Maui.
(Nga-i-tahu.)

Niwa-reka took Mata-ora as her husband, and begat Papa-ku, who begat Takataka-te-rangi, who begat Hine-ti-tama, who begat Muri-ranga-whenua, who begat Ta-ranga, who begat Maui-tiki-tiki-a-taranga.

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Muri-ranga-whenua spent his time in providing food and clothing, and guarding it for his grandchildren, the children of Ta-ranga. Ta-ranga took Ira-whaki, and begat these, whose names were Maui-mua (first Maui), Maui-roto (Maui of the inside), Maui-taha (Maui of the side), Maui-pae (Maui stretched out), and Maui-tiki-tiki-a-taranga (Maui of the topknot of Ta-ranga).

Another Reading. (Nga-Ti-Kahu-Ngunu.)

Niwa-reka begat Papa-hu, who begat Taka-taka-te-rangi, who begat Hine-ti-tama, who begat Muri-ranga-whenua, who begat Taranga, who begat Maui-tiki-tiki-a-taranga. Muri-ranga-whenua's work was to provide food for his grandchildren, the children of Taranga, also to keep their clothing. Taranga took Ira-whaki (wart torn off), and begat Maui-mua, Maui-roto, Maui-taha, Maui-pae, and Maui-tiki-tiki-a-taranga.

Another Reading. (Nga-i-tahu.)

Taraka (Taranga) and Hine were the parents of Maui. Maui was an abortion of Hine. She wrapped it in her maro (apron) and threw it on a bramble-bush (tatara-heke). It was taken thence by Mu (gentle zephyr) and Weka (incumbrance, hindrance), and carried above, and laid out and stretched into the shape of a human body, and a soul put into it, and Maui became a living being.

Another Reading. (Nga-i-Porou.)

The child Maui-tiki-tiki-a-taranga was an abortion, and was taken and reared by his ancestors—gods, Apa-i-waho (the company of workmen outside), Ngaru-nui (great wave), Ngaru-roa (long wave), Ngaru-tiketike (high wave), Ngaru-papa (flat wave), Te-ahi-moana or Aihu-moana (fire on the ocean, or propelled by the sea), Tanga-roa-pati-ere or Papa-tiere (Tanga-roa the scent-solicitor, or Tanga-roa of the scented flat country), Tanga-roa-whakamau-tai (Tanga-roa who kept to the ocean), Te-peti-peti (syn., Mare-mare-tai, a sea-god), Te-ranga-hua page 64 (school of fish near the surface of the water), Rongo-mai-taha-nui (whale of the great side), and Paikea (seal).

When he was yet a child Maui was carried about by his vassals Ao-nui (great world) and Ao-pouri (dark world) and their companions. Maui became exceedingly angry, and thrashed the mountains and rocks.

Another Reading. (Nga-i-Hau.)

In the beginning Rangi lay on Papa, and there was no space between them, and the surface of the earth was dark. Their first offspring was the roi (fern-root), which came from the back of Rangi (i heke-tuara); and the second was the kumara, which came from the front of Rangi (i heke tau aro). After these came Tane, the first living being in this world, and with whom originated trees and birds. Next after Tane was Tiki, from whom came man; and the next after Tiki was Tu-te-ngana-hau, from whom all evil proceeded. The next was Tahu, from whom all good came. Next to him was Tawhiri-ma-tea, the originator of winds; and the last was Tanga-roa, the progenitor of fish and lizard tribes.

Tu-te-ngana-hau cut the sinews which united Rangi and Papa, and Tane procured the poles and propped up Rangi above Papa, which kept them asunder.

After this Maui was born. Tara-hunga (company of travellers) was his father. But there were six Mauis — Maui-mua Maui-roto, Maui-taha, Maui-pae (pai), Maui-tiki-tiki, and Maui-nuka-rau; but the first five are called Maui-ware-ware (the forgetful Mauis), who were inferior in knowledge to the youngest Maui, also called Maui-potiki and Maui-tiki-tiki (Maui the last-born, or pet). The elder Mauis, though called stupid, invented the spear to kill birds, but had not sense enough to arm it with a barb. Thus all the birds they pierced escaped. And, though they invented a hinaki (pot to catch eels), they did not put a trap to the mouth of it; and so the eels escaped. But Maui-potiki invented a barb for the bird-spear and a trap-door to the hinaki, and he caught birds and eels.

