"The old lady rose up to her full height. 'Aue!' she cried. 'Who can this mortal be?' And Maui answered: 'It is I'.

'Where are you from?' Mahuika asked him.
 

'I have come,' Maui said. 'You do not belong to this country,' said the old woman. 'Your appearance is not like that of the people of this place. Do you come from the north-east?'

He answered, 'No.'

'Do you come from the south-east?'

'No.'

'Are you from the south?'

'No.'

'Are you from the west, then?'

'No.'

'Do you come from whence the wind comes that blows upon me?'

And Maui said, 'I do.'

'Oh then,' she cried, 'you are my grandchild!' She stepped forward and put her face close up to his and asked him: 'What do you want here?'

'I am come to beg some fire of you. All the fires in our village have gone out.'

'Welcome! Welcome, then!' cried the old woman, 'Here is fire for you.' And she pulled out the nail of koiti, her little finger, and gave it to him. As she drew it out, fire flowed from it.

Maui marvelled at this, and took the nail, and left her. But he had only gone a short distance when he mischievously put it out. He went back to her and said: 'The light you gave me has gone out. Would you give me another?' So she pulled out the nail of manawa, her third finger, and it became a flame, and she gave it to him.

Maui left her, and this nail also he put out when he had gone a little distance. He wetted his hand, to show Mahuika he had fallen into a stream. Then she gave him the nail of mapere, her middle finger, and he did the same again, and Mahuika believed him each time.

In this way she gave him the nail of koroa, her forefinger, and then of koro matua, her thumb. And each one of them Maui put out, and returned for more. He wanted to see what would happen if he took from Mahuika the last of her fire, and he now had not a thought for the fire they needed in the village.

This went on until Mahuika had pulled out all the nails of her other hand, and then she began on her toes, until Maui had been given all the nails of her hands and all those of her feet except for one big toe.

Then at last the old woman decided that Maui must be playing some trick on her. She drew out the one nail that remained, the nail of her big toe, and fire flowed from it. But instead of handing it to Maui, she dashed it to the ground, and the whole place caught fire. 'There, you have it all now!' she cried. And Maui was already running for his life, with the fire at his heels pursuing him.

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.

But fire was saved for the world. When the waters reached her tikitiki, or the topknot of her head, the last seeds of fire fled from it to the rata , the hinau, the kahikatea, the rimu, and certain other trees. These trees would not admit them, and so they went to the mahoe, the totara, the patete, the pukatea, and the kaikomako, where they were cherished. These are the trees from whose dry wood fire can be obtained by friction. The others are of no use for this purpose."

(Maori Myths)