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Curriculum | |||||||||||||
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Maori Information Maori Myths and Legends | ||
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Pou and the Great Bird of Ruakapanga Pourangahua (Pou) left his home one day and traveled to the great land of Hawaiiki. There he visited friends and ate their delicious kumara (sweet potato). He stayed for many months and he was hosted by a great chief named Raukapanga. When it came time for Pou to return home, he asked Raukapanga if he could borrow one of his huge birds that he kept as pets. Raukapanga was reluctant to loan one of his birds to Pou because he loved them very much, but he eventually agreed. Pou left on the back of one of the birds carrying two bags of kumara as a gift from the chief. The chief had explained to Pou that once he reached land, he would have to get off the bird and continue his journey on foot. But Pou was lazy and he made the bird fly him all the way home.Because he had to fly so far, the bird was very tired when he went to return home and he was attacked and killed by a huge evil spirit. The chief was furious about this when he learned what had happened to his bird and so he sent a plague of caterpillars to destroy the kumara crop that Pou had planted from the kumara the chief had given him as a gift. | ||||||
The Creation of the Earth with Father Sky Ranginui and Mother Earth Papatuanuku In the beginning there was Io and a great nothingness. Io created into the nothingness Ranginui (Rango) the male and Papatuanuku (Papa) the female and they were locked in a loving embrace. These two had seventy seven children and seven of these became leaders. These leaders were: These children lived sandwiched between their parents and they longed to be free. Tumatauenga the god of warriors wanted to kill his parents, but Tane, the creator of all things persuaded him that instead, they should push their parents apart and let sunlight between them. And so Tane stood between his parents and pushed up his back, forcing his father into the sky. His parents clung to each other as they were forced apart and their fingers scratched each other so fierce was their grasp. Their blood dripped to the west and the east, creating the red colors of the sky. Ranginui the sky father wept at being separated from his wife and his tears became the rain and Papatuanuku’s tears of grief created the mists that swirled around the earth. They cried so much that the earth was flooded and their sons wondered what to do. Io told them to turn over their mother so that she could not see their father and be reminded of her grief every day. It took all of them pushing to turn over mother earth and when they did they trapped their youngest brother with their mother. He was angry at being caught under the earth and in his anger he shook mother earth fiercely. Still we can feel his anger when he shakes the earth because he is the god of earthquakes Ruakmoko. Over time, the grief of Rangi and Papa lessened and the rains and the flooding stopped. In a tribute to his parents, Whiro, the one who balances all things created a rainbow so that the sky and the earth would always be joined. | ||||||
Rata and the Birds of the Forest Rata lived in the magical land of Hawaiiki and one day he decided he wanted to build a canoe. He went out into the woods and he chopped down a large straight Kauri tree. He worked hard all day forming the canoe but when darkness came he was still not done. He decided to return home for the evening and that he would finish it the next day. The next morning he came back to where he had left the canoe and it was gone! In its place was the tree he had cut down the day before, standing perfectly as if it had never been cut down. Rata was confused but he chopped down the tree again and again worked all day on his canoe. When darkness came he was not complete and he returned home to sleep. On the third morning he came back and this time he was angry to see again his canoe had turned back into a tree. Someone was tricking him! Again he felled the tree, but at the end of the day, he hid in the forest to see who was tricking him. Soon all the birds in the forest fluttered around his canoe and chip by chip the put the tree back together again. Rata jumped out of his hiding place and asked the birds “why are you doing this?” The birds told Rata that he had not asked Tane for permission to use the tree and so Tane had instructed them to put the tree back together again. Rata knew he had been wrong and so he prayed to Tane to ask for forgiveness and for permission to make his canoe. Tane gave his blessing and he instructed the birds to help Rata finish the canoe. When he was finished, Rata gave thanks to Tane for giving him one of his children as a gift so he could create his canoe. | ||||||
Rona and the Moon Rona lived many, many generations ago with her husband in their hut in a small village that was next to a gentle river. One night her husband was thirsty and he asked Rona to get him a drink of water. Rona was warm and comfortable in her bed but her husband insisted and she got up to get him water from the taha (gourd). Unfortunately the taha was empty and Rona did not want to walk to the river to get more water. But her husband said he was very thirsty and so Rona stormed out of the hut angry that she had to walk to the river in the darkness. But Rona was angry and she was in pain and she cursed the moon again for making her fall. The moon became so angry that he decided to punish Rona by capturing her and bringing her up to him in the sky. Rona felt the moon pulling her and she held tightly to her taha and then to a tree, fighting to stay on earth. But the moon was too strong and he ripped the tree up by its roots and he brought Rona, her taha and the tree up to the moon. And she remains there until this day clutching her taha and her tree. | ||||||
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