Marikoriko, the first woman, and Tiki, her Creator.

Hupene, the old Tohunga, squats muttering on the floor beside his carved ancestor Tiki.

Tiki is a God who in the dim long ago helped to build the world, and the whose carved image is now supporting the middle pillar of the house. His eyes of pawa-shell, which once commanded in the Ten Heavens and were full of fire and wisdom, glisten out of the silent twilight; they stare far, far into the Darkness, which Hine-nui-te-po is slowly spreading over the world, Hine-nui-te-po, the Great Mother of Night, who at one time was young and beautiful, and gave Life to Nature."Haere-mai, e te manuhire, Haere-mai" ("Welcome, stranger, welcome"), so speaks the old Tohunga; then, drawing his flax mat around him, he mutters: "Haere-mai," and, after a long silence again, as if murmuring to himself, "Haere-mai"—but soon his eyes follow those of his ancestor again, gazing into the silence of the slowly descending Night, the ancient goddess Hine-nui-te-po, the Great Mother of Rest. Wisdom dwells with the aged, and their muttering is the sign that their wisdom is ripe. Flying from the mouth of the old, it becomes Mother now and wife to the listening ear.

Robbie Smith

Stem