LETTERS The Editor ‘Te Ao Hou’ Dear Madam, I am trying to complete my set of ‘Te Ao Hou’ and would be most grateful to any reader who could help me. The numbers I need are nos. 1–9 (except Vol. 2, No. 1) and nos. 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 24 and 26. In exchange I can offer any of the issues, nos. 47–57, containing my transcriptions and articles on Maori chant. Yours sincerely, Mervyn McLean, Anthropology Department, University of Auckland, Private Bag, Auckland.

TE UTU A TAMAIKA nā Wāina O'Brien Te kōrero nei, me kōrero hei whakarongo mā ngā tamariki; he kōrero paki, he kōrero pakiwaitara. E kī ana hoki ngā pakeke, i te wā e tamariki ana rātou, tēnā ka marangai ana, ka kōrero paki, ā, ka roa e kōrero paki ana, kua paki te rangi; koirā hoki i kīia ai he kōrero paki. Te kōrero nei, mō tētahi koroua me tana kuia i noho i runga o Puketapu. E rua ngā pā nei; kotahi kei te taha rāwhiti o te awa nei, o Rangitaiki, ko Puketapu, ko tētahi kei te taha whakaroto, ko tēnei ko Rākeihopukia. Ko Te Pahipoto i noho ki runga o Puketapu, ko Ngāitemaoki me Ngāmaihi ki Rākeihopukia. I ērā wā he whakatipu kai, kūmara, taro, rīwai, hei kai mā rātou. Ka roa i reira, ka mahue i ngā tāngata — he iti hoki nō te mahinga. Ka heke a Te Pahipoto ki Te Kupenga, ko Ngāmaihi me Ngāitemako ki Hekerangi. Ka mahue atu ko te koroua nei, ko Tamaika, ki runga o Rākeihopukia. Tēnei koroua nei, he koroua māngere; kāore e mahi kai, heoi anō ka mahi kia torutoru nei. Tāna mahi nui, ka titiro iho ki Te Kupenga. Kua kā This is a folk tale or legend of the kind that used to be told to children. Our elders tell us that when they were children, if it happened to be raining they would sit round their elders and listen to stories. By the time the stories were finished it would have stopped raining and the weather would be fine (paki) again. That is why the stories were called ‘korero paki’ or ‘pakiwaitara’. This story is about an old man and his wife who lived at Puketapu, a hill-top pa. There were two of these hill-top pas at that time, one called Puketapu on the eastern side of the Rangitaki River, and the other, Rakeihopukia, inland [half a mile further]. The Pahipoto people lived at Puketapu, and the Ngaitemaoki and Ngamaihi people at Rakeihopukia. In those days the crops they grew were kumara, taro and potatoes. Some time later, these villages were deserted by the inhabitants because the area for growing food was too small. The Pahipoto people moved down from their hill top to Te Kupenga [about a hundred yards south of the football field at Te Teko], while Ngamaihi and Ngaitemaoki came down to Hekerangi [a spot