Folk and Demon Lore of the Maori.

(Ngati-Awa.)

The Story of Hau-kopeke and the Ririo.^‡

Here begins the story of a certain [unclear: mm] of old who was carried off by the. Ririo which is an atua. The name of that man was Hau-kopeke, he was an ancestor of ours. The Ririo lived on the Kai-manawa Ranges. Hau-kopeki lived at Ruatahuna, at the base of Kai-manawa. The cause of this man being carried off—it was this—he ate of the food of the sacred oven prepared for the priest. Thus he was carried off in the clutches of Ririo. But the multitude of the people did not see him being taken, they merely heard him being carried through the tree-tops, carried to Kai-manawa, the abode of the Ririo. Then the page 40 tohungas (priests) assembled at the tuahu (sacred place where religious ceremonies, divinations, &c, took place.) They donned the sacred girdle and extending their arms, prayed aloud. For seven nights was the man lost, for seven nights did the priests remain at the tuahu without partaking of food.^* On the seventh day as the sun was declining, Hau-kopeke was returned and cast down from the tree-tops close to the village. And one side of that man was crippled. Behold how great was the power of the tohungas of old.