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New
Zealand
Birds


New Zealand Birds’
(The Greytown Gallery)

65 Wood Street
Post Office Box 146
Greytown, 5742
Wairarapa
New Zealand

Mobile: +64 (0)27 508 5078 narena@nzbirds.com

Historical fantasy

Available from Amazon Te Tini o Toi

Te Tini o Toi, The Children of Toi, (book one), by Narena Olliver

Tui’s welcome speech



Hodges’ Tui

Ko Tu Koe?
Ko Rongo koe?
Ko te manuwhiri.
Nau mai!
Moemoetia mai te kuri.
Haere mai te manuwhiri!
No runga te manuwhiri?
No raro te manuwhiri?
No te ti?
No te ta?
No waka i–o–i?
Tupu wananga!
Ki Hawaiki!
E roro!
Ki–tahi! Ka tu ke! He!
Ko wai–wai?
Korero–rero!
Ka kore–kore te toki!
Te Whare–pa–tahi!
Te Whare–pa–rua!
Te huia te rangiora.
E roro ki waho.
Ko Tu koe?
Ko Rongo koe?
Ko tenei te manuwhiri!
Nau mai!
Kahore te kai i te kainga.
E Rongo!
E Rongo!
E Rongo! Maru! Awa!
He aha te tai?
Ka timu te tai.
Nga tai o te tu!
Ko waka rara.
No tau na.
Ma nga wai
E tari taua.
E tai.
Homai te wai.
Ka hi te kai.
Ka whakarere te kai.
E kai!
Ari nui!
Ari roa!
Ari manawa–nawa!
E Titi–rau–ma–ewa!
E to kai moana!
E roro ki waho!

Art thou Tu?
Art thou Rongo?
It is the guest.
Welcome!
Sleep with the dog.
Welcome to the guest!
From the south is the guest?
From the north is the guest?
From somewhere?
From anywhere?
Perhaps he has come by canoe?
Ah! They speak now in oracles!
About Hawaiki!
What wonderful lore and knowledge!
An apt proverb! It stands apart! O joy!
Who can he be who is speaking?
Speak on!
What a tongue to be sure!
Te Whare–pa–tahi!
A second Te Whare–pa–tahi!
A recital of the divine history of man.
Impart thy lore to me.
Art thou Tu?
Art thou Rongo?
This is the guest!
Welcome!
There is no food in the village.
E Rongo!
E Rongo!
E Rongo! Maru! Awa!
How fareth the tide?
The tide is ebbing.
Tides which provide abundance of food!
Yonder are the canoes.
Which secure food during the year round.
The waters
Bear us two along.
O tide.
Give us of your waters.
We fish the foods.
Abundantly, even to wasting it.
Eat of it then!
It is plenteous!
It is lasting!
It causes anxiety.
Thanks to the female sea diety!
Thanks for thy sea–foods!
Impart thy lore to me!

white tui
Taxonomy
Kingdom:
Animalia.
Phylum:
Chordata.
Class:
Aves.
Order:
Passeriformes.
Family:
Meliphagidae.
Genera:
Prosthermadera.
Species:
novaeseelandiae.
Sub Species:
novaeseelandiae, chathamensis.

Song of the:  —  Tui

 Viking Sevenseas

Other common names:  — 

Parson bird, poe bee-eater, New Zealand creeper, koko, mocking bird.

Description:  — 

Endemic bird

30 cm., male, 120 g., female, 90 g., looks black but in the light has green, bluish-purple and bronze colouring, lacy collar of white filaments and white throat tufts, black legs and curved black bill, white wing bar, sexes alike, juvenile dull slate black with glossy wings and tail, greyish-white throat, lacks white throat tufts or pois.

Where to find:  — 

Common throughout New Zealand but scarce east of the Alps in the South Island.

Poetry:  — 

“Me he korokoro tui”

“How eloquent he is; he has the
 throat of a Tui”.

Credit for the photograph: — 

 

Mandy Hague

Illustration description: — 

 

Cook, James, 1728–1779, A voyage towards the South Pole, and round the world : performed in His Majesty’s ships the Resolution and Adventure, in the years 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775 written by James Cook, Commander of the Resolution. In which is included Captain Furneaux’s narrative of his proceedings in the Adventure during the separation of the ships. In two volumes. Ilustrated with maps and charts, and a variety of portraits ... and views ... drawn during the voyage by Mr. Hodges..., 1777.

Reference(s): — 

 

Speech taught to a tame Tui to welcome visitors to a marae from Sir George Grey’s Poetry of New Zealanders, quoted in Sir Walter Lawry Buller’s Bird of New Zealand, 1888, Volume 1, pp 96–97. Translation by Henry Stowell (Hare Hongi) from New Zealand Song Birds, Johannes C. Andersen, 1926, pp 137-138.

Page date & version: — 

 

Tuesday, 2 July, 2019; ver2009v1