Thursday 18 March, 2004 at 11:18AM (Nereus)  ::  permalink  ::  comments (5)  ::  trackbacks (7)

I came across a site containing some Maori legends and thought it might be interesting to post them here as a series over the next few days. The first one here is basically a 'stand alone' legend, whereas the rest are more of a series.

One day, Tanemahuta was walking through the forest. He looked up at his children reaching for the sky and he noticed that they were starting to sicken. He talked to his brother, Tanehokahoka, who called all of his children, the birds of the air, together.

Tanemahuta spoke to them, "Something is eating my children, the trees. I need one of you to come down from the forest roof and live on the floor, so that my children can be saved, and your home can be saved. Who will come?"

All was quiet, and not a bird spoke.

Tanehokahoka turned to Tui, "E Tui, will you come down from the forest roof?"

Tui looked up at the trees and saw the sun filtering through the leaves. Tui looked down at the forest floor and saw the cold, dark earth and shuddered. "Kao, Tanehokahoka, for it is too dark and I am afraid of the dark."

All was quiet, and not a bird spoke.

Tanehokahoka turned to Pukeko, "Pukeko, will you come down from the forest roof?"

Pukeko looked up at the trees and saw the sun filtering through the leaves. Pukeko looked down at the forest floor and saw the cold, damp earth and shuddered. "Kao, Tanehokahoka, for it is too damp and I do not want to get my feet wet."

All was quiet, and not a bird spoke.

Tanehokahoka turned to Pipiwharauroa, "Pipiwharauroa, will you come down from the forest roof?"

Pipiwharauroa looked up at the trees and saw the sun filtering through the leaves. Pipiwharauroa looked around and saw his family. "Kao, Tanehokahoka, for I am busy at the moment building my nest."

All was quiet, and not a bird spoke. Great was the sadness in the heart of Tanehokahoka, for he knew that if one of his children did not come down from the forest roof, not only would his brother loose his children the trees, but the birds would have no home.

Tanehokahoka turned to Kiwi, "E kiwi, will you come down from the forest roof?"

Kiwi looked up at the trees and saw the sun filtering through the leaves. Kiwi looked around and saw his family. Kiwi looked at the cold damp earth. Looking around once more, he turned to Tanehokahoka and said, "I will."

Great was the joy in the hearts of Tanehokahoka and Tanemahuta, for this little bird was giving them hope. But Tanemahuta felt that he should warn kiwi of what would happen, "E kiwi, do you realise that if you do this, you will have to grow thick, strong legs so that you can rip apart the logs on the ground to find food, and you will loose your beautiful coloured feathers and wings so that you will never be able to return to the forest roof. You will never see the light of day again."

All was quiet, and not a bird spoke.

"E kiwi, I ask again, will you come down from the forest roof?"

Kiwi took one last look at the sun filtering through the trees and said a silent goodbye. Kiwi took one last look at the other birds, their wings and their coloured feathers and said a silent goodbye. Looking around once more, he turned to Tanehokahoka and said, "I will."

Then Tanehokahoka turned to the other birds and said, "E Tui, because you were too scared to come down from the forest roof, from now on you will wear the two white feathers at your throat as the mark of a coward. Pukeko, because you did not want to get your feet wet, you will live forever in the swamp. Pipiwharauroa, because you were too busy building your nest, from now on you will never build another nest, but lay your eggs in other birds nests. But you kiwi, because of your great sacrifice, you will become the most well known and most loved bird of them all."

The End.

Ok, hope you enjoyed the story. Much like the American Bald Eagle is the National Bird of the US, the Kiwi is the National Bird of New Zealand. This is not to be confused with kiwifruit (yes, all one word) which the grocery stores here insist on calling just 'kiwi'.

Subtle difference, yes? If you want some clarification on this and how annoying it is, refer to an earlier entry here.

In other news, we've had a fair bit of snow here over the last couple of days (about 5 inches on the ground) and apparently will be getting another big dump tonight. This weekend is supposed to be the official end of winter, so I guess it's going out with a bang not a whimper. Apparently it doesn't usually snow this late in the winter in New York, or at least not to this extent. The weather guys certainly didn't see it coming initially, but hey, that's hardly surprising. That's all for now, come back tomorrow for the beginning of a series of Maori Legends about creation.

Story and images courtesy of:
How the Kiwi lost his wings - maori.org.nz
Kiwi - Flying Dog Fish
Tui - Phillip Dawson
Pukeko - Warbirds Over NZ
Pipiwharauroa - Orongorongo Club

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Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry.

weblog : Urban Scrawl
entry title : creation (link)
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