In
Māori mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the ...
(South Island), Matoka-rau-tāwhiri is a wife 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 ...
, and mother of
Rātā.
[In North Island versions, her name is Tonga-rau-tāwhiri (Biggs 1966:450).]
When Matoka-rau-tawhiri was pregnant, she had a craving to eat the flesh of a
tūī
The tūī (''Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae'') is a medium-sized bird native to New Zealand. It is blue, green, and bronze coloured with a distinctive white throat tuft (poi). It is an endemism, endemic passerine bird of New Zealand, and the on ...
bird, and asked Wahieroa to catch one. Wahieroa did so. It was cooked and she ate it with relish. Some time later she asked him to bring her another. Wahieroa went into the forest with his slave, but could not find any tūī. The two men went further and further into the forest, until they came to the hunting grounds of
Matuku-tangotango In Māori mythology, Matuku-tangotango (Matuku) is an ogre who kills Wahieroa the son of Tāwhaki
In Māori mythology, Tāwhaki is a semi-supernatural being associated with lightning and thunder.
Genealogy
The genealogy of Tāwhaki varies somew ...
, who killed Wahieroa and captured his slave. Shortly after Wahieroa had been killed, Matoka-rau-tawhiri gave birth to a son, named
Rātā (Reed 1963:178).
See also
*
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 ...
Notes
References
*B.G. Biggs, 'Maori Myths and Traditions' in
A. H. McLintock (editor), ''Encyclopaedia of New Zealand'', 3 Volumes. (Government Printer: Wellington), 1966, II:447-454.
*A.W. Reed, ''Treasury of Maori Folklore'' (A.H. & A.W. Reed:Wellington), 1963.
Legendary Māori people
{{Māori-myth-stub