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According to Polynesian myth Aldebaran and Sirius once upon a time joined forces to overturn a great Tara.

"... Cox, however, goes back of this classic title [for Ursa Major] and says:

They who spoke of the seven triones had long forgotten that their fathers spoke of the taras (staras) or strewers of light,

and Al Bīrūnī derived the word from taraņa, 'passage', as of the stars through the heavens. Thus from the results of modern philological research it is possible that our long received opinions as to the derivations of many star-names should be abandoned, and that we should search for them far back of Greek and Rome." (Allen)

This involved the place (-ga) of the Pleiades:

... the Little Eyes are Matariki, and at one time but a single star, so bright that their god Tane in envy got hold of Aumea, our Aldebaran, and, accompanied by Mere, our Sirius, chased the offender, who took refuge in a stream. Mere, however, drained off the water, and Tane hurled Aumea at the fugitive, breaking him into the six pieces that we now see, whence the native name for the fragments, Tauono, the Six ...

But it seems Tane (the 'Tree') did not quite succeed in his efforts because these 6 fragments continued to have a great influence on the people, who in their inner minds still clearly could see this place in front of them.

... Skulls with incised carvings, imbued with power by Makemake, were placed in the fowl house to promote the egg-laying capacity of the occupants. It may seem a long call from the domestic fowl to the sooty tern, but both are birds and lay eggs. The sooty tern (manu tara) comes to breed in large numbers in July or August off the southwestern point formed by the crater of Rano-kao on three rocky islets, of which the only one accessible to swimmers is Motu-nui

What commenced as an ordinary food quest for eggs became an annual competition to obtain the first egg of the season. The warriors (matatoa) of the dominant tribe entered servants for the annual Derby, and members of defeated tribes were not allowed to take part in the competition. The selected servants swam over to Motu-nui and waited in caves for the migration of the birds. The warriors and their families assembled on the lip of Rano-kao that overlooked the course. Owing to the strong wind, they built houses of stone for shelter at the village named Orongo, the Place-of-listening. There they listened for the coming of the birds and waited for the call of the successful servant who found the first egg. While waiting they amused themselves with singing and feasting and carved on the adjacent rock figures with birds' heads and human bodies, the symbol of Makemake, god of fowls and sea-birds. In time, rules and ritual were developed about this annual competition which became the most important social event on the island. The successful servant leaped onto a rocky promontory and shouted across the water to his master 'Shave your head. The egg is yours.'

A sentry on watch in a cave below Orongo, termed the Bird-listener (Hakaronga-manu), heard the call and relayed the message up to the waiting masters. The successful master was termed the Bird-man (Tangata manu). On reception of the egg, the people escorted him to Mataveri, where a feast was held in his honour. After that he went into seclusion for a year in a house at Rano-raraku. The details of his functions and privileges are not known, but certain it is that he was held in high honour and provided with food by the people until the next annual Derby took place. The list of Bird-men was memorized and transmitted like a list of kings ...

... Manu-tera, the Easter Island name for the sooty tern, means literally 'sunbird'. From this we take it as very likely, though there is no proof, that the tern would have been seen as a symbol of the sun - just as the falcon and the phoenix were symbols of the sun in ancient Egypt. The latter, the mythical Bennu bird, was associated with Heliopolis ('the City of the Sun') and with the pyramid-shaped Benben sunstone, and was famously linked to an egg:

As its end approached the phoenix fashioned a nest of aromatic boughs and spices, set it on fire, and was consumed in the flames. From the pyre miraculously sprang a new phoenix, which, after embalming its father's ashes in an egg of myrrh, flew with the ashes to Heliopolis where it deposited them on the altar in the temple of the sun god Ra.

The possibility cannot be ruled out that the birdman cult of Easter Island may have expressed ideas such as these. 'If one were to propose antecedents to the practice', comments the historian R. A. Jairazbhoy: the thought of the Egg of the Egyptian sun god (the cosmic egg) would have to come to mind. The Book of the Dead says that this egg was laid by Kenkenur, or 'the Great Cackler' (an alias of the phoenix), and the deceased watches and guards it. This is declared in the Chapter headed 'Having Dominion over the Water in the Underworld'. And again the journey on the reed float across the sea is reminiscent of the journey of the Egyptian sun god Ra to the horizon on reed floats ...

