Manaia (legendary chief)

In Māori mythology, Manaia was a chief of the mythological land Hawaiki. After his wife's brother Ngātoro-i-rangi had migrated to New Zealand, Manaia's wife, Kuiwai, sent their daughter Haungaroa and four other girls to tell Ngatoro that Manaia had cursed him. Ngātoro-i-rangi performed rituals to ward off the curse, cursed Manaia in return, and set out for Hawaiki with a force of 140 warriors to take vengeance on Manaia.

Tawhirimatea's storm killed Manaia and his army

Manaia's priests were confident that they would win easily and therefore prepared large ovens for the bodies of Ngātoro-i-rangi's warriors. Ngātoro-i-rangi's men bloodied themselves and pretended to be dead, thus laying an ambush. In their over-confidence, Manaia's men advanced recklessly and all Manaia's men and priests were killed; only Manaia himself survived.

Ngātoro-i-rangi and his crew returned to New Zealand. Manaia gathered an army and set sail to New Zealand to attack them. Ngātoro-i-rangi and his wife, however, performed magical incantations, as a result of which Tāwhirimātea, the god of wind and storms, sent a great storm that destroyed Manaia's canoes and killed Manaia himself.