FOR THE CHILDREN.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 116, 17 May 1924, Page 22

FOR THE CHILDREN.

(By RHONA BODLE.)

TE TOKAROA, OR THE FAIRIES' BRIDGE. A LEGEND OF THE WAITEMATA.

Once upon a time there dwelt, on the i southern shores of the Waitemata Harbour, a tribe of fairy folk under the leadership of Matiri, * the fairy chief. Maori fairies strangely enough were : white, not brown like the Maoris. They I lived in the shady bush in mossy treetrunks, where the searching rays of their cruel enemy, the sun, could not find them. They drank the crystal dew on the leaves of the puriri trees, and ate the honey from the kowhai, and shellfish from tbe mud under the Shining Waters. Altogether they lived happy care-free lives. j One warm summer evening Matiri ! called the old fairies of the tribe to him , and said, "To-morrow night will be my birthday. Order a grand feast, bigger than any that has ever been held in Fairyland. Also I have something of great importance to tell you and the rest of my people." All that night the fairies toiled, preparing food for the feast. Some of the fairies dug in the mud for pipis, which they gathered into their little kits of magic flax which grew on the branches of the trees. Others gathered honey from the kowhai and the starry clematis, and the rest collected the sparkling mountain dew in huge scallop shells. I The next evening everything was made ready. The tui and the belli bird were trilling their sweetest songs when Matiri took his seat on the mossy root of a tree. After the feasting was over, the chief rose to his feet and said in his clear voice, "My people, over on the other side of the Shining Waters is a beautiful land of flowers, where little creeks tinkle between the trees and ferns with a sound like tui's liquid notee, and where the Maoris will never disturb us with their cries and shouts as they hunt our friend the kiwi. All this was told to mc by the wise old owl, who has seen ' and heard all this of which I speak. We have no canoes, my people, we cannot swini, our wings do not have the strength to fly so far, but we can build a bridge of scoria from the mountain. I You must remember that if the bridge l is not built in one night we may not j cross over." "We'll build a bridge," they shouted eagerly. Then spoke Matiri, "Go and gather flax. Instead of sleeping during the day make kits to carry the scoria in." "Yes, yes," assented his subjects with enthusiasm and they went and gathered flax. The next evening, a little before moon-rise, they assembled under the giant Pohutukawa overhanging the Shining Water, and received their orders from Matiri. All the fairies tripped to the mountain and brought back stones and rocks to make the bridge. Even the children worked as they sang to cheer each other as they carried scoria down to the sea, where they built the long stone bridge out over the water. All through the night they laboured steadily. The fairies working near the end of the bridge could see the titfee and the kowhai, the kauri trees and the clematis, and the ferns and the rata on the other side. They could hear the bell-bird pouring out soothing music, but best of all that came to their tired ears, was the tinkling of the creek on the pebbles of tbat envied land. "Courage, my people," called Matiri. "But a little while before it is finished." "Yes," answered a despairing voice among the workers. "But a little while before the sun rises, O, Matiri." Matiri looked to the east. There he could see a pale glow growing gradually brighter. Then he looked at the moon. "Oh how pale she is," he thought. "Can we finish our bridge?" The other fairies, too, had seen the eastern glow. They thought as they worked frantically, "How near that beautiful country is, yet how far away." The children stopped singing and all stopped talking as they put their remaining energies to building the bridge. Suddenly Matiri shouted, "Flee for your lives" Tho sun has risen and the bridge is not finished." The fairy folk, full of disappointment, abandonedthe scene of their labour, and fled to the shelter of the friendly bush. After their defeat the fairies disappeared and the Maori warriors saw them no more at their revels, but to this day

remains the Bridge of the Fairies called by the Maoris, Te Tokaroa or the Long Rock, which at low tide can be seen from the city shore reaching; almost across to Kauri Point.