... This hieroglyph was used as a determinative for the word sesch, 'bird's nest', and in ideographs like tau, 'young bird, nestling' ...  The sign shows a few, usually three, ducklings or possibly green geese ... in a nest formed like the crescent of the moon. Sometimes there are eggs instead of young birds in the nest ...

 

... They all sat down and rested [on the plain of Oromanga], when suddenly they saw that a turtle had reached the shore and had crawled up on the beach. He [Ira] looked at it and said, 'Hey, you! The turtle has come on land!' He said, 'Let's go! Let's go back to the shore.' They all went to pick up the turtle. Ira was the first one to try to lift the turtle - but she didn't move. Then Raparenga said, 'You do not have the necessary ability. Get out of my way so that I can have a try!' Raparenga stepped up and tried to lift the turtle - but Raparenga could not move her. Now you spoke, Kuukuu: 'You don't have the necessary ability, but I shall move this turtle. Get out of my way!' Kuukuu stepped up, picked up the turtle, using all his strength. After he had lifted the turtle a little bit, he pushed her up farther. No sooner had he pushed her up and lifted her completely off the ground when she struck Kuukuu with one fin. She struck downward and broke Kuukuu's spine.

The turtle got up, went back into the (sea) water, and swam away. All the kinsmen spoke to you (i.e. Kuukuu): 'Even you did not prevail against the turtle!' They put the injured Kuukuu on a stretcher and carried him inland. They prepared a soft bed for him in the cave and let him rest there. They stayed there, rested, and lamented the severely injured Kuukuu. Kuukuu said, 'Promise me, my friends, that you will not abandon me!' They all replied, 'We could never abandon you!' They stayed there twenty-seven days in Oromanga.

Everytime Kuukuu asked, 'Where are you, friends?' they immediately replied in one voice, 'Here we are!' They all sat down and thought. They had an idea and Ira spoke, 'Hey, you! Bring the round stones (from the shore) and pile them into six heaps of stones!' One of the youths said to Ira, 'Why do we want heaps of stone?' Ira replied, 'So that we can all ask the stones to do something.' They took (the material) for the stone heaps (pipi horeko) and piled up six heaps of stone at the outer edge of the cave. Then they all said to the stone heaps, 'Whenever he calls, whenever he calls for us, let your voices rush (to him) instead of the six (of us) (i.e., the six stone heaps are supposed to be substitutes for the youths). They all drew back to profit (from the deception) (? ki honui) and listened. A short while later, Kuukuu called. As soon as he had asked, 'Where are you?' the voices of the stone heaps replied, 'Here we are!' All (the youths) said, 'Hey, you! That was well done!' ...

The role of Aldebaran could evidently have been to serve as a marker for the place of spring equinox at a specific point in ancient time (where he once upon a time had brought light, as Luci-fer, or as Jus-piter, Father of Light), whereas the role of Sirius should have been to serve as a permanent marker for the last day of June - always to follow the Sun instead of the starry dome when the precessional clock created time.

... The Sothic cycle was based on what is referred to in technical jargon as 'the periodic return of the heliacal rising of Sirius', which is the first appearance of this star after a seasonal absence, rising at dawn just ahead of the sun in the eastern portion of the sky. In the case of Sirius the interval between one such rising and the next amounts to exactly 365.25 days - a mathematically harmonious figure, uncomplicated by further decimal points, which is just twelve minutes longer than the duration of the solar year ...

... The month, which takes its name from Juppiter the oak-god, begins on June 10th and ends of July 7th. Midway comes St. John's Day, June 24th, the day on which the oak-king was sacrificially burned alive. The Celtic year was divided into two halves with the second half beginning in July, apparently after a seven-day wake, or funeral feast, in the oak-king's honour ...

Perhaps these June 10th,  June 24th, and July 7th, referred to a year with 10 months, ending with December. June (the month of Father Light, Jus-piter) could then have arrived 2 months earlier than today, i.e. with Aldebaran not in May 28 (as at the time of rongorongo) but in MARCH 25 (84) = 148 (May 28) - 64 (= 8 * 8).

