Ko te pepeha mō Ngāti Ruanui arā:
Ko Aotea te waka
Ko Turi te tangata ki runga
Ko Taranaki te maunga
Ko Waingongoro te awa
Ko Ngāti Ruanui te iwi.
Mai i Rangiātea ki Aotearoa
He tini ngā moutere ririki i te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Ko tētahi o aua moutere paku ko Rangiātea, e 200 kiromita te tawhiti i Tahiti. E 30 whakatipuranga ki mua, e noho ana a Turi ki reira; koia te tipuna o Ngāti Ruanui.
Te tūtakitanga o ngā mātua o Ruanui
He whakataukī mō te awa o Pātea, inā:
Pakupaku noa koe, e Pātea, me hoki a Rau i konei.
Nō tō rāua rongotanga mō te ātaahua o Tāneroroa te tamāhine a Turi, ka haere tētahi tokorua, a Uenuku-puanake rāua ko Rau ki te raki kia riro mai i tētahi o rāua a Tāneroroa hei wahine. Kia tae ki te awa o Pātea, ka tīmata a Uenuku ki te whakawhiti. Ka kite ia i te pāpaku o te awa. I konei ka tūturi tana haere, kia pōhēhē tōna hoa he hōhonu te wai. Ehara a Rau i te tangata kaha ki te kauhoe me te aha, ka hoki ia ki tōna kāinga. Ehara, mā te tangata kaha e riro ai te wahine purotu! Nā reira ka hua ko Uenuku–puanake, kāpā ko Rau.
Heoi, nō te tutūnga o te puehu ki waenganui i a Turi rāua ko Uenuku, he rangatira e noho pātata ana ki tōna kāinga, ka rere mōrehu a Turi i Rangiātea. He waimarie ia i te mea i tuaina e tōna hungarei e Toto tētahi rākau nui rawa atu, nānā ka whaongia ngā waka e rua, a Aotea rāua ko Mātā-hou-rua.
I te pō kerekere ka wehe mai a Turi me tōna iwi i Rangiātea mā runga i te waka Aotea-utanga-nui (Aotea taonga nui), i whakaingoatia pērātia nā te huhua o ngā momo tipu, kararehe hōu i mauria e ia. Nō muri mai i tētahi hekenga roa, mōrearea hoki, ka tau rātou ki Kāwhia i te whanga o Aotea. E ai ki te kōrero, ka wehe a Turi me tōna iwi ka hīkoi ki Pātea. Ka whakatūria e rātou te pā o Turi, a Rangitāwhi me tōna whare a Matangirei ki te taha tonga o te awa o Pātea.
I moe te tamāhine a Turi, a Tāneroroa i a Uenuku-puanake nō te waka Tākitimu. Ko Ngāti Ruanui ngā uri whakaheke o tā rāua tama a Ruanui. I tapaina a Ruanui ki te ingoa o tōna tipuna kei Rangiātea.
I roto i ngā whakatipuranga torutoru ka matika ngā uri o Ruanui hei iwi matua ki te tonga o Taranaki, i te takiwā kei waenganui i te awa o Whenuakura me te kōawa o Ōeo.
