Māori mythology Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern fantastic tales relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the pr ...

, Te Wheke-a-Muturangi is a monstrous octopus destroyed in Whekenui Bay, Tory Channel or at Patea by

Kupe Kupe ( ~1180-1320) was a legendary Polynesian explorer, navigator and great rangatira of Hawaiki, who is said to have been the first human to discover New Zealand. Whether Kupe existed historically is likely but difficult to confirm. He is g ...

the navigator. The octopus was a pet or familiar of Muturangi, a powerful tohunga of

Hawaiki In Polynesian mythology, (also rendered as in Cook Islands Māori, in Samoan, in Tahitian, in Hawaiian) is the original home of the Polynesians, before dispersal across Polynesia. It also features as the underworld in many Māori stories. ...

. The wheke was nonetheless a wild creature and a guardian. When Kupe reached

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, he encountered the beast off

Castlepoint Castlepoint is a small beachside settlement on the Wairarapa coast of the Wellington Region of New Zealand. It is home to a lighthouse which stands near the top of the northern end of a reef. The reef is about one kilometre long. At the south ...

. The giant octopus then fled across

Cook Strait Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A ...

, and was chased by Kupe through Tory Channel. Here a great battle took place, and when the octopus appeared to be about to flee, Kupe cut off its arms with his

adze An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing ...

, killing it (Tregear 1891: 184, 620). In the traditions of the

Ngāti Ranginui Ngāti Ranginui is a Māori iwi (tribe) in Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Its rohe (tribal area) extends from Waihi in the north, to the Kaimai Range in the west, to south of Te Puke in the south, and to Tauranga in the east. The rohe does not exte ...

people of

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

, Te Wheke-a-Muturangi was killed by their ancestor

Tamatea Tamatea is a suburb in the west of the city of Napier, in the Hawke's Bay Region of New Zealand's eastern North Island. Demographics Tamatea, comprising the statistical areas of Tamatea West, Tamatea North and Tamatea East, had a population o ...

, and is not associated with Kupe. New Zealand ethnologist David Simmons has suggested that this may be the more authentic tradition, and that the association with Kupe is found only in problematic sources (Simmons 1976). Another theory for Te Wheke-a-Muturangi states that the name actually refers to the many navigation paths centered on

Raiatea Raiatea or Ra'iatea ( Tahitian: ''Ra‘iātea'') is the second largest of the Society Islands, after Tahiti, in French Polynesia. The island is widely regarded as the "centre" of the eastern islands in ancient Polynesia and it is likely that th ...

with tentacles reaching out across the Pacific at least as far as the edges of the

Polynesian Triangle The Polynesian Triangle is a region of the Pacific Ocean with three island groups at its corners: Hawai‘i, Easter Island (''Rapa Nui'') and New Zealand (Aotearoa). It is often used as a simple way to define Polynesia. Outside the triangle, th ...

(Tetahiotupa 2009).''Au gré des vents et des courants'' (Éditions des Mers Australes)
E. Tetahiotupa, 2009 In French Polynesian oral tradition this octopus is also known as "Taumata-Fee-Faatupu-Hau" (Great Kraken of Prosperity) and "Tumu-Rai-Fenua" (Beginning-of-Heaven-and-Earth).

References

* D. R. Simmons, ''The Great New Zealand Myth: a study of the discovery and origin traditions of the Maori'' (

Reed Publishing Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd (formerly A. H. Reed Ltd and A. H. and A. W. Reed Ltd) was one of the leading publishers in New Zealand. It was founded by Alfred Hamish Reed and his wife Isabel in 1907. Reed's nephew Alexander Wyclif Reed joined the fi ...

: Wellington) 1976. *

E. R. Tregear Edward Robert Tregear , Ordre des Palmes académiques (1846–1931) was a New Zealand public servant and scholar. He was an architect of New Zealand's advanced social reforms and progressive labour legislation during the 1890s. Biography He was ...

, ''Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary'' (

Lyon and Blair John Rutherfurd Blair (8 February 1843 – 25 November 1914) was the Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand from 1898 to 1899. Biography Blair was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and was a paper merchant. His career started with a large Glasgo ...

: Lambton Quay), 1891, 184, 620. {{Māori-myth-stub Māori legendary creatures Mythological cephalopods

See also

References