... Strassmeier and Epping, in their Astronomishes aus Babylon, say that there its stars formed the third of the twenty-eight ecliptic constellations, - Arku-sha-rishu-ku, literally the Back of the Head of Ku, - which had been established along that great circle milleniums before our era; and Lenormant quotes, as an individual title from cuneiform inscriptions, Dil-kar, the Proclaimer of Dawn, that Jensen reads As-kar, and others Dil-gan, the Messenger of Light.

George Smith inferred from the tablets that it might be the Star of the Flocks; while other Euphratean names have been Lu-lim, or Lu-nit, the Ram's Eye; and Si-mal or Si-mul, the Horn star, which came down even to late astrology as the Ram's Horn. It also was Anuv, and had its constellation's titles I-ku and I-ku-u, - by abbreviation Ku, - the Prince, or the Leading One, the Ram that led the heavenly flock, some of íts titles at a different date being applied to Capella of Auriga. Brown associates it with Aloros, the first of the ten mythical kings of Akkad anterior to the Deluge, the duration of whose reigns proportionately coincided with the distances apart of the ten chief ecliptic stars beginning with Hamal, and he deduces from this kingly title the Assyrian Ailuv, and hence the Hebrew Ayil; the other stars corresponding to the other mythical kings being Alcyone, Aldebaran, Pollux, Regulus, Spica, Antares, Algenib, Deneb Algedi, and Scheat ...

Furthermore, we ought to consider the calendar of Gregory XIII as regards these dates in 'June / July':

APRIL 1 (91) 2 3 4 (*14)
Ga1-11 Ga1-12 Ga1-13 Ga1-14
HAEDUS II = η Aurigae (75.9) 5h (76.1)

ε Leporis (76.0), CURSA = β Eridani (76.4), λ Eridani (76.7)

μ Aurigae, μ Leporis (77.6)  ĸ Leporis (78.0), RIGEL (Foot) = β Orionis (78.1), Flaming Star = IC405 (78.2), CAPELLA = α Aurigae (78.4), ο Columbae, τ Orionis (78.8)

THUBAN (α Draconis)

June 4 5 6 (157) 7 (*78)
°May 31 (151) °June 1 2 (*73) 3
'May 8 (128) 9 10 (*50) 11
"April 24 (114) 25 26 (*36) 27
NAKSHATRA DATES:
OCTOBER 1 2 (*195) 3 4 (277)
December 4 5 6 (340) 7
°November 30 °December 1 2 (*256) 3
'November 7 (*231) 8 9 10 (314)
"October 24 (*217) 25 26 27 (300)

APRIL 5 6 (96) 7 (*17) 8
Ga1-15 Ga1-16 Ga1-17 Ga1-18
λ Aurigae (79.0), λ Leporis (79.6), ρ Aurigae (79.7)

ARCTURUS (α Bootis)

Shur-narkabti-sha-iltanu-5 (Star in the Bull towards the north)

σ Aurigae (80.4), BELLATRIX = γ Orionis, SAIF AL JABBAR = η Orionis (80.7), ELNATH = β Tauri (80.9)

ψ Orionis (81.1), NIHAL = β Leporis (81.7) KHUFU
MINTAKA = δ Orionis, υ Orionis (82.4), χ Aurigae (82.5), ε Columbae (82.6)
June 8 9 (160) 10 (*81) 11
°June 4 5 (156) 6 (*77) 7
'May 12 13 14 (*54) 15 (135)
"April 28 29 30 (*40) "May 1 (121)
NAKSHATRA DATES:
OCTOBER 5 (278) 6 7 (*200 = *17 + 183) 8
December 8 9 10 (*264 = *81 + 183) 11 (345)
°December 4 5 6 (*260 = *77 + 183) 7 (341)
'November 11 12 (*236 = *16 + 183) 13 14
"October 28 29 (*222 = *39 + 183) 30 31 (304)
APRIL 9 (*19) 10 (100) 11
Ga1-19 Ga1-20 Ga1-21
KHAFRE MENKAURE ο Aurigae (85.8), γ Leporis (85.9)

YANG MUN (α Lupi)

Al Hak'ah-3 / Mrigashīrsha-5 / Turtle-20 / Mas-tab-ba-tur-tur (Little Twins)

