The Murder of Tarakiuta and Tarakitai Once at Turanga, in the land where the town of Gisborne now stands, there lived two powerful chiefs named Rakai and Kahu. Each of them was in command of a large village which was on the top of a hill, and these two villages were within sight of each other. Kahu was married to the sister of Rakai, and they had twin sons, Takakiuta and Tarakitai. These children were greatly loved by all the people, for they were of a good disposition, handsome, brave and strong. Though they were still young they were already skilled in the arts of war and of peace, and everybody saw that they would grow up to lead their people well. Now it was the custom that at certain times the villagers should bring ceremonial gifts of food to their chiefs and to the families of these chiefs. So much were the two boys loved, that when these gifts were made, they were greatly favoured. Their uncle Rakai watched Tarakiuta and Tarakitai, and he saw the tall piles of kumaras, the great baskets of dried fish, and the many calabashes of preserved pigeons with which they were presented. As he watched them he became jealous, for Rakai also had a son, but his son was not loved as much as were Tarakiuta and Tarakitai, and he did not therefore receive such great quantities of food. Furthermore Rakai saw that these twins were more skilful with the spear and the fighting-staff, the taiaha, than was his son, so that when the children practiced together with these weapons, it was Rakai's son who was always defeated. Rakai's jealousy and his anger increased, for his pride was offended; also, he feared that in the future, when these children had become men, his own people would give their allegiance to Tarakiuta and Tarakitai rather than to his son. Because of these things Rakai plotted to kill the twins. There was a path which went from the village of Rakai to the village of Kahu, and Tarakiuta and Tarakitai often played on this path with their top; they would run along the path, whipping the top before them, all the way to their uncle's village and back again. As they were playing in this way one day, Rakai saw their top and concealed it. When the boys asked him if he had seen it, Rakai told them that it had fallen into a near-by pit in which kumaras were stored. Tara-