Maori legend of how the kiwi lost its wings
One day, Tanemahuta, guardian of the forest noticed that his children the trees were starting to sicken, because they were being eaten by insects. He discussed this with his brother, Tanehokahoka, the guardian of the birds of the air, and Tanehokahoka called his children together so that Tanemahuta could speak to them. But not one bird volunteered. Tanehokahoka was saddened, because if no bird would agree to protect the children of Tanemahuta, then the birds themselves, the children of Tanehokahoka, would be homeless when the insects had eaten the trees. "E kiwi," he said, "I must tell you that if you do this, you will need to grow thick, strong legs to rip the logs on the forest floor apart. Your fine coloured feathers and your wings will be lost to you, so that you will never be able to return to the treetops again. If you do this, you will always dwell in darkness away from the light of day. E kiwi, knowing all this, will you still come down and protect my children?" This agreed, Tanehokahoka dealt with the other birds. He told Tui that because he was afraid to come down into the dark he would wear the two white feathers of a coward at his throat forever. Pukeko, for his hatred of the damp, was doomed to walk in the swamps from that day forward, and Pipiwharauroa, who had been too concerned with his nest, Tanehokahoka decreed would ever after be a vagrant, laying his eggs in the nests of other birds. But the noble Kiwi, he said, who sacrificed his way of living and his wings for the good of the forest, would be loved and revered for the rest of time. |