Favourite Maori Legends

by Alexander Wyclif Reed

Māori myths and legends have an important role in transmitting and regenerating traditional knowledge. Yet as Ross Calman points out in his introduction to this new edition, they are also simply great yarns – reflective of a time when telling and listening to stories was a key leisure activity in Māori society. Favourite Māori Legends is an invitation to enjoy over 30 of the most memorable legends, grouped into themes of the spirit world, patupaiarehe (ghosts), taniwha, supernatural creatures, heroes and deeds of daring. Concise yet complete, these gripping stories are enlivened by the timeless illustrations of Roger Hart.

142 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2015

About the author

Alexander Wyclif Reed (1908 – 1979), also known as Clif Reed and A. W. Reed, was a prolific New Zealand publisher and author.

As an author he was known most commonly as A.W. Reed.
Reed wrote many books on topics such as myths, language, and place names of both Māori and Australian Aboriginal cultures.

With his uncle Alfred, he established the publishing firm A. H. & A. W. Reed.

Reviews

[Nadia King · Rating 5 out of 5]

This slim volume gives readers wonderful insights into Maori culture and legends. These legends have been told to Maori children for hundreds of years. The storytelling traditions of the Maori people have given us such stories which otherwise would be lost. Some of these stories have been told and retold for close to a thousand years. Such storytelling was an important way of sharing history and entertaining around the fire at night. This volume is an important book not just for New Zealanders but for all those passionate about keeping alive the traditions of oral storytelling.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Getting a taste of what was talked about late at night around the campfire years and years ago in New Zealand was special. It was cool read the stories that have been passed down by generations of Maori people. Preserving the culture of indigenous people is highly important.

In terms of the book alone, I liked how the book was organized, keeping certain themes together. The illustrations were also great. However, in this revised edition, it was a little troublesome having to flip to the glossary in the back to look up certain Maori words. The glossary didn't include all of the Maori words used in this book. Certain words were defined once within the text of an early story and then mentioned in stories further down the line. With those words not being in the glossary, some stories were hard to follow. My suggestion is that newer versions have the Maori words used in each story be defined in the margins of each story or in the footer of each page the word is used. That way, they will be easy to find and won't hinder the reader from understanding the meaning. Or just have every word listed in the glossary, not just some. If the definition is too long to be listed, just list the page number of where it's defined in the text and add identifiers in the text (like an asterisk, etc) so the reader can go back and easily find it. If the purpose of this method was to force the reader to learn parts of the Maori language, I understand. But that wasn't why I chose to read this book and therefore, it hindered my reading experience.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am glad I read this. Not the same thing as particularly enjoying it.
The illustrations may have been inspired by Maori art but I found hard to interpret and are not much like the Maori art as shown in a quick google search.
Two things amused me. One a Tidal current that was part of a legend, and more recently a Frenchman's ship, a white winged vessel, gave the passage the name Frenchman's pass. Now a legend on its own.
The other was to find that the god of the sea is Tangaroa, a name familliar to me from the video game Raft.

[Vincent Konrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

there aren't a lot of collections of Māori folklore around for cheap, so I was real excited to find this one. nice pictures. I was a bit wary of his relationship to the stories, and having researched it a little he spoke no reo and got the stories second or third hand but was also among the first to publish them and saw his role more to popularise and spread interest than to create a definitive version or whatever. I'd say it's a pretty good introduction.

[Annum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short interesting stories. My favourite would be ‘Putawai’!