A Ngaitahu Account

This Ngaitahu version of the story of Pare and Hutu is taken from John White's ‘Ancient History of the Maori’, volume II. The translation is a new one.

A very similar account is recorded in ‘Te Ika a Maui’ by Richard Taylor, who collected most of his material in the Taranaki district. There is another interesting version, recorded by Hare Hongi, in which almost exactly the same story is told of a man named Miru and his sister (see ‘Journal of the Polynesian Society’, vol. V, p. 118).

In this as in many other stories, it is the woman who takes the initiative in courtship. This was often the Maori custom. In this case, Pare's high rank enables her to be especially forthright in her approach.

The darts with which they played were thin, light rods, about three feet in length.

There was a kind of swing or ‘giant stride’ (‘morere’ or ‘moari’) which consisted of a tall pole, often slanting over a stream, to the top of which were attached plaited ropes on which the players swung. But there was no morere of the kind described in this story.