Earlier this year we read the legend of how the
Matatriki Stars were formed. We then retold
the legend in our own words. here are 3 of the
legends.
The
Seven Star Sisters
retold by Madison Taylor
A long time ago there were eight brothers. One of them was
Mitai and he was the youngest brother. They lived in a village with their
koroua (granddad).Mitai had magic powers. He could transform into a bird. Mitai
would soar up into the sky and glide all over the village. He would watch
everyone. Mitai’s brothers were very handsome. They wouldn’t marry anyone less
beautiful than they were.
One day Mitai and his brothers went hunting. Suddenly, they
heard some lovely voices. They got closer and closer until they found seven
beautiful wahine (women). Mitai’s seven brothers immediately fell in love with
the seven wahine. The wahine had long, flowing, golden hair. Mitai warned his
brothers but they didn’t listen. Mitai’s brothers took the wahine back to their village
and got married.
The wahine didn’t join in with the village life and the
brothers didn’t go hunting anymore. They only went fishing for kaimoana
(seafood). The seven brothers were doing everything for the beautiful wahine.
They were so busy doing things for the wahine that they forgot to feed
themselves. The seven brothers lovely looks faded away and they became less
handsome.
One day the seven brothers went fishing. One of them came
home early and called for his wife but she wasn’t there. The other brothers
came home and their wives weren’t there either. Then the first brother’s wife
came home and the brother stared at her and asked her where she had been. Then
the wife burst into a terrible rage.
The next day Mitai was spying on the wahine when he saw
that they had turned into tiwaiwaka (fantails). The wahine were all sitting on
a branch. Mitai transformed into a bird and followed the birds to their maunga
(mountain) where they transformed back into wahine. Mitai was perched on a
branch. He listened to what they wahine were saying. They had a plan to starve
their husbands to DEATH!
Mitai went back to the village and warned his seven
brothers that the wahine had a plan to starve them to death. Mitai said “Look
at yourselves. You are just skin and bone. We must go to our koroua for help.”
Mitai and his brothers went to their koroua for help. Their
koroua wove these magic nets to catch the wahine in. The next day the eight
brothers hid and waited for the tiwaiwaka to come. Next, the tiwaiwaka flew out
of the whare and into the net. The tiwaiwaka turned back into patupairehe
(fairy women) and begged their husbands to release them.
Mitai’s broken hearted brothers went and gave their wives
to Mitai. Mitai turned into a huge albatross and took them to Uru – god of the
heavens – to cast the patupairehe far, far away, never to be seen again.
Uru, god of the heavens, fell in love with the beautiful
wahine. He took the wahine to the heavens. He took them far away from earth.
Once a year Uru lets the wahine have a chance to shine. Their names are Waiti,
Waita, Waipuna-a-Rangi, Tupu-a-Nuku, Tupu-a-Rangi, Ururangi and Matariki. These
are the seven stars of Matariki.
The
Seven Star Sisters
as retold by Megan Johnson
Once upon a legend there was a young man called Mitai.
He lived in a small village with his seven brothers and his koroua. Mitai was
the youngest.
Mitai had magic powers, he could transform into a
bird. He could fly as high as the puffy clouds. His seven brothers were very
handsome. They didn’t get married to anyone because no one was beautiful enough
for them.
One day Mitai and his seven handsome brothers went out
hunting. Then they heard this enchanting singing. They all followed the perfect
singing. The wonderful singing led them to some pretty wahine (women). They had
golden, flowing hair. The seven brother’s immediately fell in love! Mitai
warned them that they were patupairehe (fairy women).
The seven brothers and the seven beautiful women went
back to the village to get married. The wahine didn’t join into the village
life. They would rather sit in the corner of a room and brush their long, streaky,
golden hair and sing. The brother’s
never went hunting anymore. They only fished. All of the seven brothers were
now skinny, their skin was pale and their good looks faded.
