Huia, Moon Maiden

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 220, 13 June 1936, Page 27

Huia, Moon Maiden

“Oh, how I wish I was beautiful,” sighed Unia. She was the smallest and ugliest of the Ngati Toro tribe. The other children were very unkind to her and she was hardly ever spoken to

Htiiu was lying in the great bush. The clematis and the gum were flowering; the birds were singing, and a tui was calling to its mate in the huge rimus. A little fantail was flitting about, and a bellbird flew past. The sun looked through the leaves, but Huia did not notice the beauty of the day, and lay face down on the moss, looking at her reflection in the trout-ringed pools of the stream, and sobbing softly. Suddenly Huia heard a rustle in the bush, and an evil face peered from the undergrowth, and there was the Maori god, Taupo. Huia started up in surprise and ran. Taupo was pursuing, but Huia ran and rah. The hot sun melted away, the stars began to peep, and the new moon threw ghostly shadows on everything. Huia felt a clutch on her long _ hair; Taupo had caught her —no, not quite, for a ladder stretched from the moon, and Huia managed to climb up into the moon. She has lived there till now, very happy, and the .Maoris called her their own dear moon-maiden.—" Goddess of Hunting” (9). Masterton.