ARNEB = α Leporis, Crab Nebula = M1 Tauri (83.0, φ¹ Orionis (83.1), HEKA = λ Orionis, Orion Nebula = M42 (83.2), φ² Orionis (83.6), ALNILAM = ε Orionis (83.7)

Three Stars-21 / Shur-narkabti-sha-shūtū-6 (Star in the Bull towards the south) / ANA-IVA-9 (Pillar of exit)

HEAVENLY GATE = ζ Tauri, ν Columbae (84.0), ω Orionis (84.2),  ALNITAK = ζ Orionis, PHAKT (Phaet) = α Columbae (84.7)

June 12 13 (*84) 14 (165)
°June 8 9 (*80) 10 (161)
'May 16 (136) 17 18 (*58)
"May 2 3 (133) 4 (*54)
NAKSHATRA DATES:
OCTOBER 9 (*202) 10 11 (284)
December 12 13 14 (*268 = *85 + 183)
°December 8 9 10 (*264 = *81 + 183)
'November 15 16 (*240) 17 (321)
"November 1 2 (306) 3 (*227)

And at the time when the Pope Gregory XIII launched his new calendar he had heliacal Sirius at ºJune 30, to where the precession since the time of the Bull had pushed the stars between Gemini and Cancer, from MAY 1 (121 = 11 * 11) to day 181 (= 121 + 60):

APRIL 29 30 MAY 1 (*41) 2 (122)
Ga2-9 Ga2-10 (284 = 41 + 1 + 242) Ga2-12 (42)
Mash-mashu-sha-Risū-9 (Twins of the Shepherd ?)

θ Gemini (103.0), ψ8 Aurigae (103.2), ALHENA = γ Gemini (103.8), ψ9 Aurigae (103.9)

ADARA (Virgin) = ε Canis Majoris (104.8) ω GEMINI (105.4), ALZIRR = ξ Gemini (105.7), MULIPHEIN = γ Canis Majoris (105.8), MEKBUDA = ζ Gemini (105.9) 7h (106.5)

no star listed (106)

July 2 (*104 = 8 * 13) 4 (185) 5
ºJune 28 29 (*100) SIRIUS ºJuly 1 (182)
'June 5 6 (157) 7 (*78) 8
"May 22 23 24 (144) 25 (*65)
NAKSHATRA DATES:
OCTOBER 29 30 (303) 31 (*224) NOVEMBER 1
χ Oct. (286.0), AIN AL RAMI = ν Sagittarii (286.2), υ Draconis (286.4), δ Lyrae (286.3), κ Pavonis (286.5), ALYA = θ Serpentis (286.6) ξ Sagittarii (287.1), ω Pavonis (287.3), ε Aquilae, ε Cor. Austr., SULAPHAT = γ Lyrae (287.4), λ Lyrae (287.7), ASCELLA = ζ Sagittarii, BERED = i Aquilae (Ant.) (287.9)  Al Na'ām-18 / Uttara Ashadha-21

NUNKI = σ Sagittarii (288.4), ζ Cor. Austr. (288.5), MANUBRIUM = ο Sagittarii (288.8), ζ Aquilae (288.9)

19h (289.2)

λ Aquilae (Ant.) (289.1), γ Cor. Austr (289.3), τ Sagittarii (289.4), ι Lyrae (289.5), δ Cor. Austr. (289.8)

January 1 2 3 (368) 4
°December 28 29 30 (364) 31
'December 5 6 (340) 7 (*261) 8
"November 21 22 23 (327) 24 (*248)

In the G text a great fish-hook was placed here - at the time when the Full Moon was at Nunki and in ºDecember 30. Traditionally it was well known that Nunki announced the beginning of the 'Sea' and therefore heliacal Sirius at the opposite side of the year ought to be located precisely in ºJune 30 in order to show where new 'Land' was drawn up (emerging up into light as after a high tide).

... This [σ Sagittarii] has been identified with Nunki of the Euphratean Tablet of the Thirty Stars, the Star of the Proclamation of the Sea, this Sea being the quarter occupied by Aquarius, Capricornus, Delphinus, Pisces, and Pisces Australis. It is the same space in the sky that Aratos designated as Water ...

