Tales of polynesia, p.1
Tales of Polynesia, page 1
Illustrations copyright © 2023 by Chronicle Books LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.
Pages 138–141 constitute a continuation of the copyright page.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Changues, Yiling, illustrator.
Title: Tales of Polynesia : folktales from Hawai‘i, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Samoa / illustrations by Yiling Changues.
Description: San Francisco, California : Chronicle Books, [2023] | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022032981 | ISBN 9781797217567 (Hardcover) | ISBN 9781797223018 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Folklore--Polynesia. | Legends--Hawaii. | Legends--New Zealand. | Legends--Tahiti. | Legends--Samoa.
Classification: LCC GR380 .T35 2023 | DDC 398.20996--dc23/eng/20220719
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022032981
Design by Jon Glick.
Illustrations by Yiling Changues.
Sensitivity read by Sloane Leong.
Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com
“[T]o the north lies a rocky islet covered with shrubs. Near this insulated mass of rhyolite there is a cave with a rock-arched entrance, half-screened by bushes and ferns. It is a story-cave, a refuge place of long ago.”
–JAMES COWAN AND HON. SIR MAUI POMARE, “Tunohopu’s Cave: A Tale of Old Rotorua”
CONTENTS
TRICKSTERS
The Legend of Paihe Otuu
The Art of Netting Learned by Kahukura from the Fairies
The Two Sorcerers
The Legend of Rata: His Adventures with the Enchanted Tree and Revenge of His Father’s Murder
CREATURES OF EARTH AND SEA
The Great Battle between the Fish Tribes and Man; How Fish Gained Their Peculiar Forms
The Shark-Man, Nanaue
The Story of Pili and Sina
The Legend of Ruanui
LIFE AND DEATH
Ahuula: A Legend of Kanikaniaula and the First Feather Cloak
Kalelealuaka
The Origin of the Name of Punaauia
Kaala, the Flower of Lanai: A Story of the Spouting Cave of Palikaholo
FAMILY
Tigilau
The Story of the Earth
Tunohopu’s Cave: A Tale of Old Rotorua
Sources
THE LEGEND of PAIHE OTUU
Tahiti
Paihe otuu was an audacious little heron who, as the legend goes, devoured a gigantic heron who lived in a cave in Raiatea.
They called him Otuu nunamu, and he had kidnapped the wife of Tuoropaa. The latter, who was king, sent messengers all around Raiatea and Tahaa to gather all the herons and lead them to war against Otuu nunamu.
But they all feared to attack the giant, and they were returning each one to his island, islet, or patch of coral when they met the little Paihe otuu.
“Where have you been?” they asked him. They explained to him the situation.
“And why return instead of going to fight Otuu nunamu?”
“He’s so large,” they said, “that at the mere thought of attacking him, fear ties our stomachs in knots.”
“Right,” said Paihe otuu, “now it’s his stomach that I’ll tie in knots.” And he flew off toward the giant’s hideout.
He arrived and perched on Otuu nunamu’s beak. The big heron tried to shake him off and opened his beak, and the little heron slipped inside, descended his throat, and calmly began to devour his intestines.
“Oh! Oh!” cried the immense bird. “What is this pain inside me? I’ve swallowed up the whale, the dolphin, the porpoise, the black fish, the shark, the tuna, I’ve gulped down entire shoals of mackerel, but I’ve never felt a pain like this.” He made an effort and expulsed Paihe otuu, who was sent flying all the way to Tahaa.
When he recovered from the shock, the little heron went to bathe in the river and then returned to the fight. Once again, he perched on the beak of the giant and in the same way penetrated his stomach.
Expulsed several times, he went back tirelessly and, in the end, completely devoured the enormous bird’s intestines.
Then he freed the wife of Tuoropaa and returned her to her husband.
All the herons gathered and proclaimed him king. “This little heron is a great warrior,” they said, “because on his own, he triumphed in a fight that all the herons did not even dare take on.”
THE ART of NETTING LEARNED by KAHUKURA from the FAIRIES
(Ko Te Korero Mo Nga Patupaiarehe)
New Zealand
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, be 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 seashore: 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 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 Rangiaowhia, and haul it at Mamaku.” These words were sung out by the fairies, as an encouragement in their work and from the joy of their hearts at their sport in fishing.
As the fairies were dragging the net to the shore, Kahukura managed to mix amongst them, and hauled away at the rope; he happened to be a very fair man, so that his skin was almost as white as that of these fairies, and from that cause he was not observed by them. As the net came close in to the shore, the fairies began to cheer and shout, “Go out into the sea some of you, in front of the rocks, lest the nets should be entangled at Tawatawauia by Teweteweuia’,” for that was the name of a rugged rock standing out from the sandy shore; the main body of the fairies kept hauling at the net, and Kahukura pulled away in the midst of them.
