PROVERBIAL AND POPULAR SAYINGS OF THE MAORI Na H. T. M. WIKIRIWHI ETAHI PEPEHA A NGA IWI Kua warewareta te nuinga o nga pepeha a-iwi inaianei, kaore i te mohiotia e te rangatahi, erangi i nga tau rua tekau ki te toru tekau kua pahemo nei, e rangona whanuitia ana i runga i nga marae, He raungaiti, he wana nga mea nei, etahi he mihi, etahi he taunu, otira hei whakangahau hei whakoakoa to ratou tikanga. Na ratou ka manahau te tu a nga kaumatua i nga marae, he tohu he mea whakangau ki te paepae tapu o te whare wananga. Na, me ka tupono koe ki te marae o Te Ati Awa ki Oae, tekau maero ki te raki o Nuparemata, ka rongo pea koe i tenei, te mea tuatahi o nga pepeha tekau-ma-waru o tenei rarangi:— “Ko te ‘Ati Awa o runga o te Rangi” E hoki ana tenei korero ki a Tamarau te hekenga Rangi, he wairua; ka haere mai ki te whenua nei, ka tutaki ki a Rongouaroa, e kaukau ana i roto o tetahi awa, a, ka mohio ki a ia. Kua whanau te wahine nei i tana tamaiti i a Rauru. No te hokinga o Tamarau ki tona kainga i te Rangi, ka munaia iho ki tana wahine;—“E whanau ta taua tamaiti he tane, tapa tona ingoa ko Awanuiarangi, mo te awa i heke iho ai ahau i te Rangi.” Kaore i penei te tau o te katoa o nga korero mo nga pepeha nei. Na te nehu tupapaku o mua, na te amo i nga rangatira ki runga i nga maunga teitei tenei, he mea rongonui:— “Ko te Arawa e waru pumanawa.” E tautapa ana i nga tamariki e waru a Rangitihi, te mokopuna tuatoru a Tamatekapua. No tenei ra, kua kitea, he tamaiti he hapu, ara, ko Te Kotahitanga o Te Arawa, he paiheretanga motuhake whai mana. Ko te whakapakanga o te tokowaru nei ko Tuhourangi, he toa, he iwa putu ke tona roa, na ka mate, ka tu mai te mea uaua ko te amo ra ki runga o Rawahia, kei Tarawera. E rua tekau maero te mamao o Ruawahia i te pa i takoto ai ia, e toru mano putu te teitei. “Me pewhea ra,” ko te patai a te iwi, Katahi ka whakatika tetahi o ona tuakana, ka whakamarama, e waru ke nga manawa o Te Arawa, koia nei te pepeha e whakapuakitia nei. “Ko Te Arawa e waru pumanawa.” Eke pai te kaumatua nei a Tuhourangi, ki te tihi o Ruawahia, ki te warahaara o ona tipuna. “Ko nga maunga katoa he tangata,” e ai ki ta te Maori korero, no reira ko enei he mea tango mai i te rarangi ara noa atu ke te roa:— “Ko Tongariro te maunga, Ko Taupo te moana, Ko te Heuheu te tangata.” Many tribal mottoes are today forgotten, yet twenty to thirty years ago they were often heard on every marae. They were terse vivid, some complimentary, others critical, but it was customary to accept them in a spirit of fun and good fellowship. They enlivened the speeches of tribal elders, and were symbolic of a speaker's scholarship in the lore of the Wananga. Thus, if you chanced to be on the marae of the Te Ati Awa at Manukorihi, ten miles north of New Plymouth you would possibly hear the following, the first of a list of eighteen pepeha:— The ‘Ati Awa of the Heavens’ The origin of this, dates back to one Tamarau te Heketanga Rangi; he was a wairua, and on a visit to this earth, he met and consorted with Rongouaroa who was bathing in a river. She had recently given birth to Rauru. When Tamarau finally went back to the skies, he said to her: If our child should be a boy, name him Awanui-a-rangi, after the river where we first met. Not all mottoes have as picturesque a story. The custom of carrying the remains of chieftains of rank to lie in caves on high mountain tops has given us the well known: The Arawa of the eight pulsating hearts This is a reference to the eight children of Rangitihi the great-great-grandson of Tamatekapua. Each child today forms a sub-tribe and symbolizes the unity and strength, of the Arawa confederation. The youngest of this family of eight was Tuhourangi, a giant, who was nine feet in height, and on his death the task of carrying him to the summit of Ruawahia near Tarawera posed a problem in transportation. Ruawahia was twenty miles south of the village where he lay, its summit 3,000 feet high; most families would be embarrassed. It was then that one of his brothers referred to the fact that Te Arawa had eight hearts, thus the saying quoted above: The Arawa of the eight pulsating hearts. Tuhourangi was carried safely to rest in the valhalla of his ancestors on Ruawahia's peak. “All mountains are men,” say the Maoris of old, and so the next sayings— Tongariro is the mountain, Taupo is the sea, And Te Heuheu is the man. Hikurangi is the mountain Waiapu is the river, And Ngatiporou is the tribe. Maunganui is the mountain, Tupaea is the man. For the Tauranga district. Edgecumbe is the mountain,