Ruku-tia

The wife of Tama-nui-a-raki. She left him, and he grieved greatly when he found that she had deserted him for the chief Tū-te-koro-panga. His sorrow changed to anger. He pursued her, and by the power of his incantations made her swim out to him as he sat in the canoe. Then Tama slew her, and cut her body in two. The head and chest he took away with him and buried; but some time after, when the time had arrived for exhuming the bones, a voice from the grave said, "O, severed head!" and the next day the form of Ruku-tia appeared alive, sitting on the grave. After this time, her name was changed to Patunga-tapu.

Tama-nui-a-raki and Ruku-tia had a son named Tu-te-hemahema, and daughters named Merau, Ku-kuru-manu-weka, and Kukuru-peti.

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References

Sources

  • Tregear, Edward. (1891). Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary. Wellington: Government Printer, p. 433.
  • White, John. (1887). Ancient History of the Maori. 6 vols. Wellington: G. Didsbury, Government Printer, p. 2:35.
  • Wohlers, J. F. H. (1876). "Mythology and Tradition of the Maori." New Zealand Institute, Transactions 8:108-123, p. 111.

This article incorporates text from Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (1891) by Edward Tregear, which is in the public domain.