Every myth carries a truth older than the civilization that told it.
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The Patupaiarehe, the fairy-folk of Māori legend — a race of pale-skinned, fair-haired supernatural beings who dwell in the deep forests and misty
Kurangaituku, the bird-woman ogress of Māori legend — a monstrous giantess with bird-like claws who captured the young man Hatupatu and kept him in her
Tāwhaki, the great demigod-hero of Māori and Polynesian mythology — famous for ascending into the heavens to seek his celestial wife and the baskets of
Hine-tītama (the Dawn Maiden), the Māori goddess of the dawn — the radiant daughter and wife of the god Tāne who, on discovering he was also her father,
Hine-nui-te-pō (“Great Lady of the Night”), the Māori goddess of death and the underworld — once the Dawn Maiden Hine-titama, she receives all the dead
Mahuika, the Māori goddess of fire — the fierce fire-deity who held fire in her fingers and toes, from whom the trickster Māui stole fire by a ruse,
Rūaumoko (Ruaimoko), the Māori god of earthquakes, volcanoes, and the seasons — the youngest, unborn child carried within the Earth Mother Papatūānuku,
Whiro (Whiro-te-tipua), the Māori god of darkness, evil, and death — the malevolent lord of the underworld and of disease, the great adversary of Tāne and
Haumia-tiketike (Haumia), the Māori god of wild and uncultivated food — the son of Ranginui and Papatūānuku who presides over the aruhe (edible fernroot)
Rongo (Rongo-mā-Tāne), the Māori god of cultivated food, agriculture, and peace — the son of Ranginui and Papatūānuku who presides over the kūmara and the
