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See below for English translation
Kai te hoi o te taringa te pepeha a ngā kaumatua e mea ana, ko te umanga nui o nehe rā he riri. He kōrero tuku iho tēnei na Tawa he hoia Pakeha i arohaina e Te Arawa.
Nō te matenga o tēnei rangatira ka whakahokia tona tupapaku ki te poho o Ngāti Whakaue tanu ai.
Kai te wā o ngā pakanga mō te whenua te take tēnei tātai kōrero. Kua whai wahi atu ai a Ngai Te Arawa ki ngā hoia o te Emepaia.
He wā taumaha ka tau ki runga ki ngā pokowhiwhi o Te Arawa. Kai te ātea o Waihunuhunukurī a Tawa e noho ana.
Kai tana tepu e noho ana kai tahaki ko ōna hoa whawhai. Ko te tikanga o te rangi nei he rehita hoia Māori ki a momona ake ai tona taua.
Ka puta mai ko Te Wehipeihana he ika-ā-Whiro, he āhua whitu tekau o ngā tau te pakeke, hinahina ōna makawe, he kuramatarerehu te kanohi, ioio ana te anuhe tawatawa o ōna waewae, hōkai ana te whiu o ngā waewae, nana ko te rite he manu kua momotu te mahanga,he ahakoa te ora o te korokē kīhai i whakaae ki a tū tēnei rangatira ki te ope taua a Te Tawa.
He mōhio hoki nō Te Tawa kua korohekengia te rangatira nei a Te Wehipeihana, kātahi a Te Tawa ka kī atu ki a ia ki a hoki ia ki te kāinga, nā reira i peruperu ai a Te Wehipeihana, ka nui hoki te porotēhe, kīhai a Tawa e aro ki a ia e hakahaka ana.
Ka karangahia te tuarua o ngā toa, e amuamu tonu ana a Te Wehipeihana, e ai hoki ki a Tawa, he rangi kino te wera kai te kōmata o te rangi a Tamanui te rā e whiti ana.
Ka pau te hāora kua hoki anō a Te Wehipeihana ki te aroaro o Te Tawa ki te whakahua i tana hiahia ki a tu anō ia ki te pōkaitara a Tū.
Kīhai a Tawa e aro atu ki te tono a te korokē.
Ka wera tana puku, me he mawhitiwhiti hupane ake te toa, kai te peruperu, kai te tūtū ngarahu ana, ka oti i a ia tana tūtū ngarahu e haka kōiri ana, kīhai i whati te whatumanawa o te toa, ka hamama tona waha, e Tawa, whakarongo mai, whakarongo mai e mea ana koe kua hina oku makawe, kua tae te ruhi ki te tinana, tō rorirori hoki e Tawa, ina hoki taku toatanga e titiro nei ahau ki ngā niwha e tū nei, he māunu kē – ko taku kai ko te whatu turei a Rua, he aruhe, he whinau, kore rawa ngā rau o te rākau e pā ki a hau e māturuturu ai te kōpatapata ua i ngā rākau e takawhetawheta na nga waewae – ka peruperu anō te korokē, e poka te karo ana, e tīpatapata ana, e whakawhetā ana.
Ka tū a Te Wehipeihana ka hamama anō te waha, “Homai ki ahau taku pū kia tu tahi ahau me te ope a te Kūini”. E noho hanepī a Tawa, kua roa nei tana mahi i te rangi, te kaha hoki o te wera, te tokomaha hoki o ngā toa i uiuingia, hāunga hoki te kāungaunga o Te Wehipeihana ki a ia, ka kī atu a Tawa ki a ia “E hoa, ka kore ahau e whakaae ki te tangata mau moko kanohi ki taku hokowhitu!”
Nā reira i whati te mana o Te Wehipeihana, ka ūmere tana waha, “Kāhore ahau e mate tara ā whare”.
Ka noho puku te iwi, ki te aroaro o Tiki etehi e noho ana, ki ngā tahataha o Waihunuhunukurī anō hoki etehi, ā, ki ngā tahataha o Te Rua a Peka etehi. Mātika ake a Te Wehipeihana ka unuhia ōna kakahu ka hikoi atu ki Te Waihunuhunukurī, katahi, ka rua ka hau ki te ngāwhā he ahakoa he wai wera kīhai i ūmere te waha, tangi ūmere kau te hunga mātakitaki ara ko ngā kuia me ngā tamariki ka kīa he atua porangi a Te Wehipeihana, he rewera hoki ia, e noho kau ana a Te Wehipeihana, ka oma atu a Tawa ka karanga atu ki a ia ki a puta i te ngāwhā, kīhai i aro ki āna whakahau, ka nanaohia te kaki o tona hate ka tōia ki uta, ka uta.
