Page:Maori Religion and Mythology.djvu/63

CH. iv. ovens for cooking, thrown on the roofs of the houses: the Pa too was full of the steam of cooked food. As for the woman, she was placed for concealment in an oven. So the Fairies feared to come near; for how could they enter the Pa in their dread of the kokowai, and the steam of the ovens which filled the court-yard. So great is their dread of cooked food.

Then the tohunga Maori all standing up sung a karakia to put to sleep the Fairies.

By the time this karakia came to an end, all the Fairies were seated on the ground. Their chief then stood up, and sung thus:—

Alas! for this day Which now oppresses me. I stretched out my hand To the mate of Tirini. Followed were my footsteps, And charmed was returning love,