When the first fish reached the shore, thrown up in the ripples driven before the net as they hauled it in, the fairies had not yet remarked Kahukura, for he was almost as fair as they were. It was just at the very first peep of dawn that the fish were all landed, and the fairies ran hastily to pick them up from the sand, and to haul the net up on the beach. They did not act with their fish as men do, dividing them into separate loads for each, but every one took up what fish he liked, and ran a twig through their gills, and as they strung the fish, they continued calling out, “Make haste, run here, all of you, and finish the work before the sun rises.”
Kahukura kept on stringing his fish with the rest of them. He had only a very short string, and, making a slipknot at the end of it, when he had covered the string with fish, he lifted them up, but had hardly raised them from the ground when the slip-knot gave way from the weight of the fish, and off they fell; then some of the fairies ran good-naturedly to help him to string his fish again, and one of them tied the knot at the end of the string for him, but the fairy had hardly gone after knotting it, before Kahukura had unfastened it, and again tied a slip-knot at the end; then he began stringing his fish again, and when he had got a great many on, up he lifted them, and off they slipped as before. This trick he repeated several times, and delayed the fairies in their work by getting them to knot his string for him, and put his fish on it. At last full daylight broke, so that there was light enough to distinguish a man’s face, and the fairies saw that Kahukura was a man; then they dispersed in confusion, leaving their fish and their net, and abandoning their canoes, which were nothing but stems of the flax. In a moment the fairies started for their own abodes; in their hurry, as has just been said, they abandoned their net, which was made of rushes; and off the good people fled as fast as they could go. Now was first discovered the stitch for netting a net, for they left theirs with Kahukura, and it became a pattern for him. He thus taught his children to make nets, and by them the Ma-ori race were made acquainted with that art, which they have now known from very remote times.
THE TWO SORCERERS
(Ko Te Matenga O Kiki)
New Zealand
Kiki was a celebrated sorcerer, and skilled in magical arts; he lived upon the river Waikato. The inhabitants of that river still have this proverb, “The offspring of Kiki wither shrubs.” This proverb had its origin in t
This Kiki was thoroughly skilled in the practice of sorcery. If any parties coming up the river called at his village in their canoes as they paddled by, he still remained quietly at home, and never troubled himself to come out, but just drew back the sliding door of his house, so that it might stand open, and the strangers stiffened and died; or even as canoes came paddling down from the upper parts of the river, he drew back the sliding wooden shutter to the window of his house, and the crews on board of them were sure to die.
At length, the fame of this sorcerer spread exceedingly, and resounded through every tribe, until Tamure, a chief who dwelt at Kawhia, heard with others, reports of the magical powers of Kiki, for his fame extended over the whole country. At length Tamure thought he would go and contend in the arts of sorcery with Kiki, that it might be seen which of them was most skilled in magic; and he arranged in his own mind a fortunate season for his visit.
When this time came, he selected two of his people as his companions, and he took his young daughter with him also; and they all crossed over the mountain range from Kawhia, and came down upon the river Waipa, which runs into the Waikato, and embarking there in a canoe, paddled down the river towards the village of Kiki; and they managed so well, that before they were seen by anybody, they had arrived at the landing-place. Tamure was not only skilled in magic, but he was also a very cautious man; so whilst they were still afloat upon the river, he repeated an incantation of the kind called “Mata-tawhito,” to preserve him safe from all arts of sorcery; and he repeated other incantations, to ward off spells, to protect him from magic, to collect good genii round him, to keep off evil spirits, and to shield him from demons; when these preparations were all finished, they landed, and drew up their canoe on the beach, at the landing-place of Kiki.
