat was eating fruit. The peka flew away, it flew to an ifi tree; so the rat came down and climbed that tree. The peka took fright, but the rat called out: ‘Do not run away, for this is my tree. Wait for me, O peka! Let us talk together.’ The peka, therefore, waited in the ifi tree.

Said the rat: “Sir, peka, how is it that you eat from my tree without the right? I eat this fruit.’

Said the peka: ‘Rat, I beg your pardon, you are right.’

Then said the rat: ‘But my desire is for a good thing. Therefore I am not angry with you. On the contrary, I wish to conclude a friendship with you. I do not wish to chase you away, peka, but wish you to come here and eat on my tree.’

Then said the peka: ‘Chief, it is good. Let us conclude a friendship.’

The rat said then: ‘Sir, peka, are you afraid when you fly so high? For when I look this way it seems to me very high.’

The peka answered: “Sir, rat, I am not afraid.’

Rat: ‘Is that true?’

Peka: ‘Sir, it is true. I have no fear.’

Then said the rat: ‘Peka, have pity on me. Give me your wings so that I may learn, and see whether you are true in your friendship to me.’

Said the peka: 'All right. I shall do this, so that you may learn: so that you may see how wonderful it is where I always go.’

The peka spoke again: ‘But sir, when you go, do not go far away.’

The rat replied: ‘Oh no. I shall only fly to that tree over there. Then I shall return your wings. In the meantime, you must eat of my tree till you are satisfied.’

Then the peka took its wings and fastened them on to the back of the rat, and the rat said. ‘Sir, please allow me to hand over my things, which only hinder me, for you to keep.’ Then it handed the peka its tail and four feet, and the peka took them all and put them on.

The peka spoke again: ‘Sir, come back quickly, that I may not be delayed.’ The rat replied: ‘I will come quickly. You remain here and eat until you are satisfied.’

Then the rat flew away, while the peka ate steadily and watched the rat, which went away and did not return.

Then the peka wept: ‘Aue! Aue! Aue! Rat has cheated me! He has gone with my wings!’

This is the story of the peka that lost its wings and now lives on the ground, a rat; while the rat has wings and flies, a bat. Hence our proverb of the orators-when one chief cheats another chief, the rest then say, ‘But did you not know of the friendship of the peka and the rat?’

Source:

Legends of the South Seas

Antony Alpers

1970

Pages: 298-300

Kupe`s Discovery of Aotearoa

Kupe`s Discovery of Aotearoa

(A Legend from New Zealand)

It was the demigod Maui who fished up these islands from the bottom of the sea, but it was Kupe who discovered them, and returned to Hawaiki* with news of a land inhabited only by birds. The voyage of Kupe came about in this way. There was in Hawaiki a very great canoe-builder named Toto, who had two daughters. He went to cut down a fine large tree on the banks of the lake called Waiharakeke, and when it fell this tree split lengthwise into two equal parts. Toto therefore made two great ocean canoes, one of which he named Aotea and gave to his daughter Rongo-rongo, and the other he named Matahorua and gave to his daughter Kura marotini.

Now Kura marotini was the wife of Kupe's young cousin Hoturapa, and Kupe desired her. One day Kupe and Hoturapa were out fishing, a long way from the shore, when Kupe's line got caught on a snag. Being accustomed to giving orders, he said to his cousin: Hotu, my line is caught on something, just dive down and loosen it for me, would you?’ Hotu took hold of the line and said: ‘Let me see if l can't loosen it.’ “It’s no use,’ said Kupe. “I've tried, it won’t come, just dive down, go on.’

So Hoturapa jumped over and dived. But as soon as he was gone Kupe cut the anchor rope, threw the rest of his line into the sea, and paddled quickly for the shore. When Hotu came up again the canoe was far away. “E Kupe!’ he cried, 'Kupe! Come back and get me!’

The whole thing was a trick on Kupe’s part to get rid of Hotu and have his wife. Hoturapa was drowned, and Kupe made off with Kura marotini. But her relations were suspicious about the accident, and to escape their vengeance Kupe decided to leave Hawaiki. And so, in her canoe Matahorua, taking his own family, and Reti as the priest and navigator, he set off into that part of the Ocean known as Te Tiritiri o te Moana, Share of Ocean. It was thus that Kupe came to explore this part of the Great Ocean of Kiwa, and found these islands that now are called Aotearoa.

After they had sailed for many days, keeping a constant watch for any sign of land, such as a patch of different colour on the underside of the clouds, or a cloud of unusual shape, it fell to Hine te aparangi, wife of Kupe, to be the first to see something. She cried, ‘He ao! He ao!’ and the land beneath the cloud, when they sailed along it, was found to be much longer than any island those people had ever known. They therefore named it Aotearoa, Long White Cloud (today known as New Zealand).

