The Warrior Deeds Of Kaihuma
Kaihamu was the son of Mango, who had a brother called Uetapu. They were both educated in the sacred arts of the ancestors, and became skilled Tohunga’s [priests] and workers of magic and enchantments.
They were also both great warrior chiefs, but Kaihuma was the more expert.
When they had both grown up and educated they both left Kawhia, and travelled across the island to the eastern side, to the land that was then called Tapuika, now it is the area between the Rotorua Lakes and the Bay Of Plenty Coast.
They both found wives, Uetapu married Puaroa, and Kaihamu won the love of a high chieftainess Tuparahaki, who was of high birth,
She was set aside as a ‘puhi’, a virgin, who should not have love affairs until she was ceremoniously given in marriage by her people.
As she grew up she was sought by a young chief called Tukuteke, of the Waitaha tribe, in the Tapuike country, she returned the love and they were married, and lived at Maketu, on the Bay of Plenty Shore, the same place that Tainui and Arawa canoe had first landed.
They had been married for a short time when war burst upon the Arawa.
From the eastward came a wandering band of warriors, led by Te Rangihouhiri, seeking a new home.
They captured Maketu and the Pa [fortified village] Pukemaire, which they made their headquarters for the permanent conquest of the surrounding area.
The people of Maketu and Pukemaire fled inland, to recruit a great force for the battle to recapture their villages.
Tukutehe, placing trust in the words of peace from Te Rangihouhiri, he ventured near Pukemaire, but the chief Te Rangihouhiri treacherously killed him.
When the word of Tututehe’s death reached Tuparahaki, then she was frantic with grief, she lacerated her arms and breasts with sharp flakes of obsidian, as she sang her songs of grief.
There, for two years she sat in her whare [house], speaking little, but ever grieving and brooding, then she dried her tears in thoughts of revenge.
Tuparahaki was still but a young girl, and the fame of her rank and beauty brought many young chiefs from other parts of the country, from Kawhia, and Waikato, from Taupo, from the East Cape.
One after another they sought to wed her, but she refused them all.
She stood up in the crowded council hall [meeting house] one night and said that she would not marry any man save him who brought the head of Te Rangihouhiri.
“Who is Te Rangihouhiri? and how shall we know him? Asked a chief from the Waikato.
Tuparahaki told once more the tale of Tukutehe’s death, and described Te Rangihouhiri and his method of fighting.
He was a tall and savage warrior, exceedingly powerful and skilled in the use of the two-handed wooden sword.
Should there be a battle, he would not engage in the combat at first, but would wait until the struggle was at its height, and the warriors were in the thick of hand to hand fighting.
Then he would rush forth, laying about himself with terrific sweeps of his sword, and cut a lane through his enemies, hacking them down as if they were mere stalks of the korari [flax plant].
When Te Rangihouhiri joined the battle many a man had lost his head to the grim warrior.
The terror of Te Rangihouhiri’s name cooled the ardour of many of the wooers.
At last, the remainders of the tribe called for assistance from the Lakeland Arawa and others to make a combined attempt to expel the invaders.
Kaihamu now enters the scene, and was smitten by the beauty of Tuparahaki, he resolved to take Te Rangihouhiri’s head or die trying.
He learned all he could about his enemies manner of fighting, and Tuparahaki was pleased with his manly vigour and warrior mien of Kaihamu, and saw that he would make a satisfying husband, so she told him all that she could to help his endeavour.
There was much jealousy of Kaihamu among the other chiefs and they made disparaging comments about his war party that only numbered seventy men.
Kaihamu’s men were all lodged in one house, and the rivals intended to march off early one morning and leave Kaihamu’s men behind.
It was the custom then for an old slave to keep watch throughout the night and call out the movement of the stars as morning approached, Kaihamu induced the watchman to misinform the other chiefs when they inquired about the position of the stars.
[Southern Cross]
Kaihamu’s warriors were prepared and on the trail, while all the others slept on, when the combat began Kaihamu made his party hold back at the edge of the forest, shaking the vines to make it appear as if it was a much larger party than it was.
The great battle on the table-land between the Waihi estuary and the mouth of the Kaituna River at Maketu.
Te Rangihouhiri and his men left their entrenchments and fought in the open. Spear clashed on spear, and stone axes smote through skulls and arms, the battle swayed this way and that.
Kaihamu and his men stood aside, waiting for the slayer of Tuparahaki’s husband, and at last, when the roar of battle was at its loudest, Te Rangihouhiri appeared.
A tall and powerful warrior, grey-haired, but as strong and as agile as his youngest follower, he leapt into the thick of the battle.
Like a whirlwind he rushed through his foes, smiting them with mighty blows of his two-handed weapon, then he turned and rushed back again smiting gigantic blows as he went.
Then he met Kaihamu, never was there a battle like that, Kaihamu was armed with a Taiaha
With this he parried the blows Te Rangihouhiri showered upon him, and the old man’s arms had been wearied by the terrible deeds it had already done, then, with a sudden stroke, Kaihamu felled his foe to the ground, and that was the end of Te Rangihouhiri,
Kaimamu, unnoticed by the other warriors, took the sharp-edged greenstone mere from the dead man’s belt [it had once belonged to Tukutehe] and cut off his head.
He then removed the short garment of dog skin, which was one of Te Rangihouhiri’s prized possessions, the head, mere, and garment he wrapped up in a flax mat taken from the battlefield, he then watched the remainder of the fight.
[Dog skin cloak]
The tribe of the dead Te Rangihouhiri were not defeated in that day’s battle, many months were to pass before the invaders left and went to settle in Tauranga.
In the village of Tuparahaki there was rejoicing, the dreaded Te Rangihouhiri had fallen, but by who’s hand?.
One by one the warriors who had slain an enemy showed the head of the vanquished, because many of them were strangers and did not know what Te Rangihouhiri looked like, but the chieftainess made no sign.
Then, out stepped Kaihamu, the young and brave, with his tattoos covered on his cheek by the red war paint, and in his hair the snowy feathers of the Toroa [Albatross], he indeed looked like a fine warrior.
He paced up and down the centre of the meeting house and when in front of Tuparahaki he pulled out the greenstone Mere [axe] and held it above his head.
“Ka-tahi, - That is one token, go on” exclaimed Tuparahaki.
With stately stride, he returned to the other end of the meeting house, and when he came back, he had a rolled up garment in his hand.
This he unrolled it and threw it around his shoulders, it was the dog skin cloak.
“Ka-rua - that is two tokens, go on,” said Tuparahaki.
Quickly our hero once more stood in front of Tuparahaki and flourished the severed head of Te Rangihouhiri, and with a cry of triumph she cried, “No more will the Wairua [ghost] of Tukutehe come before me at night and cry for vengeance”.
Tukutehe is avenged, and you shall be my husband”
Shortly after Kaihamu and his wife Tuparahaki went back to Kawhia where they lived for the rest of their lives.
https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-spread-of-the-descendants-of-hoturoa
https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/tainui-canoe-travels-from-hawaiki-to-new-zealand
https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/myths-and-legends-of-new-zealand-intro
https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-this-series-began
with thanks to son-of-satire for the banner
You just got a Team NZ upvote!
This is a curation bot for TeamNZ. Please join our AUS/NZ community on Discord.
Why join discord room? Here are 10 reasons why.<
Enjoying the bump? Please consider supporting your fellow Kiwis with a delegation. How? Read here.
For any inquiries/issues about the bot please contact @cryptonik.