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Apa-i-waho and his people fed and attended to Maui-tiki-tiki until he had grown to maturity, when he went to show himself to his elder brothers and parents. When he arrived at their settlement he found his brothers playing teka or niti—a game played with the stalk of the common fern (rarauhe—Pteris aquilina), around one end of which is bound some flax in a ball. This is thrown along the surface of the ground. (The game is won by him whose niti flies the furthest.) Maui-mua had thrown his niti. At the same time he called his own name aloud. He was followed by Maui-roto, who also called aloud his own name. He was followed by Maui-taha and Maui-pae, each of whom called his own name aloud as he threw his niti. Now Maui-potiki said, “Give some niti to me.” They gave some to him. He called to Maui-mua and said, “O young man! come here and lie down on the ground.” Maui-mua did so. Maui-potiki threw one niti, and called the name of his elder brother, Maui-mua; and so on till he had thrown one for each of his brothers in the order of their birth. He then threw another niti, and exclaimed with assurance, “Maui-tiki-tiki-a-taranga.” Hearing this, his brothers cried, “Your parent is a nobody.” He answered, “But I am one of you.” His elder brothers said, “Not so; you are not of us. We whom you see here are the only members of our family, and you are not of us.” Maui said, “Well, then, call your mother.” She came and looked at her four children and said, “These four are all the children I had.” Maui said, “But I belong to you.” She answered, “I do not recognize you.” Maui said, “Now recall the past in regard to me.” She said, “I do not remember anything but my defiled apron, which I threw into the sea.” Maui said, “Yes, such was the case; and I was in it; and Te-apu-hau, or the Kauika-i-waho (the heaps far-out), nourished and brought me up.” She said, “It is true, and you are my child.”

Taranga, their mother, requested all her sons to throw their niti again. They did so. Maui-potiki withheld his for a time, and then said to his mother, “You have seen my elder brothers page 66 throw their niti, but mine you have not yet seen.” Maui-potiki then collected all the niti together, and repeated an incantation over them, and asked his elder brothers to lie down, so that their bodies might be the base from which his niti might rebound. They did as he requested, and Maui-potiki threw his niti over the bodies of his brothers. His brothers then rose, and threw their niti from the earth-base; but that of Maui-potiki went the farthest distance. Hence came the hollow along the backbone of man, originally occasioned by the scraping of the niti of Maui-potiki over the bodies of his brothers.

Because Maui-potiki was the last-born and pet child, he that night slept next to his mother in the house of his elder brother; but some time before the dawn of day she left him and departed to her husband. Many nights elapsed before she again came and slept there. When she did come again, before she lay down to sleep she closed up all the holes in the house by which light might enter, and to be certain she looked from within to see that all light was excluded, and then laid her maro (apron) aside and slept. She rose before the dawn and sought for her maro, which Maui had hidden by clasping it to his breast. Not finding it, she said to Maui, “O boy! have you taken my maro?” He answered “No.” She went outside, uttering this sentence as she went:—

Mats and a maro
Make Taranga look comely.

At the same time she placed her hands in front of her as she fled to the residence of her husband. And that sentence of hers thenceforth became a proverb.

Maui then rose and pulled the stuffing from the holes in the house, and watched his mother departing. He saw her go to a large root of grass and pull it up, and descend into the pit she had thus made.

