“Oh! my children,” murmured Kahu. He then cautioned his daughter not to enter the house where young people resort for amusement.
“I never go to the play-house,” replied Hinetekakara, “I always sleep with my mother in our own house.”
“You do well,” said Kahu; “in twenty days we shall both be free from our tapu.”
So they both continued to dwell in their sacred house by themselves, and the damsel always cooked food for [pg 64] them; and when the day fixed by Kahu came he sent Ihenga in a canoe to catch fish to complete the ceremony of removing the tapu. The fish were caught, and two ovens were prepared to cook them—a sacred oven for the tohunga, or seers skilled in sacred lore—and a free oven for the [tauira], or those being instructed in sacred lore. And when the food was cooked they assembled to eat it: the tohunga on the right hand fed each other by hand, and the [tauira] on the left ate freely their unsacred food. This was done to lighten the weight of the tapu, in order that they might be free. When all this was done, and they were no longer tapu, Hinetekakara became the wife of Ihenga.
The following morning Ihenga searched for the greenstone kaukaumatua, and found it in the place where Tuhoro had buried it. He then fastened it to the ear of Hinetekakara, bidding her go and show the treasure to her father. When Kahu beheld his lost treasure hanging from his daughter’s ear he gave utterance to his feelings with tears and words of affection for his dead brother, and when the tangi or lament was ended, bid her keep the treasure for herself, and for her cousin.
Some time afterwards Hinetekakara conceived, and Ihenga went to catch kiwi for her turakanga.[46] He took with him his dog Potakatahiti, one of the same breed as the dog of the same name which was devoured by Toi and Uenuku.[47] Crossing the swamp Kawa, he went to [pg 65] Papanui, and arriving at the cross-road at Waipumuka ascended the hill Paretawa. Thence he went on to Hakomiti, and Pukerangiora, and began to hunt kiwi. The dog feeling the heat, and becoming thirsty, went off in search of water, at the same time hunting kiwi. When he caught a kiwi he left it on the ground. At last a kiwi ran a long way, and tried to escape by running into a lake where the dog caught it. The dog then began to catch in its mouth the small fish called inanga; and having filled its belly returned by the way it had come, always picking up the kiwi, which it had left on the ground, and carrying them in his mouth, till he reached his master, laid them on the ground before him. Seeing the dog dripping with water, Ihenga said to his companions, “Ho! the dog has found water. There is a lake below, perhaps.” However they did not then go to look for it, for they were busied about cooking food. Meanwhile the dog began to roll on the ground in front of Ihenga, belly upwards. It then lay down, but not long after began to vomit, and the inanga were seen lying on the ground. Then they went to look for the water, and the dog ran before them barking every now and then to let his master know which way he was going. In this way they soon came to the lake. Shoals of inanga were leaping on the water; so they made a net with branches of fern, and having caught a great many, cooked some for food; after which they returned to Maketu, carrying with them basketsful of inanga to show to Kahu, that he might know how the lake abounded with food. Ihenga named the lake Te Roto-iti-kite-a-Ihenga (=the small lake discovered by Ihenga), thus claiming it as a possession for his children.
[pg 66] When they reached Maketu Ihenga told Kahu about the lake he had discovered.
“Where is it?” inquired Kahu.
“Beyond the hills.”
“Is it a long way off?”