Three Old Stories

Te Ao Hou, September 1966, Page 18

Three Old Stories translated by Margaret Orbell These stories were taken from a manuscript in the Alexander Turnbull Library which was written about the year 1876 by Mohi Ruatapu and Henare Potae of the East Coast. A note on the history of the manuscript appears on page 22. He kōrero nō1 te riringa a Tuere, a Tangihaere, ki a Te Awariki. Nāua no [a] ia te take o te riri, nā Te Awariki ki a Tangihaere rāua ko Tuere. Te ingoa o taua riringa nei, ko Te Manu, ko Te Manu Tukutuku. Ka kangā e Te Awariki ngā tamariki a Tuere rāua [ko] Tangihaere, he kakenga nō ngā aho o ā rātou manu i runga i tā Te Awariki. Nā reira i kangā ai e Te Awariki. Ka karanga atu a Tuere ki anā tamariki. ‘Karanga atu, “Tō waewae nā!” ‘2 Ka riri rātou; na, ka mate rātou i a Te Awariki te patu. Na, ka whakatika mai anō a Te Awariki ki te riri ki a rātou, hopukia atu e rātou, ka mate. Te ingoa o te parekura, ko Te Uirarapa. Ka mate te iwi o Te Awariki i kōnei. Ko Tuere i mate ki Waitōtara; kei roto i te puraku3 e tanu ana. Ko te ingoa o te puraku, ko Kania[w]hea. Ka noho rātou i tō rātoa kāinga. Ka huakina tō rātou pāpā e rātou, a Tuere, ka tāia ngā iwi hei matau.4 Ka oti, ka kawea ki te maona, ka mate te kai nei a te ika i a rātou, ka hoe rātou ki uta. Kāore i mauria ngā ika ki uta, ngā [a]ho, ngā matau, ngā hoe, ngā pātai me ngā ika. Ka haere ko rātou kiri kai tahanga anake ki te kāinga. Kāore koa, nā tō rātou pāpā te kupu ki a rātou, kia mate anō ngā ika i runga waka; te kaha hoki tā rātou. Pērātia ana, toro ana kia haere te waka rā i te moana haere ai, kia ū atu he kāinga kē atu; mā rātou e kai ngā ika o runga o taua waka. Mā ngā iwi katoa e kai, kia mate ai ngā iwi katoa, kei ngā iwi o Tuere te mana, te atua. Ka hinga te parekura a Tuere rātou ko āna tamariki. Ka haere ngā tamariki a Tuere, ka heke haere, tau rawa atu Meketū, Tauranga; This is the story of the quarrel between Tuere and Tangihaere, and Te Awariki. It was Te Awariki alone who was the cause of this strife with Tuere and Tangihaere; the quarrel was known as the Kite, the Flying Kite. Te Awariki cursed the children of Tuere and Tangihaere because the lines of their kites mounted up over the line of his kite; it was for this reason that he cursed them. So Tuere called to his children, ‘Say to him, “That is your leg!” ‘2 Then they fought, and were defeated by Te Awariki. But when Te Awariki again went forth to attack them, they took him prisoner and killed him. The name of the battle was the Flash of Lightning. Te Awariki's followers were defeated there. Tuere died at Waitotara, and was buried in a small wood.3 The name of that wood was Kaniawhea. They continued to live there at their home, and when they disinterred the bones of their father Tuere, they shaped the bones into fishhooks.4 When they had done this they took the fishhoods out to sea, and with them they caught a great quantity of fish. Then they paddled back to the shore. They did not take the fish on shore, or the lines, the fishhooks the paddles or the bailers, but returned quite naked to the village. But indeed, it was their father who had told them to catch the fish in the canoe in this way: they were only carrying out his instructions. After this they pushed the canoe out to sea so that it would travel to some other place and land at another village; the fish in the canoe were intended for the people of this other village. They would all eat the fish, and all of them would die, slain by the supernatural power of the bones of Tuere. Thus were slain those who fell in the battle of Tuere and his children. Afterwards the descendants of Tuere left that place and migrated to Meketu (Maketu) at Tauranga;

