Pītaka and the Taniwha Pekehaua

Taniwha are mysterious creatures who often live in rivers, lakes and springs and sometimes on land where they can be seen in many forms and shapes. Some taniwha are kaitiaki, or guardians, of the people who live nearby, and others are mischievous and can cause danger to the people who meet them unexpectedly.

There was a rumour that there was a taniwha called Pekehaua living in Te Awahou river who had been capturing and killing travellers passing by. The people were so worried about this that they sent a group of 170 warriors to find and kill this creature. They went into the forest and gathered supplies for the journey ahead. They picked supplejack vines to weave a trap in which to capture the taniwha.

After travelling some way, they reached a deep waterhole named Te Waro-Uri where the taniwha was said to live. They brought out the large woven trap they had made, which was covered in kererū feathers, and tied with rope and stone, and laid it by the riverside. A chief named Pītaka volunteered to be the one to dive deep down into the dark hole where the creature lived.

He dived as deeply as he could into the spring, while all the other people in the group spoke powerful incantations to soothe the beast.

The karakia and chants they performed made the taniwha quiet and the spines on his back softened so that Pītaka was able to slip the rope on to it. They began to pull with all their might while they continued chanting to make them stronger. The taniwha thrashed and pulled some of the men beneath the water, but still they held onto the rope tightly. After a tiring battle, the men were finally able to drag the great creature out of the river and onto the shore.

The taniwha must have been quite a sight for the people who had never seen such a creature. People came from all around to see the creature, which looked like a whale from the sea but with sharp spikes. The men pulled back its flesh and found many human bones, torn clothing and mats, tools, darts and spears that the taniwha had eaten over the years and had been stored inside his belly.

That night, there was a great feast as the people cut up, cooked and ate the flesh of the taniwha known as Pekehaua; happy that they would now be safe from the hungry beast who had once lived in those waters.

This story comes from the original Great Te Arawa Stories website created by Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru (NPeW) Education Trust in 2018. To ensure consistency, minimal updates were made to the text before it was transferred to this new site