“The Slippery Menace Of The Waterways”

​The eels were not always defenseless – when the Taniwha landed their canoes on the untouched land of Aotearoa, they found many strange and curious creatures to test their dark magic. One unsuspecting creature was the slippery eel of the waterways.

​The Taniwha granted these beasts limited intelligence, and bent them to their will. But one eel, named ‘Paewaru,’ became unusually curious, and listened intently to the magical ramblings of his master. One day, when the Taniwha was not watching, Paewaru struck at the old creature and dragged him into the dark waters where the other eels feasted on its flesh.

​Satiated by the powerful blood on which it had fed, Paewaru grew a bony outcrop on its head – much like a crown, and gained deep insight to the spirit world. Discovering magic for itself, the eel became a powerful witch, and freed his fellow eels one-by-one, and they feasted on many Taniwha by tricking them into the water.

​Though they despised the Taniwha, they came to dislike Māori even more, especially when the new arrivals began to fish them from the streams and eat them. Paewaru, limited in his habitat, tried to steal the sacred jawbone of Murirangawhenua – the very jawbone used to catch Te-Ika-A-Maui (the traditional name for the North Island of New Zealand) – in the bid to raise its own island where they would be free of human meddling.

​This did not go well when the eel got himself caught on the sacred taonga (treasure). He was eventually freed of the hook by Werahiko Hamiora, and disappeared, never top be seen again.

​The eels have since returned to their naturally wild amphibious state, but they quietly await their masters return.