Description of my fan fiction on Maori mythology

For my fan fiction, I would like to tell a little story based on Maori mythology. This weekend, some of my German friends and me went to the Bay of Islands, Cape Reinga, the Ninety Mile Beach as well as Waipoua Kauri Forest with its Kauri trees. At Waipoua Forest, I saw one of the world’s mightiest trees, the Kauri tree called ‘Tane Mahuta’ (Lord of the Forest). This tree, named after the Maori god of the forest (trees and birds), is New Zealand’s largest known living Kauri tree. According to Maori mythology, Tane is the son of Papa-tua-nuku, the earth mother, and Ranginui, the sky father. One story goes that in the beginning, both the parents clung to each other so that all their children had to live within darkness. Tane was the child who managed to successfully separate the parents without killing them. Finally, he set about clothing his mother in the forest we have here today. All living creatures of the forest are regarded as Tane’s children. Moreover, besides having created the natural world, Tane is associated with the making of the first human beings in Hawaiki, the mythical land to which some Polynesian cultures trace their origins.

In my fan fiction, I would like to combine the mythology around the Kauri forest and the tree ‘Tane Mahuta’, whose height and massiveness really impressed me, with another ‘typical’ thing I will relate with New Zealand forever. Already during my first days in Auckland/New Zealand, I heard of the “pest” of the possums. Of course, I realize the problems that came with these little animals. However, when I was told that Kiwi really get enthusiastic in overrunning the little possums, I was really shocked. I cannot imagine to running down an animal deliberately. Therefore, I decided to connect the myths of the Kauri forest and ‘Tane Mahuta’ to the danger or pest ‘possum’. I will post the story on Wednesday.