As he was going down the east coast of the north island Kupe passed close to a small projecting piece of land** In a large cave there a wheke, or giant octopus, had its home, and Kupe surprised this wheke. Frightened by the sight of a canoe with men in it, the wheke left its cave and fled before the bows of Matahorua, turning round the bottom of the island in the direction of Raukawa***. Thus Kupe found the opening between the two islands of this land. He passed Cape Terawhiti and crossed the strait to look at the land on the other side. Finding the opening at Te Awaiti, he went into it and encountered a very strong current, to which he gave the name Kura te au. Strong as it was, Kupe made his paddlers fight that current, and he entered Te Awaiti.

Castlepoint, New Zealand

Now the wheke, whose name was Te Wheke a Muturangi, had gone there to hide. And when it heard the canoe approaching, and the paddling chants of Kupe's men as they struggled against the current, it raised its enormous arms above the water and slapped its suckers against the sides of Matahorua, to devour her and her crew. Then followed a great sea battle between the wheke and this chief. Kupe took up the adze Rakatuwhenua, which he had with him, and with fierce strokes he slashed at the wheke's many limbs. When the wheke had laid them over the sides of the canoe Kupe sliced bits of them, and his people ate them, but the monster took no notice at all. It writhed and lurched, and lashed about, and the canoe was in danger of being swamped in that rapid current. Then Kupe thought of a way to deceive the wheke. Dropping his adze, he picked up a large hollow gourd that had been full of drinking water. He threw it overboard, and the wheke, thinking it was a man, let go the canoe and seized the gourd. Then Kupe took his adze again, and when the wheke’s head and vital parts were wrapped around the gourd he severed it in two with one tremendous blow. Thus died the wheke of Muturangi.

Kupe and Wheke

After this, Kupe also severed the island of Aropawa from the South island, and the islands of Kapiti and Mana from the North. That is to say, he sailed in through Te Awaiti and around Aropawa island, and then up the west coast of the north island on the inside of Kapiti and Mana. And this old chant recalls these facts:

I sing, I sing of Kupe,

the man who severed the land!

Kapiti stands apart,

Mana stands apart,

Aropawa stands apart.

These are the signs

of my ancestor Kupe,

who discovered Titapua,

who explored the land.

Kupe stayed a short time at Whanganui a Tara, the great harbour of Tara****, and two small islands in it were named after two of his daughters, Matiu and Makoro, who were with him. It is said also that another of his daughters, Taiapua, killed herself at the red cliff Tamure, outside the western heads of the harbour. Kupe went there to bewail her death, and cut his forehead with a piece of obsidian, as was the custom, to show his grief. The blood of this chief stained the rocks all red, and they are red today, as can be seen by those who pass that way.

It was after this that Kupe travelled up the coat to the place where Patea now stands. He set up a post there to mark his visit, and he heard the voices of the only two inhabitants of this country he ever spoke of. He heard the cry of the kokako, or crow, and he saw the little tiwaiwaka, which flicked about in front of his face and snapped its tiny beak, and fanned out its black-and-white tail.

Now Kupe’s work was this, that he discovered these islands and some of the openings, the harbours and rivers, and to some of them he gave names. On his return to Hawaiki he spoke of the great land of high mists which he had seen. When he was asked if there were people there he replied, he saw only kokako and tiwaiwaka. This was more polite than saying ‘No’. When he was asked if he intended to return, he replied ‘E hoki Kupe?'-‘Will Kupe return?’- which down to this day is used as a way of saying no.

* * *

Kupe’s friend Ngahue travelled with him. Ngahue left Hawaiki because of the quarrel between obsidian and greenstone. Ngahue owned the block of greenstone which was called Pounamu, or sometimes ‘The Fish of Ngahue', and Hine tu a hoanga became enraged. Her fish or stone was waiapu, or obsidian. She drove him out, and Ngahue, seeking a resting place for his greenstone, travelled to Tuhua. But Hine-of-the-Whetstone-Back pursued him, and to escape her again he came to this land, Aotearoa. He travelled beyond the places Kupe visited, and carried his greenstone to Arahura, on the western coast of the south island, or Te Wai Pounamu. There he made an everlasting resting-place for his greenstone.

He broke a piece off it, and taking it with him he returned to Hawaiki, and reported that he had found a country which produced pounamu in abundance and also the very large bird called moa, standing higher than a man. According to some persons he killed one of these moa, and put it in a taha, or calabash, and carried it back to Hawaiki. From his greenstone Ngahue made the sharp adzes Tutauru and Hauhau te rangi. From the little pieces that were chipped away many precious ornaments of chiefs were manufactured. The eardrop Kaukaumatua was one of these. This was in the possession of Te Heuheu, and was only lost as recently as 1846, when he and many of his people were killed by a landslide.

