THE STORY OF KAHUKURA AND THE FISHING NETS OF THE FAIRIES Taken from Sir George Grey's ‘Polynesian Mythology’ Once upon a time, a man of the name of Kahukura wished to pay a visit to Rangiaowhia, a place lying far to the northward, near the country of the tribe called Te Rarawa. Whilst he lived at his own village, he was continually haunted by a desire to visit that place. At length he started on his journey, and reached Rangiaowhia, and as he was on his road the passed a place where some people had been cleaning mackerel, and he saw the inside of the fish lying all about the sand on the sea-shore: surprised at this, he looked about at the marks, and said to himself, “Oh this must have been done by some of the people of the district.” But when he came to look a little more narrowly at the footmarks, he saw that the people who had been fishing had made them in the night-time, not that morning, nor in the day; and he said to himself, “These are no mortals who have been fishing here—spirits must have done this; had they been men, some of the reeds and grass which they sat on in their canoe would have been lying about.” He felt quite sure from several circumstances, that spirits or fairies had been there; and after observing everything well, he returned to the house where he was stopping. He, however, held fast in his heart what he had seen, as something very striking to tell all his friends in every direction, and as likely to be the means of gaining knowledge which might enable him to find out something new. So that night he returned to the place where he had observed all these things, and just as he reached the spot, back had come the fairies too, to haul their net for mackerel; and some of them were shouting out, ‘The net here! the net here!” Then a canoe paddled off to fetch the other one in which the net was laid, and as they dropped the net into the water, they began to cry out, “Drop the net in the sea at HE KORERO MO KAHUKURA ME NGA KUPENGA A NGA PATUPAIAREHE He haerenga no Kahukura ki Rangiaowhia—kei raro tenei kaainga kei a te Rarawa. Ka noho taua tangata ra, a ka minamina tona ngakau ki te haereere ki taua wahi. Ka tahi ia ka haere, ka tae ki Rangiaowhia, ka kite ia i te tuakitanga tawatawa, e takoto ana te puku i waenga one; ka matakitaki te tangata nei, hua noa na te tangata maori. Ka tahi ia ka ata titiro i te takahanga—no te po noa atu tenei mahinga, e hara i te ata nei, ara e hara i te mahi awatea—ka ki taua tangata nei ki a ia ano, “E hara i te mahi tangata maori, na te atua tenei mahinga: me he mea na te tangata, e kitea te whariki o te waka.” Ka tahi ia ka mohio, na te atua, ara na te Patupaiarehe. Matakitaki tonu taua tangata, a hoki ana ki tana kaainga; ko tona ngakau, kihai i wareware ki tana mea i kitea ai hei taonga mona, ara hei whakakite mana ki ia tangata, ki ia tangata, kia wiho ai ia hei tauira. A, i te po ka tahi ia ka, hoki mai ki taua wahi ano i kitea ra e ia: pono tonu mai, kua eke mai a Patupaiarehe ki te hao tawatawa, e karanga ana ki te kupenga, e hoea ana te waka ki te tiki i te waka o te kupenga; ko te kupenga e tukua iho, na, ka pa te karanga, ka mea, “Tukutuku i Rangiaowhia, whakaeaea i te Mamaku.” Ka karanga ano, “Tututukua i Rangiaowhia, whakaeaea i te Mamaku.” Ko enei kupu, he whawhapu na Patupaiarehe, he koanga na o ratou ngakau ki te ika ma ratou, e kume ana te Iwi nei i tana kupenga. Ka uru a Kahukura ki roto i a ratou kume ai—ko taua tangata i rite tonu ki a Patupaiarehe te ma o te kiri, na reira i ngaro ai—a ka tata ki uta te kupenga, ka tahi ka karanga, ka mea. “Haere i waho kei mau i Tawatawauia a Teweteweuia”—he kohatu kei waenganui o te one e tu ana. E kume tonu ana te nuinga, ko Kahukura ano kei roto i a ratou—kaore ano i kitea noatia, no te mea i