Maui stamped on the floor of the house, and all his brothers awoke. He said, “I have discovered the road by which our page 67 mother goes when she leaves us here.” They said “O man! where is it?” He said, “It is yonder, at the large root of grass.” They all went to the root of grass and pulled it up and looked down: they saw men walking about in the sunlight in a lower world. Maui said to his brothers, “Which of us shall go to the home of our mother?” His brothers said, “There is no man who dares to go there.” But Maui-potiki said, “I will go.” They laughed scornfully at him, but he still said that he could go. He then by turns assumed the shape of every bird known on earth; but not until he had assumed that of a pigeon did his brothers take any notice, and then they said, “Ah! now you look grand.” He then swept down into the pit and alighted in the world where his parents were, and settled on a kau-were (young puriri-tree— Vitex littoralis) under which some people were sitting. He pulled some fruit from the branches, and hit one of them on the head with it. They all looked up, and saw a pigeon. At once one of them went for a bird-spear. Another climbed up into the tree with the spear to take the bird; but as he climbed the pigeon went up also, till it reached the topmost twig of the tree. The man followed to the top of the tree, and then the pigeon flew and lighted on the lowest branch of the tree. The news of this bird was conveyed to the settlement, and Taranga said, “Maybe it is that tricky boy whom I left.”

Taranga called to the bird, and it flew and lighted on the fence of the pa. She then called, “Come, welcome;” and the bird flew down and alighted in front of the house. She said, “Are you Maui?” The bird nodded an affirmative with its head. She said, “But what of your feathers—they are those of a bird?” Maui then changed into a man, and the old woman wept over him, and said to her daughters, “Go and get some fire, and cook some food for your brother.” Maui repeated his incantations to make his sisters disobedient, saying to his sisters, “Stay, stay; I will go and fetch fire.” The old woman answered, “No, you must not go for fire, for fear you play some tricks page 68 on your ancestors.” But he said, “Oh, yes! I must go for the fire, as I am so hungry.”

Maui went to his ancestor Mahu-i-ka (heat that blazed), who asked him, “What do you want?” Maui answered, “I have come for fire.” She gave him fire, but it was her thumb she gave. Maui left her settlement to return, but before long he extinguished the fire he had received, and went back to her again and said, “O old woman! the fire you gave me has gone out.” She gave Maui her first finger, which Maui took and returned again along the road; but before long he stumbled into some water and again put the fire out. He again went back to Mahu-i-ka and said, “O aged! the fire has gone out again. Look at me: I have fallen into water and mud.” Thus he acted until he had taken all the fingers of the old woman's hands, and all the toes of her feet. She now began to suspect Maui, and said, “Perhaps you are the deceitful man of whom I have heard. But now I will give you real fire.” Mahu-i-ka then set the earth on fire. Maui fled in terror when he saw the earth being consumed, and at last, becoming breathless, called to his elder brothers, saying, “O young men! let some rain down to me.” They did so, but it was not enough to put the fire out. He again called for help, and they sent down another shower of rain; but this did not put the fire out either, and still he fled, calling to his brothers for help. Then they let down a pelting shower, but still he fled and called for help, and still the fire pursued; so they let a heavy shower down, which drove the fire into Hine-kai-ko-mako (daughter of the komako-tree), where it was saved from extinction.

Maui then returned to his parents, who scolded him for his annoying conduct towards his ancestress; and Taranga, his mother, took him away to his elder brothers, who, seeing how much his neck and body had been burnt by Mahu-i-ka, wept over him.

Maui then observed how rapidly the sun travelled over the sky, and proposed to his brothers that they should join in arresting it; but they said, “We shall not be able to overcome page 69 him, or make him go slower.” Maui said, “He will be overcome to-day.” They said, “It is well. Let it be as you propose.” They took ropes and put them as nooses over the pit whence the sun came up; Maui placed his brothers, some on either side of the pit, to hold the ends of the ropes, and to pull them tight when the sun had got into the nooses; he himself stood aside and waited until the sun had come up and had got his neck and shoulders through the nooses, and then he called out, “Pull the ropes tight.” They did so, and then Maui sprang at the sun and broke both his wings, which caused him to go slowly. Thus Maui overcame his progenitors — namely, Mahu-i-ka, the source of fire, and the sun, the source of light.

