Muri-Rangi-whenua, he became the possessor of his powerful weapon. And
truly wonderful deeds did he perform with his sacred weapon. Is not all
this land its prey--this land, Te-ika-a-Maui? Look how he wanders till he
reaches a place on the river at Hawaiki--look how he does not touch any
food--look how he distributes the great tapu over the place, how he makes
it sacred to the most powerful gods only, and--look, ah, look how he
forms the jawbone of Muri-Rangi-whenua into a beautiful fish-hook; how he
adorns it with carvings, and how its eyes of pawa-shell, flash fire into
the world! Ha, look, my friend, how he, with great cunning, fashions the
teeth into barbs! Ah, see him giving to his weapon the great name of his
ancestor, Muri-Rangi-whenua.
Ha, now he held the great Karakia over his fish-hook, making it sacred
as an abode for the mightiest gods; and, hiding it in his belt, he went
back to his brothers, and he watched them trying to catch fish; but could
never land them, for their hooks had no barbs. He said laughingly: “O,
brothers, let us together go upon the sea to find out who may catch the
largest fish.”
But his brothers were afraid of Maui and his cunning and witchcraft: they
did not like him in the canoe, and therefore they left so early next
morning that Maui had to stay behind.
When Maui awoke and found his brothers gone, he laughed, and changed
himself into the little bird, Ti-waka-waka, and flew out upon the sea.
When he had reached the canoe he set himself upon the prow, and began to
twitter and sing.
Then his brothers knew him, and cried: “It is Maui, oh, it is Maui, who
has come!”--and Maui, flying around the canoe, twittered: “Yes, brothers,
it is Maui, it is Maui, who has come, Maui, Maui!” Then, throwing off all
his feathers one by one, he took the form of man again, and spoke: “Ha,
my brothers, now you shall see how Maui catches his large fish, and you
shall not know its name! But let us go further out upon the sea--there,
where the sea is deep, there is Maui’s fishing-ground.” His brothers now
paddled and paddled, till at last they said: “Truly Maui, this must be
your fishing-ground, for we can see Hawaiki no more.” But Maui answered:
“No, no,--let us go further out--where there is no more end to the sea.”
At last they came to a place in the middle of the ocean, and Maui
spoke: “Eh-hu, my brothers, this is Maui’s fishing-ground, the great
battle-field for his fish-hook, Muri-Rangi-whenua.”
Now he took his fish-hook with great care, so that his brothers might not
see the barbs, and asked them to give him some of their bait; but they
laughed, and cried: “No, no; mighty Maui, show us your big fish, the fish
we do not know--the fish you catch without bait!--ho, ho, the great fish
of Maui!”
Ha, ha, my friend.
But now, in great rage, Maui tore half his hair out, and, soaking it with
his blood, he baited his hook with it. Then he threw his line far, far
out into the sea, and began to chant this great incantation:
“Blow gently from the wakarua,
Blow gently from the mawaki
My line, let it pull straight,
My line, let it pull strong;
It has caught,
It has come.
The land is gained.
The fish is in the hand--
The fish long waited for,
The boast of Maui,
His great haul,
For which he went to sea,
His boast, it is caught!”
Ha, see how his fish has swallowed the hook! Ha, see how his line
straightens; see how Maui pulls and pulls with all his mighty strength!
See, how his strength presses the canoe under water! Ha, listen how his
brothers cry and wail; ha, ha, listen! “Maui, Maui, let go; let your fish
go; oh, let go, let go, Maui!” Ha, ha, see how Maui pulls, and pulls, and
pulls; see him pulling for three moons! Ha, listen how he shouts to his
brothers: “What Maui has got in his hands he cannot let go again!”
Hearken now to his incantations to the gods who make heavy things
light--ah, see him gathering together all his mighty strength, ah, see
him pull, see him pull! Ah, friend, the sea foams, the sea thunders, the
sea storms--ha, oh see, ah--ha, behold the fish of Maui, Maui’s fish
swimming upon the surface of the sea--Maui’s fish--Ha, friend, it is this
land! It is Te-ika-a-Maui.--Aotea-roa, this land.--Ah, behold the wisdom
of my ancestors: how Maui’s hook caught the house of the old Tonga-nui on
the top of Tongariro, and pulled all this beautiful land out of the sea,
Te-ika-a-Maui.
“Open now your throats that are still hoarse and tired from crying, my
brothers, and tell me the name of my fish”: so spoke Maui boastingly; but
they could not give the name of the fish, and Maui said full of pride:
“It is Te-ika-a-Maui!”
