Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga

p.18 Kahungunu hair story (see also JPS 1905, vol 14 (2): 85 and JPS 1914: vol 23(90): 113).

"On one occasion Kahu-ngunu—Tamatea's son—said to Te Poi, "Go and fetch some flax to tie up the top-knot of my hair." So it was brought and properly worked, and the hair tied up into the usual knot, but the flax all broke. So Kahu-ngunu said, "A! far better is the whara-nui [a species of flax] that grows at Te Rawhiti-roa" [near the East Cape]. And hence arises the name Putiki-wharanui [for the Maori village just opposite the Town of Whanganui]."

Told by Te Matorohanga and Nepia Pohuhu. Written by H. T. Whatahoro. Translated by Percy Smith