Tamarereti

Long ago the sky was dark and had no stars.

Deep in Lake Taupo lived a scary taniwha who ate people when it was dark. One day Tamarereti woke up he felt really hungry. Tamarereti went out fishing and caught lots of fish. He fell asleep and his waka drifted to the other side of Lake Taupo.

Tamarereti was hungry so he cooked his fish. It was dark and he was scared of the taniwha, but he had an idea. On the beach lay many shiny pebbles.

Tamarereti gathered as many pebbles as he could hold and set off in his waka.  As he sailed back to his village, Tamarereti threw the shiny pebbles into the sky where they settled to become the stars of Matariki.