One day, Tanemahuta, guardian of the forest, noticed his tree children were sickening from insect attacks. He sought help from his brother, Tanehokahoka, guardian of the birds. Tanehokahoka gathered the birds, and Tanemahuta pleaded for one to descend from the treetops to live on the forest floor, eat the insects, and save the trees.
No bird volunteered.
Tanehokahoka asked each in turn. The Tui was afraid of the dark. The Pukeko refused to get its feet damp. The Pipiwharauroa was too busy building its nest. Tanehokahoka was saddened, for without the trees, the birds would be homeless.
Finally, he asked the Kiwi. The Kiwi looked at the sunny treetops and the dark forest floor, thought, and said, "I will."
Overjoyed yet fair, Tanemahuta warned the Kiwi of the consequences: "You will grow thick legs to rip logs apart. You will lose your fine feathers and wings, never to return to the treetops. You will dwell in darkness. Knowing this, will you still come down?"
The Kiwi took a final, sad look at the sun, the other birds, and their wings. Then it turned and said again, "I will."
As agreed, Tanehokahoka then dealt with the others. The Tui, for its fear, would forever wear two white feathers of a coward at its throat. The Pukeko, for hating dampness, was doomed to walk in swamps. The Pipiwharauroa, too concerned with its nest, was decreed a vagrant, laying eggs in others' nests.
But the noble Kiwi, who sacrificed its way of life and its wings for the forest, would be forever loved and revered.