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Location:
Rotorua and Te Awan-hou, New Zealand, Oceania
Description:
This is the story of Pitaka, who fought three taniwha: Hotu-puku, Peke-haua
and Kataore.
Hotu-puku
People were going missing whilst traveling between Rotorua and Taupo district.
The people of Taupo assumed a warparty must be waylaying the travellers,
so sent out a warparty to fight them. The war parties stopped at a place
called Kapenga.... there they had found the real cause of the disappearances:
a taniwha called Hotu-puku. The warparty fled. A new party, including a man
called Pitaka, set out to Kapenga. They hung up a noose, and Pitaka acted
as bait, going through the noose, so that the taniwha would stick his head
through. As soon as Hotu-puku put his head through the noose, it was pulled
tight until he died. Hotu-puku was cut open, and they found the bodies of
the people he had eaten. After burying the bodies, Hotu-puku was cooked and
eaten.
Peke-haua
After his exploits killing Hotu-puku, Pitaka was called to Te Awan-hou to
kill another taniwha, called Peke-haua. Peke-haua was a water taniwha, and
lived in Te Waro-uri, a deep water-hole. As this was a different sort of
taniwha, different methods were required to kill him. Pitaka and his companions
wove traps out of vines, before descending into the chasm. When Peke-haua
was asleep, Pitaka swam down to him, and tied a rope around him, before quickly
escaping. Using spells to aid them, they pulled the taniwha up, so that they
could kill him.
Kataore
Kataore was a cave dwelling taniwha living near the settlement Rotorua, in
the Tiki-tapu district. Continuing the taniwha killing sucess, Pitaka and his
companions slayed Kataore. Unfortunately for Pitaka, this taniwha was the pet of
chief Tangaroa-mihi. He was enraged by the death of his pet, and made war on the killers.
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