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.