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Maori Religion and Mythology Part 2

[argument and introduction]

Mythical dragons as disciplinary agents. Marakihau. Story of Parekawa and the Taniwha. Te Ataiorongo of Kawhia. The lost isle of Rotoma. Rotorua district. Lost villages of Taupo. Ohinemutu sunk. Women captured by taniwha. Dragon slayers. Taniwha tales of Polynesia. Pouakai. Tuoro. Tipua. Ogre of Hikurangi. Turehu or Patupaearehe. Maero. Ruarangi and the Tahurangi. Fables. Waikato v. Rangitaiki contest. The dancing of the Summer Maid.

The present chapter will deal with what a Maori would describe as taniwha, tipua, turehu and karero tara, or monsters, demons, forest folk, and folk tales. In many cases the taniwha were held to page 473be malignant creatures that destroyed man and often devoured him; the tipua were, in many cases, inanimate objects, or rather objects that we would term inanimate, and these were not harmful to man unless interfered with; while the turehu were mischievous in some cases, but as a rule did not interfere with the sons of man, albeit they occasionally ran off with his daughters.