As soon as they had landed, the old sorcerer called out to them that they were welcome to his village, and invited them to come up to it; so they went up to the village: and when they reached the square in the centre, they seated themselves upon the ground; and some of Kiki’s people kindled fire in an enchanted oven, and began to cook food in it for the strangers. Kiki sat in his house, and Tamure on the ground just outside the entrance to it, and he there availed himself of this opportunity to repeat incantations over the threshold of the house, so that Kiki might be enchanted as he stepped over it to come out. When the food in the enchanted oven was cooked, they pulled off the coverings, and spread it out upon clean mats. The old sorcerer now made his appearance out of his house, and he invited Tamure to come and eat food with him; but the food was all enchanted, and his object in asking Tamure to eat with him was, that the enchanted food might kill him; therefore Tamure said that his young daughter was very hungry, and would eat of the food offered to them; he in the meantime kept on repeating incantations of the kind called Mata-tawhito, Whakangungu, and Parepare, protections against enchanted food, and as she ate she also continued to repeat them; even when she stretched out her hand to take a sweet potato, or any other food, she dropped the greater part of it at her feet, and hid it under her clothes, and then only ate a little bit. After she had done, the old sorcerer, Kiki, kept waiting for Tamure to begin to eat also of the enchanted food, that he might soon die. Kiki having gone into his house again, Tamure still sat on the ground outside the door, and as he had enchanted the threshold of the house, he now repeated incantations which might render the door enchanted also, so that Kiki might be certain not to escape when he passed out of it. By this time Tamure’s daughter had quite finished her meal, but neither her father nor either of his people had partaken of the enchanted food.
Tamure now ordered his people to launch his canoe, and they paddled away, and a little time after they had left the village, Kiki became unwell; in the meanwhile, Tamure and his people were paddling homewards in all haste, and as they passed a village where there were a good many people on the river’s bank, Tamure stopped, and said to them, “If you should see any canoe pulling after us, and the people in the canoe ask you, have you seen a canoe pass up the river, would you be good enough to say, ‘Yes, a canoe has passed by here?’ and then, if they ask you, ‘How far has it got?’ would you be good enough to say, ‘Oh, by this time it has got very far up the river?” and having thus said to the people of that village, Tamure paddled away again in his canoe with all haste.
Some time after Tamure’s party had left the village of Kiki, the old sorcerer became very ill indeed, and his people then knew that this had been brought about by the magical arts of Tamure, and they sprang into a canoe to follow after him, and pulled up the river as hard as they could; and when they reached the village where the people were on the river’s bank, they called out and asked them, “How far has the canoe reached, which passed up the river?” and the villagers answered, “Oh, that canoe must got very far up the river by this time.” The people in the canoe that was pursuing Tamure, upon hearing this, returned again to their own village, and Kiki died from the incantations of Tamure.
Some of Kiki’s descendants are still living—one of them, named Mokahi, recently died at Tauranga-a-Ruru, but Te Maioha is still living on the river Waipa. Yes, some of the descendants of Kiki, whose shadow withered trees, are still living. He was indeed a great sorcerer: He overcame every other sorcerer until he met Tamure, but he was vanquished by him, and had to bend the knee before him.
Tamure has also some descendants living, amongst whom are Mahu and Kiake of the Ngati-Mariu tribe; these men are also skilled in magic: if a father skilled in magic died, he left his incantations to his children; so that if a man was skilled in sorcery, it was known that his children would have a good knowledge of the same arts, as they were certain to have derived it from their parent.
THE LEGEND of RATA: HIS ADVENTURES with the ENCHANTED TREE and REVENGE of HIS FATHER’S MURDER
New Zealand
Before Tawhaki ascended up into the heavens, a son named Wahieroa had been born to him by his first wife. As soon as Wahieroa grew to man’s estate, he took Kura for a wife, and she bore him a son whom they called Rata. Wahieroa was slain treacherously by a chief named Matukutakotako, but his son Rata was born some time before his death. It therefore became his duty to revenge the death of his father Wahieroa, and Rata having grown up, at last devised a plan for doing this; he therefore gave the necessary orders to his dependants, at the same time saying to them, “I am about to go in search of the man who slew my father.”
He then started upon a journey for this purpose, and at length arrived at the entrance to the place of Matukutakotako; he found there a man who was left in charge of it, sitting at the entrance to the courtyard, and he asked him, saying, “Where is the man who killed my father?” The man who was left in charge of the place answered him, “He lives beneath in the earth there, and I am left here by him, to call to him and warn him when the new moon appears; at that season he rises and comes forth upon the earth and devours men as his food.”
Rata then said to him, “All that you say is true, but how can he know when the proper time comes for him to rise up from the earth?” The man replied, “I call aloud to him.”
Then said Rata, “When will there be a new moon?” And the man who was left to take care of the place answered him, “In two nights hence. Do you now return to your own village, but on the morning of the second day from this time come here again to me.”
Rata, in compliance with these directions, returned to his own dwelling, and waited there until the time that had been appointed him, and on the morning of that day he again journeyed along the road he had previously travelled, and found the man sitting in the same place, and he asked him, saying, “Do you know any spot where I can conceal myself, and lie hid from the enemy with whom I am about to fight, from Matukutakotako?” The man replied, “Come with me until I show you the two fountains of clear water.”
