nverted, we shall in effect clear the
ground for the proper understanding of the main features of the myth.

Many variants of the legend of Tawhaki are current among the Maories.
According to that adopted by Sir George Grey, he was a hero renowned for
his courage, whose fame had reached to heaven. There Tango-tango, a
maiden of heavenly race, fell in love with him from report; and one
night she descended to the earth and lay down by his side. She continued
to do this nightly, stealing away again before dawn to her home. But
when she found herself likely to become a mother she remained with him
openly; and when her daughter was born she gave her to her husband to
wash. Evidently he did not like the work, for while carrying out his
wife's instructions, Tawhaki made a very rude remark about the child.
Hearing this, Tango-tango began to sob bitterly, and at last rose up
from her place with the child and took flight to the sky. Her husband
determined to seek her. He found his way to the place where a creeper
hung down from heaven and struck its roots into the earth. It was
guarded there by a blind old ancestress of his, whom he restored to
sight, and from whom he obtained directions how to climb the plant.
Arrived in heaven, he disguised himself and had to undergo the
indignity--he, a mighty chieftain--of being enslaved by his wife's
relatives, for whom he was compelled to perform menial work. At length,
however, he manifested himself to his wife and was reconciled to her.
He is still in heaven, and is worshipped as a god. Another version
represents a cloud swooping upon the wife and taking her away. Tawhaki
endeavoured in vain to follow her by mounting on a kite. A third version
simply relates that the lady returned to her friends. Her husband, on
arriving at the _pa_, or settlement, where she dwelt, found among the
children his own son, by whom he sent his wife a love-token she had
formerly given him. This led to recognition, and she eventually returned
with him to his home. A more interesting variant tells us that the fame
of the nobleness of Tini-rau was heard by Hine-te-iwaiwa, who determined
to set her cap (or whatever might be its equivalent in her scanty
costume) at him. She obtained an interview with him, by a device
recalling the conduct of the ladies in The Land East of the Sun, for she
broke and destroyed some bathing-pools belonging to the hero. A quest of
the intruder naturally followed, with the result that Tin