Presumably the absent arms in the glyph type is meant to convey the
meaning absence of 'fire' (i.e. sun):
|
 |
|
nuku |
Arms are (like hands and fingers) called rima and rima
is also used for number 5, the number of fingers on a hand. In the
myth about Maui stealing fire from Mahuika the fire is
lodging in the finger nails of Mahuika.
Maui is mischievous as always and soon the whole world is on
fire:
... Looking round, he saw that the
whole land would soon be aflame. So he changed himself into a
karearea, a hawk, and tried to soar above the flames. But the
fire pursued him there and scorched his feathers, which accounts for
the colour of that bird. Seeing a lake, he plunged down into it, but
found that it was almost boiling. All the forests then caught fire,
the land everywhere was alight, and Maui came very near to
death.
Then he called on his ancestor
Tawhiri matea and all his offspring, to send down rain. 'Let
water be given to quench this fire!' he cried, and spoke the
appropriate chants. Great clouds appeared, and Tawhiri sent
down first the small rain, and then the lasting rain, and everything
was drenched, and the flames went out.
Even Mahuika herself almost
perished before she could reach her place of shelter, and her
shrieks were as loud as those of Maui when he was scorched.
The waters rose all around her, and in this way Mahuika was
deprived of her former power ...
From
one extreme to the other our world is wobbling along.
