Maori Myths and Tribal Legends retold by Antony Alpers and illustrated by Patrick Hanly

Te Ao Hou, March 1965, Page 57

Maori Myths and Tribal Legends retold by Antony Alpers and illustrated by Patrick Hanly Blackwood and Janet Paul, 30s reviewed by Peter Fairbrother This is an excellent, authentic modern rendering of the Maori myths which is well worth adding to the bookshelf at home or at school. Sir George Grey would approve of this new edition of the ancient tales. It is written in modern English with an easy flowing style. The re-arrangement of the episodes into chronological sequence gives a continuity and completeness that contrasts with the disjointed ‘flashback’ technique of the original translations in ‘Polynesian Mythology’. Children will read it with enjoyment; adults will want to read it to their children, and, without doubt, for their own pleasure. Many of the details that Sir George Grey omitted in his translations have been skilfully woven into the new tellings. There are other additions by Mr Alpers which do not fit so snugly into the Maori stories. There seems to be no need to import from another country the belief that Maui lost his maro as he lifted Te Ika from the bed of the sea. The significance of this is probably quite different in the two countries. In New Zealand working naked in the company of men was normal, natural and, so, insignificant. The omissions of Grey, though, which Mr Alpers has striven to reinsert into the stories he has handled like the tohunga tauira he hopes to emulate. These passages were omitted because they would have offended the readers of those times. In the greater freedom of the present day it is more common to read and hear about acts and subjects which once were taboo. But usually we find, in the excess which comes with new liberties, an overstressing, a disproportionate emphasising of these subjects. Mr Alpers is to be congratulated on the way he weaves reference to cohabitation and acts of elimination into these stories to give them a naturalness in the telling which reflects the early casualness and lack of embarrassment with which the Maori refers to these things. Only here and there does the modern style and idiom go too far. ‘Heavens!’ seems an incongruous exclamation for a mythical Maori to make, especially when the original is ‘E tama!’ an almost universal exclamation. The text has its sprinkling of Maori terms. ‘Hokowhitu’ is translated in half a dozen ways but Mr Alpers neglects the obvious ‘seven score’. Names like Hine-nui-te-po and Ruru-mahara can be translated and perhaps should be. The difficulty is in deciding which to leave untranslated. I think Mr Alpers stretches Maori grammar and phraseology a little far in deriving some of his translations. However, many people play this game—and one guess is as good as another. These, though, are minor points and detract little from the overall excellence of the text. There are three important parts in this book. First, of course, the myths, and legends of the canoes. All New Zealanders should read, or have read to them, this easy flowing narrative. The second important part is the preface, a valuable short essay on the value of myth to all peoples of all times. Thirdly, the appendix gives the sources and background of this collection, something of the history of the publication of the myths, some arguments on validity, and poses some pertinent questions whose answers are still locked in manuscripts all over the country. There is one major defect of this book—the illustrations. In the preface and appendix Mr Alpers makes clear that the Maori, like most other peoples, had a body of myth which explained for them the world they lived in. The myths give an orderly and concise explanation of the apparent disorder of the world. Maori carvings, which depict many of the legends, have symmetry and clearly defined shapes. Tukutuku, tuhi and taniko are neat and precise. Do vague asymmetrical figures, blotchy lines and clumsy imitations of spirals and haching ‘capture the spirit of the myths’? Do puerile bird and fish shapes emphasise the beauty of the birds Maui branded, and the

bounty of the sea of Tangaroa? And who would want to claim descent from one of the inkblots on page 168? Clear-cut, well-defined explanations for natural phenomena demand clear-cut, well-defined illustrations. Is the distorted spiral on page 69 to represent the ‘threshold of life and death’? One presumes so, from the text. Yet there are many ‘vagina dentatus’ in carvings easily accessible for Mr Hanly to copy. The vital part of Hine-nui-te-po had symmetry and power to the Maori mind. This illustration has neither. The use of an art form symptomatic of the unsure, uncertain modern world to illustrate the fully explained orderliness of the Maori mytholigical world is a mistake. Mr Alpers has worked valiantly to give these myths the immortality they deserve, but, like Maui, he has chosen the wrong travelling companion. Mr Hanly is your tiwaiwaka, Mr Alpers.