How New Zealand was born….

How New Zealand was born….

In the beginning Papa Sky and mama Earth lay close together with their children huddled together between them in darkness. Tane the god of trees and birds finally succeeded in breaking the parents embrace and pushing the sky away from the earth: the rain, the dew, and the mist are the tears that still lament even to the present day. Tawhiri, the wind god went with the father, while the rest of the gods stayed with the mother. Beneath the earth lay the underworld world of po. When the universe was arranged as per their wishes they decided to create mankind. Out of  red soil they shaped the first woman, Tane gave her breath. He mated with her and the dawn maid was born. Tane then took his daughter for wife and another daughter was born. Later she fled to the underworld and remained there when she realized the incestuous relationship. Eventually the Maori Adam was born. 

The first men and hero Maui, thought that Ra ( the sun) moved too fast, so once they (with his brothers) ensnarled him. 

One day when Maui went fishing into unknown waters, after a long struggle he fished the North Island  of New Zealand, Te Ika a Maui – the fish of the Maui – up from the deep seas. At last Maui met his match when he tried killing the great lady of the night in order to secure immortality. For years, his fish lay hidden forgotten in all the mists and storms of the great ocean of Kiwa, hidden from all men.