e noho mai nei anō i reira a Hori Tupaea, ngā uri o Te Rangihouw[h]iri. Ka mutu i kōnei te kōrero o taua riringa, o te hekenga o Te Rangihou[wh]iri. Ka mutu tērā. Hori Tupaea and his people, the offspring of Te Rangihouwhiri, are living there still. This is the end of the story of the battle and migration of Te Rangihouwhiri. 1The word ‘no’ is used in this sense elsewhere in the manuscript also. 2Apparently the meaning is that each kite-line is to be identified with its owner, and since Te Awariki's line (or leg) is below that of the children of Tuere and Tangihaere, he is of less consequence than they. The remark would thus be a deliberate insult. 3Colenso translates puraku as ‘a small wood’. Williams' Dictionary gives its meaning as ‘coffin or wrap’, but as evidence quotes only this sentence. Colenso's translation seems more likely. Perhaps the word is related to the expression pū rākau, ‘a grove of trees’. 4Normally, of course, it was a great insult to make fishhooks from the bones of a dead man, and only his enemies would do this.

Ka noho ngā wāhine nei, ka haere ki te uru tarata1; ka piki rāua ki runga ki taua tarata, rā, tiro rawa iho rāua ko te ngārara rā e piki ake ana. Tā rāua kitenga iho e piki ake ana, kua oma tētahi, ka mau tētahi i taua ngārara, ka mauria ki tōna kāinga. Ka haere tētahi, ka tae ki te kāinga, ka kōrero atu ki ngā tāngata o te kāinga, ‘Kua mau at kuhoa i te ngārara.’ ‘He ngārara pēhea?’ Tana kinga atu, ‘Ko Te Mata-o-te-rangi ko taua ngārara, he kumi.2 Kāti, mauria tonutia e taua ngārara hei wahine māna, moe ana rāua.’ Ro rawa rāua e moe ana, ka puta he whakaaro mō te wahine rā kia haere mai ia ki ōna tungāne. Kātahi ia ka kī tōnā tāne, ‘E koro e, ka haere au ki aku tungāne.’ Whakaae ana mai te ngārara rā, ‘Ae, me haere koe kia kite i ō tungāne.’ Ka haere ia, ka tae ki kāinga, ka tangihia ia e ōna mātua, e ōna tungāne. Ka mutu te tangi, kātahi ia ka kōrero, ‘I hara mai au ki [te] tiki mai i a koutou, kia haere ki taku tāne.’ Whakaae ana rātou, ‘Ae, me tiki tō tāne kia haere mai ki kōnei.’ There were once two women who went to a grove of tarata1 trees. When they were up in the trees they looked down and saw a ngarara climbing up towards them. When they saw him, one ran away; the other was caught by the ngarara and taken to his home. The woman who had escaped ran back to the village and said to the people there, ‘My friend has been taken prisoner by a ngarara!’ ‘What sort of ngarara?’ She said, ‘He is a Te Mata-o-te-rangi; he is sixty feet long.2 Well, she has been taken away by this ngarara to be a wife for him; they are living together.’ After they had been together for a long time, the woman thought that she would go to see her brothers. So she said to her husband, ‘I should like to vist my brothers.’ The ngarara agreed to this. ‘Yes, go and see your brothers.’ So she set out, and reached the village. There she was greeted and wept over by her parents and brothers. When the weeping was finished she said, ‘I came to fetch you to take you to my husband.’ They agreed to this. ‘Yes, but bring your husband here.’

