NEW  ZEALAND
 MOTEATEA * ORIORI 		He Potiki Mo Wharaurangi
E Hine Aku
Te Rangitakoru

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This is a nursery song written by Te Rangi-takoru, a chief of the Whanganui district, to introduce his daughter Whaurau-rangi and other youngsters to their people's mythical beliefs and ancestral stories.
The story of Hau's long walk helps them remember the names and location of many places between Patea and Wairarapa.

A. Fables of death and rebirth

Taku potiki, e, ko Wharaurangi!
Ka rongo o tipuna,
ka maka mai ki au,
Maku, e hine, ma te huri e,
Ma te whakarongo ki te whita kōrero
Ko te whare tena,
 i taia ai te Kahui-rongo, e
i pipiri ki te po.
Ngā toka whakaahu
o to korua kuku e,
O toku wawa’i, o taku rua pake
Ka wehea ko te tau, e.

Hoki mai, e hine, ki te ao marama!
Whakatu taua ki aku manu e,
Te tangata i patua e Te Tini o Tio2,
Waiho nei ki a taua, e-e.

E hine aku, e tangi nei ki te kai
Me whakainu koe ki te wai e ngata.
Me whakangongo koe ki te wai ka rari;
Te mate o Tawhaki,
Whakaputa ki te toru,
ka 'ke' te kahu,
nga tiu-rangi, nga tiu-pakihi,
nga kapo-kai, e.		 My baby child, Wharaurangi!
What your ancestors heard
they passed on to me
for me, o maiden, and my descendants
and I listened to the fabled history
in that house,
where the Rongo ritual of the Kahui people was implanted
into a close-knit group at night.
Hence the heaped up memorial rocks
of your closed-up pit (or haunted pit?)
in my special area surrounding my old storage pit,
set aside for my deceased loved one, ah me.

Let us return, o girl, to the world of light!
and pay tribute to my noble ones
our people killed by the original inhabitants,
bequeathing sorrow to you and me, alas.

Oh my own baby girl,you are crying for food
and I'm offering you the drink that satisfies. Sym A
You must ignore the abundant drink
that causes the death of Tawhaki.3
He emerges again in the third month;
when the bush falcon screams ke,' ke,' ke,'
swooping down from the sky, down to earth
snatching food. Sym B

B. Arriving at Patea and exploring the coastline.
The versions of Rev Richard Taylor, here, and Gov. George Grey  here, begin at this section.

Kimikimi noa ana ahau, e hine,
I to kunenga mai i Hawa-iki,
I te whakaringaringa,
i te whakawaewae,
I te whakakanohitanga
Ka manu, e hine, te waka i a Ruatea,
Ko Kura-haupo.
Ka iri mai taua i runga i a Ao-tea,
Ko te waka i a Turi.

Ka u mai taua te ngutu Whenua-kura;

Ka huaina te whare, ko Rangi-tawhi4
Ka tiria mai te kumara;
Ka ruia mai te karaka
ki te tai ao nei.

Keria iho ko te punga tamawahine,
Ka riro i ngā tuahine,
i a Nonoko-uri, i a nonoko-tea.
Ko te here i runga ko te korohunga.

Kapua mai nei e Hau
ko te one ki tona ringa.
Ko te Tokotoko-o-Turoa
Ka whiti i te awa,
Ka nui ia, ko Whanga-nui;
Ka tiehutia te wai, ko Whangaehu;
Ka hinga te rakau, ko Turakina;
Ka tikeitia te waewae, Ko Rangitikei;
Ka tatu, e hine, Ko Manawa-tu;

Ka rorowhio ngā taringa,
ko Hokio.
Waiho nei te awa iti hei ingoa mona,
ko Ohau;
Taki-na te tokotoko, ko Otaki;
Ka mehameha, e hine, ko Wai-meha;
Ka ngahae ngā pi, ko Wai-kanae;

Ka tangi ko te mapu,
Ka tae atu ki a Wairaka,
Matapoutia, poua ki runga, poua ki raro,

Ka rarau e hine!
I am trying to remember, o maiden
How it was you sprang forth from Hawaiki
How your hands were formed,
then your feet
and then your face took shape
Now afloat, o maiden, was the voyaging waka of Ruatea,
the Kurahaupo.
We two were carried board Aotea
The voyaging waka of Turi

We landed at the Red Place river’s mouth
(just south of the Patea river mouth)
The house there was named Imitating the Heavens4
The kumara was planted
The karaka seedlings scattered,5
on the land bordering the sea;

Then plots dug for the young women
were taken up by the sisters
Nonokouri and Nonokotea.
To mark them off, the border of a robe was hung.

