In
Māori mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the ...
, Wahieroa is a son of
Tāwhaki
In Māori mythology, Tāwhaki is a semi-supernatural being associated with lightning and thunder.
Genealogy
The genealogy of Tāwhaki varies somewhat in different accounts. In general, Tāwhaki is a grandson of Whaitiri, a cannibalistic goddess ...
, and father of
Rātā.
Tāwhaki was attacked and left for dead by two of his brothers-in-law, jealous that their wives preferred the handsome Tāwhaki to them. He was nursed back to health by his wife
Hinepiripiri. She helped him back to their house, and brought home a long piece of timber for the fire, to keep him warm. Shortly afterwards, a son was born to them, and named Wahieroa. The name, meaning 'long piece of firewood', was chosen to fix in their son's mind the wrong that had been done to Tāwhaki, in order that one day Wahieroa might avenge him.
In another version, Tāwhaki told his people to collect firewood, and went himself to gather some. The others were lazy, and brought back little wood, but Tāwhaki returned with a long piece of timber on his shoulder. When he saw what the others had brought, he threw it down, and the noise startled them. Tāwhaki told his wife to call their child Wahieroa when it was born, to remind them of the incident. The child was raised with care, and when he grew to adulthood he married
Tonga-rau-tāwhiri When she was pregnant, she had a craving to eat the flesh of a
tūī
The tūī (''Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae'') is a medium-sized bird native to New Zealand. It is blue, green, and bronze coloured with a distinctive white throat tuft (poi). It is an endemism, endemic passerine bird of New Zealand, and the on ...
bird, and asked Wahieroa to catch one. Wahieroa did so. It was cooked and she ate it with relish. Some time later she asked him to bring her another. Wahieroa went into the forest with his slave, but could not find any tūī. The two men went further and further into the forest, until they came to the hunting grounds of
Matuku-tangotango In Māori mythology, Matuku-tangotango (Matuku) is an ogre who kills Wahieroa the son of Tāwhaki
In Māori mythology, Tāwhaki is a semi-supernatural being associated with lightning and thunder.
Genealogy
The genealogy of Tāwhaki varies somew ...
, who killed Wahieroa and captured his slave. Shortly after Wahieroa had been killed, Matoka-rau-tawhiri gave birth to a son, named Rātā, who would one day avenge the death of Wahieroa.
[Biggs 1966, p 450]
See also
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Wahieloa – Hawaii
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Vahieroa (Tahitian mythology)
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Vahieroa (Tuamotu mythology)
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Vahi-vero – Tuamotu
Notes
References
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Legendary Māori people
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