... 'I wan't a clean cup', interrupted the Hatter: 'let's all move one place on.' He moved as he spoke, and the Dormouse followed him: the March Hare moved into the Dormouse's place, and Alice rather unwillingly took the place of the March Hare. The Hatter was the only one who got any advantage from the change; and Alice was a good deal worse off than before, as the March Hare had just upsed the milk-jug into his plate ...

... In the morning of the world, there was nothing but water. The Loon was calling, and the old man who at that time bore the Raven's name, Nangkilstlas, asked her why. 'The gods are homeless', the Loon replied. 'I'll see to it', said the old man, without moving from the fire in his house on the floor of the sea. Then as the old man continued to lie by his fire, the Raven flew over the sea. The clouds broke. He flew upward, drove his beak into the sky and scrambled over the rim to the upper world. There he discovered a town, and in one of the houses a woman had just given birth. The Raven stole the skin and form of the newborn child. Then he began to cry for solid food, but he was offered only mother's milk ...

This could have been the background for the various Polynesian myths describing how once upon a time their Lands had been drawn up from the deeps of the sea as if their islands had been great fishes.

The idea could have been very ancient, because the Phoenician alphabet had 2 parts - Land and Water - and with a fish hook as the dominating idea at the end of 'Water' (= just preceding 'Land' in cyclic time). Nun as in Nun-ki was the fish to be once again caught:

Egyptian flail Phoenician lamed Greek psi Ψ (ψ)

Wikipedia: In writing, the early letter appears in an angular shape (). There were early graphical variants that omitted the stem, 'chickenfoot-shaped psi', as:

or

In later research it was postulated that the [Phoenician] alphabet is actually two complete lists, the first dealing with land agriculture and activity, and the second dealing with water, sea and fishing.

The first half beginning with Alef - an ox, and ending with Lamed - a whip. The second list begins with Mem - water, and continues with Nun - fish, Samek - fish bones, Ayin - a water spring, Peh - the mouth of a well, Tsadi - to fish, Kof, Resh and Shin are the hook hole, hook head and hook teeth, known to exist from prehistoric times, and the Tav is the mark used to count the fish caught.

The Crook and Flail were instruments of the Pharaoh:

By the way, possibly we have here an explanation of Metoro's words at Ca1-20, where his 'fishbone' could refer to Samek (cfr Fum al Samakah) - i.e., the season after Nun could have begun 60 days later (in a way supporting the idea of a year with 10 months of 'up on Land' and 2' down in the Water'):

JANUARY 24 25 (390 = 13 * 30) 26 27 7
Ca1-5 Ca1-6 Ca1-7 Ca1-8
haga i te mea ke ki te henua - tagata honui te ika te honu
DELTA = δ Andromedae

PORRIMA = γ Virginis

DENEB KAITOS (*9)

MIMOSA = β Crucis

ACHIRD = η Cassiopeiae

*193

η ANDROMEDAE

ALIOTH = ε Ursae Majoris

Ca1-16 (1 + 16) Ca1-17 (1 + 17) Ca1-18 (1 + 18) Ca1-19 (1 + 19) Ca1-20 (1 + 20)
koia ka hua koia ki te henua kiore kikiu - te henua te maitaki - te kihikihi hakaraoa - te henua
ADHIL = ξ Andromedae (*19)

SPICA, SADALMELIK (*202)

KSORA = δ Cassiopeiae (*20)

71 VIRGINIS

δ Phoenicis (*21)

no star listed (*204)

υ ANDROMEDAE (*22)

HEZE = ζ Virginis (*205)

ACHERNAR = α Eridani

κ OCTANS

Raoa

Pau.: To choke on a fishbone. Mgv.: roa, a bone stuck in the throat. Ta.: raoa, to choke on a bone. Sa.: laoa, to have something lodged in the throat. Ma.: raoa, to be choked. Churchill.

APRIL 29 30 MAY 1 (*41) 2 (122) 58
Ga2-9 Ga2-10 (284 = 41 + 1 + 242) Ga2-12 (42)
Mash-mashu-sha-Risū-9 (Twins of the Shepherd ?)

