Polynesian Mythology · The Story of Marutūāhu, the Son of Hotunui, and of Kahureremoa, the Daughter of Paka (3/3)

And each of the many hundreds of persons who had come out to welcome her, as she passed his residence, prayed her to stop there; but Takakōpiri continued to say to her, “Press on, follow close, quite close, after me;” and so he led her through the throng of people, each of whom felt so moved towards the young girl, that, although they were in the very presence of their young lord, they could not help soliciting her to stop at each house as she came by. At length she arrived at Takakōpiri’s dwelling, and there for the first time she stopped and sat down, and the people came thronging in crowds to gaze upon her; and they spread before the two young girls food in abundance, the birds which the young chief had taken upon the mountains; and a feast was made for the crowd that surrounded them; thus they remained feasting, and admiring that young girl, and when the sun sank below the horizon, they were still sitting there gazing upon her. The youths of the village thought they could never be weary of looking at her, but none dared to utter one word of love for fear of Takakōpiri. Before a month had passed she was married to the young chief, and she bore him a daughter, named Tuparshaki, from whom, in eleven generations, or in about 275 years, have sprung all the principal chiefs of the Ngāti Pāoa tribe who are now alive (in 1853).