For
three days in the village of Mt. Cook, it rained and rained and rained. The sun broke through for about 2 hours
on the second afternoon, but New Zealand’s highest peak never materialized. As with any great monarch, an audience with
Aoraki is never assured.
The
following is the the Maori legend of Aoraki:
The story of Aoraki is
about four brothers who made a huge mistake and that mistake became the
mountain range known today as Te Tiritiri o Te Moana (The Southern Alps).
The story begins when
there was only darkness. Out of the darkness came Maku (moisture), who married Mahoranuiatea
and they has a son called Raki. Raki married Pokoharua-te-po and their sons
were Aoraki, Rakiroa, Raaraki and Rakiroa. They all lived in a special place in
the heavens, where they had everything they could ever want. Until one day,
Pokoharua-te-po became upset because Raki had fallen in love with another
woman, Papatuanuku (Earth Mother). Raki descended from his home in the heavens
to the earth, where he married his new love. Pokoharua-te-po just cried and
cried.
Aoraki and his three
brothers became angry because of what their father had done to their mother and
they decided to visit Papatuanuku. They climbed into their magical canoe called
Te Waka o Aoraki and descended from their home in the heavens, sailing across a
great ocean called Te Waonui o Takaroa (The Great Ocean of Takaroa). Aoraki and
his brothers journeyed for a long, long time until they found the new wife of
their father. They gazed at Papatuanuku as she lay across the ocean with their
father and realised their father was really in love with her.
Aoraki and his
brothers decided that they should return home to comfort their mother who had
remained in the heavens.
Aoraki stood in the
magical canoe and began the sacred chant that would make the canoe rise back
into the heavens. But he made a mistake in the chant and instead of returning
to the heavens, Aoraki and his brothers remained on earth. Strong winds began
to blow and the sea began to rise. Aoraki and his brothers panicked when they
realised they were stranded on earth. The storm became stronger and the canoe
turned on its side. Aoraki and his brothers climbed onto the side of the canoe
and waited for someone to come and rescue them. They waited for a long, long
time, but no-one came. Slowly, as time passed, their hair turned white and
their bodies became as hard as stone.
Finally, Aoraki and his
brothers became snowcapped mountains. Aoraki, the eldest of the four brothers,
was the tallest peak of the mountain range and is known today as Aoraki, or
Mount Cook, with his brothers sitting on either side of him. Their canoe became
the land we live upon today, known as Te Waipounamu (The Greenstone Waters),
but the ancient name our ancestors gave the South Island was Te Waka o Aoraki
(The Canoe of Aoraki).
Source: Te Karaka Makariri/Winter
1998 p48
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