The Legend Of Manaia, And Why He Emigrated To New Zealand

The cause which led Manaia to come to New Zealand from Hawaiki was his being very badly treated by a large party of his friends and neighbours.

According to the usual custom of, when a chief has any heavy work to be done, he collected these men to make spears for him, and then they virulently ravished his wife, Rongotiki.

It chanced thus, one day Manaia determined to have his neighbours all warned to come to a great gathering of people, for the purpose of making spears him.

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So he sent round a messenger to collect them, and the messenger arrived at the place of Tupenu, who listened to this message, and he, being the chief of the tribe who lived at that place, encouraged his people to go in obedience to the message of Manaia.

They went and set to work, and after some time it happened that Manaia felt a wish to go and catch some fish for his workmen.

So he went off in his canoe with several of his people,

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After he had been gone for some time, the workmen proposed among themselves to assault Romgotiki, the wife of Manaia.

They carried their intentions into execution, without anyone knowing what they were doing.

All this time Manaia was paddling in his canoe, out to sea, and when he had reached the fishing ground, they lay on their oars and began to fish.

Manaia’s people soon caught plenty of fish, but he had not even a single bite, until at last, as they were on the point of returning, he felt a fish nibbling at his hook.

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So he gave a mighty jerk to his line to pull it up, and when he got the fish up to the side of the canoe, to his surprise, he saw that the hook was not in the mouth of the fish, but was fast in its tail.

This has long been esteemed as a sign that your wife was being insulted by somebody, he knew at once how his wife had been treated by his workmen.

Without waiting, therefore, a moment longer, he said to his crew, “Heave up the anchor, we will return to shore”.

So they hove up the anchor and shaped a course for the landing place.

Manaia took the fish he had caught, and with the hook still fast in its tail, tied it to one of the thwarts of the canoe, and left it there, in order that when Rongotiki saw it she might know without him telling her, that he was aware that she had been badly treated by his workmen.

At length, his canoe reached the shore, and the crew jumped out and hauled it up on the sandy beach, and Manaia, leaving it there, walked home towards his village.

When he had got near home, his wife, seeing him approach, arose and made fire ready to roast some fern root for her husband, who she thought would come home hungry.

When he reached home, the fire was lighted and she was sitting by the side of it, roasting the fern root, and she made signs to him by which he might know what had happened.

But he already knew from the manner in which his hook had caught in the tail of the fish.

Then he sent his wife to fetch the fish, saying, “Mother, go and fetch the fish I have caught from my canoe”

So she went, and when she got there, she found that there were no fish but the single one, tied to the thwart of the canoe, with a hook fast in its tail.

Then she took that fish and carried it home with her, and when she got there, Manaia said, “That is the fish I meant you to bring, lest you should have said that I did not know what had taken place until you told me”.

Manaia then turned over in his mind various plans for revenging himself upon the people who had acted in so a manner towards his wife, and he consulted with his own tribe, how they might destroy those who had thus injured him.

When the tribe of Manaia heard what had taken place, they all arose to seek revenge, but before the fighting which arose from this affair broke out, Manaia wen to the people who had wronged his wife.

He told them that he hoped that they would make the spears large and strong, and not put him off with weak things, this was a mere piece of deceit on his part, in order that, when he attacked them, their weapons might be too heavy to readily parry their enemies blows with them.

All these preparations having been made, Manaia lay in ambush with some of his people, and when the opportunity of rushing on their enemies presented itself, Manaia nudged with his elbow, his son, Tu-ure-nui, who was lying by his side.

This was to enable him the chance to distinguish himself by rushing in, and killing the first man of the enemy, but, being afraid, he did not move, and whilst Manaia was encouraging him, in vain, another young man, the name of whose father had never been told by his mother, rushed forward and slew the first enemy.

As his weapon struck him down, he cried out, “The first slain of the enemy, belongs to me, to Kahu-kahu-nui, the son of Manaia”

Then. For the first time, Manaia knew that this young man was his son, his last born son, he had thought before this that Tu-ure-nui was his only son, but when the other young man called out his name, he knew that he was also his son, and pleased with his courage, he loved him very much.

The people lying in ambush, all followed the youth when he rushed on their enemies and slaughtered them.

But the chief, Tupenu fled by way of the beach of Pikopikoi-wheti, and Manaia pursued him closely but was not fleet enough of foot to catch him.

Then he called out to his wife Rongotiki, to utter incantations to weaken his enemy, and she did.

She repeated an incantation termed Tapuwae, and when she had finished that, by her enchantments, she rendered the flying warrior faint and feeble, so Manaia rapidly gained on him, caught him and slew him.

Thus perished Tupenu and the party of people whom he had taken with him to Manaia.

The report of what had occurred soon spread throughout the country, and at last reached the tribe of Tupenu, and when they heard it, they said,

“Your relatives have perished”.

Their army collected and started to destroy Manaia's people, and they slew many of them, and continued time to time to attack them, so their numbers dwindled away,

At last, Manaia began to reflect within himself saying,

“Ah, ah, my warriors are wasting away, and, by and by, perhaps, I also shall be slain, rather than let this state of things continue, I had better abandon this country and, removing to a great distance, seek a new one for myself and my people.

Having made up his mind to act in this way, he began to repair a canoe and to fit it for the sea.

The name of the canoe was Tokomaru, it belonged to his brother in law, and when it was ready for the sea, he asked his brother in law. “Will you not consent to company me on this voyage?.

The latter replied, “Where do you want me to accompany you to”.

Manaia said, “I wish you to bear me company on this voyage, which I am about to undertake, to search for a new and distant country for both of us”.

But his brother in law, when he understood what Manaia was pressing him to do, replied,

“No. I will not go with you”.

Manaia answered, “That is right, do you remain here”.

When the canoe was quite fit for the sea, they dragged it down to the water and hauled it into the sea until it floated, then they brought down the cargo, and stowed it away.

Manaia embarked in it with his wife, his children, and his dependents, and then he said to some of his warriors,

“Let my brother in law now be slain as an offering for the gods, that they may prove propitious to this canoe of ours”.

So he called out to his brother in law, who was standing on the shore, bidding him farewell.

“I say, wade out to me for one minute, that I might tell you something, and take my last farewell, for I am going to part forever from you, leaving you behind”.

When Manaia’s brother in law heard this, he began to wade out to him, at first the water hardly covered his ankles, next it touches his knees, at last, it comes up above his loins, and when it had reached so high he said,

“Shove the canoe a little nearer the shore, I shall be under water directly”.

Manaia answered him, “Wade away, there is no depth of water”, and to deceive him better, he kept on pretending to touch the bottom with a stick, and the poor fellow having no suspicion, believed what Manaia said, that the water was not deep.

Manaia had spoken to his people, “Let him come on, out into the deep water, until his feet cannot touch the bottom, then, seize him by the head and slay him”.

At length, his feet could no longer touch the bottom, and he found himself swimming close to the canoe.

Then Manaia seized him by the head, with one blow of his stone battle axe he clave it, and his brother in law died.

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Having thus slain his victim, he caught up his dog, which had swum out with its master, and lifting it into the canoe, he sailed away, to search for a new country for himself.

The first of the below posts has a list of the previous posts of Maori Myths and Legends

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-war-was-declared-between-tainui-and-arawa

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-curse-of-manaia-part-1

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-curse-of-manaia-part-2

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-legend-of-hatupatu-and-his-brothers

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/hatupatu-and-his-brothers-part-2

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-legend-of-the-emigration-of-turi-an-ancestor-of-wanganui

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-continuing-legend-of-turi

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/turi-seeks-patea

with thanks to son-of-satire for the banner