A myth which to the Maori quite satisfactorily accounts for the readiness with which fire can be obtained from…
- Date of account
- Published 1923
- Source
- Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand
- Reference
- Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand · selected passage 10
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-25
Record summary
A myth which to the Maori quite satisfactorily accounts for the readiness with which fire can be obtained from the kaikomako by the simple process of taking a dry block of the wood and rubbing a groove in it with a stick of hardwood--with, of course an incantation to give more power to the elbow--until the dust and the…
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyA myth which to the Maori quite satisfactorily accounts for the readiness with which fire can be obtained from the _kaikomako_ by the simple process of taking a dry block of the wood and rubbing a groove in it with a stick of hardwood--with, of course an incantation to give more power to the elbow--until the dust and the shavings become ignited. The _kaikomako_ wood is used as the _kauati_, the piece which is rubbed; the pointed rubbing stick which the operator works to and fro is the _kaurima_. _Motu_ in these two names is a tree-clump or grove. There are none of the ancient fire trees on the bay shores nowadays; the _pakeha’s_ pinus insignis and cocksfoot grass have long supplanted them.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.
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