page (163)

Chapter XIX

The day of ascending and climbing,
O thousand men!
O red of the altar or deep pool!
But listen, O ear! to the news of the humble one,
And news of the great, and of the ………. woman.
Now I will an answer give,
As I am Te Rangi-ma-tinitini of the south,
And am of Pu-hao-rangi,
And of Te-ao-tu-roa-i-waho,
And Whatitiri-ma-takataka,
And Tirau-maewa,
And Maikuku-makaka the first-born Lord,
And Rau-kata-uri, Rau-kata-mea,
Maiti-iti, Marekareka
Rua-tamahine the adorned one,
And Komata-a-rangi, Ru-nuku,
Ru-rangi, Ru-papa, Ru-kerekere
Tapa-uku, Tapa-horo with the bubbling and pumice-stones.
And Hine-ru-rangi, spreads her fire over all the land
Though she, but is of humble birth,
And glare of such shows in the sky
E'en like the glare at burning of the Tihi-o-manono.
Thou can'st not have the knowledge or the power to give
The ancestry of the family line of lords,
As thou art woman of man descent,
But mine are gods, and mine are goblin sprites
And mine are sacred incantations. Nor can these equal mine,
Nor dare the Tau-po tribe to claim a
great amount of knowledge of the past.
But if thou will, then, chant thy foolish chants,
And chant thy witchcraft chants, yet all in vain
And vainly try to stay the fruit of growing earth,
Or blur the face of open heaven,
Thou art a babbling woman of noisy voice,
page (164) And voice as grating as the Hakoakoa bird,
Which leaps on slippery flat unseen.
Bind, bind thy waist-mat on,
Tie, tie thy waist-mat on
And your waist-mat is an aute (broussonetia papyrifera) one
Or waist-mat made of leaves of trees, nor closed or open is,
Nor is it sacred to the gods, nor gift of it have thy received.
And where's thy gift of wizard power, nor art thou god,
Nor can't thy hold communication with souls in spirit world
Then curse, yes, curse thou man, and all mankind include.
But you and I are one, we live in life, and look and seek in vain
Nor can we find a guard to save our bodies from old death,
Yet I have seen the greenstone called Tai-rapanga,
And ten axes were taken from the block, and one called Wai-hou
Has found its way into thy house,
and thou don't hold as rare a gift,
And hence thy haughty air of dignity assumed to me.
My ancestor's house alone was that one filled
with greenstone blocks,
And one was called Whakaari, (a mere)
And now is held suspended to my neck the Kiekie (a heitiki)
And also flashes in my ear the Pa-werewere (a ……)
With Patu-moana (a greenstone axe) and
Hika-wera (a kurukuru eardrop)
And Te-tiwha-o-te-rangi (a kurukuru eardrop) with
Te-ngako-o-kiritana (a kurukuru eardrop)
And Rangi-paia, with Otakou,
and Tuhi-ta-roa (Hei-tiki and Whakakai)
With Pu-rohu and Kaukau-matua (greenstone Heitiki)
But thou art of the female line, descended of the nameless one,
Nor was the name of thine own ancestor even heard in dread,
But stood in shade, or bowed him down, and then was slain.
And thou was burdened with the work of shellfish collecting,
And thy great shoulders were accustomed to heavy weights,
As was the back of Paia and Rongo-mai to lift the Rangi,
And thou didst lift the fishing-line of the female ancestor
By which thou got the power to know the goblin gods
And heard the son of man go up to heaven,
and I went up to heaven,
page (165) When thunder pealed, and Pungawere (the trade winds) blew,
And Ngahue, sought and found the lands now known
(New Zealand)
By which the female chanter of songs for ……,
Could obtain land, on which to grow the food to save her life
My ancestor was Nga-toro(-i-rangi)
Who food distributed all over Tau-po plains,
By which, thou o inventor of songs, I could have the food
To keep thy life to help thee in thy song-composing power
To sing of goblin gods, who dwell in spirit world,
And of stick which rose at Wai-taha-nui
And left its mark of red in the mat
And caused the overthrown of Rua-peka.
And doest these ask of the migration here of my female ancestor
Who carried the volcanic fire on her back
Which is seen this day at Island Whakaari (White Island)
And onward still it burnt to the interior
And ended at the mountain Tonga-riro?
But doest thou ask the genealogy of Haua-nui
Of Haua-roa, and of Haua-kuha
And of Kahu-kura-nui, and Kahu-kura-roa,
Kahu-kura-kotare, Rangi-nui, Rangi-roa, Rangi-pouri,
Rangi-potango, Rangi-whetuma, Rangi-whekere,
Ao-nui, Ao-roa, Whe-neke, Whe-tara
Tane-i-te-kapua, Rangi-ao, Pu-whao-rangi?
And do our words agree? No our words do not agree,
As thou had fallen flat in Papa-tu-a-nuku (thy knowledge is dead)
And as to heaven of gods, oh! where are gods
(of thine, or known to thee)
This is the day when sacredness can be had,
Sacred, yes sacred, all is sacred from above,
And from below, and from Whiwhia and from Rawea
And emanates from these the sacred lands,
sacred power and influence,
And sacred is from dawn of day, and sacred ever on.
But whence come here the great assembly of Rangi-nui?
They come from above, they come from beneath,
page (166) They come from the Huru-manu
(or Manu-hoa, the plume of red feathers tied on to the
first finger of the right-hand, to cause the atua-po not to
eat the wairua of such person in the Reinga),
They come from the origin, first great cause and creation,
As an offering lasting peace making thence,
And of words, the terms of peace making there.
Climb! Climb, my kite, O Ru! Oh!
On to the rubbish-heap, to cry with two voices, O Ru! Oh!
And to the origin of the power of the missile in the air O Ru! Oh!
Lift the offering of the Lord to the gods,
Lift O……… ! Lift the offering,
The offering of whom? The offering of Rangi-nui,
The offering of whom? The offering of Rangi-roa,
Beyond the deep dark kernel of Kahiwahiwa.
O Lord Tai-rutu!
O Lord Tara-naki!
O Lord Tai-rutu! Oh! Lord Tara-naki is lifted. As the fitting garment (power),
so let the fish (man) rise to the surface,
The …………., and the coming from Hawa-iki
So let it grow, the pith, the blood, the birth, the glow,
Of hands possessed, of feet possessed,
I appear and grow as a man,
And my hand holds Aparia Kauwhata-nui,
Kauwhata-roa And to Kahu-kura,
Kahu-kura-nui Kahu-kura-roa, Kahu-kowhea
Kura-waka, then omens shine, then is the marae swept
The soil where evil is to be enacted here
Where the plumeless god resides,
Wear, Wear, my mat, where rises a bird
For my two most prized, now rising
As a ………to stand on Hua-tea
The battle gained, eyes of a bat, eyes of a bat
Eyes of an old woman, O woman taken! O Rupe!
page (167) Take me to the sky of continued thunder
O the violent! Shake, oh! Shake down,
Shake, oh! Shake upward, Rupe-te-aroaro, dash,
That I was taken to the tide of Motu-tapu O Rupe! Oh!

A song or incantation by Te-ara-tukutuku,
a woman of supreme rank, who composed it
to taunt the people of Tau-po.