Kupe and the discovery of Aotearoa

There once lived a man called Kupe who lived in Hawaiiki. He had a cousin Hoturapa who lived there too. A man that also lived there named Toto was a master at canoe making and he made two boats Aotea and Matahoroa. One sunny day Kupe told Hoturapa to go fishing with him and Hoturapa agreed. When they were fishing Kupe's line got caught and he told Hotorapa to dive down and cut the fishing line and when Hotorapa under Kupe cut the anchor and rowed away furiously. He left poor Hotorapa in the salty sea to drown. When Kupe got back Hoturapas family was suspicious .Two or three days later Kupe stole a canoe that Hoturapa had owned and loaded it up and his family set sail away from Hawaiiki .When they were far away from Hawaiiki Kupe's wife saw the islands of New Zealand which appeared to be land lying beneath a long white cloud. Because of this they named the islands Aotearoa land of the long white cloud. As Kupe and his crew were sailing along the coast of the new land they disturbed a giant octopus who was hiding in a coastal cave. Terrified at the sight of humans the octopus grabbed the canoe and Kupe knew what he had to do to survive so he chucked out a water gorge thinking it was a human the octopus untangled it's sticky tentacles and went to attack the water gorge. Then Kupe stabbed the beast in the head with an axe. Kupe sailed along the islands and cut them apart it took a long time but he did it. They all went back to Hawaiiki and told people about the long, tough and scary journey but he himself said he wouldn't be returning. And that was the discovery of Aotearoa.

By Rebekah Pemberton