Just where are your eyes?

How I wish the sun

Would not always run from me

And leave me alone

 

It’s hasty retreat

Leaves me with dreadful shadows

And night’s cruel embrace

 

Who will sustain me

Now that you live with the shades?

Can old words do that?

 

Do your pictures speak?

Where’s that pretty hand to hold?

Just where are your eyes?

Mahuika's Tales No. 7. Mataaho guardian of the secrets

                       Waitekere Ranges

The children hadn’t heard a story for some days because there had been earth tremors and their parents had wanted to keep them close in case they had to escape to safer country away from the sea and the hot springs. But soon the rumbling stopped and everything returned to normal. It was typical of Mahuika to choose a story to fit what was happening around them and as the children gathered again to hear it Hekeheke joined them, smiled at Mahuika and said. “I wondered why all the children were missing then I realised that they must be here with you.”

Mahuika smiled at her so Hekeheke sat down with them and picked up one of the smallest children and sat her in her lap so that they could listen to the story together. So Mahuika began:

Long ago the land that lay between the Waitakere ranges and the Hunua ranges was fairly flat. There were no volcanoes present as there are today. The great canoes of our people had not yet arrived in Aotearoa (New Zealand) so nobody lived in this beautiful land. Well, nobody human lived here only the Patupaiarehe (Fairy people).
The Patupaiarehe were not very good at getting along with each other so they tried to avoid trouble by living in carefully chosen areas. A tribe of Patupaiarehe lived in the Waitakere ranges and a tribe of Patupaiarehe lived in the Hunua ranges.
It was a favourite pastime of the young Patupaiarehe of both iwi (tribes) to play a game called "dark run". On very dark nights when the moon did not shine, the young men would sneak out of their houses and race silently to the other tribal area. To prove that they had been there they had to return with a token to prove it.
One night the son of Waitakere whose name was Hui returned empty handed. All the other young ones laughed and made fun of him. The next time the dark run took place, again Hui took part but this time did not return with the others. Everyone was worried and his friends blamed each other for not taking better care of Hui.
Days later, the chief called a council of war and assembled the young men along the tribal boundary. They were about to begin their war chant when there was a shout and two figures appeared running across the plain. It was Hui and he was holding the hand of a beautiful young girl.
"Here, this is my token," he panted out of breath. "She is my beloved."
His father was delighted by his son’s daring in bringing her back and welcomed the girl into his tribe.
"Who is this girl?" said the people.
The beautiful girl raised her eyes and looked at Waitekere “I am a daughter of the Hunua," she replied. "My name is Wairere." 

However the fairy people of Hunua were furious when they learned that Wairere was with the Waitakere Patupaiarehe. They gathered a war party together and set off across the Tamaki plain. 

The high priest of Waitakere watched them coming and when they came close enough he took some magic hidden deep in the earth of the ranges and wove it into some deadly spells. Then he cast the spells at the advancing Hunua Patupaiarehe. Several Hunua fell, but many still kept marching on towards them.

Again the high priest reached down into the earth of the ranges for hidden magic and again he wove it into some really evil spells and hurled them at the Hunua Patupaiarehe. This time there was a stunned silence as one by one the Hunua Patupaiarehe fell and died. Suddenly the whole Tamaki plain heaved and shook. The ground cracked open and the high priest tumbled into the gaping earth and huge rocks were flung into the air. 

Mataaho, guardian of the secrets hidden in the earth, was very angry. He woke up his brother, Ruaumoko, guardian of earthquakes and volcanoes and pointed to the high priest who had helped himself to the magic. Ruaumoko shook with rage and Mataaho melted the high priest until he became a part of the magic within the earth. Then the two guardians hurled the magic into the air and hid the sun with thick clouds of smoke. They then threw more rocks into the air and melted them before they touched the ground. The Waitakere Patupaiarehe fled for their lives. 

Mahuika paused looking at the children whose eyes were wide open and and their mouths were agape. Then she continued:                                                                                                         
Many years later, just before the great canoes carrying our own people arrived in Aotearoa, an old Patupaiarehe man and woman returned to their old homeland and stared out across the Tamaki plain in disbelief and sadness. Wherever they looked they saw volcanos which had been formed after the magic of the land had been abused.

"So it was not a dream," cried Wairere.
"No," answered Hui, "and now there is no one left but us."
"Oh," wept Wairere, "These mountains of Mataaho, are all that is left of my tribe and yours." 

Wairere and Hui passed into the underworld many years ago but Nga Maunga a Mataaho, the mountains of Mataaho can still be seen poking above the skyline to the north of us, concluded Mahuika. She then pointed up towards the pakeha road that led to Auckland.

Even the teenager Hekeheke had tears in her eyes as she whispered to Mahuika, “It has happened all over again, hasn’t it? We Maori came after the Patupaiarehe fought among themselves and now the pakeha (white men) have taken over from us as we could not live peaceably together either.”