θ Gemini (103.0), ψ8 Aurigae (103.2), ALHENA = γ Gemini (103.8), ψ9 Aurigae (103.9)

ADARA (Virgin) = ε Canis Majoris (104.8) ω GEMINI (105.4), ALZIRR = ξ Gemini (105.7), MULIPHEIN = γ Canis Majoris (105.8), MEKBUDA = ζ Gemini (105.9) 7h (106.5)

no star listed (106)

July 2 (*104 = 8 * 13) 4 (185) 5
ºJune 28 29 (*100) SIRIUS ºJuly 1 (182)
'June 5 6 (157) 7 (*78) 8
"May 22 23 24 (144) 25 (*65)
NAKSHATRA DATES:
OCTOBER 29 30 (303) 31 (*224) NOVEMBER 1
χ Oct. (286.0), AIN AL RAMI = ν Sagittarii (286.2), υ Draconis (286.4), δ Lyrae (286.3), κ Pavonis (286.5), ALYA = θ Serpentis (286.6) ξ Sagittarii (287.1), ω Pavonis (287.3), ε Aquilae, ε Cor. Austr., SULAPHAT = γ Lyrae (287.4), λ Lyrae (287.7), ASCELLA = ζ Sagittarii, BERED = i Aquilae (Ant.) (287.9)  Al Na'ām-18 / Uttara Ashadha-21

NUNKI = σ Sagittarii (288.4), ζ Cor. Austr. (288.5), MANUBRIUM = ο Sagittarii (288.8), ζ Aquilae (288.9)

19h (289.2)

λ Aquilae (Ant.) (289.1), γ Cor. Austr (289.3), τ Sagittarii (289.4), ι Lyrae (289.5), δ Cor. Austr. (289.8)

January 1 2 3 (368) 4
°December 28 29 30 (364) 31
'December 5 6 (340) 7 (*261) 8
"November 21 22 23 (327) 24 (*248)
SIRIUS JULY 1 (182) 2 3 4
Ca4-25 (101) Ca4-26 Ca4-27 Ca4-28 Ca4-29
tupu te rakau erua tamaiti kua vaha te mago erua
ALKES (*165)

FUM AL SAMAKAH (*348)

DUBHE

SCHEAT PEGASI, MARKAB PEGASI

χ Leonis, χ¹ Hydrae, χ² Hydrae

*350

AL SHARAS = β Crateris (168.6)

SIMMAH = γ Piscium

ZOSMA & COXA

*352

DECEMBER 30 31 JANUARY 1 2 3 (368)

HOW MAUI FISHED UP LAND

 

Maui, in the custom of ancient times, had several different names. At the beginning he was Maui potiki because he was the youngest child.

 

Then he had his given name, Maui tikitiki a Taranga, and later he acquired other names for different sides of his character. According to what he was up to he might be known as Maui nukarau, or Maui-the-trickster; Maui atamai, Maui-the-quick-witted; Maui mohio, Maui-the-knowing; Maui toa, Maui-the-brave; and so on. He was an expert at the game of teka, or dart-throwing, and all the best patterns in the string game of whai, or cat's cradles, were invented by Maui. He was also a great kite-flier, and the story is told of a small boy of another name (but it could only have been Maui) who once came half out of the water and snatched the kite-string of a child on the land. He then slipped back into the sea and continued flying it from under the water until his mother was fetched, for she was the only one who could control him and make him behave at that time.

It was Maui, moreover, who invented the type of eel-trap that prevents the eel from escaping once it is in. After he had slain Tuna roa he constructed a hinaki that had a turned-back entrance with spikes pointing inwards, so that the eels went in for the bait and were trapped. Thus he always caught more eels than all his brothers put together. Again, it was Maui who first put a barb on his spear for catching birds. The spears of his brothers all had smooth points, but Maui secretly attached a barb to his, and took it off again so that his brothers would not know. In the same way also he secretly barbed his fish-hooks and always caught more fish than they. This lead to some unpleasentness between them.

The brothers grew tired of all his tricks, and tired of seeing him haul up fish by the kitful when they caught only a few. So they did their best to leave him behind when they went out fishing. One day he assumed the form of a tiwaiwaka, or fantail, the restless, friendly little bird that flits round snapping flies. He flew on to their canoe as they were leaving and perched on the prow. But they saw through this at once and turned back, and refused to go out with Maui on board. They said they had had enough of his enchantments and there would only be trouble if he went with them. This meant that he had to stay at home with his wives and children, with nothing to do, and listen to his wives complaining about the lack of fish to eat.

