Uenuku and the Mist Maiden

By Chrissie Ward

When dawn broke, Uenuku was deep in the bush. He was on his way to snare the wood pigeons, which were fat from feeding on ripe berries. A light mist clung to the early morning trees, and everything was shadowy and mysterious.

Suddenly, there before him in a clearing was the most beautiful young woman he had ever seen. Uenuku fell in love with her at once. When their eyes met, the young woman was startled and turned to flee. Uenuku called softly to her.

"Wait! I will not harm you."

The woman stopped and looked back. Uenuku approached her gently.

"I am Uenuku," he said. "What is your name and where do you come from?"

"I am the Maiden of the Mist," she replied. "My name is Hinepukoherangi, and my home is in the sky. I come here at night to play in the bush-clad gullies and hills, and I return to my people at dawn."

Uenuku was entranced by the beautiful maiden and begged her to stay, but she said, "I must leave now, for dawn is already on the earth. I will return tonight when the mists come down."

"I will be waiting for you," said Uenuku.

And that night, and every night following, he waited for the beautiful maiden from the sky who came with the mists. As Hinepukoherangi came to know him and to trust him, so she came to love him. Uenuku wanted her to be his wife.

"I cannot," she said, "for my home is in the sky."

Uenuku begged and pleaded, and at last she agreed, but only on one condition: he must promise never tell anyone about her. She would spend the nights with him, but would always leave before dawn.

Uenuku promised, and they lived happily together for many months. Then a beautiful little girl was born to them. Uenuku was so proud, his heart was bursting with happiness. He wanted his people to know of his good fortune, and in a weak moment he boasted of his lovely wife and beautiful daughter.

"We don't believe you," the people said. "Why have we never seen your wife?"

Uenuku explained that Hinepukoherangi came to him at night and left before dawn, and the people were curious.

"Block up all the openings in your house when your wife is asleep," they suggested, "so that she will oversleep. Then we will see for ourselves whether you speak the truth."

Uenuku did as they advised.

That morning Hinepukoherangi woke and said, "I dreamed it was time for me to go, and yet it is still dark."

Uenuku replied, "The night is not yet over. Go back to sleep."

The second time Hinepukoherangi woke, Uenuku urged her to go back to sleep again.

"It is indeed a long night," the worried Mist Maiden whispered.

The third time she woke, she jumped out of bed and ran to the doorway. To her dismay, the entrance was blocked up. Anxiously she pushed away the barricade, and bright sunlight flooded into the house. The people who were waiting outside gasped when they saw her beauty, but Hinepukoherangi was angry.

"Uenuku, you have deceived me!" she cried, and she flew up into the air and disappeared.

Too late, Uenuku realised what he had done. "Hinepukoherangi, come back!" he called. But she didn't return to his home.

Heartbroken, Uenuku left his baby daughter with his people and travelled the land, searching for his beloved mist maiden. He searched everywhere: in the gullies and the hills; in the thick bush and on the bare plateaux; along the snowy mountaintops and the sandy beaches; in the thundering rivers and in the calm havens. And every night when the mists came down, he called to Hinepukoherangi and begged her to return to him, but she never did.

Many years passed. Uenuku grew old, his hair turned grey and he was worn out with his fruitless travelling. At last Rangi, the Sky Father, took pity on his suffering. Uenuku was lifted up into the air and changed into a rainbow.

Now, when you see the early morning mists rising from the bush, and when you see a rainbow in the sky, you know that Hinepukoherangi and Uenuku are together once more. And when they both arch over the land at the same time, then you know that they have clasped hands, and are smiling down at the earth as they watch over their descendants.