Kātahi taua wahine ka kī atu ki a rātou, ‘E haere au; me ā he peka ki tētahi taha, ki tētahi taha o te whare, ki te tuarongo, ki [te] roro.’ Kātahi te wahine rā haere tonu; taenga atu, ka uwi3 mai te tāne ki a ia, ‘I tae koe ki ō mātua?’ ‘Ae, i tae anō ahau.’ ‘I pēhea mai rātou ki tō kōrero?’ Tana kīinga atu, ‘E whakaae ana mai rātou kia haere tāua.’ Kua rekareka rawa taua nanakia rā. H[e]o anō, ka haere mai rāua. Te taenga mai, ka karangatia, ‘Haere mai, e te ika nei! Haere mai, e te ngārara nei!’ Ka karanga te ngārara, ‘He riri pea tāu, e te taokete, ki “te iki nei”, pea?’ Ka tomo te ngārara ki roto ki te w[h]are rā. Ko taua ngārara he kumi, ko te whare he kumi anō te roa o te whare; tana totorohanga, rite tonu ki te roa o te whare. Ka hoatu te kai māna; 1,000 ngā kōpae4 kai, kotahi anō kainga, pau katoa i te kainga kotahi. Kua ki tōna puku, kātahi ia ka moe. Tō rātou kitenga atu kua moe, ka karanga tētahi, ‘Ka moe te ngārara nei!’ Kātahi anō ka tahuna taua whare ki te ahi. Na, kua wera taua ngārara rā, kātahi ka tinei ia i taua ahi; tinei noa tōna waha, Kāore i m[at]e te ahi rā; tinei noa te hiku, Kāore hoki e mate te ahi rā; ko tōna weranga i wera ai. Then the woman said to them, ‘I will come. You must pile up firewood on each side of the house, and at the back and the front.’ After this she returned to her husband. When she arived he asked, ‘Did you go to your parents?’ ‘Yes, I went to them.’ ‘How did they treat your suggestion?’ ‘They argue that we should go.’ The vile creature was delighted at this. And so they set off, and when they were approaching the village the call went out, ‘Welcome, fish! Welcome, ngarara!’ The ngarara said, ‘Perhaps you are trying to start a fight with me, my brothers-in-law, with this word “fish”?’ Then the ngarara entered the house. He was sixty feet long, and so was the house; when he stretched out, he was exactly the same length as the house. They gave him food to eat; there were a thousand basketsful of food, and he gobbled them all up in the one meal. Then when his belly was full he went to sleep. When they saw this, someone called out. ‘The ngarara is asleep!’ Then they set fire to the house. Now when the ngarara felt the heat he tried to stop the fire; he lashed around with his head, but the fire did not go out. Then he tried with his tail, but he could not put it out. And so he was burnt to death. 1In former times the fragrant leaves and flowers of the tarata tree, and the gum obtained by wounding the trunk, were gathered by the Maori and used to scent oils with which they anointed their bodies. 2Williams' Dictionary defines the word kumi as (1) a measure of ten fathoms, (2) a huge fabulous reptile. When the woman is asked what kind of a ngarara (or dragon) the creature is, she answers that he is a kumi. Later we learn that this ngarara, or kumi, fits exactly inside a house which is a kumi in length (i.e. 10 fathoms or 60 feet; though if the word had this meaning in pre-European times, it could not have corresponded exactly to the European measure). So in this case at any rate, the word kumi apparently means ‘a huge fabulous reptile some 60 feet in length’. 3Among Ngati Porou ‘uwi’ is an alternative form of the word ‘ui’. 4In the East Coast and Bay of Plenty the small baskets from which food is eaten are termed kōpae.

