Te Ngaru
Te Ngaru ('The Wave') is a culture hero of Mangaia in the Cook Islands, whose exploits explain the ocean's power. Grandson of Moko the Great Lizard, he matched himself against the great ocean swell Tikokura and the man-eating shark Tumutearetoka, riding the crests of the sea in a struggle recorded by the missionary William Wyatt Gill and studied in modern scholarship.