Maui stayed with his elder brothers, and after a while they all went to catch crayfish in nets; but the elder brothers could not catch any in their pot-nets, while Maui caught many in his. One night his brothers secretly examined Maui's net to see how it was made, and when they had made theirs in the same way they also caught crayfish.

They next went to catch fish with hooks and lines; but Maui could not catch any, though the elder brothers caught many, and were so pleased at his failure that they laughed at him. When they reached the shore Maui was so ashamed at their laughter that he went to his ancestor Muri-ranga-whenua (gentle breeze of the land), and said, “O aged! I have come to you for a hook to fish with.” Muri-ranga-whenua gave Maui his lower jaw, and said, “Do not put it into the river to wash it, for fear your progenitors collect around it; but wash it far up on dry land.” He accordingly took the jaw away and dashed water on it as directed; but the water carried the blood down into the river, and fish collected around, and thus the blood of Muri-ranga-whenua made some of the fish (kokopu—Maori trout) red.

Maui now returned to the settlement of his elder brothers having his fishing-hook hidden under his garments, and they all sailed out to sea. His brothers thought Maui would again be page 70 unfortunate, and therefore they laughed at him again; but when Maui had baited his hook and thrown it into the sea, a fish immediately took it, and darkness came on the depths of the ocean, which made the brothers call out, “Maui, O Maui! let the fish go.” But Maui chanted this little song:—

O Tonga-nui! (great blemish on the skin)
Why art thou
Sulkily biting below there,
Beneath this earth?
The power is felt.
The foam is seen, coming—
Coming, O thou grandchild
Of Tangaroa-meha! (Tangaroa the lovely).

Soon the fish was pulled to the surface and lay breathing on the sea, and soon also their canoe was upset, and Maui said to his elder brothers, “Do not desecrate our fish: let me first take an offering of sea-weed to our gods (sons), and let them cut up our fish.” But as soon as Maui had departed they began to cut the fish up, and thus was occasioned the rugged and uneven character of the surface of the earth.

So ends this part of the history of Maui.

Maui proposed to his elder brothers that they should all go and overcome Hine-nui-te-po (great daughter of night). They agreed to set forth, and arrived at the horizon. Then Maui said, “O sons! do not laugh at me. Now let me pass through her to yon side, and pass back again to this side. Then you may laugh.” He then entered the 'pit (stomach), and passed through and stood on the other side of her. His brothers laughed within themselves. He re-entered the pit to return; but when he had come as far through as her waist and loins, his brothers laughed aloud, and the pit closed on him and caught him by the waist, and so held him until he died. Thus ended Maui.

So ends this part of the history of Maui.

The name of the canoe in which Maui and his brothers were when he fished up the land was Nuku-tai-memeha (land of the page 71 receding sea). Maui performed many other memorable actions. Before his death his son Tiki was grown to man's age, and had been taught all the knowledge that Maui possessed; but Tiki, though of so renowned a parentage, did nothing in his generation worthy of note.

Tiki begat Toto (drag), who begat Te-ewe (the land of his birth), who begat Taka-hapu (the restless tribes), who begat Tau-whare-kiokio (house standing in the shade); and all these lived and died without ever performing one memorable action. And Tau-whare-kiokio begat Whai-tiri, who was the first cannibal known in the world.

Maui. (Nga-i-tahu.)

Te-raka (thrown in wrestling) was the father and Mahu-i-ka (the heat that burnt) was the mother of Maui. The kahu (Circus gouldii) was also her child, and was the god of fire. The feathers of the kahu resemble fire, whence their red colour originated.

Te-raka was the son of Kohu-matua (parent fog), and he lived in the house of Ta-raka called Pou-tu-te-raki (perpendicular heaven). This house was thrown by Maui from the first heaven to the last heaven.

