h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You may be interested to know that the New Zealand equivalent is known as the Taniwha (pronounced Ta-nee-fa) - probably more closely related to dragons than anything else, but almost always makes its home in a river, lake or other waterway. Amphibious, and descriptions vary. Some very interesting stories exist, though.

Great entry!

Quick search;

http://daga.dhs.org/justpeace/art/photogalleries/maori/pages/Taniwha.htm

http://www.fact-index.com/t/ta/taniwha.html

http://www.tki.org.nz/r/farnet_new/te_kupenga/nga_korero.php

http://www.theserenedragon.net/Tales/australia-taniwha.html

http://www.eternalnight.co.uk/fiction/2002s/theroomoftheshrunkensouls-sample.html

Yeah there we go!

That second site is a bit iffy, though... since when are New Zealand and Australia the same country? And who's ever spelt Taniwha 'Tanihwa'??

Even more interesting to me are the stories of the people known as the patupareaehe (sp?) - which have parallels to the legends of elves in other cultures.

Not quite the correct spelling;

http://parasitic_screaming.tripod.com/maori/patupaiarehe.html

http://www.tki.org.nz/r/wick_ed/themes/rotk/five.php

http://daga.dhs.org/justpeace/art/photogalleries/maori/pages/The%20Net.htm

Maybe scope for an entry from you, Jerms?

Hmm, maybe...

That first link is broken.
Also, the link on your upage to the H2G2 winter party pictures, 2004, is also broken. Looks like they moved.

I found a book in the library about the patupaiarehe one day, written by one of the first colonists in NZ. The guy was a strict christian (as most colonists were) and didn't hold any truck with anything supernatural, yet he kept hearing stories which described a people that he knew of as 'elves', yet the maori had never heard that name.
So he wrote the stories down. This was the book I read. I may track it down again, it would certainly make an interesting entry...

Odd, I've just checked the first link again, and it's working for me. You could do a really nice entry on NZ stories and legends, Jerms. I for one would be interested. Maybe 'elves' are an archetype, if the occur spontaeously in different cultures?

I had the photos on a trial .Mac account, which expired. I tried to rescussitate it, but couldn't get it back and I no longer have the photos on my computer, following a difficulty which meant I had to reload the original settings, so I lost all my files . Azahar has a nice file of h2g2ers, and one day I'll get round to uploading a photo or two onto it.

I've just checked it again too, and it's still coming up with the error message 'Invalid URL'. Maybe it doesn't like the OS I'm using, or something.

"Maybe 'elves' are an archetype, if the occur spontaeously in different cultures?" Yeah that's what I was thinking... perhaps an entry on 'mythological' archetypes would be a good idea. I'd start with elves, from a NZ viewpoint, but I feel I'd need to know a lot more about the topic first. Perhaps if I find that book and re-read it it might trigger my memories of similar stuff... although that would involve me not having assignments to do...
I'll add it to the 'to do' list!

Pity about your photos. I've seen Azahar's page, too. Very cool!

Looking forward to seeing the entry when you've researched it, Jerms.

I'll look into sorting out/uploading photos in Az's bit when I get back from my birthday weekend.