The Wood Fairies and the Rainbow

The story I am about to tell you happened a great many years ago, so it is well you listen up so it is not forgotten.

It happened one early morning when the first light peeps through, when the birds in the forest begin to welcome their new day. When the darkness of the night is lifting and it is time to rejoice in the arrival of a new day. It is at the beginning, at the break of day that the Patu-pai-a-rehe the ‘Wood Fairies’ (Hakuturi) return to their fortified village amongst the bush-clad slopes of the cloudy summit of Mount Pirongia. These white skinned “little people” i.e. fairies are feared because they are dangerous to mortals.

It was one such morning when a young man named Uenuku set out to hunt while the mist hung low in the valley. As he walks he is recalling the oft told stories spoken by the older village people about the ‘wood fairies’ who live on the summit and travel in the covering of the mist.

[In appearance some appear like us Maori people; others resembled the Pakeha (or white) race; blue eyed similar to fair-skinned Europeans, while some had reddish hair – their fair complexion (especially the ladies) – meant early Europeans encountering them dubbed them ‘waka blondes’. Their clothing was mainly a flax garment dyed a red colour, or a rough mat type of garment. Spoken of as ‘peaceful’ not angry, but having a dread of steam which would rise from cooking pots (they themselves ate mostly raw food) the Patu-pai-a-rehe would retreat to their houses and shut themselves up.]

 He wonders are there eyes out there now peering through the mist at him; he gives an involuntary shiver at his thought. He continues to trek the pathway leading higher up Mt Pirongia, thinking when he should start to hunt, when there is the sound of a flute. He stops, holds his breath straining his ears and hears the sound again, yes, the sound of a flute. He recalls his grandfather telling him,

 ‘To stay home lest the fairy folk of the forest get you; the men play the flute, and some of their women are beautiful with blue eyes, but rather shy.’

 The mist begins to lift as Uenuku stops to rest turning his head to the bush by his side, and there steering back at him are a pair of blue/green eyes! He steers, then putting his hand through the bush he draws out a beautiful fair skinned lady. He knows immediately she has to be a wood fairy but is not able to speak, because he is captivated by what is happening – Uenuku, is looking at female beauty not seen before. Eventually he talks, telling her who he is and why he is on the mount early in the morning. She listens letting him speak of himself, but speaks very little of herself.

The story is that Uenuku didn’t hunt much that day, instead he walked with his fair maiden higher into the covering of the mist and there declared his love. She promises to come to him each evening but,

 “As a wood fairy who lives in the covering of the mist, I will need to return to the mountain before daybreak.”

Uenuku is stricken by her, and over a period of time they marry and a baby girl is born, but still his ‘mist maiden’ would only stay the night, vanishing with the mist in the morning. 

Uenuku tells his friends of his wife and child but because they can’t see her, there is unbelief, and he is disappointed.

One day he decides to cover the house windows to block out the morning sunlight but his ‘mist maiden’ is alert to his trickery and leaves with their girl for good.

For many days in fact years Uenuku went searching for them, beyond Mount Pirongia, asking of his people for the places that the Patu-pai-a-rehe the ‘Wood Fairies’ are known to live. Wandering lonely from new village to another without success he became old and tired, regretting the way he mishandled the love of his

‘mist maiden’ those years past. As he wandered throughout the land, Rangi the Sky Father took pity on him and decided to turn him into a rainbow so he could join his family in the sky!

Life, is a gift and everything we are given is a ‘gift’ and the best way to manage our gifts is to know the wisdom of holding lightly to what we are given. Uenuku, was given the gift of meeting his ‘mist maiden’ and through his meeting find the seed of loving another more than himself. Though he managed this for a time he let the need to be ‘first’ have power thus planning to entrap his ‘mist maiden’ from being herself and her need to return to the sky.

A Biblical poetic expressed his troubles this way;

“Weeping may remain during the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” May the light of each new day bring joy into our hearts and brighten the lives of those we share our living with. It can be with much searching we go about seeking what we have lost, when it can be as simple as being prepared to forgive, the wrongs of others. We are not meant to plan revenge or to repay with our form of justice. We are to ask and seek forgiveness of our own errors and for those we have hurt or wronged and commit the correct justification to the wisdom of the Creator of Life.

When we experience what is described as ‘darkness of the night’ (difficult days) remember the chorus of the birds in the morning and the rainbow and turn dark thoughts into songs of joy.

Word Count: 965

[Maori legend suggests that it is not just cold weather that makes one shudder or shiver on Hihikiwi. It is one of the ancient ancestral homes of the Patupaiarehe (people of the mists). These fairy-like folk will only travel in the dark or under the cover of mists. Travellers caught by heavy mists or by nightfall, would have the eerie sensation they were being watched by a thousand unseen eyes – enough to make the bravest a little nervous.

Notes:

Pirongia is one of the mountains associated in Maori lore with the Patupairehe who were white-skinned “little people” (fairies), usually feared, for they were dangerous to mortals. The Patupairehe were supposed to inhabit large fortified villages in the cloudy summits of the hills, and frequented certain localities throughout New Zealand, even as far south as Foveaux Strait. At times their presence was revealed in the ghostly piping of flutes and the sound of fairy songs heard in the misty forest heights.]

‘Pirongia Mountain’, from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966 Te Ara – the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand.

URL:http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en1966/pirongia-mountain (accessed 22 Mar 2021)