Editing Tāne (section)

==Separates his parents==
[[Image:Waitakere Forest n.jpg|left|thumb|New Zealand rainforest: the trees and birds are the children of Tāne.]]
The children of Rangi and Papa grew frustrated at their confinement in the cramped space between their parents. [[Tūmatauenga|Tū]], future god of [[war]], proposes that they should kill their parents. But Tāne (or Tāne-mahuta) disagrees, suggesting that it is better to separate them, sending Rangi into the sky and leaving Papa below to care for them. Tāne's brothers [[Rongo]], then [[Tangaroa]], [[Haumia-tiketike]] and Tū all try in vain to separate the parents.  After many tries, Tāne lies on his back and pushes with his strong legs, and finally forces his parents apart, and Rangi rises high into the heavens (Grey 1956:2-3).<ref>In legends of the Taranaki region, it is Tangaroa who manages to separate Rangi and Papa (Smith 1993:1-2)</ref> Then Tāne searched for heavenly bodies as lights so that his father would be appropriately dressed. He obtained the stars and threw them up, along with the Moon and the Sun. At last Rangi looked handsome (Orbell 1998:145).

[[Tāwhirimātea]], the god of storms and winds, is angry that the parents have been torn apart. He joins his father in the sky and punishes the earth and sea with violent storms (Grey 1956:3-6, Tregear 1891:54). Tāwhirimātea attacks the forests of Tāne, snapping the trunks of the trees, shattering the trees to the ground, leaving them as food for decay and insects. Then he attacks the oceans, and Tangaroa, the god of the sea, flees. Two of Tangaroa's descendants, [[Ikatere]], father of [[fish]] and [[Tu-te-wehiwehi]] (or Tu-te-wanawana), the ancestor of [[reptile]]s, are terrified by Tāwhirimātea's fury. The fish flee into the sea, and the reptiles into the forests. Ever since, Tangaroa has resented Tāne for hiding his runaway children. So it is that Tāne supplies the descendants of Tūmatauenga with canoes, fishhooks, and nets to catch the descendants of Tangaroa. Tangaroa retaliates by overturning canoes and sending floods that sweep away houses, land and [[tree]]s (Grey 1971:5-6).