Some Of The Stories Of Tawhaki

Tawhaki was the son of Hema and Urutonga, he had a younger sister called Karihi, and married Hinepiri-piri.

One day he went with his four brothers in law to fish from a flat reef of rocks which ran far out to sea.

Two of these brothers in law, when tired of fishing, returned towards their village, and Tawhaki went with them.

When they drew near to the village they attempted to murder him, and thinking that they had killed him, they buried him, then continues on towards the village.

When they reached the village their young sister asked, “Why, Where is Tawhaki?”.

They replied, “Oh, they’re all fishing”.

So the young wife waited until her other two brothers returned, and when they reached the village she asked them, “Where is your brother in law?”.

The last two, who had just arrived replied, “Why, they all went home together long since”.

So the young wife thought that they had killed her husband, and ran off at once to search for him, and before long she found where he had been buried.

When she examined him, she found that he was not quite dead, only insensible, so with great difficulty, she managed to get him up on her back and carried home to their house, where she carefully washed and dressed his wounds.

Tawhaki, when he had recovered a little, said to her, “Fetch some wood, and light a fire for me”, and as his wife was going to do this he also said, “If you see a tall tree growing near you, fell it, and bring that with you for the fire”.

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His wife went, and saw a tree growing such as her husband spoke of, so she felled it, and put it on her shoulders and brought it back to the house.

When she brought the tree inside she put the whole tree into the fire without chopping it into pieces, and for this reason she called her first born son the name of Wahieroa [long log of wood for the fire], so that he would remember that the duty of avenging his fathers wrongs might be recalled to his mind.

As soon as Tawhaki had recovered from his wounds, he left the place where his brothers in law lived, and went away, taking all his own warriors with him,

They build a Pa [fortified village] on the top of a very lofty mountain, where they could easily protect themselves, and they dwelt there.

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Then he called aloud to the Gods, his ancestors, for revenge, and they listened and let the floods of heaven descend, and the earth was overwhelmed by the waters, and all human beings perished.

The name given to this event was “The overwhelming of the Mataaho” and the whole race perished.

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When this feat was accomplished, Tawhaki and his younger brother next went to seek revenge for the death of their father.

It was a different race who had carried off and slain their father, they were called Ponaturi, and the country that they lived in was underneath the waters, but they had a large house on dry land where they retired to sleep at night.

The name of this large house was Manawa-Tane”

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The Ponaturi had slain the boy's father and carried off his body, but their father's wife they had carried off alive and kept as a captive.

The two went upon their way to seek out the Ponaturi and to revenge themselves upon them.

At last they reached a place from where they could see the big house called "Manawa-Tane”, and, at the time that they arrived near the house there was nobody there but their mother, who was sitting near the door, but the bones of their father were hung up inside the house, under its high sloping roof.

The Ponaturi were at that time in their country under the waters, but at the approach of night, they would all return to their House, Manawa-Tane”

While Tawhaki and his brother Karihi were still a great distance from the house, Tawhaki began to repeat an incantation, and the bones of his father, Hema, felt the influence of this.

They rattled loudly together where they hung, under the roof of the house, for gladness, when they heard Tawhaki repeating his incantations as he came along, for they knew that the hour of revenge had now come.

As the brothers drew nearer, their mother, Urutonga, heard the voice of Tawhaki, and she wept with gladness in front of her children.

When they, at last, reached the house, they wept over their mother, old Urutonga, and when they had finished their weeping she said to them, “My children, hasten to return hence, or you will most certainly perish, the people who dwell here are a very fierce and savage race”.

Karihi asked her, “How long will the sun have descended when those you speak of return home?”.

She replied, “They will be here when the sun sinks beneath the ocean”.

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Then Karihi asked, “What did they save you alive for?”.

She answered, “They saved me alive that I might watch for the rising of the dawn, they make me sit here at the door of the house, hence these people have named me ‘Tatau’ or Door’, and they keep on throughout the night calling to me.

