before the work was finished. One fairy would run and assist him to make a knot, then another, but hardly had his helpers gone than Kahu would untie the knot and let the fish go. This went on so long, the others being delayed through helping him, that at last dawn appeared and there was light enough to see one another distinctly. Then the fairies saw that Kahu was not one of themselves but was a human being. With cries of dismay and fright they rushed away and hid themselves, leaving their canoes and nets on the shore together with all their fish. It was a very lucky night’s work for Kahu, because from the nets left by the fairies the Maori people learned how to make the netting-knot, which before that time they had not known, and this art of making nets has ever since been known and practised.
fish′-er-man
de-ter′-min-ing
rip′-ples
bus′-tled
foot′-prints
sud′-den-ly
pre′-cious
dis-tinc′-tly
rel′-a-tives
elf′-in
dis-may′
fel′-low
hu′-man
em-ployed′
o-mit′-ted
gills
glance, to look at quickly for a moment.
su′-per-nat′-u-ral, being above or beyond the laws of nature.
dawn, the break of day.
ca-noe′, a native boat, generally hewn out of a log.
mack′-er-el, a kind of small sea fish.
