Te Tohunga the Ancient Legends and Traditions, of the Maoris, Orally Collected and Pictured

ISBN: 9781330337929 出版年：2016 页码：152 Wilhelm Dittmer Forgotten Books

An expired world tried to come to life again in the fragments which some old Maori narrated. Nature all around favoured admiration only, and her loneliness was alive with longing. Of Maori art I had never heard, and, when that art was first offered to me, I had none other to choose. At first it disgusted me. But I had to make use of my time. The evergreen nature was beautiful, and entrancing was her invitation to waste my life in her midst, as she herself was wasting hers. To protect myself against her allurements, I began the first sketches of old carvings. Then I made more. Sitting beside me, and looking at my work, an old Maori related the deeds of his ancestor, upon whose carved image I was at work.