Page:Polynesian Mythology by George Grey (polynesianmythol00greyuoft).djvu/314

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The Two Sorcerers.
277

you, have you seen a canoe pass up the river, would you be good enough to say, 'Yes, a canoe has passed by here?' and then if they ask you, 'How far has it got?' would you be good enough to say, 'Oh, by this time it has got very far up the river?'" and having thus said to the people of that village, Tamure paddled away again in his canoe with all haste.

Some time after Tamure's party had left the village of Kiki, the old sorcerer became very ill indeed, and his people then knew that this had been brought about by the magical arts of Tamure, and they sprang into a canoe to follow after him, and pulled up the river as hard as they could; and when they reached the village where the people were on the river's bank, they called out and asked them, "How far has the canoe reached, which passed up the river?" and the villagers answered, "Oh, that canoe must have got very far up the river by this time." The people in the canoe that was pursuing Tamure, upon hearing this, returned again to their own village, and Kiki died from the incantations of Tamure.

Some of Kiki's descendants are still living—one of them, named Mokahi, recently died at Tauranga-a-Ruru, but Te Maioha is still living on the river Waipa. Yes, some of the descendants of Kiki, whose shadow withered trees, are still living.