In
Māori mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern fantastic tales relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the pr ...
Hinepiripiri occurs in some versions of the
legend
A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...
of
Tāwhaki
In Māori mythology, Tāwhaki is a semi-supernatural being associated with lightning and thunder.
Genealogy
The genealogy of Tāwhaki varies somewhat in different accounts. In general, Tāwhaki is a grandson of Whaitiri, a cannibalistic goddess wh ...
as Tāwhaki's wife and the mother of
Wahieroa
In Māori mythology, Wahieroa is a son of Tāwhaki, and father of Rātā.
Tāwhaki was attacked and left for dead by two of his brothers-in-law, jealous that their wives preferred the handsome Tāwhaki to them. He was nursed back to health by his ...
(Reed 1963:165).
Hinepiripiri nursed Tāwhaki back to health after he was attacked and left for dead by two of his brothers-in-law, jealous that their wives preferred the handsome Tāwhaki to them. Hinepiripiri helped him back to their house, and brought home a long piece of timber for the fire, to keep him warm. Shortly afterwards, a son was born to them, and named Wahieroa. The name, meaning 'long piece of firewood', was chosen to fix in their son's mind the wrong that had been done to Tāwhaki, in order that one day Wahieroa might avenge him (Reed 1963:165).
References
*A.W. Reed, ''Treasury of Maori Folklore'' (A.H. & A.W. Reed:Wellington), 1963.
Legendary Māori people
{{Māori-myth-stub