Folktales of the Maori

This is a facsimile reprint of the original. Foxing.

The Maori people had populated the islands of New Zealand long before the arrival of the European settler. They had also developed a highly sophisticated tradition of storytelling by the time the white man landed on the shores of the Long White Cloud. The stories included here were collected and edited by Alfred Grace at the beginning of the 20th century and are imbued with the romanticism and imaginative sophistication of Maori myths and legends. Endeavouring to retain as far as possible the colour and atmosphere of the original tales, the author has avoided unnecessary embellishments or changes to the colourful stories. The majority of the folktales here were handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation and pre-date the arrival of the Europeans. A few tales date from the time when the Maori and the white settlers came into contact. These stories show that the Maori spirit had remained intact even after assimilation by a foreign culture...