Te Awekotuku, N. "Kurungaituku" in Purakau: Maori Myths Retold by Maori Writers. Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited, 2019.
Keywords: Whanau (Family), Taonga (Sacred/Precious Items), Greed, Betrayal, Strangeness
In this story, the main character is a "bird-woman" called Kurungaituku, a large half-bird half-human "ogress." She lives with her friend-family in a cave in the mountains; then one day hears a man's beautiful singing voice. She falls in love and the man, Hatupatu, falls for her treasures, betraying Kurungaituku for them later. It sits within a cultural-historical yet fictional context where, although it is told as a past story, it is more mythical.
As this story retells an older one, the only backing it has is that of others who know the story or edited it (Witi Ihimaera and Whiti Hereaka). It provides a great example of strangeness in who the protagonist is and portrays feminine empowerment in dealing with her situation. This is interesting because, while Kurungaituku is a strange being, she is not so alien that she would not be relatable, and therefore her story is engaging.
The relevance of Kurungaituku to my project is that it is what I plan to use as a narrative, leading the players through the space. It also covers a slight sense of the strangeness I plan to implement. This will be seen in the form of wayfinding by sound and the nature of the story (Kurungaituku's description for one). Another element to strangeness, for non-Maori speakers, would be the use of the language itself; by only hearing the words and perhaps not catching the translations, the player would have the information they cannot apply to anything, becoming confused.
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