 

'Oh, stop it, you women', he said one day when their grumbling had got on his nerves. 'What are you fussing about? Haven't I done all manner of things by my enchantments? Do you think a simple thing like catching a few fish is beyond me? I'll go out fishing, and I'll catch a fish so big that you won't be able to eat it all before it goes bad.' He felt better when he had said this, and went off to a place where women were not allowed, and sat down to make himself a fish-hook. It was an enchanted one, and was pointed with a piece chipped off the jawbone of his great ancestress, Muri ranga whenua.

When it was finished he chanted the appropriate incantations over it, and tucked it under his maro, the loin cloth which was all he wore. Meanwhile, since the weather looked settled, the brothers of Maui were tightening the lashings of the top strakes of their canoe, to be ready for an expedition the following day. So during the night Maui went down and hid himself beneath the flooring slats. The brothers took provisions and made an early start soon after daybreak, and they had paddled some distance from the shore before Maui nukarau crept out of his hiding place. All four of them felt like turning back at once, but Maui by his enchantments made the sea stretch out between their canoe and the land, and by the time they had turned the canoe round they saw that they were much further out than they had thought. 'You might as well let me stay now; I can do the bailing', said Maui, picking up the carved wooden bailing scoop that was lying beside the bailing-place of the canoe. The brothers exchanged glances and shrugged their shoulders. There was not much point in objecting, so they resumed their paddling, and when they reached the place where they usually fished, one of them went to put the stone achor overboard.

'No, no, not yet!' cried Maui. 'Better to go much further out.' Meekly, his brothers paddled on again, all the way to their more distant fishing spot, which they only used when there was no luck at the other one. They were tired out with their paddling, and proposed that they should anchor and put their lines overboard. 'Oh, the fish here may be good enough for you,' said Maui, 'but we'd do much better to go right out, to another place I know. If we go there, all you have to do is put a line over and you'll get a bite. We'll only be there a little while and the canoe will be full of fish.' Maui's brothers were easy to persuade, so on they paddled once more, until the land had sunk from sight behind them. Then at last Maui allowed them to put he anchor out and bait their lines.

It was exactly as he had said it would be. Their lines were hardly over the side before they all caught fish. Twice only they had put their lines out when the canoe was filled with fish. They had so many that it would have been unsafe to catch more, for the canoe was now getting low in the water. So they suggested going back. 'Wait on,' said Maui, 'I haven't tried my line yet.' 'Where did you get a hook?' they asked. 'Oh, I have one of my own', said Maui. So the brothers knew for certain now that there was going to be trouble, as they had feared. They told him to hurry and throw his line over, and one of them started bailing. Because of the weight of the fish they were carrying, water was coming in at the sides. Maui produced his hook from underneath his maro, a magnificent, fishing hook it was, with a shank made of paua shell that glistened in the sunlight. Its point was made of the jawbone of his ancestress, and it was ornamented at the top of the shank with hair pulled from the tail of a dog.

He snooded it to a line that was lying in the canoe. Boastful Maui behaved as if it were a very ordinary sort of fish-hook, and flashed it carelessly. Then he asked his brothers for some bait. But they were sulking, and had no wish to help him. They said he could not have any of their bait. So Maui atamai doubled his fist and struck his nose a blow, and smeared the hook with blood, and threw it overboard. 'Be quiet now,' he told his brothers. 'If you hear me talking to myself don't say a word, or you will make my line break.' And as he paid out the line he intoned this karakia, that calls on the north-east and south-east winds:

Blow gently, whakarua, / blow gently, mawake, / my line let it pull straight, / my line let it pull strong. / My line it is pulled, / it has caught, / it has come. / The land is gained, / the land is in the hand, / the land long waited for, / the boasting of Maui, / his great land / for which he went to sea, / his boasting, it is caught. / A spell for the drawing up of the world.