Hau1 gathered dirt
in the palm of his hand Sym C
 from the portion of the Staff of Turoa6
He then crossed the river
very great it was, hence Big-Estuary
He splashed through murky waters, hence Murky-Estuary
He felled a tree so he could cross, hence Pulled-down
He strode across the land, hence Day of Wide Steps
Then he stumbled, child, hence Breath Stood Still

He heard a whirring sound when a falcon dived down,
hence Descending
He left a tiny stream with his own name,
hence Of Hau
His staff was held at one side, hence O-taki
Water soaked in the sand, hence Disappearing Waters
He stared in amazement, hence Amazing Waters.

Then he breathed a sigh of relief
For he had reached where Wairaka1 was (his runaway wife)
And he cast a spell fixing her above and below.
(as Wairaka Rock, south of Pukerua Bay)
It was thus he came to rest, o daughter.

C. Introducing Whaitiri and Kaitangata
Ka rarapa ngā kanohi, ko Wai-rarapa,
Te rarapatanga o to tipuna, e hine!
Ka mohiki te ao,
ko Te Pae-a-Whaitiri6;

Kumea,
kia warea Kai-tangata
Ki waho ko te moana.
Hanga te paepae,
poua iho;
Te pou whakamaro o te ra,
ko Meremere.
Waiho te whānau te Punga2 o tona waka
Ko te Hau-mea, ko te Awhe-ma;
Kaati, ka whakamutu, e hine!		 His eye caught a flash, hence Lake Glittering Water
Your ancestor gazed about him, lassie,
as the cumulo-nimbus clouds lifted up on high,
hence The Mountain-Range of Whaitiri. the Tararuas

When Whaitiri lengthened the period of fine days,
Kaitangata7 was enticed to go fishing
far out to sea
enabling the new building's main beam to be fashioned and embedded under Whaitiri's direction,
and then the beam that lengthened the day,
called Meremere (the evening star, Venus)
Whaitiri finally named her children the Anchor of his canoe,
Hau's Thinking, and Go Through It, and then left them.
That's enough, it's now ended, little girl.

Sym  Symbolic Speech, not Literal

A The food she is crying for is spiritual, not physical; she wants guidelines to follow in life, not just fish and kumara.

B The abundant food that killed Tawhaki was his good looks and talents that caused others to be jealous of him. This Tawhaki story is the pan-Polynesian version of the Green Man, a story told in every old culture worldwide. It represents the cycle of new growth that occurs every spring. Here is a Green Man on a medieval German cathedral.
C Metaphorically rubbing dirt into his hands from where the staff of authority was stuck in the ground tells us that Hau was following the teaching of Rangi-tawhaki when he pursued and killed his much-loved but faithless wife.

1 Hau

There are different versions of Haunui and Wairaka. This West Coast version has Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, known in Tahitian legends as Haunui-a-papara'i, who arrived at Patea on the Aotea with Turi, then named all the rivers south of Whanganui while pursuing his wife Wairaka who seduced a slave then absconded with him.

Another another rather far-fetched East Coast legend has Haunui-a-Pāpārangi's grandson, Haunui-a-Nanaia, arriving in Aotearoa on the Takitimu and marrying another Wairaka, the daughter of Toroa the captain of the Mataatua voyaging waka.  Its details about Haunui going suddenly from Mahia peninsula to Whanganui and naming all the rivers south of there seems to have been borrowed from the West Coast Haunui story, and changed so Wairaka is abducted by two evil men, since the name Wairaka was held in high regard on the East Coast. These stories were not for passing on historical facts, but for entertainment on long winter evenings.

Hau pursued them down the West Coast, and caught up with them just past Pukerua Bay, where he turned Wairaka into a rock offshore.





 He climbed a high mountain and on reaching the top he sat down to rest. He named the mountain Remu-taka (rear-end lowered), now often called Rimutaka. From its top he saw a shining lake, which he named Wai-rarapa (glistening water).