Ka noho te wahine nei, tōna ingoa, ko Taupe-ngarangi; te ingoa o ngā tamariki rā, ko Ngakonui tētahi, ko Te Hakiri-o-te-rangi tētahi. Ka whāngaia e te kuia rā ngā tamariki rā; whāngai noa, Kāore he miraka o tōnā ū, ka tonoa e ia he tāngata kia haere ki Te Aramoa ki [te] tiki moho hei waiū mō ana tamariki. Ka kī mai ngāti Pakura, ‘He aha kōrua?’ ‘He tiki moho mai māua hei waiū mō ngā tamariki a Taupengarangi.’ Ka kī mai te iwi rā, ‘Kāore i kitea e te werewere pangopango, nā te pohiwatanga o tōna whero i runga i kuha werehia.’1 Ka hoki mai taua tangata rā, ka tae mai ki te kāinga. Ka ui atu te wahine rā, ‘Kāore he moho i hōmai ki a kōrua?’ Ka kī atu rāua, ‘Kāore; e kī ana mai rātou, Kāore i kitea e te werewere pangopango, nā te pohiwatanga o tōna whero i runga i kuha werehia.’ Ka rongo te kuia rā, ka whakahaua e ia ngā tāngata kia haere kia patu [i] te iwi rā. Haere katoa ki te patu i ngāti Pakura; tahuri ake ngā pā kotahi tekau. Ka mate taua iwi, ka tangi Apahiko, ka whakahau ia kia waruhia ngā rua kūmara hei kai mā rātou ki te moana. Ka ha [e] re hoki rātou ki te tope rākau; te ingoa o taua rākau, he houwi, hei rama ki te maona. Ko ētahi he rewarewa o aua rākau rā. Ka tae mai ngā rākau rā, ka whakahaua ki te kō i te māra; ka koiriti[a] te māra rā, ka onokia ki te pītau tutu. Ka oti ngā māra, ka tukua tōna atua kia haere ki te mātaki i te huarahi mō rātou; ka kitea te kāinga, hoki mai te atua rā, he kūmara te maunga mai a taua atua rā.3 Kātahi rātou ka rekareka, ka kitea hoki he kāinga mō rātou. Ko te ingoa o taua atua ko Tāne. Kātahi anō rātou ka haere, ka tikina te waka There once lived a woman named Taupenga rangi who had two small children named Ngakonui and Te Hakiri-o-te-rangi. She fed her babies at her breast, but after a time she had no more milk to give them. So she told two of her followers to go to Te Aramoa to fetch some fish for her to eat, so that she might be able to feed her children. Then men of Ngati Pakura said to the messengers, ‘Why are you here?’ They said, ‘To fetch some fish for Taupe-ngarangi, so that she can feed her children.’ Then the people answered them with curses, and refused to give them any fish.1 The men returned to the village and the woman said to them, ‘Did they not give you any fish?’ They said, ‘They gave us nothing.’ And they repeated the curses that the people had uttered. When Taupengarangi heard this she ordered her men to attack the people of Ngati Pakura. All of her warriors descended upon Ngati Pakura, and ten forts were destroyed. Many of Ngati Pakura were killed, and their tribal strength was gone. Apahiko wept, lamenting their dead, then he told his followers to take the kumaras from the storehouses and to prepare them by scraping2 so that they could eat them while they were at sea. As well as this they felled some trees, a lacebark and a rewarewa, so that they would have torches while they were on the ocean. After the trees were felled they were ordered to dig the gardens; they did so, planting them with the young shoots of the tutu shrub. When the gardens were planted they sent their god to spy out a path for them; the god found their home, and returned bearing a kumara. Then they were exceedingly glad knowing that a home had been found for them. The name of that god was Tane.

a Taupe hei waka mō rātou; ko ētahi o rātou kei te mātakitaki haka, moe tonu atu ki reira. I te pō haere ana rātou, mahue tonu ētahi o rātou. Ao ra[wa] ake te rā, aue! Ka riri ia, ka hoe i te moana. U rawa atu ki Hawaiki, ko te hunga i mahue iho. Tā rātou mahi, he tangi no[a] iho i te roro o [ō] rātou whare. Kāti, ko taua iwi kei Hawaiki rānei, kei hea rānei? Kāti, e hoa, e Raka4, maū e rapa atu taua iwi. Ka huri tēnei kōrero. Then they set out, taking as their canoe the canoe which belonged to Taupengarangi. Some of them were watching a haka performance and afterwards remained sleeping where they were. That night Ngati Pakura departed, leaving behind those who had been watching the haka. When the sun rose next day, what consternation! The members of the other tribe were furious, for Ngati Pakura were voyaging across the ocean. They arrived at Hawaiki, and there they found those who had been left behind. Their one activity there was greeting each other, weeping, in the porches of their houses. And so, are those people at Hawaiki, or where are they? Well my friend Locke4, you should search for them. This is the end of the story. 1The exact meaning of Ngati Pakura's answer is uncertain, but apparently it takes the form of a curse directed at Taupengarangi. 2Kao, a preparation of kumara made by grating and cooking it then drying it in the sun, kept for a considerable time. 3This word is difficult to read in the manuscript. It seems to be ‘ra’, but may possibly be ‘ara’. 4This is Samuel Locke, the European friend for whom Mohi Ruatapu and Henare Potae wrote down these stories.