Marama-kiko-hura
A chief lady in the ancient canoe, Tainui. She was one of the wives of Hotu-roa, the canoe's commander. Her enchantments (or adultery with a slave) caused the canoe to be unable to pass for a time across the Tamaki portage. Another of Hotu-roa's wives, more learned in magic and incantations than Marama-kiko-hura, chanted forth an incantation far more powerful, and at once the canoe started moving again.
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References
Sources
- Grey, Sir George. (1855). Polynesian Mythology. Auckland: Brett, p. 50.
- Tregear, Edward. (1891). Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary. Wellington: Government Printer, p. 214.
- White, John. (1887). Ancient History of the Maori. 6 vols. Wellington: G. Didsbury, Government Printer, p. 4:32.