MAORI TRADITION

Auckland Star, 2 September 1933, Page 7

MAORI TRADITION

EMBODIED IN TROPHY. KURUNGAITUKU AND HATUPATU. PICTURESQUE LEGEND. (From Our Own Correspondent.) EOTORUA, Friday. A beautiful example of Maori art is to be seen in a trophy which has been presented to the Rotorua Basketball Association by the advancement committee of the Rotorua Borough Council. It depicts two figures on a pedestal, holding aloft a large bowl. Three ancient carving systems, known to the Maori as Koreru, Manaia and Wheku, are represented in the work. On the figures are decorative designs of Te-ika-Maui and Pitau. On their faces is the ancient moko or tattoo (female), and the other parts of the design represent various ancient decorative designs, the whole, being embellished with sparkling paua shell inlay. Whatever the pakoha may christen the trophy, to the Maori it will always be "Kunmgaituku," a legendary Maori woman of great renown. To make the analogy complete, the wood from which it is carved was milled from the totara forests at Moroa, the legendary domain of Kurungaituku, near Taupo. The whole of the designing and carving was carried out by Mr. Pine Taipa, under the direction of Mr. H. Hamilton, at the Maori Arts and Crafts School at Ohinemutu. It stands 30in in height, weighs 401b, and is insured for £50. The Legend. The story of Kurungaituku is one that is often quoted at Maori gatherings, and has as its setting the beautiful forests surrounding Moroa, near Taupo, where she had her great forest home, and Rotorua, where she met her death amWst the boiling cauldrons of Whakarewnrewii. Kurungaituku wae- a noted huntress of the forests and mountain ranges, and harboured in her home many tame animals and beautiful birds as

pets. She was no ordinary woman. She was gifted with the speed of the swiftest athlete, and wings upon her arms enabled her to ekiin across the numerous valleys of the domain. Feathered game fell an easy prey to her, as she was able to entice and spear them with her lips. It was on one such occasion, when she was about to spear a forest bird, that Hatupatu, a young Arawa chief from Mokoia Island, who was also on a hunting expedition, threw his wooden spear at the same bird. His spear missed his I objective, but impaled itself upon j Kurungaituku's lips. When Hatupatu saw this, he ran off with all his epeed, but he was soon caught by the woman, and so he joined her other pets in her forest home. Hatupatu found that this woman never ate anything but raw food, and she gave birds to Hatupatu to eat without their being in any way dressed, i but he only pretended to eat them'by lifting them up to his mouth and letting them drop slyly. Treasures of the Cave. At dawn the woman prepared to go ! and spear birds, but Hatupatu always ' remained at home, and when she had departed lie began to cook food for hirni self and to admire all the things in the huge rock cave that the woman lived in. At the two-handed wooden sword he looked, with its wonderfully carved hilt, at her beautiful cloak made of red feathers torn from under the wing of the kaka, at her cloak, of thick dog's fur, at her ornamental cloak woven from flax, and all the time he kept thinking how he could run off with them. Then he looTced at the various tame lizards she had, and at her tame little birds, and at all her many curious possessions, and thus he went on, day after day, until at last one day he said to her: "Now you had better go a long distance to-day, to the first mountain range, to the second mountain range, the tenth range, the hundredth range, the thousandth mountain range, and when you get there then begin to catch birds for us two." To this ehe consented, and went. And he brandished the two-handed sword and made cuts at the lizards and at all the tame animals, and they were soon killed. Then he struck at the perch on which the little pet birds sat, and killed them all but one, a tiny riroriro (grey warbler), which escaped, and it flew away to fetch the woman to whom they all belonged. And as the little bird flew along, these are the words it kept singing, "0 Kurungaituku, our home is ruined, our thinge are all destroyed."

And so it kept singing until it had flown a very long way. At last Kurungaituku heard it, and said, "By whom is all this done?" And the little bird answered, i "By Hatupatu; everything is gone." Pursuit of Hatupatu. Then Kurungaituku made; haste to I get home again, and as she went along J she kept calling out, "Step- out, stretch along—step out, stretch along. There you are, 0 Hatupatu, not far from me. There you are, O Hatupatu, not far from me. Step out, stretch along, step out, stretch along. There you are, 0 Hatupatu, not far from me now." She only made three strides before she reached her home, and when she looked about she could see nothing in it, but the little bird still guided her on, as she kept staying, "Step out, stretch along— step out, stretch along. I'll catch you there now, Hatupatu; I'll catch you there now, Hatupatu." And she almost caught Hatupatu, who had reached Atianiuri, and he thought, "I'm done for now." So, being gifted with powers of enchantment, he repeated his charm several, times, "0 rock, open for me, open." Then the rock opened, and he hid himself in it. (Hatupatu's rock, with its hollow centre, stands at the side of the main road at Atiamuri. Alongside it is an A.A. notice board with the words "Lucky rock." Fern leaf offerings are placed at the bas:. , almost daily -by passing seekers of good luck.) Amidst Boiling Cauldrons. And the woman looked wild could not find him. She went on to a distance an<l kept calling out, "I'll catch you there.. Hatupatu; I'll catch you there, Hatupatu." And when her voice died away in the distance Hatupatu came out of the rock and made off. And thus they wei.t <m until, nearing Whakarewarewa, Kurungaituku made a grab at him. but missed.(The marks of her claws are to be seen to-day on a flat rock adjacent to Waipa Flat, near Whakarewarewa.) Hatupatu finally escaped by crossing amidst the boiling cauldrons at Whakarewarewa, closely followed by Kurungaituku, who, thinking the ground was firm and the springs were cold, stepped out boldly, but sank through the treacherous crust and was scalded _to death. A beautiful carving, depicting Hatupatn swimming Lake Rotoruu under water, and one of Kurungaituku standing alongside, embellishes the. front of Kauru, the carved meeting- v house at Whakarewarewa.