In the

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

Mangaia Mangaia (traditionally known as A'ua'u Enua, which means ''terraced'') is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga. It is a roughly circular island, with an area of , from Rarotonga. Originally heavily popula ...

in the Cook Islands, Tikokura is a sea-dwelling

evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

spirit in the shape of a

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmos ...

wave In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (res ...

Ngaru Ngaru is a mythological hero from Avaiki (Hawaiki) in the mythology of Mangaia in the Cook Islands. Ngaru's mother was Vaiare and his grandfather the great lizard Moko. His wife was the beautiful Tongatea. To prove his prowess, he battles Tikokura ...

determined to try his strength against Tikokura and his shark-like companion, Tumuitearetoka. He provided himself with a surfboard named Orua (the two). Ngaru went to the edge of the reef and called out insults against the two demons, who promptly appeared to exact revenge. A huge smashed over the

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

, and Ngaru let himself be washed out to sea. Tumuitearetoka saw his chance to strike, but

Moko In the mythology of Mangaia in the Cook Islands, Moko is a wily character and grandfather of the heroic Ngaru. Moko is a ruler or king of the lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging acro ...

, Ngaru's grandfather, was sitting on a high rock and called out "The shark is below you!" The wave and the shark kept attacking, but each time Moko warned his grandson, who was able to outwit them and live on. After eight days and nights, Ngaru threw his surfboard to the monsters, who gladly retired to their home in the deep, while Ngaru went off to find Tongatea, his wife (Gill 1876:225-227).

References

*W.W. Gill, ''Myths and Songs of the South Pacific'' (Henry S. King: London), 1876. Mangaia mythology Polynesian legendary creatures