A long time ago there lived on the South Sea Island of Rarotonga a humble farmer, his name was Ati. He lived alone in the south side village of Arorangi and spent most of his time working in his plantation. Because it was important to keep the weeds under control, Ati visited his plantation every day.
As the vegetables of Ati’s plantation reached maturity it would be only a week until they would be ready for harvest. It was the next morning when Ati went to visit his plantation he was stunned, half his crop had been stolen. He went to the village to search for the culprit but no one could help, he thought to himself maybe the thief would return, then he would catch him.
Ati slept near his plantation and it was one night two weeks later when the moon was in the centre of the sky, Ati was awakened by sounds coming from the water. He crept forward and looked around, there in front of him were white human creatures coming out of the pond near his taro patch. "Momoke" Ati whispered. He had heard legends of them from his ancestors but never imagined that they were real. Ati observed closely in fascination. If it had not been for their white colour they could almost be mistaken for earthly humans. As dawn broke the last of the momoke disappeared into the pond.
Ati spent the next day making his plans to trap the momoke. He borrowed a fishing net from one of his friends and waited beside the pond for the momoke to surface. The next night when the moon was high and Ati was almost dozing off to sleep, the silence was broken by the momoke. The momoke came out carrying on as they had done the night before. Working his way around the pond, covering it with the net, Ati let out a cry, "Oi ! Ae! Ae! ". Startled, the momoke rushed toward the safety of the pond. Giving way to the weight, the net snapped leaving all but one. Ati looked closely at his catch and realised it was a woman. He tied her up and took her home.
For many months Ati kept the momoke woman in his house. Soon they began to love one another and eventually became husband and wife. Before long Ati’s wife bore a child. Grieving that she would die if she were to give birth, as all momoke women did, she was astounded that she lived. As the baby grew older, she begged her husband to allow her to return to the underworld to share this knowledge with her people. He agreed but they would both go together.
On a chosen moonlit night the family went to the pond and took their dive. Being only human Ati could not last under water. On the fourth dive Ati hung on to their baby and after signalling to his wife returned to the surface for air. After some minutes, Ati realised that his wife had not surfaced with him. Ati knew she would never come back. He sat on the rock and held their child and sang;
