Explore "The Story of Marutūāhu, the Son of Hotunui, and of Kahureremoa, the Daughter of Paka" by George Grey on Textopian.
Hotunui was one of those chiefs who arrived in New Zealand from a land beyond the ocean. The Tainui was the canoe in which he arrived in these islands. He left Kāwhia, where he first settled, and came overland to Hauraki, and finally took up his residence in a village called Wakatīwai. He had at Kāwhia, a son called Marutūāhu, but Hotunui was not there when this child was born.
The cause which made him come from Kāwhia to Hauraki was a false accusation that was brought against him regarding a storehouse of sweet potatoes belonging to another chief, a friend of his. The accusation arose in this way. Hotunui went out of his house one night, almost at the same moment that a thief had gone out to rob this storehouse; it was very unfortunate that they should both have gone out nearly at the same moment, just about midnight. When day dawned, Hotunui came out of his house, and people in the morning had seen his footsteps, right along the path by which the thief had gone, and there were the sweet potatoes dropped all along the path, and as the soles of Hotunui's feet were very large, his footprints had quite erased those of the thief; so presently they brought an accusation against Hotonui, that he had stolen the sweet potatoes. At this time Hotunui's wife had just conceived Marutūāhu, but he was so overcome by shame at the accusation brought against him, that the thought came into his mind to run away from wife and all, and go to Hauraki to seek another residence for himself. His corn was ready, and he had dug his farm, and prepared the ground for planting it, but had not yet put in the seed, when he went to his wife and said, "Now, remember, when the child is born, if it is a boy, call it Marutūāhu, and if it is a girl, call it Paretuahu [either name meaning the field made ready for planting], in remembrance of that cultivation of mine, prepared for planting to no purpose. " Then Hotunui went off to Hauraki, and resided at Wakatīwai, and became the chief of the people of that country, and he took another wife, the young sister of a chief named Te Whatu, and she bore him a child named Paka.