The brothers had no idea what Maui was up to now, as he paid out his line. Down, down it sank, and when it was at the bottom Maui lifted it slightly, and it caught on something which at once pulled very hard. Maui pulled also, and hauled in a little of his line. The canoe heeled over, and was shipping water fast. 'Let it go!' cried the frightened brothers, but Maui answered with the words that are now a proverb: 'What Maui has got in his hand he cannot throw away.' 'Let go?' he cried. 'What did I come for but to catch fish?' And he went on hauling in his line, the canoe kept taking water, and his brothers kept bailing frantically, but Maui would not let go. Now Maui's hook had caught in the barge-boards of the house of Tonganui, who lived at the bottom of that part of the sea and whose name means Great South; for it was as far to the south that the brothers had paddled from their home. And Maui knew what it was that he had caught, and while he hauled at his line he was chanting the spell that goes:

O Tonganui / why do you hold so stubbornly there below? / The power of Muri's jawbone is at work on you, / you are coming, / you are caught now, / you are coming up, / appear, appear. / Shake yourself, / grandson of Tangaroa the little.

The fish came near the surface then, so that Maui's line was slack for a moment, and he shouted to it not to get tangled. But then the fish plunged down again, all the way to the bottom. And Maui had to strain, and haul away again. And at the height of all this excitement his belt worked loose, and his maro [cfr the month name Maro for June] fell off and he had to kick it from his feet. He had to do the rest with nothing on. The brothers of Maui sat trembling in the middle of the canoe, fearing for their lives. For now the water was frothing and heaving, and great hot bubbles were coming up, and steam, and Maui was chanting the incantation called Hiki, which makes heavy weights light. At length there appeared beside them the gable and thatched roof of the house of Tonganui, and not only the house, but a huge piece of the land attached to it.

The brothers wailed, and beat their heads, as they saw that Maui had fished up land, Te Ika a Maui, the fish of Maui. And there were houses on it, and fires burning, and people going about their daily tasks. Then Maui hitched his line round one of the paddles laid under a pair of thwarts, and picked up his maro, and put it on again. 'Now while I'm away,' he said, 'show some common sense and don't be impatient. Don't eat food until I come back, and whatever you do don't start cutting up the fish until I have found a priest and made an offering to the gods, and completed all the necessary rites. When I get back it will be all right to cut him up, and we'll share him out equally then. What we cannot take with us will keep until we come back for it.' Maui then returned to their village. But as soon as his back was turned his brothers did the very things that he had told them not to. They began to eat food, which was a sacrilege because no portion had yet been offered to the gods. And they started to scale the fish and cut bits off it. When they did this, Maui had not yet reached the sacred place and the presence of the gods. Had he done so, all the male and female deities would have been appeased by the promise of portions of the fish, and Tangaroa would have been content. As it was they were angry, and they caused the fish of Maui to writhe and lash about like any other fish. That is the reason why this land, Aotearoa, is now so rough and mountainous and much of it so unuseful to man. Had the brothers done as Maui told them it would have lain smooth and flat, an example to the world of what good land should be. But as soon as the sun rose above the horizon the writhing fish of Maui became solid underfoot, and could not be smoothed out again. This act of Maui's, that gave our people the land on which we live, was an event next in greatness to the separation of the Sky and Earth.

Afterwards these young men returned to their home in Hawaiki, the homeland. Their father, Makea tutara, was waiting for them when they beached their canoe, singing a chant that praised the mighty fishing feat of Maui. He was delighted with Maui, and said to him in front of the brothers: 'Among all my children only you, Maui tikitiki, are a great hero. You are the renewal of the strength that I once had. But as for your elder brothers here, they will never be famous like you. Stand up, Maui tikitiki, and let your brothers look at you.'

This was all that Makea tutara had to say to Maui on that occasion. Afterwards Maui fetched his mother also, and brought her to Hawaiki, and they all lived together there. Thus was dry land fished up by Maui, which had lain beneath the sea ever since the great rains that were sent by the Sky father and the god of winds. The Maori people say that the north island of Aotearoa, which certainly is shaped much like a fish, is Te Ika a Maui; and according to some tribes the south island is the canoe from which he caught it. And his hook is the cape at Heretaunga once known as Te matau a Maui, Maui's Fishhook (Cape Kidnappers). In some of the other islands which lie across the sea towards Hawaiki, the people say that theirs is the land that Maui pulled up from below.