'Legends of the Maori,'

'Legends of the Maori,' Volume I, by Hon. Sir Mauri Pomare & James Cowan (1930)

"Maori-Polynesian mythology, like that of the Old World, has numerous stories of unions between gods and human beings.   (Believe it or not, this has happened to me/us!)  In some legends it is a god who descends to earth, attracted by a lovely woman.   In others the heavenly being, who weds a mortal, is a goddess.  There is much beauty in some of these stories of the loves of atua and mortals."

"One is the Arawa legend of Puhaorangi (Gentle Breath of Heaven) and Kura-i-monoa (Precious Treasure).  Puhaorangi was a celestial being who beheld the beautiful Kura from his eyrie in the clouds.  He descended to her in the guise of a rupe, a dove or pigeon, just as Jupiter assumed the form of a swan in order to approach the fair Leda in the stream.  The rupe was 'fondled,' by the lovely girl, who became a mother.  Her son was give the name of Oho-mai-range (Surprise from the Sky, or Heavenly Awakening), and from him many Maori trace their descent.  Many a genealogy begins with the names of Puhaorangi and his earthly wife and the semi-divine child, Oho-mai-rangi."