Mahu-inga (Mahu-i-ka) also begat Hina (grey); and Hina took Te-raka (Ta-ranga) (the entangled), who begat Maui-mua, Maui-waho, Maui-roto, Maui-taha, and Maui-potiki. Maui-potiki was wrapped in a maro (apron) and cast out on a heap of brambles, where Mu (breath of air) and Waka (a garment) found him, and enveloped him in shreds or frayed parts of garments, and tended him until he grew into life and became a man. When the news of this came to the ears of Ao-nui, Ao-roa, Ao-pouri, and Ao-hekere, they went and took Maui-potiki up into heaven, where he resided.

By-and-by Maui killed Roiroi-whenua (shaking earth) and Roko-whenua-rongo (news of the land). This was his first act of taking life, and also his first act of propitiating the gods for life taken. At this time Maui lived with Kai-tatu-whainga (content page 72 in time of war) and Maru-i-te-whare-aitu (Maru of the house of evil omen).

Maui caused snow to rest on the kumara-plantation of Maru-i-te-whare-aitu, for the purpose of blighting all the crops: and Maru-i-te-whare-aitu caused frost to rest on the crops of Maui and blighted all his kumaras; but by great diligence Maru-i-te-whare-aitu succeeded in saving the crops in one of his kumara fields. When Maui saw that he had been worsted by Maru-i-te-whare-aitu, he went and lay in wait for him, when he was ascending to the temple situate on the peak of a hill, with fruit and grass as a thank-offering to the gods there. Maui killed him on the pinnacle of the hill, before he had time to present the offerings for his harvest.

Maui then went to the abode of his mother, where he found his elder brothers engaged in a game of throwing darts along the ground (niti). Maui joined in the game; and when throwing his dart along the surface of the ground it struck the carved front of the house of Te-raka and Hine while Hine was within. She came out angry, and asked, “Who struck the carved front of the house?” The elder brothers of Maui, pointing, answered, “This is the boy who did it.” She asked, “To whom does that boy belong?” Maui answered, “I belong to you.” She said, “Not so: I have none but these,” pointing to the Maui brothers. But Maui-potiki persisted, and said, “I belong to you. Your maro (apron) was cast on a bramble-bush, and my ancestors found and nourished me and brought me up, and I am yours. My name is Maui-the-maro(apron)-that-was-rolled-up-in-a-bundle.” The old woman began to think, and said, “Yes, he is mine.” Maui then lived with her, and slept in the same house with her. But he did not see his father. One night he rose at midnight and waited till it was dawn, and found that his mother had departed unseen by him. On another night, after they had retired Maui feigned to sleep. Te-raka had not been there that day. At midnight Maui saw Hine undo her maro (apron) and lay it on one side of the couch; and when she was asleep Maui took it and put it under his pillow.

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When she rose to depart she sought in vain for her maro until it was dawn of day; and, as she must go, she took away something that was put into an opening at the foot of the main post in the centre of the house, and went down a pit, and shut it again after her. When she had been gone some time Maui went and opened the pit and looked down, and called to his mother for some oil to rub on his feet, and also for some red ochre to rub on his mouth, forehead, and feet. He then went into the forest, where he saw a pigeon, which he' caught, and, having put some ochre on the feet, head, and beak of the bird, he put his mother's maro (apron) over the neck of the bird, and when evening came he returned to the' house where his elder brothers lived. He found his brothers had obtained some pigeons also, which they had got by spearing them. Maui had caught his with his hands, and his mother was pleased with Maui for the way he had caught his bird.

When it was evening Te-raka arrived at the settlement, and Hine introduced Maui to him, saying, “This is our child. His brothers have to use a spear, but this boy takes pigeons with his hands.” That night, when they were all asleep, Te-raka departed from them. Maui again went and turned himself into a pigeon, and flew to the world below, and alighted on the fences surrounding the cultivations in that world. The men of that world saw him, and said, “Here is a pigeon for us;” but so soon as they went to spear it the pigeon flew away and alighted on the fence of another cultivation. The spearmen followed it; again it flew, and alighted on the point of the ko (digging-implement) of Te-raka, who was working in the cultivation. The pigeon sat there and uttered a song, and Te-raka said, “Maybe you are the man whose fame is great in the upper world.” The bird answered,” Ku,” and alighted on the ground and became a man. Up to this time Te-raka was working without the knowledge of the chants which are repeated by those who are engaged in setting the kumara, and Maui taught them to his father. This is the chant which Maui taught him:—

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Yes, it is Tara-rau-riki (little confused noise).
But Maui says
The seventh moon of the year
Is not the planting-time.
Cease to revile the dead (d)
And chant to the sky above.
O Father! yes, it is—
Yes, it is the bird now present.
Pierce the bird, pierce the stomach of Te-raka.
It flies, but weary flies,
And lights again, as one beloved.

