Thanks for your reply Inge! Myths and stories often seem to be ways of people to make sense of things happening around them indeed. The case of the urukehu is fascinating however since there are so many Maori far from mythical stories that claim these people were real. Maybe through the centuries the story of these people turned into a myth. My guess is that, if these fairies were actually real human beings, they must have had a reason to hide. Like you say, maybe out of fear for the Maori newcomers? Nonetheless an interesting topic. Ill be trying to find out more in the future.