taniwha
1. (noun) water spirit, monster, dangerous water creature, powerful creature, chief, powerful leader, something or someone awesome - taniwha take many forms from logs to reptiles and whales and often live in lakes, rivers or the sea. They are often regarded as guardians by the people who live in their territory, but may also have a malign influence on human beings.
Heoi, ka noho nei te taniwha, ko tana mahi, he patu i ngā tira haere; arā, he kai i ngā tāngata, horopuku tonu, ahakoa he kawenga tā te tangata, ka horomia pukutia e taua taniwha - ahakoa he tamaiti i runga i te hākui e waha ana, ka heke tahi rāua ki roto i te kōpū o te taniwha nei - ahakoa ngā tokotoko me ngā taiaha, ka pau katoa te horo (JPS 1905:200). / And so the taniwha remained there. His occupation was killing the travelling parties - that is, he used to swallow them whole, even if they had loads on their backs they were swallowed up by that taniwha - mothers carrying children on their backs, they went down together into the belly of this taniwha - even walking sticks and taiaha, they were completely swallowed up.
Ko Ureia e kōrerotia nei, ehara i te taniwha patu tangata, rumaki tangata rānei. Engari e karangatia ana a Ureia he tupua, he mauri nō ngā tāngata o tēnei moana o Tīkapa, arā ko Hauraki. Arā he tohu mana o ngā tāngata o tēnei moana...Otiia, e rua āhua taniwha. Tētehi āhua he kaitangata, arā he rumaki tangata ki te wai kia mate ai. Otiia, e kore aua tū taniwha e rumaki noa i te tangata. Mā te hara anō, arā mā te haere ki runga i ngā wāhi tapu, tanumanga tūpāpaku nei. Wāhi tapu rānei, whare o ngā tohunga o aua tū taniwha; wāhi tapu rānei, nohoanga o ngā taniwha. Mā te pērā anake ka horomia ai e ērā tū taniwha...Ko Ureia he ika tonu, he ika nunui atu i te parāoa (JPS 1946:30). / Ureia being discussed, was not a taniwha that killed or drowned people. But Ureia was called a tupua, a mauri of the people of this sea of Tīkapa, that is of Hauraki. In other words it was a symbol of the mana of the people of this sea...But there are two forms of taniwha. One kind is a man-eater, that is it drowns people in water to kill them, but, those taniwha do not drown people without reason, but do so because of an offence, such as going on to prohibited places such as are the burial places of the dead; or the sacred places such as are the houses of the tohunga of those taniwha; or the sacred places which are the places where the taniwha live. It is only for such things would they be swallowed up by those taniwha...Ureia was actually a marine animal, one larger than a sperm whale.