When he had ended his chant Te-raka knew the man who had thus sung to him must be Maui-potiki, and he escorted him to the settlement, intending to entertain him with food; but the fire had all gone out. Some of the dependents were ordered to go for fire; but Maui said he would go for it. He resumed the form of a pigeon, and went to the settlement of Mahu-inga (Mahu-i-ka), in whose fingers and toes the fire resided. She gave him some; but on the way back Maui extinguished the fire. This he did again and again, until he had obtained every finger from the hands of Mahu-inga and every toe from her feet, and extinguished them all. She said, “You are not of the people of this lower world: you are the notorious man of the upper world.” Then she gathered her clothes around her, and kindled a fire; and Maui let a mist down upon it. But this did not put it out; so he sent a dense fog down, and then rain-heavy rain in large drops—and then snow and hail. Mahu-inga continued to replenish her fire, but by-and-by it was going out; so she threw it into a hole that the weta (a large insect, in shape like a giant flea), that lies in the dead leaves of the forest, had made in the kai-komako tree; but the fire would not kindle there. She then put it into the kohe (Dysoxylon spectabile), where it ignited. She put it into the totara (Taxus), where it ignited. She put it into the tumatakuru (benumbed face—Discaria toumatou), where it ignited. She put it into the hinehine (a certain tree —hinahina), where it burnt quickly.

Then Maui came down (up) and again assumed the form of a man, and returned to the home of Te-raka and his elder brother.

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Here he heard of another of his ancestors named Muri-ranga-whenua (the breeze that encircles the land). It was the duty of his elder brothers or some vassals to convey the food to this ancestor; but, instead of taking it to her, they sat down at the back of the house and ate the food and threw the basket away. Maui therefore offered to carry it; and when he came with it he found his ancestor ill and lying down. One side of her body was alive, but the other was dead and putrid. Maui took hold of her lower jaw and wrenched it from her face, and took it to a stream and washed it, and made it into a fish-hook, and, went out to sea and caught a fish called a ruo. When he had thus proved his hook he hid it, and returned to the home of his elder brothers. That night his brothers secretly went out to sea while Maui slept, but on the following day Maui went and hid himself in the cooking-place in the bows of the canoe. At dawn of the following day his brothers went to the canoe, and, not seeing Maui, they launched the canoe and paddled out to sea. When they had arrived at the usual fishing-ground, Maui came out of his hiding-place, and one of his brothers proposed to go and put him on shore; but some of the brothers were inclined to pity him, and wished him to be allowed to stay with them and fish. “But,” said the first, “how can he fish without a line or hook? Let him remain, but do not give him any fishing tackle.” They let down the lines into the sea. Maui said, “Give me a little bait and a fish-hook.” One said, “No; do not give him any.” Maui then struck his own nose, and made it bleed, and held the blood until it clotted. This he put on his hook, and lowered it into the water.

Now, while the brothers were thus away fishing, their mother had a presentiment, and said, “Perhaps Maui, my last-born, is doing some feat which will show he is a man of power.”

Soon a fish took the bait of Maui's hook, and he pulled it up to the bows of the canoe, and chanted an incantation over it. These were his words:—

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Take my bait, O depths!
Confused you are, O depths!
And coming upwards.

The fish caused a great foam, and his brothers, in fear, called to him to let it go; but Maui said, “This is the fish for which I came out on the ocean.” But they called out again, saying, “O Maui! let it go; it is a god.” But Maui continued to pull it up, and found it was land, on which were houses, and stages on which to put food, and dogs barking, and fires burning, and people working. So the fish of Maui was caught and pulled up to the surface. It was a light-coloured fish.

