As a consequence of their disobedience many of them were killed, and those who remained decided that their only hope was to sail back to Hawaiki, the homeland of the Maori. So they took their masters' precious seed kumara and secretly made them into kao, a preparation of dried kumara which they could eat on their journey. They concealed what they had done by replacing the kumara in the storehouses with the young shoots of the tutu shrub. In Pahau Milner's story the vassal tribe was named Te Wahineiti; he did not mention any other names. He said that the events in the story took place near Reporua, on the East Coast a few miles from Ruatoria.

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.