“Ho, Tatau, is it dawn yet?”. and I reply “No, No, it is deep night, it is lasting night, it is still night, compose yourselves to sleep, sleep on”.

Karihi then said to his mother, “Cannot we hide ourselves somewhere here?”.

Their mother replied, “You had better return, you cannot hide here, the scent of you will be perceived by them”.

Then Karihi said, “We will hide ourselves away in the thick thatch of the house”.

Their mother answered, “it is of no use, you cannot hide yourselves there”.

All this time Tawhaki sat quite silently, but Karihi said, “We will hide ourselves here, for we know incantations which will render us invisible to all”.

On hearing this, their mother agreed to their remaining and attempting to avenge their father's death.

So they climbed up to the ridgepole of the house, on the outside, and made holes in the thick layers of reeds, which formed the thatch of the roof, crept into them and covered themselves up.

Their mother called to them, saying, “When it draws near to dawn, come down again and stop up every chink in the house, so that no single ray of light may shine in”.

At length the day closed, the sun sank below the horizon, and the whole of that strange tribe left the water in a body, and ascended to the dry land, and, as was their custom, they sent one member in front of them, so that he could carefully examine the road, and see that there were no hidden foes in wait for them.

As soon as the scout reached the door of the house he perceived the scent of Tawhaki and Karihi, so he lifted his nose and began sniffing all around the inside of the house.

The rest of the tribe, to whom long security had made careless, came hurrying on, and crowding into the house in thousands so that the scent of the stray men was lost.

The Ponaturi then stowed themselves away in the house until it was completely filled with them, and they all found a convenient place, and at length, all fell fast asleep.

At midnight Tawaki and Karihi stole down from the roof of the house, and found that their mother had crept out of the house to meet them, so they sat in the doorway and whispered.

Karihi asked his mother, “which is the best way to kill these people who are sleeping here?”

Their mother answered, “You had better let the sun kill them, its rays will destroy them”

Having said this, she crept into the house again, and presently an old man of the Ponaturi called out to her, “Ho, Tatau, Tatau, is it dawn yet?”.

She replied, "No, No, it is deep night, it is lasting night, it is still night, sleep soundly, sleep on”.

When it was nearly dawn Tatau whispered to her children, who were still sitting just outside the door of the house, “See that every chink in the doorway and window is stopped, so that not a ray of light can penetrate here”.

Presently another old man of the Ponaturi called out again, “Ho Tatau, there, is not it near dawn yet?.

She replied, “No, No, it is night, it is lasting night, it is still night, sleep soundly, sleep on”.

This was the second time that Tatau had thus called out to them.

At last, dawn had broken, at last, the sun had shone brightly upon the earth, and had risen high in the heavens.

Another old man called again, “Ho, Tatau, there, is not it dawn yet”.

And she answered, “Yes”, then she called out to her children, “Quickly, pull out the things with which you stopped up the door and window”.

So they pulled them out, and the bright rays of the sun came streaming into the house, and the whole Ponaturi perished before the light, they perished not by the hand of man, but withered by the sun’s rays.

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When they were all dead Tawhaki and Karihi carefully took down the bones of their father and burnt them with fire, they also burnt the remains of the Ponaturi, and returned to their country, taking the ashes of their father's bones and their mother with them.

Info From Sir George Grey

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-spread-of-the-descendants-of-hoturoa

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/tainui-canoe-travels-from-hawaiki-to-new-zealand

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/myths-and-legends-of-new-zealand-intro

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-this-series-began

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-warrior-deeds-of-kaihuma

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-kaihamu-killed-his-enemies-at-waiatapu

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/tupahau-goes-fishing-at-marokopa

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/maki-s-battles-in-tamaki

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/karewa-s-fights-with-the-ngapuhi

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-continuing-battles-of-the-tainui-people

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-story-of-maru-tuahu

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/continuing-maru-tuahu-s-story

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/kiki-and-tamure-the-two-sorcerers

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/te-rauparaha

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