Turehu Who Dwell in Tane's Forest

Chronicle (Levin), 12 November 1948, Page 7

Turehu Who Dwell in Tane's Forest

I greatly fear, writes PakehaMaori in the Evening Post, tliose tree; feilers of Puketi have been greatlydaring and have visited the hoiue of Tane without Tiis permission. i — It appears that they have even dar-' ed to fell one of his trees witho.ut lirat reeiting the appropriate karakia, whicli miglit have gained for them permission to eut dovvn one of his nobie: tre'es. V They should have remembered whai happened long ago when some of their ancestors cut dowu a tree without -the permission of Tane. How when they returned next morning to proeeed with their ; wo"rk -qf canoe building they found the tree iip; right again, every twig in place, and not even a vestige of their work to be. seen, and how day af'ter day tlie same thing happened, the turehu each night . restoring the tree to its original position. Greatly daring must auy Maori be who ignores the power of the patupai-. . arehe, whose other nanie is turehu, tlte supernatural folk who . inliabit the inuermost recesses of the New Zea[atfd forest. . ' Te Pou's Experience. Little wouder if they fLed in tetroir when they lieard the turehu rustling the leaves of the kauri "forest. Indeed, they were fortuuate that they escapcd capture for their sacrilegroiis aet. They should have remembered the experience of Te kou and Panapa, as told bv Te Pon to Mr. James Cowan. Ilow Te Pou and Panapa went intb the forest in the Pirongia Range to get the juiee of the aka; how Panapa, who was a powerful tohunga, recited the necessary "karakia to proteet fiim Yvheii he cut down tlie aka vine to drain 6ut« its jui'e; how in a thoughtless mo'ment, Te Pou, who was udt proteeted" by the karakia, commenced to slash the vine. Let Te Pou tell what happened. • 1 had," he said, ' ' deliverei]. only onfe blow and was in the aet of delivering another. when a strange and terrifying thing hajipened. The forest h'ad been perfectly still. for it was a wiudless, heavv day. Suddenly the treetops shook, as from the passage of a strong wind, and the branches crqaked, and

.all the leaves of the forest made ;a ioud, murmqring, svvlshiiig ' sound. The bush was full of small unearthly noises.'"'It sebt shivers down my b.ackbone, and the hai,r stood up on. my head like the brist-leS o'f a ivitd boar. • My legs. sliook, my heart I'olled about in my breast with f right of I lcnew not what. All this is an instant qf time, and next minute I turned to call to niy coni■paniou, the tohunga. But- lie had vauishe'd! A few momeitts before he had been sitting there, with the bottte and pannikin before him — now he was gone! " Almost a Miracle. That Panapa escaped from the custody of the turehu who- had capttif--*ed Jiim for daring .to allpw Te Pou to cut the vine, is something of a miracle and only came about- th rough Panapa fehiemb eringa to reci-te -the right karakia to free liimself irom the fairy folk. Yes; intleedj it is a dangerous thing to' invade ' tlie realms of the fairy- folk without their permission. Ambng tlie favour.ite homes of the •turehu are the mountain at. Te Aroha ■ and the range on the Thames Peninsula, also on Monnt Ngongotaha on' :-the shore of T.ake Rotorua. If you will read -the storv told bv James Cowan" you will learn how a beauteous maid of tlie turehu ehased and almost cap"tured . [heuga on Ngongotaha, with in- . tent to make hiin her husband. • i, If you do not believe these stories ! vou are not worthy of the name • of . New Zealander.