Fairy Tales and Folk-Lore of New Zealand and the South Seas/The Winged Ogress
LESSON III.
THE WINGED OGRESS.
(New Zealand.)
Shortly after the time when the Maori people came to New Zealand there lived three brothers who were very fond of hunting and fishing. One of these was named Hatu; and he being younger than the others was treated by them with contempt, and did not receive his proper share of the food, or get any of the tit-bits; so he often used to sit by the fire crying, as he ate the oldest and toughest of the birds that had been killed. He became very miserable about being denied his portion of the dainties; and one day, being left behind by his brothers when they set out on a hunting expedition, Hatu crept to the storehouse, and devoured the birds which had been potted in calabashes. When he had eaten till he could devour no more, he went outside the storehouse, broke down branches of the trees, and trampled heavily about the place, so as to make his brothers believe that a war-party had visited the place, and plundered the store. He also wounded himself with a spear, to further carry out the deception, and then lying down as if hurt, awaited his brothers’ return.
When they arrived and found the storehouse plundered, they asked the youth what persons had done this evil, and he told them that a war-party of strangers had been there, and had wounded him. The brothers examined his wounds and dressed them; then they all sat down to eat, poor Hatu only getting his usual share of the worthless morsels which the others did not care for. The tears ran down his cheeks when he thought of their unkindness; but all the notice the brothers took was to say, “Those are not real tears; it is only the smoke which makes his eyes water.” The next day the hunting party again set out, and Hatu repeated his stratagem; again on the day after. But the elder brothers had grown suspicious, and they, having hidden themselves to watch, discovered that Hatu had cheated them. They were terribly angry, and fell upon him with many blows. So cruelly did they beat him that they thought that he was dead; and leaving his body behind, they returned to their own house. When their parents demanded where their youngest son was, they were answered, “We do not know; we have not seen him.”
In the meantime Hatu had recovered his senses, and wandered far away, for he was afraid to take the homeward path lest he should encounter his cruel relatives, and again be beaten. As he went along he entered the forest, and hunted birds for his food. Seeing a fine prize, he made a thrust with his spear round a tree; but instead of hitting his mark, he found that he had wounded an Ogress. She was also spearing birds, using her lips as a spear, she being able to protrude them suddenly to a long fine point, like the bill of a heron. Poor Hatu’s spear had pierced one of her lips. She instantly flew at him as he turned to run, and caught him before he could escape. This was perfectly easy for her, as she had wings on her arms, and could move as swiftly as the wind.
con-tempt′
heav′-i-ly
home′-ward
rel′-a-tive
re-ceive′
worth′-less
cru′-el
pro-trude′
mis′-er-a-ble
strat′-a-gem
en-coun′-ter
mor′-sel
de-cep′-tion
u′-su-al
a-fraid′
un-kind′-ness
pro-trude′, to thrust forth, to push forward beyond.
strat′-a-gem, some trick or artifice by which an advantage is intended to be gained.
de-vour′, to consume; to eat up greedily.
cal′-a-bash, a cup or vessel made of the shell of a gourd.
plun′-dered, robbed; rifled.
LESSON IV.
THE WINGED OGRESS.
Continued.
Kura was the name of the winged woman; and Kura took the youth away prisoner to her home, intending to keep him as a pet, for she was fond of pets, and had many little birds and tame lizards about her dwelling. Hatu was not treated unkindly; but the Ogress always ate her food raw, and she disgusted her captive by insisting that he should eat the same uncooked viands. The youth, however, only pretended to eat his portion of the raw flesh, putting the pieces to his mouth and then letting them fall unobserved. When at dawn Kura departed to spear birds, Hatu stayed behind and managed to cook some food for himself. After he had satisfied his hunger, he usually went in to inspect the treasures which his goblin mistress had stored up. There was a grand cloak of red feathers, another of dog-skin, another of beautifully woven flax; a two-handed sword made of hard wood and beautifully carved; also many little lizards and birds. At last he made up his mind to attempt to escape, so he said to Kura in the morning, “Now, you had better go a long way to-day, past the first mountain range, to the hundredth, to the thousandth, and when you get there you will catch a fine lot of birds.”
Kura departed, and Hatu remained quietly cooking food for himself until he thought that she must have got a long distance away; then he gathered up her cloaks of red feathers, of dog-skin, and of flax, armed himself with the sword, did as much harm to the place as he could, set the tame animals free, and started to make his escape. As soon as he had done this, one of the little birds spread its wings and flew over the hills to Kura, crying out, “O Kura, all your treasures are stolen, and your home destroyed.”
Kura said, “Who has done this?" The bird answered, “Hatu; he has set all your pets free, has broken up the dwelling, and has taken away the sword and cloaks from your treasury.” Then Kura hastened her steps towards her home, singing a magic song, which made her progress even more swift than usual; and the words she sang were:
“Step out, stretch along! Step out, stretch along!
There you are, Hatu, not far away!”
In three of her great strides, stepping from range to range, and beating the air with her winged arms, she came upon her ravaged dwelling. She could see no one there; but her breast filled with rage when she looked upon the damage which had been done to her property, and she enquired of the little bird which way Hatu had gone. The bird told her, and she followed in swift pursuit, chanting her song as she went. Hatu was soon nearly overtaken. He was filled with terror when he caught sight of his pursuer, but luckily remembered the words of a charm, which he repeated, and then cried, “O rock, rock, open for me!” Then the rock opened, the young man entered, the crevice closed again, so that the goblin woman could not find him, but went on in the direction she thought that Hatu had taken. When her voice was lost in the distance, Hatu came out of his shelter, and again pursued his journey. Kura caught sight of him. He once more repeated his spell to the rock, and eluded her a second time. Thus was the chase baffled and pursued until they came to the country near the Hot Lakes, among the springs and geysers. Hatu well knew the path among these, and threaded his way quickly among the dangerous places; but on coming to a boiling spring of sulphur, over which he safely leapt, Kura fell in and was boiled to death. Hatu then returned to his father, who never again would allow his sons to molest their younger brother.
pris′-on-er
por′-tion
di-rec′-tion
mo-lest′
hun′-ger
un-ob-served′
pur-su′-er
o-ver-ta′-ken
dis-gust′-ing
hun′-dredth
charm
rav′-aged
feath′-er
dis′-tance
baf′-fled
sword
crev′-ice, a crack or fissure.
flax, the word is used here for a plant producing a kind of hemp.
gey′-ser, a fountain sending forth boiling water.
gob′-lin, an evil spirit, a phantom.
e-lude′, to escape or avoid by artifice.
liz′-ard, a cold-blooded animal, variety of reptile.