*Hawaiki - mythical ancestral homeland of the Māori.

**Castlepoint

***Cook Strait

****Wellington

Source:

Maori myths and tribal legends

Antony Alpers

1966

Pages: 133-139

The Offspring of the Sky and Earth

The Offspring of the Sky and Earth

(A Legend from Chatham Islands)

In the beginning were Rangi and Papa, Sky and Earth. Darkness existed. Rangi adhered over Papa his wife. Man was not.

Chatham Islands

A person arose, a spirit who had no origin; his name was Rangitokona, the Heaven-propper. He went to Rangi and Papa, bid them go apart, but they would not.

Therefore Rangitokona separated Rangi and Papa, he thrust the Sky above. He thrust him with his pillars ten in number end to end; they reached up to the Fixed-place-of-the-Heavens.

After this separating Rangi lamented for his wife: and his tears are the dew and the rain which ever fall on her. This was the chant that did that work:

Rangitokona, prop up the heaven!

Rangitokona, prop up the morning!

The pillar stands in the empty space,

It stands in the baldness of the sky.

The thought stands in the earth-world-

Thought stands also in the sky.

The kahi stands in the earth-world-

Kahi stands also in the sky.

The pillar stands, the pillar-

It ever stands, the pillar of the sky.

Then for the first time was there light between the Sky and the Earth; the world existed.

When he had finished this work Rangitokona heaped up earth and of it he made man, he created Tu. This was his chant:

Stem heaped up, heaped, heaped up.

Stem gathered together, gathered, gathered together.

Heap it in the stem of the tree,

Heap it in the butt of the tree,

Heap it in the foundation of the tree.

Heap it in the fibrous roots.

Heap it in the thick root of the tree.

Heap it together, it grows;

Heap it together, it lives.

The heaven-stem lives, it is living, E!

Stem heaped up, body heaped up-

Let the heaven stand which lives.

Heap it in the flower of the tree,

Heap it in the leaf of the tree,

Heap it in the swaying of the tree!

Heap it in the spreading branches of the tree,

Heap it in the pattern of the tree.

Heap it in the finishing of the tree!

Heap it, it grows!

Heap it, it lives!

The heaven lives-E!

Stem heaped up, stem heaped up.

Let the heaven stand which lives,

Let Tu remain.

This was the forming of the body of Tu. Then the spirit was gathered in. And this was the chant for that work:

Let the spirit of the man be gathered to the world of being, the world of light.

Then see. Placed in the body is the flying bird, the spirit-breath.

Then breathe!

Sneeze, living spirit, to the world of being, the world of light.

Then see. Placed in the body is the flying bird, the breath.

Be breathing then, great Tu. Now live!

Then man existed, and the progeny of Tu increased: Rongo, Tane, Tangaroa, Rongomai, Kahukura, Tiki, Uru, Ngangana, Io, Iorangi, Waiorangi, Tahu, Moko, Maroro, Wakehau, Tiki, Toi, Rauru, Whatonga - these were the sons.

Ruanuku, Motu ariki, Te Ao marama, Tu mare, Ranganuku, Matariki, Wari, and Ro Tauira the pattern-maid - these were the females. These were Rangitokona’s descendants born of heaven and the earth.

The last, Ro Tauira, being made, the children of Rangi and Papa went forth their ways, they went out to the world of being.

Then Te Ao marama had her son, his name was Rongomai whenua. He was the first man of this land: he was the land.

From this time grew the tribe of men, until the time of Marti-puku and Rongopapa, whose tribe was called Te Hamata.

These people dwelt in this land here, before the coming of the canoe Rangimata, and the rest.

Those ancient ones were hiti, they were giants. The long bones of their thighs lay formerly at Te Awa patiki, showing that giants lived formerly in this land; but the flood of that lagoon swept all away.

Ro Tauira the pattern-maid brought forth her son Tahiri mangate, who took for his wife Rangi maomao, ‘Mackerel Sky'. As children of these two were born the winds.

The East wind was the first-born child, he came from where the dawn is seen. The West wind was the last.

The other sons were Wairehu, the warm month, and Tuhe a Takarore, the month before. These two kept counting and disputing when their season should begin.

It was Wairehu, that is January, who prevented Rehua, heat-of-February, from turning and devouring men by drying all things up.

Mihi torekao and Rongo, they are March and July. They were incited by Tahiri the father of winds to fight against man, and thus they do, with cold rain and the southerly, with sleet.

Tu matauenga, Tu-of-twisted-face, was a son of the rough West wind. It was he who placed strength in fishes and birds and trees to injure man.

Source:

Legends of the South Seas

Antony Alpers

1970

Pages: 47-50