After they returned home Maui took to wife Hine, the daughter of Tuna (eel) (or Tanga—deceit) and Repo (swamp). One day Hine went near a stream, whence Tuna came and besmeared her with the slime of his tail. Then she went home and said to Maui, “There is a man in the stream who has skin very smooth to the touch.” Maui meditated how he could destroy Tuna. He dug a trench on the bank of the river, and he and his wife went down there. He directed Hine to sit down while he went to put up a screen in which to hide. Maui laid down ten logs as skids over which Tuna might slide. Soon Tuna was seen swimming towards them. He came towards Hine, and as he slid over the skids to her, Maui rushed out and with his axe smote Tuna before he could return to the water. His tail flew into the ocean and became a conger-eel, and his head flew into the fresh water and became eels. The blood became the pukapuka (Brachyglottis repanda), the brains became koarere (a certain tree), and the hairs of his head became the aka (creepers).

After this feat Maui lived quietly with his wife. One day he said to her, “Light a fire and cook some food.” She did so; but no sooner had she lighted it than the sun went down, and they had to eat their food in the dark. Maui meditated how he could alter this state of things. He said to his brothers, “Be brave and long-suffering;” and to his wife he said, “Do not in the page 77 meantime be anxious to cook any food.” Maui and his brothers then went to the rim of the pit whence the sun should rise, and at dawn, when the glow was dimly seen, and while the sun was still far down, Maui called aloud, “Let us pull the sun, that he may be long on his journey.” Then they put nooses over the mouth of the pit, and the rays of the sun were seen ascending. Up it came, and when the neck and waist were well into the nooses, Maui called to his brothers and said, “Pull the nooses tight.” They did so and caught the sun, which called, and said, “Maui, oh! let me go.” Maui replied, “Stay awhile, and you shall be loosed.” Again the sun implored to be released, and Maui answered, “Wait, and when Hine has been allowed to cook food, you shall be released and you may go on—when Hine has cooked her food in daylight.” So Maui succeeded in staying the sun, and food could be cooked and eaten in the light of day. But for Maui, days in this world would not have been as long as they now are.

After this Maui one day went to the settlement of his brother-in-law, Ira-waru (eight warts). When food had been cooked for him, and he had eaten, they set out on a journey as soon as the sun shone on them. Maui proposed that they should go to another place, and enjoy themselves in the warmth of the sun. By-and-by they sat down, and Maui proposed that Ira-waru should clean his head. Maui lay down, and Ira-waru did as Maui asked him to do. Maui said, “Let me also clean your head.” Ira-waru became sleepy under the operation, and Maui took his ears one in each hand and pulled them long, and his legs also he pulled out and lengthened. He then pulled the end of his backbone until it extended like a tail. Then he pulled his under jaw out long, and went aside and called “Moi, moi” (the call to a dog). Ira-waru awoke and came towards Maui in the form of a dog. Maui left him there and went back to the settlement. The wife of Ira-waru asked him, “Where is your brother-in-law?” He answered, “He is where we were sitting enjoying ourselves.” She asked, “Why did you not ask him to page 78 come back with you?” Maui said to his sister, “You call him.” She did so, but her husband did not come. Maui then said, “When you call him say, ‘moi, moi.’” She said, “Is he a dog that I should thus address him?” Maui said, “Never mind: only repeat that call.” She did so, and saw Ira-waru, her husband, coming to her in the shape of a dog. She exclaimed, “O deceitful Maui! you could not even have respect for your brother-in-law.” She then bent herself down and wept, and the dog fondled around her in her grief.

After this Maui heard of Hine-nui-te-po, and he asked, “Can I not go to her?” He went, and whilst still at a distance he saw a light flashing from her body. He said to his brothers, “If I go into this god do not laugh; but when I have passed through her, then you may laugh.” He went on until he had passed through her, but in coming back they laughed, and he was killed.