Tēnā koutou - hello everyone.

How are you going in your te reo journey? It’s great to hear people giving te reo a go with me.

I like to read stories when learning a new language. It’s interesting as you gain cultural insights at the same time as learning new words and concepts.

Recently, I read the local pūrākau or legend of Kōpūwai as re-told by Brian Potiki, and I thought I would tell it here for you.

The legend of Kōpūwai is set on the banks of our Mata-Au Clutha River and comes from a time long ago when moa roamed the land and huge tuna swam in the river.

Each summer, Māori hunting parties would travel through Central Otago on their way to collect pounamu and to gather food to take back and feed their whānau. Sometimes people would disappear, never to be seen again.

Whānau blamed Kōpūwai, a monster who lived near the river, who preyed on humans along with his pack of ferocious two-headed dogs.

Kōpūwai was a giant, a monstrous creature with the body of a man, the scales of a fish, and the head of a dog. According to legend, he lived above the Mata-Au on the Old Man Range, behind Alexandra. Old Man Range is also known as Kōpūwai.

Kaiamio knew well the stories of Kōpūwai and his dogs, the kaumātua were always warning her about them. She was out scouting with a hunting party, searching for moa nests. She didn’t notice the pack of two-headed dogs quietly stalking her.

The dogs cornered Kaiamio and took her to their master’s cave.

Kōpūwai was pleased and made the girl his mōkai, to do all his chores.

Kōpūwai knew he had a weakness. When the warm north-west wind blew, he got very sleepy. To stop his new mōkai from escaping while he slept, Kōpūwai made a long taura or rope from plaited harakeke and tied it firmly to the young girl’s ankle.

From dawn to dusk, Kōpūwai would shout orders at Kaiamio.

“He kai. Kia tere.”

Kōpūwai would eat the kai she prepared for him, then he would get thirsty.

“He wai. Kia tere.”

Many, many times every day, Kaiamio would walk all the way down to the river, and back. She would often take a moment to watch the river flow, think of her whānau and dream of escape.

However, Kaiamio was a clever girl. One day, the river gave her an idea.

Over the next few weeks, slowly but surely, Kaiamio collected raupō growing by the river and began to weave a mōkihi. When her raft was finished, she hid it beneath a rocky ledge, marking the spot with a large stone.

Then she waited for the north-west wind to come. When it did, she was ready.

As the wind blew warm, she watched Kōpūwai fall asleep. She scrambled quickly down to the river and found the stone that marked her hiding place.

She quickly cut through the harakeke rope around her ankle and tied it to a young tree nearby.

She launched her mōkihi into the river and let the current carry her, all the way back to her whānau on the coast.

 The Obelisk high in the Kōpūwai Ranges. Image credit CO Safaris.

As the sun rose high in the sky, Kōpūwai woke. Hungry, he tugged on the taura. Down at the river, the young tree bent, then straightened, bent then straightened again.

“Kia tere,” he yelled time after time, but the girl never came.

Kōpūwai was furious. No-one made him wait!

He called his dogs and went down to the river, discovering they had been tricked.

The huge monster howled in anger.

He bent down to the fast-flowing river, and took enormous gulps of water. He would drink the river dry to stop his mōkai’s escape.

The monster took gulp after gulp. His belly swelled out rounder and rounder. But it was no use, the river was just too big; there was too much water.

Clever Kaiamio had gotten away.

The bravest of Kaiamio’s whānau wanted to stop Kōpūwai for good. They plotted to kill the monster and his dogs while they slept.

They travelled to his lair and waited for the north-west wind to blow. When they were sure Kōpūwai was fast asleep, they laid down dry brush in the cave entrance and set it alight.

As the fire took hold, a few dogs escaped, leaping into the river. Kōpūwai and the dogs left in the cave all perished, turning to stone.

People say that Kōpūwai’s dogs became the distinctive rocky outcrops that are seen high on the hills near the range that Ngāi Tahu call Kōpūwai (Old Man Range).

Kōpūwai, the monster with his belly full of water, became the huge rock we know as the Obelisk.

I hope you enjoyed the pūrākau (legend), and remember it when you visit the Obelisk or look over at the Kōpūwai Range.

Kia pai te rā. Have a great day.

Check out te wiki o te reo Māori here or go to our 'be better' button Learn Te reo

Read the legend of Kōpūwai in Te Tāhuhu Ministry of Education resources here.