In
Māori mythology, Matuku-tangotango (Matuku) is an ogre who kills
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 hi ...
the son 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 ...
. In some versions, Matuku lives in a cave called Putawarenuku.
Rātā, the son of Wahieroa, sets off to avenge his murdered father, and arrives at last at Matuku's village. He hears from Matuku's servant that at the new moon his master can be killed at the pool where he washes his face and hair.
[If Matuku-tangotango is imagined as bittern-like, he can be imagined as washing his plumage at the pool, because the Māori word for 'hair' or 'feathers' is the same: 'huruhuru'] When the new moon has come, Rātā waits until the ogre comes out of his cave and is leaning over with his head in the pool. He grabs him by the hair and kills him. Rātā then sets off to rescue his father's bones from the
Ponaturi
In Māori mythology, the Ponaturi are a group of hostile creatures (goblins) who live in a land beneath the sea by day, returning to shore each evening to sleep. They dread daylight, which is fatal to them. They appear in a number of stories, incl ...
. A South Island version names the islands where Matuku lives as Puorunuku and Puororangi and also states that Rātā nooses Matuku as he comes out of his lair to perform certain rituals (Tregear 1891:232, 399-400).
Names and epithets
*Matuku (bittern)
*Matuku-tangotango ('tangotango' perhaps means 'dark as night', or 'ominous')
*Matuku-takotako (South Island dialect).
Notes
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References
*E. R. Tregear, ''Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary'' (Lyon and Blair: Lambton Quay), 1891.
*
John White: ''The Ancient History of the Maori''. Wellington, 1887. vol. 1, pp. 68–69, 90; 78
hese references are supplied (along with the gist of their contents) in :- Martha Beckwith : ''Hawaiian Mythology''. 1940. p. 260, fns. 11-12
Māori legendary creatures