"Before the exploit that is
related here, the sea was
greater and the land was
less. Only Hawaiki,
the homeland, was dry for
men. Maui, in spite of his
timid brothers' fears,
pulled up the fish that
bears his name. The Maori
say that the Fish of Maui is
New Zealand.
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 the 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 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."
(Antony Alpers, Maori
Myths & Tribal Legends.) |