 
Another story tells how Hau decided to go home via the East Coast. He descended Remutaka and at the first river he came to he discovered a whare which was thatched with nikau palm leaves. He named this river Tau-whare-nikau.
At the next river crossing he looked down into the water he imagined he could see Wairaka’s face. He named the river 'Wai o Hine Wairaka.' We know it today as ‘Wai-o-hine’.

At the next river he tested the depth with his hiking staff and gave it the name Wai-poua.

The final river that Hau named in this story was Rua-mahanga meaning ‘twin forks’ which could refer to the many tributaries that join the river, but apparently he found a bird snare there, between two forks of a tree.
 

Note that Hau made this journey long after these river valleys were first inhabited and named. (Kupe probably named Whanganui harbour after Fa'anui harbour in Bora Bora. Whangaehu has cloudy volcaanic ash in it. And Ohau was probably a windy place, or a place where food was offered to an Atua)

But this story was a 'playway' story method of teaching geography to young people. And saying their founder named these places also gave his descendants a sense of oneness with them.     

2 Te Tini o Tio

Te Tini o Toi, The Multitudes of Toi, were the tangata whenua who occupied the East Coast before the arrival of the immigrants in Arawa, Tainui, Aotea etc. Toi had a fortified pa overlooking today's Whakatane, and the Tuhoe people are descended from him. More.

Te Tino o Te Ha, the Multitudes of Te Ha, were the Rarotongans who arrived about 1300 AD and settled on the volcanic plateau south of Ruapehu. There are no records of any multitude of of Tio.

3 Tawhaki   

Tawhaki is a pan-Polynesian mythical figure who was the son of Hemā and the grandson of Whaitiri, a cannibalistic sorceress who married Kaitangata (man-eater), thinking that he shared her taste for human flesh. Disappointed at finding that this was not so, she left him after the birth of their sons Punga (Anchor), Karihi (Sinker), and Hemā (Genitals)
Tawhaki grew up to be so handsome that he attracted all the girls, to the envy of his cousins, who drowned him and left him for dead. As he was washed ashore the cry of a swooping hawk brought him back to life. This is symbolic of how life is renewed in springtime (the third month) after the frigid New Zealand winter.

In this East Coast version, Hau has the same adventures as Tawhaki. Tawhaki is also mentioned in the oriori Pinepine Te Kura.

4 Rangitawhai

Rangitawhai was the fortified settlement Turi's group built on the south bank of the Patea River mouth.

There is a chant , Te Matuku e Hea, about Turi leaving a matuku (bittern) in the pa as a guard when they all went away. This chant mentions all the rivers near Patea.

5 Karaka seedlings scattered

Karaka trees are native to NZ but apparently were not growing near the mouth of the Patea River. Kupe planted one there and told Turi about it. The edible fruit had fallen to the ground and had the would have started growing beneath the parent tree that protected them from frosts. Turi's people would have replanted them further away. An alkaloid in the Karaka stone causes nerve damage

6 The Staff of Turoa

At the Wharekura (school of sacred learning) there were two groups; one taught by Rangitawhaki with a staff of authority thrust into the ground called the Staff of Turoa. The other group was taught by Maihirangi who had a staff of authority called Tongitongi. Quarrels arose and someone called Kauika destroyed the staff (and authority) of Maihirangi, so the people separated, and evils such as witchcraft and warfare began.

7 Waitiri and Kaitangata

Kaitangata was disgusted by the excreta of their children, which shamed Whaitiri. Whaitiri caused a calm to be widespread, so that fine days were lengthened; and thereupon Kaitangata was induced to proceed out to sea.

Soon afterwards Whaitiri made a beam for the male part of the new meeting-house house and dug the hole for the first post, and named it Whakamaro-te-Rangi (Stiffened-was-the-heavens); then was dug the hole for the second post and it was called Meremere, the evening star that extends the evening light.

Whai-tiri also instructed her children, "When your father comes home, you are to show him this beam as being named for him. You, the eldest, will be called Punga, the anchor of your father's waka; you the second boy, will be Karahi, the sinkers of your father's net, and you, my last child will be called Hema, the name of my private parts, because of the unkind words of your father about your excreta."

 Wordplay and fragments of stories

Notice the wordplay here. In the line 'Ka nui ia, ko Whanga-nui,' nui ia can mean it was prestigious, big current or it was big. And 'Wai-kanae' can mean both restless waters or mullet fish waters. Also the fragments of some stories here don't make much sense. Remember this chant was intended to embed ancient names in toddlers brains, so they would be interested in learning more later.

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