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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 11, Issue 8 (November 2, 1936)

Retribution

Retribution.

But the lovers were not left undisturbed for long. The chief to whom Te Hana had been betrothed, the young warrior Rangi-whapapa, raised a large fighting party to avenge the insult and the injury and regain his promised wife. He invaded the district of Okahukura and captured many villages of the tribe to which the wife-stealer belonged, the Ngati-Awa, or Ngati-Rongo. At last he reached and besieged the stockaded village at Manu-kapua where Te Hana was living with Taurewa.

The pa was assaulted, and when the chieftainess saw that it would very presently be captured she climbed up on the roof of the carved meeting-house called “Tutangi-mamae.” She sat there, astride the ridge pole, at the front of the house above the porch. She called to the people, who were rushing about in terror and despair, to run in beneath her and take refuge in the house. Her act in bestriding the entrance ensured safety for all in the house. In accordance with custom all these were spared by the conquering hero Rangiwhapapa. As for Taurewa, the too-cunning lover, he was killed there, desperately defending the gateway in the stockade.

Thus was the atahu spell destroyed. Te Hana turned to Rangi-whapapa, and the two became man and wife, as was destined from the beginning. The unlawful love romance had caused many slayings and great destruction and it was to cost more yet, for the Ngatiwhatua did not rest until they had completely conquered the country on the shores of Kaipara Harbour. Later they extended their wars to the south and they successfully invaded the Tamaki country, where the city of Auckland spreads over the hills and plain.