In Maori mythology, Uenuku is the god of rainbows. He is particularly special to the Tainui Maori. Polynesia is a triangle of islands in the Pacific Ocean. ... Tainui is a Maori Iwi Waka Confederation of New Zealand. ...

Legend

The legend of Uenuku is similar to many other vanishing lover tales such as Cupid and Psyche or Beauty and the Beast. The Abduction of Psyche by William-Adolphe Bouguereau The tale of Cupid and Psyche first appeared as a digressionary story told by an old woman in Lucius Apuleius novel, The Golden Ass, written in the second century AD. Apuleius probably used an earlier folk-tale as the basis for his... Illustration by Warwick Goble Beauty and the Beast is a traditional folktale (type 425C -- search for a lost husband -- in the Aarne-Thompson classification). ...

Uenuku was out hunting very early one morning when, in a clearing, he saw a beautiful girl who seemed to coalesce out of the morning mist. He persuaded her to stay and talk with him for a moment, and to return the next night, and the next, and the next, and before long they fell in love. Each night she would come to him but as a mist maiden her home was in the sky, so she had to leave him at dawn. At last she agreed to marry Uenuku on condition that he tell no-one about her.

They had a few months of happiness, though she still appeared only at night and left at dawn, and in time a little girl was born to them. But Uenuku's friends were skeptical of this wife and child they had never seen. He tried to explain that she left him each morning at first light, so his friends suggested that he block up the doors and windows so she could not see the sun. This he did, but of course the trick was discovered and when the mist maiden knew he had deceived her, she left him.

Uenuku wandered the world searching for his beloved wife and daughter. At last, seeing him lonely and bent with age, Rangi the Skyfather took pity on him and changed him into a rainbow so that he could join his family in the sky. In Māori mythology the legend of Rangi and Papa (or Ranginui and Papatuanuku) is a creation myth explaining the origin of the world. ...

Artifacts

The Te Awamutu Museum in New Zealand has a large stone said to be inhabited by the spirit of Uenuku. According to local legend, the spirit of Uenuku was brought to New Zealand by the people on the Tainui canoe, in a stone. When they landed, they made a carving with a round opening at the top, in which the stone was placed so that the spirit of Uenuku inhabited the stone. Due to his spiritual significance, photographs of the stone figure of Uenuku are prohibited without the permission of Dame Te Atairangikaahu, Queen of the Maori. Te Awamutu is a town in the Waikato on the North Island of New Zealand. ... Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu Te Atairangi Kaahu is the reigning Māori Queen, elected in 1966 following the passing of her father, Koroki. ...

References

• Te Awamutu Museum Online
• Ward, Chrissie. "Uenuku and the Mist Maiden."