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Pō!
Pō! E tangi ana Tama ki te
kai māna! |
Baby! Potiki!1
The boy is crying for food! |
| Ka
noho Uru, ka noho i a Ngangana;
Puta mai ki waho rā ko Te Aotū, ko Te Aohore, ko Hinetuahōanga, Te Whatu o Poutini ei! Kei te kukunetanga mai o Hawaiki Ko te āhua ia |
Uru
lived - he lived with Ngangana,6
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| Ko
Māui-wharekino ka noho i a Pani, Ka kawea ki te wai o Monariki Mā Onehunga, mā Onerere, Mā te piere, mā te matata Te pia tangi wharau, ka hoake Ki runga rā, te Pīpī-wharauroa, Nā Whena koe, e Waho e! Tuatahi, e Waho e! Tuarua, ka topea i reira Ko te Whatanui, ko te Whataroa, ko te tī haere, Nā Kohuru, nā Paeaki, Nā Turiwhatu, nā Rakaiora. Ko Waiho anake te tangata i rere noa I te ahi rūrā a Rongomaracroa, Ko te kākahu nō Tū, ko te Rangikaupapa, Ko te tātua i riro mai I a Kanoa, i a Matuatonga. Tēnei te manawa ka puritia, Tēnei te manawa ka tāwhia; Kia haramai tona hokowhitu i te ara. |
When Maui-whare-kino was married to Pani,8
She who was taken to the waters of Monariki For Onehunga, for Onerere, For the piere, for the matata, The first whimper from the shelter. Giving birth to Pipiwharauroa. You are of Whena, O Waho! Thus the first part, O Waho! Of the second part is the felling there Of the timbers for the posts at the sacred place,9 and the perch of bird snares, For Kohuru, for Paeaki, For Turiwhatu, for Rakaiora. Waiho was the only one who fled From the scattered fires of Rongo-maraeroa.10 The garment of the war-god Tu,11 Te Rangikaupapa, The belt which was brought hither By Kanoa and Matuatonga.12 Hence men's hearts are apprehensive, Hence men's hearts are fearful, Lest his band of warriors appear on the road. |
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Ka kīa
[e] Paikea Ruatapu i te tama meamea,
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When
Ruatapu was called a bastard by whale-rider
Paikea13
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Ko Makauri
anake
i mahue atu |
Only the underwater tree Makauri:17
was left behind |
In the same
mannner as with English folk songs, this chant includes quotes from earlier
moteatea, and various versions have developed as it has spread from tribe
to tribe. There is a longer version and fuller notes by Margaret Orbell in
the book Traditional Songs of the Maori (1975).
1 Po!
Po! is probably a shortened form of "Potiki! Potiki!" Oriori
were often composed for the potiki, or youngest child of the family.
2
Pou-a-hao-kai is a figure of speech used of seafoods being collected
for a feast.
Also, in the legend of Rata,
Pou-hao-kai was killed by Rata and his bones used to make fish hooks.
3
Waiu: this is sometimes used with reference to food which was
eaten by the mother to help her feed her child.
4
Pari-nui-te-ra, the Great Cliffs of the Sun, is where Hoaki went to
get kumara when he returned home to Hawaiki on the voyaging canoe "Te Aratawhao."
Young Nick's Head at Gisborne carries the same name in its memory. FULL
STORY
5 Tangaroa is the god of the sea and of fish.
6 Uru, Ngangana and their children Te Aotu and Te Aohore are mythical personages.
7 The Stone of Poutini is an expression for greenstone, which in traditional accounts is often referred to as a fish.
8 Maui-whare-kino was a mythical person married to Pani; he stole the kumara from Whanui in the heavens and mated it with his wife, who then gave birth to the kumara in the waters of Monariki. In the next few lines there appear to be references to ritual matters concerned with the kumara and its origin, but the exact meaning of these expressions is uncertain.
9 The posts were erected at the tua-ahu, the sacred place or altar where many religious rituals took place.
10 Rongo-maraeroa is one form of the name of Rongo, the god of the cultivation of food and other peacetime pursuits. It is also a sacred name for the kumara. The significance of the lines in which the word occurs is uncertain.
11 Tu is a shortened form of Tu-mata-uenga, god of war.
12 Matuatonga is sometimes said to have arrived on board the Takitimu canoe. According to other accounts, Matuatonga is the name of the belt in which the kumara was brought to Aotearoa.
13 Ruatapu and Uenuku lived in Hawaiki, one of the homelands of the Maori. Insulted by his father Uenuku, Ruatapu sought revenge by overturning at sea the canoe which carried his many noble kinsmen. One of them, Paikea, escaped to Aotearoa in the form of a whale (in other accounts, riding on a whale) and landed on the East Coast.
14 Maninitua and Maniniaro occur in the myth of Pourangahua as the kumara digging-sticks which he brought back from Hawaiki, together with the kumara itself, in his journey on the back of the Great Bird of Ruakapanga.
15 Hakirirangi is said to have arrived on the Horouta canoe, and to have brought the kumara with her. She was expert in kumara lore and knew well how to plant it at the time of the flowering of the kowhai.
16 Manawaru and Araiteuru were names of kumara plantations at Turanga (Gisborne).
17 Makauri is the name of a kahikatea (white pine) tree said to have grown at the bottom of the sea from the feathers which Pourangahua plucked from his bird when he was flying home with the kumara. Toka-ahuru is Ariel Reef out from the shore at Gisborne.
18 Mangamoteo and Uetanguru are rivers at Turanga (Gisborne). According to some accounts Rongo-rapua is the name of a belt in which the kumara reached this country.
19
Rehua
or Antares is the brightest star in what is known in Hawaii as Ka Makau Nui
o Maui, "The Big Fishhook of Maui," the curved line of stars of the constellation
Scorpius.
Rehua has two
wives, Whaka-onge-kai (she who makes food scarce) and Ruhi-te-rangi or Pekehawani
(languid, weak). You can see Rehua high in the sky in winter time with these
two wives ranged one on either side of him. When Rehua/Antares can be seen
on top of Whaka-onge-kai, after sunset in September, winter has almost ended.
She is a most voracious female, hence food-supplies have run short. In summer
the constellation Scorpio can't be seen at all.
The ninth month
of the Maori year (February-March) is sometimes called Ruhi-te-rangi. In the
pre-dawn sky Rehua lies beside Ruhi/Pekehawani and all fruits are formed,
while all things, food products and even the land and seas, become quiet and
languid.
20
The
season of the first fruits is autumn, the time when birds and rats are
fat.