In Māori mythology, Tāne (also called Tāne-mahuta, Tāne-nui-a-Rangi, and several other names) is the god of forests and of birds, and the son of Ranginui and Papatūanuku, the sky father and the earth mother, who used to lie in a tight embrace where their many children lived in the darkness between them (Grey 1956:2).