Ka oma atu a Tawa ki te Hōterā ki te kimi rongoā, ka apoapo i ngā hinu tunu kai, ka hoki atu a Tawa ki Te Wehipeihana, tana taenga iho ki te whakaora i te korokē kai te ngāwhā e noho ana, kai te pito rawa o te ngāwhā e noho ana.
Ka whakatakotoria e Tawa etehi pou manuka hai piriti e whiti ai ia ki a ia. Engari ko te riri e mau tonu ana ki te puku o te koroke nā, korekore rawa ia e aro mai ki a Tawa me ōna ringa awhina.
Ka whātoro atu a Tawa ki a ia, nā wai ka puritia te kaki o Te Wehipeihana, ka toia ki uta, ka amohia ki nga wai matao o Te Rua o Peka. Katahi ka uta ki runga ki tana hune ka rongoatia, ka pau nga patara hinu huhua ki tona tapeha, ka whangaingia ki te ika me te unu, ā, ka tahuri mai te turoro ki a Tawa me tana kī, Enge kai toa koe me i tahuri ke mai koe ki ahau kua kore rawa tenei āhuatanga kare kau taku aroha ki a koe’.
Nō te atapō ka mate a Te Wehipeihana.
Te Wehi-Peihana, at about 70 years of age, approached Gilbert Mair, also known as Tawa, with a sole desire to form part of the Arawa Flying Column.
He was lithe, active, and brave as a falcon, Tawa attested to this as he had seen him under fire on many occasions previously, but knowing he had many fighters to choose from, he plucked up the courage to tell him he was too old, and called on the next man, despite Te Wehi-Peihana’s cry of disappointment.
Still, he never relinquished hope and persisted in coming forward, forcing Tawa to invent some more or less genuine excuse each time to dampen his military loyalty.
It was a long, tiring, hot summer’s day, later in the day, Tawa had got the pick of the best men and cried out, “It is enough”, when Wehi-Peihana sprang forward with flashing eyes, shouting:
“You say I am too old. Behold me dance; I am more active than some of those young men you have chosen. I was fed on a fern root and whinau bread--the sustaining food of our ancestors. I can run through the forest without shaking the dewdrops from the leaves.”
He then performed several war dances, displaying extraordinary agility, and concluded with a prodigious bound like an old kiore. He stood confronting me, shouting: “Give me my gun! Let me fight for the Queen!”
Tawa had been working hard since daylight and was irritated at Te Wehi-Peihana’s persistence; Tawa again said: “I will not enlist any tattooed man.”
Te Wehi-Peihana seemed utterly crushed and cried: “I will not die under the eaves of a house”.
The scene was the shore of the warm Ruapeka Bay, immediately below Lake House Hotel; it is recorded that the water in those days came right up to the bath buildings.
Over a thousand men, women and children were sitting in front of the carved house “Tiki” and along the western side of that large furiously boiling spring, “Te Wai-hunu-hunu-kuri”.
Te Wehi-Peihana rose to his feet and, throwing off all his old clothing except a twill shirt, he walked deliberately to the terrible hot pool and jumped in, sitting down in it up to his neck.
A dreadful wail of distress rose from the women and children, and hoarse cries from the men of “He has gone mad”; “A mad god; a devil”. Then they all fled, none daring to look back, the women covering their heads as they ran.
Tawa was left alone to do his best to save him, and by treading dangerously near the boiling water, he managed to grab Te Wehi-Peihana by his shirt collar and dragged him out. Somehow Tawa got him over the narrow sandspit of ten to fifteen feet to the lake. Then Tawa dashed through the crowd, towards the Hotel, and took about two dozen bottles of salad oil in his arms, rushing back, only to find Te Wehi-Peihana had returned to his dreadful bath.
When Tawa essayed to reach him, he moved further away to get out of his reach.
Eventually, Tawa managed to reach the old warrior before dragging him to the tepid waters of Te Rua-o-Peka and shouting sternly in his ear: “Stay here!” Tawa rushed up to his room, tore the large raupō mattress from his bed, spread it on the floor, and, rolling up the sides, placed Te Wehi-Peihana in the hollow. Then, knocking off the tops of the bottles with his sheath knife, Tawa poured the oil on him, constantly splashing it over the body.
Te Wehi-Peihana lay there venting his wrath on Tawa, saying: “If you had let me join your force, you would have saved yourself all this trouble. It serves you well, right? I am not sorry for you.”
Later, he had a tea drink and ate a tin of sardines, then passed away at three o’clock in the morning.
He assured Tawa that he was so angry and excited that he felt no pain. Such was the spirit of the old time toa Te Wehi-Peihana and the ngāwhā Te Wai hunuhunukurī.
OPINION: Once proud and hard-working, most Māori have no meaningful mahi.