Some time after her adventures with her mother Nona, Hina married the young chief No'a who had protected and delivered her, she gave birth to two boys, the first named Pûa'ari'i-tahi (Cluster of first small roots) and the second, Hema.
Both boys grew into handsome teenagers and were expert surfers. One day when they were getting ready to go out to practice their favorite sport, Hina asked her eldest son Pu-a'a-ri'i-ahi to comb her hair and when he refused she said, “Ah! Your wife will not be a high-ranking woman.
She then asked Hema the same thing and he eagerly accepted. While he was combing his long braids and plaiting them, he saw a louse which he showed to his mother, who said to him: "Your wife will be a remarkable woman".
A little later Pua'a ri'i tahi took Te'ura as his wife. She bore him five sons named Arihi nui apua, Ta oe a pua, Orooro-i-pua, Te mata tui'au ia ro'o and Te mata a'a ra'i.
One day, his mother said to him: “Get up early in the morning and go dig a hole in the right bank of the Vaipoopoo River at the point of Haapape (Mahina). Hide in this excavation and soon you will see a woman of great beauty coming to bathe from the subterranean regions. From behind, seize her hair, for she is very vigorous, carry her away and do not let her touch the ground until you have passed four houses on your way.
So did Hema: when the first rays of the sun appeared, he finished his hole and carefully hid himself there. Soon he saw the goddess appear, who quietly entered the water, dived, swam, playing in the water like a fish. Her bath finished, she untied her long hair which covered her admirable curves and sat down on the bank with her back to Hema.
The latter approached silently, seized a handful of hair which he quickly wrapped around his wrist and, despite his resistance, carried the struggling goddess in his arms. He was fleeing towards his house, but when he had passed two houses, she begged him to put her down a little. He acceded to her wish thinking that she would walk quietly by his side.
But no sooner had she touched the ground than she fled and disappeared into a crevasse which closed in on her. Hema returned home in despair and told her mother what had happened to her. She advised him to return the next morning to the same place, recommending him not to drop off the goddess before having passed in front of four dwellings,
Hema couldn't eat all day and the next day, at dawn, he was in his hiding place by the river. The goddess came earlier than the previous day thinking thus to escape her pursuer; she bathed in haste and, seeing no one, she sat down again on the bank very close to Hema. He seized her like the day before and, despite her efforts to escape and her pleas, he carried her to his house.
Then, seeing that the inhabitants of the upper world had seen her in the arms of Hema and considered her as his wife, having moreover become attached to the young man, she consented to remain with him. And she, a goddess married a mortal according to the religious rites of that time.
She was given the name Hina Tahutahu (the magician) because of her mysterious origin and her supernatural power, as she healed the sick, could read minds and foresee the future.
Hina Tahutahu bore her husband Hema two children: Arihi-nui-apua and a blond giant who was hairy like his grandfather and was named Tafa'i-iri'ura (Tafa'i has red skin) which is known more simply as Tafa'i.
From an early age, Tafa'i showed that he had inherited supernatural powers from his mother and that he was in touch with the gods. His elder brother was never more than a mere mortal leader eclipsed by the glory of his younger brother. The early childhood of these two boys was pleasantly spent playing with their cousins and other children, their games being the top, the small sailboats, the ball game, baths and swimming.
But a day came when they wanted new games. Tafa'i's cousins made balls of clay which they rolled on the ground and the one whose ball broke while rolling was the loser.
Tafa'i then asked his mother how one could shape very solid balls and she advised him to take fine sand from the beach, mix it with the clay and let the balls dry well before using them. Thus done, he went off to play with his cousins who cried out to him: “Ah! dear Tafa'i, come and roll yours”
But Tafa'i replied, "No, the first must be first, and the last must be last."
They began to roll their balls one after another and all of them broke except for Tafa'i's, who emerged victorious.
Next, Tafa'i and his cousins played Titiraina, a toy canoe pushed with a stick and stabilized by a rib of coconut leaf that acts as a pendulum.
The toy was placed on the surface of the waves a little in the sea, from where it floated on the shore. Races between these toys took place at the edge of the sea. The winner of the game was the one whose Titraina arrived on land first. Tafa'i, on his mother's instructions, made his canoe with a Pohue vine stem whose lightness made him win each time.
His cousins, furious and jealous to see him always win, rushed at him and beat him with such violence that, believing him dead, they buried him in the sand. But his mother learning at the same time what was happening went to the place where the body was and brought him back to life. But when she questioned him to find out who was responsible, he tried to exculpate them.
This is how Tafa'i excelled in everything he undertook and very often his cousins out of jealousy and spite beat him violently, leaving him for dead, but his mother who brought him back to life immediately never heard him. complain. At the end Hema, his father, sorry for the treatment his nephews inflicted on his son, left this world and went down to the Po (Darkness) to live there.
While Tafa'i was still a teenager, his mother transmitted to him all her magical power which he penetrated by opening his mouth above his mother's head, immediately after he felt the need to travel and accomplish great feats.
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