Tura's cooking-fire chant
Notice how the compiler of Pinepine took the ancient chant
from the story of Tura below, and altered a few words to change its
meaning.
In the ancient chant, the treasure is the fire brought forth from
the wood to create cooked food. But in Pinepine, Te Umu-rangi
himself is the treasure, with the ability sent to him from the
heavens by a lightning bolt, of rapidly creating sacred fire and
producing nourishing food, both for cold hungry bodies and for
frightened souls.
John White's
translation
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Collected by White |
Used in Pinepine
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My translation
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By the stick of your
ancestor,
of Tura, fire comes.
He went to Tere-i-nui-ao
and lit his fire,
searching for a treasure
Establish-the-sun's-face,
the fire
that brings back food to the world. |
Na te kaunoti o to
tipuna
O Tura, i haere ai ihi
Tere-i-nu-aho ka hika
I tona ahi,
kimihia he kura
ko Tu-mata-te-ra,
te ahi
ka hoki mai nga kai ki te ao. |
Te kaunoti a tō tipuna,
a Tura
I haere ai i Tere-i-nui-ao.
ka hika i tona ahi.
Kimihia e Kura,
ko Tū-ma-tere
Te Umu
ka hoki nga kai ki te ao. |
The fireblock is of
your ancestor,
of Tura.
He went to Floating-on-big-land
lighting his fire.
Seek my Treasure,
the fire Establish-by-speed,
for you are
"The Earth-oven"
returning food to the world. |
Tura's fire
story collected by John White c.
1850
| Ko whakatika mai a Whiro i runga i te waka ra, ka eke
Whiro ki te po tonu. Ka peke a Tura ki uta me to kaunoti a
Whiro ko Tu-a-hiwi-o-te-rangi te ingoa, me te tokotoko ko
Tino-kuru-ki te ingoa, o taua tokotoko, me te tata'a ko
Ha-kihea te ingoa. |
|
Whiro set out in the canoe and kept going
right into the night.
Tura jumped ashore with Whiro's fireblock called
Tu-a-hiwi-o-te-rangi, the staff called Tino-kuru-ki, and the
bailer called Ha-kihea.
|
| Ka haere noa atu ra i te whenua, pono tonu atu ki te
kainga ia Rua-hine-mata-morari ratou ko ona tamariki e noho
ana ota ai te kai o tera wahi. |
|
Tura went on, he knew not whither, and came at
last to the settlement of Elderly-Blind-Woman and her
children, who lived on raw food.
|
| Ka hikaia e Tura tona ahi ka ka, ka oma te hakui ra
me tona whanau i te mataku i te ahi ra. |
|
When Tura kindled his fire, she and her family
fled from it in terror. |
Ka kai a Tura. ka mutu te kai ka tikina ka pania e
Tura nga waha o te kuia ra ratou ko tana whanau ki te kai
maoa.
Ka noho tonu i aia te tamahine a te kuia, ra whanau tamariki
noa. |
|
Tura cooked some food, and when finished, he
took what remained, besmeared cooked food on the mouths of
the old lady and her children.
He took to wife one of the daughters of the old woman, and
had children by her. |
| Ka pa te aroha o te kainga, o nga
tangata hoki, ka houa (ka karakiatia) eia tona atua a
Rongo-mai ki runga ki te tatā kia Ha-kihea, ka kiia, mai eia
“ Hei a Rongo-mai-tu-aho he taunga mohou (mou). E u koe ki
uta kai te ora te tangata ka whai tohu mai ki au. |
|
Then he felt such a
longing for his home and his people that he put his godstick
Rongo-mai on the side of Ha-kihea his bailer, and said this,
“Go and travel till you come to Rongo-mai-tu-aho, and there
stay. If the people are still alive make a sign in the
heavens that I may know it.” |
U tonu mai a Rongo-mai-tu-aho, ka kitea ki tona
ingoa. Ka whangaia eia katahi ka tawhana (ka oke), ka kii te
waha o te whaitiri, ka mahara a Tura kei te ora te tangata.
Ka tahi ano a Tura ka patai atu ki tana hungawai,
“E Pou heaha tena e maa na i to mahunga?”
Ka ki mai a Te Rua-hine-mata-morari,
“ He hina.”
Ha ki atu a Tura “ Kaore pea e tupu ki au.”
E roa tonu kua tupu.
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|
Rongo-mai went as directed, and was
recognized. He performed his ceremonies when the
elements were propitious, and the thunder uttered its voice;
and Tura knew his people were still alive.
And then Tura said to his mother-in-law,
“What means that white on your head?”
The Elderly Blind Woman answered,
“Grey hair.”
He said, “Perhaps it will not grow on me.”
But before long it was happening. |
Ka pataia eia ki te mata-kiri-tona ki te whewhe ki te
tapu, ki te kea, me te kii mai.
Te kuia ra “Ka tipu (tupu) katoa aua mea i koe.”
|
|
He now asked his mother-in-law about the rites
of tapu, and about warts, and boils, and sore eyes.
The old lady said, “All these things may come upon you.”
|
Ka tahi raua ko tona wahine me ta raua tamaiti ka eke mai
ki runga ano i tana tataa, ka mauria mai nga taonga
whaka-rihariha a Rua-hine-mata-morari.
E wha tau ka kitea nga taru a Tura.
Ia mauria mai eia e Tura ona mea i mau ra ki uta, te kauahi,
koia te ahi e hikaia nei ki te haere ki te riri, me etahi
mahi ke atu, kī noa te tangata, ma taua kauahi ka mate aua
mea.
|
|
He swept up his wife and his children and
boarded his bailer again, taking the 'treasures for
disgusting things' (remedies for diseases) of the Elderly
Blind Woman.
Four summers later many diseases
were discovered on Tura and hence have
proceeded all the afflictions of mankind.
It was Tura who taught the use of fire to procure comfort
for man, and also the special ceremonies to be used when it
was obtained for a party setting out on an expedition of
war. |
Na te iwi nana nei taua oriori ko Tere-i-nui-ao
(Tere-i-nu-aho) kati ano a tena wahi aua korero, na haere
tonu mai o tatou waka me o tatou tipuna me aua korero.
|
|
The people who composed this oriori were the
Tere-i-nui-ao (float on the great world) tribe, so they
could transmit the ancient knowledge to their waka and their
children. |
I marama ano enei upoko oriori:-
Na te kaunoti (kauahi) o to tipuna
O Tura i haere ai ihi
Tere-i-nu-aho ka hika
I tona ahi, kimihia he kura
Ko Tu-mata-te-ra. te ahi
Ka hoki mai nga kai ki te ao.
|
|
The beginning of this chant is easy to
understand:-
By the stick of your ancestor,
Of Tura, fire comes.
He went to Tere-i-nui-ao
And lit his fire, searching for the treasure
called Establish-the-sun's-face, the fire
that brings back food to the world.
|
John White was 9 years old when his
family arrived in Hokianga in 1835. He became frustrated by
a lack of books to read, and having learnt to speak Maori,
he started collecting Maori songs and stories. In 1851 he
became Governor Grey's secretary and translator. In 1879 he
became the compiler and writer of an official Maori history.
The task took him over 10 years, and in 1890 he published
his 6th and last volume of The
Ancient History of the Maori: His Mythology and
Traditions.
In recent times some people
have criticised him for his standards of collecting,
organising and editing, but he collected vast amounts of old
Maori stories, customs and songs, and among the dubious
material he left are treasures like this fire-lighting
chant. |
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