Indiscretion

Oh for deep, deep sleep

Where my guilty heart can rest

And your tears forget

 

Love hard taskmaster

Taunts me with indiscretions

And your weeping eyes

 

Would that you could smile

Forgive my infidelities

And trust me again

 

But the deed is done

That gleam in your pretty eyes

Is now one of hate

How weak is my flesh

 

 

I blinked, it’s there

My life written in the stars

Swept over heaven

 

I saw the vision

Ripe fruit in the basket

The secret of life

 

I am but a fool

What chance immortality

Who will hand it me?

 

Clever? No, not me

I’m still nestled in your heart            

How weak is my flesh

A short bio

Blinking and crying

Watching and laughing

Learning and competing

Eying and wondering

Running and playing

Fumbling and romancing

Absorbing and working

Wooing and promising

Praying and thanking

Rejoicing and changing

Sitting and basking

Giving and losing

Tiring and changing

Grieving and despairing

Slowing and dying

The proposal

Kids were at an age

When they asked all sorts of things

“When did Dad propose?”

 

Asks older Daughter

Son’s just as eager to know

I look innocent

 

Wife all misty eyed

Alleges I was on my knees

Not as I recall

 

Concealed in the dunes

Hot day and with few clothes on

Memories vary

Mahuika's Tales No. 6 Hukatere and Wawe

                          Aoraki (Mount Cook)

It was a very cold day and Mahuika knew the children in the village would be looking for her to tell them a story. So she put on her feather cloak and sat on the porch of her whare waiting for them. They soon appeared and she ushered them inside into the warm and noticed that a brother and sister that always turned up for the stories were not there. Nobody knew where they were so she sat them all down and just as she was about to start Haki and Awa came in. Mahuike could see that the little girl was crying so asked Awa what had happened.

“It is so cold today that Haki wouldn’t hold my hand and I fell over as I was running.” She sobbed. So Mahuika picked up the little girl and said “Well sit on me and warm up while I tell you the story.” And so she began.

Many years ago a beautiful hine (girl) named Hukatere saw a young man Wawe walking in the foothills of Aoraki (Mount Cook) looking for cutting stones. She watched him for some time. Eventually she came down to where he was searching on the ground with his digging stick and hearing her he looked up and saw her for the first time. He was immediately struck by her beauty and told her so. They were both shy and it was a long time before he dared to touch her. When he did so for the first time she screamed with pain because to her his fingers felt so hot that she thought it would melt her skin. Despite this they still talked and looked at each other with desire and fell in love.
However every time Wawe attempted to hold her they knew she would be burnt and his hands would freeze. So they just walked and talked together until one day Hukatare suggested to Wawe that he should go with her high into the hills so she could ask the mountain Aoraki for warm breath and blood and pink cheeks just like his.
Wawe was overjoyed and readily agreed and so they set out across the foothills and walked high up into the mountain Aoraki.
As they climbed Wawe suddenly became afraid. His knew that his ancestors had forbidden anyone from climbing Aoraki. It was the home of the tribal guardians who jealously guarded their resting place. Higher and higher they went and the air grew cold and thin.
Hukatere called out to Wawe, "Isn´t it so beautiful here? Could we not live up here together?"
Wawe was too cold to reply. His fingers and toes were numb.his teeth were chattering and his face was blue and his eyelids were heavy with snow but he could just see that Hukatere was skipping with pleasure over the icy ground.
"It is so lovely here," she said.
Then again she called out "Come on Wawe, it is not far to go."
Wawe stumbled on towards her voice, his eyelids were closing and he could hardly put one foot in front of the other because of the cold. Then the wind got up and Wawe could hear the voice of Tawhiri Matea the weather god screaming at him. “Get off this mountain mortal, you do not belong here.”
Hukatere turned around and saw that Wawe was being pushed by Tawhiri with a very strong wind to the the edge of the path so he might fall off of the mountain. Quickly Hukatere tried to grab Wawe’s hand in order to save him but neither could hold on to the other and as he fell she released millions of snowflakes from her fingers so that when he fell he would land on a blanket of snow. Tawhiri saw her do this and whipped up an even stronger wind to blow them away so Wawe fell to his death. Hukatere never saw what happened to Wawe as the mountain was then enveloped by a blizzard.
Hine Hukatere never leaves the mountains now, nor does she seek the company of others either. Instead she wanders along the white river of ice peering between the thick blocks and crevices always hoping to find Wawe again who she loved so  much. Everywhere she goes she cries for Wawe and her tears form drops of ice that fall into the glacier and is forever pushing it very so slowly towards Tangaroa (the sea).

Mahuika then looked down at Awa and said “Are you warmer now little one?”  Awa nodded very contented now that she had a special place with Mahuika and that she had a story told just for her.