MAORI MYTHS and LEGENDS 2

Uenuku met a most beautiful young women who turned out not to belong to this world, but the world of the sky. Her name was Hinepukoherangi, the Mist Maiden. She had been coming down at night to play in the bush-clad gullies and hills, returning to her home at dawn So smitten was Uenuku that he begged her to meet him again. After several meetings they had fallen deeply in love. She agreed to marry him provided he would tell no one about her and she could stay in the night only. But it was hard for him not able to share his good fortune so he decided to block all openings of the hut so she would have to stay during the day and he could show her off. But she woke up at the usual time, surprised to see not a glimmer and asking Uenuku, he lied to her. The next time she woke she new something was wrong and rushed to the door to find bright sunlight, which faded her away into mist. She never came back. Uenuku spent his whole life looking for her, to no avail.

The main figures carved in relief. When the Mist Maiden opens the door and daylight streams in, she is dissolved in a cloak of mist. (bone inset)