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[TRANSLATION.] "O let me weep! Let me utter now the lamentation For thy younger brother, Waihuka; Lo, the year is long O Tuteanioamo ; And this long year is thine." HineiteJcaJcara. The men were born, the elder and the younger brother; but they had neither father nor mother, nor tribe, nor place. The name of the younger was Waihuka, and the name of the elder brother was Tuteamoamo. The younger brother married a woman named Hineitekakara, —a very beautiful woman, very beautiful indeed. The elder brother became envious, and he said, "My younger brother has borne away this beautiful woman, "What shall Ido to get her into my own possession ?" The elder brother thought over this matter, and he devised a means of getting rid of his brother when they should go on the sea to fish. He said to his brother therefore, " Let us two go to catch fish," and the brother consented.! They paddled on the sea till they had gone to a great distance, even until land was out of sight. And there were no lands visible. The younger brother sat in the bow of the canoe, and the elder in the stern. The anchor was cast into the! sea, and the bait was fastened upon the hooks,' and the lines thrown out. j They fished for a long time, and each caught one hundred fish. The fish were whapuku. Their canoe being heavily laden, they thought of returning. The elder brother still kept the design he had formed in his heart, namely of destroying his brother, and taking his wife for himself. The elder brother now said "Haul up the anchor of our canoe." "I cannot," said the younger brother, "the anchor is so large." The elder brother said "Nevertheless, haul it up." "I am not able," said the brother. The younger brother seized the rope and made an attempt to haul up the anchor, but it moved not from the bed of the sea; and he called out, "I cannot get it up ; but do you come and haul it up." The elder brother replied, "Rather do you dive and fetch it up." "Dive yourself" was the answer of the brother. "But do you dive" said the elder brother, and an altercation took place as to who should dive for the anchor. Ultimately the elder brother succeeded in his wish, and the younger brother threw himself into the sea to dive for the anchor. When he had gone down into the sea, and was no longer visible to the eye of his brother, the

rope was cut by the elder brother, and the sail unfurled. When the canoe was at a distance from the anchorage the younger brother appeared on the surface of the water, and he called out "Let the canoe come hither to me." The elder brother took his garments and put them into the sea saying "These thy garments will serve thee as a canoe." The younger brother called again, " Bring hither the canoe for me." " Take these for a canoe" said the elder as he threw his matting into the sea. "Oh do let me get into the canoe," said the younger brother ; but the elder brother cast his articles into the sea one by one saying, "These will serve as a canoe." The things thrown out were the fishing line, the cross pieces, the paddle, and the bailer. The younger brother now drifted upon the sea, and he thought within himself as to how he should escape. He now prayed to the gods and then called to the birds, saying, "O toroa, take me to land ;" but the bird answered not. He then said "O Karoro, take me to land ! O Kawau, take me to land!" but they hearkened not. After this he called to the fish of the sea, and none of the fish hearkened to his call except the whale, for the whale was an ancester of his, being a pet of Tinirau the great Chief of this world. Scarcely had he uttered the words "O whale, take me to land!" when the whale darted forward, and he threw himself upon its back, and was taken to the shore. The elder brother sailed on until he reached the land, and when he went on shore, the woman came out of her house, and not seeing her husband she said, "Where is your younger brother?" "He is on board another canoe," was the reply. The woman thought that her husband was dead, for she suddenly felt overcome with grief, and she went into the house to weep. In the evening, the elder brother went to the door of the woman's house, and called out "Hineitekakara, draw back the slide of the door." And the woman replied : "O let me weep ! Let me utter now the lamentation For thy younger brother, Waihuka : Lo, the year is long O Tuteamoamo ; And this long year is thine." The woman was discing a hole in the earth wnile she uttered these words, to make her escape, and she had at this time dug down as deep as her waist. After a while, the elder brother called oul | again, "Hineitekakara, draw back the slide ol the door." And the woman replied : "O let me weep ! Let me utter now the lamentation For thy younger brother, Waihuka;

Lo, the year is long O Tuteamoamo ; And this long year is thine." The depth of the hole was now up to her neck. After a while he again called, but no answer came from the woman ; and when he broke open the door, lo! she was gone. The woman having escaped from the house, journeyed along the sea shore in quest of her husband's body or bones, for she thought he was dead. Presently she saw an albatross, and said to it "Hast thou seen a mouldering heap about here ?" And the bird replied "No." She afterwards saw the Kawau, the Karoro, and many other birds, and she said to them, and to the fishes of the sea' "Have ye seen a mouldering heap about here ?" "We have not seen it," was the reply of them all. The woman now saw a whale ; and asked it, and the whale answered saying, "He is yonder on the land." The woman went forward to the place pointed out by the whale, where she found her husband sitting, and she fell on his neck, and they wept together. When they had ceased weeping, the husband said, "Let us go to our house." They both journeyed thence to their house, and after they had entered, they again wept together secretly, so the elder brother heard not their lamentations. Waihuka then took his comb, and after arranging his hair, he decorated it with feathers ; he took also his choicest garments, in which he attired himself, and he grasped his ornamental spear, and said to his wife, "Do I handle this well ?" "You do," said the woman. He threw down his spear and took up a meremere, waving it about he said, "How now ? do I look well ?" "Cast that weapon away" was the answer. He then took a kotiata, saying "Look at mc, do I look well with this :" "No, it is ill with thee," said the woman. He again seized his ornamental spear, while it even touched the ground, the blade quivered, and Heneitekakara said, " Now, thou handiest tby weapon well. If thou doest so, thy elder brother will fall before thee." At eventide in the cool of the day, Tuteamoamo approached the door of the house and said, "Hineitekakara, draw back the slide of the door, draw back the slide of the door." "Enter O Tuteamoamo" said Hineitekakara, Tuteamoamo went in, when his younger brother sprang forward and felled him to the ground. Lo ! this is the end.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MMTKM18550201.2.49.1

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume I, Issue 2, 1 February 1855, Page 25

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,307

Untitled Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume I, Issue 2, 1 February 1855, Page 25

Untitled Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume I, Issue 2, 1 February 1855, Page 25

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