Tane and Whiro: A Contest for the Baskets of Knowledge

Tane's ascent to the highest of the twelve heavens to win the three baskets of knowledge was not an uncontested errand. George Grey's collection of Maori tradition records that Whiro, an elder brother, believed the right to fetch and hold the baskets belonged to him by birth order rather than to Tane, and the rivalry between the two became one of tradition's founding enmities. Tane's claim rested instead on the endorsement of Io, the supreme being at the summit of the heavens, who granted him passage through all twelve realms specifically. Whiro, thwarted, sent plagues of insects, reptiles and carrion birds against Tane as he climbed, and Tane is said to have used the aid of the winds to press on regardless, reaching Io at Toi o nga Rangi and receiving from him the three baskets and two sacred stones. The contest did not end on Tane's return to earth. Whiro, back among the living world by his own paths, demanded the treasures be given into his keeping, and Tane and his supporters refused him. Tradition holds that Whiro was banished to the underworld for the refusal, where he is said to remain, still working to trouble gods and people alike. The story gives Tane's most celebrated act, the winning of human knowledge, a rival and a cost it does not otherwise carry: the baskets came home contested, and the banishment of Whiro is remembered as their price.