Ponga and Puhihuia The Story So Far

Te Ao Hou, March 1964, Page 12

Ponga and Puhihuia The Story So Far The tribes concerned in the story are Nga-iwi at Maungawhau (now Mount Eden in Auckland) and Ngati-Kahukoka at Awhitu and Tipitai (on the South Manukau Heads). Ponga, a young chief from Awhitu who is not of very high rank, and Puhihuia, the beautiful high-born daughter of the chief of Maungawhau, fall in love when a party of young people from Awhitu visits the people of Maungawhau. They secretly agree that Puhihuia will return with Ponga; she runs after them as they are going overland to their canoe at Onehunga, and they reach the canoe in safety. During the voyage back home, the young chief in charge of the party (he is the son of the chief of Awhitu, and of much higher rank than Ponga) tries to win Puhihuia for himself. When she rejects him, he becomes very jealous of Ponga. The canoe arrives at the beach at Tipitai, and is met by the people of the pa. While it is still in the water, this young chief tells his father that Ponga has treacherously stolen Puhihuia from her home and that she must be taken back there at once, as her people would otherwise come to take her by force, and to avenge themselves for the insult. (There has in the past been fighting between the tribes.)