A chief named Rangirarunga had a daughter so celebrated for her beauty that the fame of it had reached all parts of these islands.  A young hero named Takarangi also heard of her beauty, and it may be that his heart sometimes dwelt long on the thoughts of such loveliness.  They belonged to different tribes, and war broke out between them, during which the fortress of the girl’s father was besieged.  Soon the inhabitants were near dying from want of food and water.  At last the old chief Rangirarunga, overcome by thirst, stood on the top of the defences and cried out to the enemy:  “I pray you to give me one drop of water.”  Some were willing, and got calabashes of water, but others were angry thereat and broke them in their hands.  The old chief then appealed to the leader of the enemy, who was Takarangi, and asked him if he could calm the wrath of these fierce men.  Takarangi replied:  “This arm of mine is one which no dog dares to bite.”  But what he was really thinking was, “That dying old man is the father of Rau-mahora, of that lovely maid.  Ah, how should I grieve if one so young and innocent should die tormented with the want of water.”  Then he filled a calabash with fresh cool water, and the fierce warriors looked on in wonder and silence while he carried it to the old man and his daughter.  They drank, both of them, and Taka-rangi gazed eagerly at the young girl, and she too looked eagerly at Takarangi; long time gazed they each one at the other; and as the warriors of the army of Takarangi looked on, lo, he had climbed up and was sitting at the young maiden’s side; and they said, amongst themselves, “O comrades, our lord Takarangi loves war, but one would think he likes Rau-mahora almost as well.”

At last a sudden thought struck the heart of the aged chief; so he said to his daughter, “O my child, would it be pleasing to you to have this young chief for a husband?” And the young girl said, “I like him.”  Then the old man consented that his daughter should be given as a bride to Takarangi, and he took her as his wife.  Thence was that war brought to an end, and the army of Takarangi dispersed.

STRATAGEM OF AN ELOPEMENT

Two tribes had long been at war, but as neither gained a permanent victory peace was at last concluded.  Then one day the chief Te Ponga, with some of his followers, approached the fortress of their former enemies.  They were warmly welcomed, ovens were heated, food cooked, served in baskets and distributed.  But the visitors did not eat much, in order that their waists might be slim when they stood up in the ranks of the dancers, and that they might look as slight as if their waists were almost severed in two.

As soon as it began to get dark the villagers danced, and whilst they sprang nimbly about, Puhihuia, the young daughter of the village chief, watched them till her time came to enter the ranks.  She performed her part beautifully; her fall-orbed eyes seemed clear and brilliant as the full moon rising in the horizon, and while the strangers looked at the young girl they all were quite overpowered with her beauty; and Te Ponga, their young chief, felt his heart grow wild with emotion when he saw so much loveliness before him.