THE STORY OF NUKU PEWAPEWA

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 234, 2 October 1937, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE STORY OF NUKU PEWAPEWA

PART IL (Continued from last week.) \ TE. WHTTI followed the maiden towards the pa, but she was a good runner and hard to catch. She went through the gates of the pallisade and Te Whiti gradually caught up on her. When he had all but caught her she disappeared within the chief's house. Te Whiti stopped and could hear the noise of her skirt as she crept to a corner of the house. Putting his ear to the raupo walls of the whare he listened till the swishing noise stopped. "Ah," he thought, "she is crouching in a corner at the back of the house." Moving around to the other side without making any noise he came to the corner where he thought the girl was hiding. He again strained his ear to the wall and could hear someone's heart beating very fast, as if they had just been running a good distance. He knew it must be the maiden, and putting his mouth to the wall whispered, "Come out that I might know who you are." But no reply came from within. There was not even a stir. He asked once more, but still no answer came. It wm then that he used his cunning. After a time he said, "I am cold out here. l am nearly dead with the cold. Have you an old cloak which yon could spare me ?" The gods favoured Te Whiti and the ruse worked.

From within the whare came the most beautiful maiden he had ever seen. She was so beautiful that Te Whiti was speechless as he took the cloak she offered him. He had never seen such beauty. Her skin was much fairer in colour than the Maoris of his tribe, and her fine features and small hands and feet showed that she was of high caste. Te Whiti set his heart on her and was determined to find out more about her. He felt as if his feet were tied to the ground and his tongue cleaved to the top of his mouth.

"Who—who are you who befriended me and brought me food?" he asked. Without a tremor, the maiden answered him, in a clear rich voice, "I am Hinerangi, daughter of the chief Wairarapa. I was inside the whare when you came to see my father to-day. Believe me, I am sorry for your father and for your tribe, but there is nothing I can do to help them." Te Whiti went forward and pressed his nose, to Hinerangi's in the traditional greeting until the tears streamed down the maiden's face. Te Whiti put his arm round her and said, "Come, walk with me to the pallisade and let me tell you of my gratitude."

Te Whiti and Hinerangi.

By WARWICK LAWRENCE,

Now, Hinerangi did not need much urging to walk with Te Whiti. From the moment she saw him walk so proudly to her father she had loved him. It was a cool night of early winter and the moon hung high over the snow-tipped Tararua moun tains. Hinerangi was glad to escape from the domination of her father and sisters. For many months Wairarapa had approached her each day with the same question, "Why, o my daughter, do you hang your head with grief. Why are you not the happy, laughing maiden of the skies who once brightened my days? Whydo you not take as your mate the son of the chief of Pitone. He would bring you much happiness. Pitone is a great man and marriage to his

son would bring our tribe much mana."

But Hinerangi had no love for the arrogant son of Pitone and refused even to see him.

Although Hinerangi was young she had met with many other suitors. Once a warrior in Takakau heard of her rare beauty and came down to Wairarapa with the intention of claiming Hinerangi as his bride, and as a dowry some of the best lakes of the tribe. But Wairarapa got news of his intentions and met him at Ponotahi. There a battle was fought between the suitor and some of Wairarapa's picked warriors, which proved disastrous for the young chief, who fled into the scrub and hid himself. After that the scrub was called "manuka," which means "hiding place," and is known as such to this day, and sometimes called "tea-tree." For over a week he lay hidden, until one day some of Wairarapa's men surprised him, and in order to escape with his life, he made a gigantic leap from the lakeside to a hill, now known as Jury's Hill, from there to Carter's Hill, and to Rangimau. To this day Carter's Hill is called "Mamakau," which means "The Leap." As Hinerangi walked with Te Whiti she pondered over her suitors and found Te Whiti so different from other men whom she had known that her heart was filled with a deep yearning for his love. For Te Whiti, too, the matter was perplexing and the new emotion disturbing. He recalled to mind how often his aged father had begged him to take a wife. None of the poi maidens at Ahuriri could compare in grace and beauty to Hinerangi. He took the cloak of kaka and pigeon feathers and spread it around Hinerangi's shoulders. Remembering an old sacred love chant he sang it softly to Hinerangi: "Mahia i a Tane, Tahu e! Nai mai, Kia puri, kia tata . . ." And when he had finished, when the faintest echoes had died away on the other side of the lake, he spoke to Hinerangi of his love for her. "See, Hinerangi. See how the kowhai has cast off her cloak of gold and scattered her seedlings to the earth. Why, underneath this very earth on which we tread who knows what young seedlings are straining their hands against the imprisoning earth? Smell, too, the scent of the manuka as it hangs on the air. See how the sky has veiled her face with a net of stars before your beauty, for are you not the Maiden-of-the-Sky ?" (To be continued.)