One day when the brothers returned from fishing, their
wives were missing. They asked everyone in the village but there were no clues
about why they were missing. Then one of the brothers found his wife. “Where
have you been?” he asked. Then she flew into a terrible rage! AAAHHH!!! She did
not want to tell him.
The next day Mitai sat in a tree and spied on the
women. Suddenly he saw six beautiful fantails sitting on a tree near him. Then he
saw a seventh one flying in! “The wahine!” he said to himself.
Mitai turned himself into a bird and he followed the
fantails. They flew to their maunga (mountain) and turned back into wahine.
Then one snapped “Let’s starve our husbands to death.” They all agreed. That’s
when Mitai’s eyes started to widen.
Mitai went rushing back to the village. “Your wives
want to starve you to death,” he shouted to his brothers. “What?” groaned one
of them. Mitai repeated it. Suddenly all of them went rushing off to their
koroua for help.
Their koroua gave them a magic net. They all hid and
pushed the tiwaiwaka (fantails) into the magic net. They instantly turned back
into wahine. They begged and begged for their husbands to release them.’
The heartbroken brothers gave their begging wives to
young Mitai. Mitai turned into a majestic albatross and went to Uru – god of
the heavens. He gave the wives to Uru and asked Uru to cast them far away from
earth!
Uru fell in love with the wahine. He lets them shine
once a year. Their names are Waiti, Waita, Waipuna-a-Rangi, Tupu-a-Nuku,
Tupu-a-Rangi, Ururangi and Matariki.
The
Seven Star Sisters
retold by Arva van Pelt
Once upon a legend there was a wonderful little boy
called Mitai. He had seven brothers and a koroua (granddad). They all lived in
a village. Mitai had magic powers. He could transform into a bird and glide
over his brothers to listen to their long conversations.
Mitai’s brothers thought that they were the most handsome
men and they did not marry anyone. They didn’t marry because no one was
beautiful enough.
One day Mitai and his brothers went hunting. They
were attracted to beautiful singing up on top of a hill. The brothers walked
and walked until they found seven lovely wahine. The brothers fell in love when
the wahine looked at them. The seven brothers took them back to the village to
marry them. Mitai warned them that the women were patupairehe (fairy women) but
they would not listen to him.
The wahine didn’t join in the village life. They just
stayed home and combed their hair and sang. The brothers didn’t go hunting
anymore. They only went fishing for kaimoana (seafood). All they were was skin
and bone because they didn’t feed themselves.
One day when one of the brothers came home from
fishing he found that his wife was missing. When she came back the brother
asked her where she’d been. Then she got into a terrible RAGE!
Mitai grew very suspicious about the wahine so he
decided to spy on them. One afternoon Mitai was spying on them. He just about
gave up but then he saw six tiwaiwaka (fantail) sitting on a branch. Then a
seventh tiwaiwaka came flying in and that’s when he knew that they were the
wahine. He transformed into a bird and followed the tiwaiwaka
to their mountain – Nongataha. Mitai perched himself on a tree and listened to
the wahine’s plan, to starve their husbands to death.
Mitai went back to the village as fast as he could to
warn his brothers that their wives wanted to starve them to death but they
didn’t believe him. Mitai told them to look at each other and then they decided
to listen. Mitai said that they needed help and so they went to their koroua.
Their koroua gave them a magical net to use to catch
their bird wives. The brothers hid and when their wives came out of their
whares they caught them in their net. They were begging them to release them.
The brothers gave the wahine to Mitai. He transformed into an albatross and
took them to Uru – god of the heavens. He asked Uru to cast them far away from
earth.
Uru started to fall in love with the wahine, like
Mitai’s brothers had. He took the wahine to the heavens far, far away from
earth. He lets them shine once a year. Their names are Waiti, Waita,
Waipuna-a-Rangi, Tupu-a-Nuku, Tupu-a-Rangi, Ururangi and Matariki.
