he Maori recognize the importance of trees in one of their creation stories.

Rangi, the sky father, and Papa, the earth mother, embraced each other. They held each other so tightly that they blocked out the sun's light, leaving their children to live in darkness, squashed between the earth and
the sky.

Eventually, the children had had enough of the darkness. They argued over how best to find the sun. Tuma, the fiercer child, wanted to kill his parents, but Tane, the guardian of the forests, objected.

'Let's separate them, and let the sky stand far above us and the earth lie beneath us. Let the sky be a stranger to us, but let the earth remain close to us as our nursing mother.'

In turn, each child tried to push Rangi and Papa apart, but their embrace was too strong.