The canoe was now lying on the mountains at Hiku rangi, and Maui’s
brothers took their weapons and sprang forth, and wounded and killed the
fish, and, ah, my friend, from that time are the hills and the valleys
and the mountains: they are the foot-prints of the brothers who did not
follow Maui’s bidding that they should wait till he had made offering to
the gods that they might regard his catch with favour, and that his fish
might retain its beautiful smooth surface for ever.
[Illustration: MAUI FISHING NEW ZEALAND OUT OF THE OCEAN]
No, they did not follow Maui’s advice. Maui, our
ancestor----Ah----(_murmuring very low_): Maui-i-tiki-tiki-a-Taranga----
Ah,----(_and lower still_): Angi, angi ki te wakarua----Angi, angi
ki-te-ma-wa-ki----Tuku----aho----to----
Respect demands sleep.
Tapu is the sleep of the very aged.
[Illustration]
IX
MAHUIKA
[Illustration: TRADITION]
The Gods and the heroes of the Maori people are personifications of
Nature and her elemental powers: through the forms and doings of these
gods and heroes alone could they understand Nature--night and light,
cloud and lightning, sun and ocean.
The personalities and deeds of these heroes were human translations of
the unfathomable workings of Nature and the character of the elements:
the winter became the mother of the summer, but the winter has to devour
his child again; the night kills the evening, but the morning kills the
night through its fire. The moon is slowly eaten by her enemies, and must
descend to the dead that she may be born anew out of the world of death;
the gods of the lower world devour the dead that they may be cleaned
and come to life again in the Reinga. The sun alone is wandering daily
through the heavens, and nightly through the world of darkness, with
never diminished brilliancy; and this phantasy gave birth to the Sun-god
Maui, the great hero of the Maori people.
Taranga, the goddess of the Night-sun, is his mother, but
Tama-nui-ki-te-Rangi, Great Son of Heaven, lifts him as a child,
Maui-potiki, out of the ocean upon which he is swimming, and rears him
into manhood. With him Maui learns to use his great wisdom, given to him
by the sea--his Sun-wisdom. He learns how to assume the form of birds, to
throw spears, to cast fishing lines, for birds, spears, fishing-lines,
are the wisdom of the sun-rays.
Grown into manhood, and in full possession of his Sun-wisdom, he wanders
forth to find his brothers, the heroes of the Ascending Sun, the Sun at
midday, the evening Sun, and his mother, the Night-Sun.
[Illustration: TARANGA, THE NIGHT-SUN, AND MAUI]
His mother recognises him as her son whom she had given birth, and had
thrown into the sea, and she takes him into her house; through cunning he
follows his mother--who only lives with her children during the night--as
pigeon; bird--sunrays, through the caves of the lower world to Hawaiki.
Here he throws his berries (sunrays) upon his father and the people and
is again recognised by his mother and received with songs of welcome by
her and with incantations by his father to make him all-powerful, in the
world into which he has now entered as the first Sun-rise.
But after a time he extinguishes all the fires of the world, and enters
the Lower World to steal new fire from his ancestress Mahuika.
Mahuika is the mother of the fire, and her children, living in her
fingers are the first rays of light which shoot over the sky in the
mornings. In order to ask for one of her fingers he visits Mahuika, but
he deceives her, and she, to punish him, sets fire to the world. Out
of this fire--the second Sunrise--emerges the flying Maui, flying as
sun-eagle over the heavens, and hurling himself at last into the ocean.
That was the first sunset.
X
MAUI AND MAHUIKA
[Illustration: MAHUIKA]
“Listen, friend.
Maui extinguished all fires in Hawaiki, and no fire was burning anywhere,
and all was cold and dark. Then he called out: ‘Where are the lazy
slaves? Maui is hungry; where are the slaves to cook his food?’ And all
people were awakened by his noise, and they found all fires extinguished
at Hawaiki.
Ah.--
The ancestress of Maui, my listener, Mahuika, was now alone in all the
world in the possession of fire, for she is the mother of fire, which is
living in her finger. She was to be found at her great dwelling-place in
the Lower World, but it was terrible to go near her; and fear entered
into the hearts of the people of Hawaiki, for who could go near her in
her terrible beauty? Ha! Maui alone, the great hero--ah, Maui, my tupuna!
(ancestor).--Oh listen, my wanderer--Maui alone had the courage to go
to Mahuika to ask her for one of her fingers! He wandered through the
caves of the Lower World, and nearer and nearer he approached Mahuika,
his heart full of courage and cunning; but, ha, when his eyes beheld his
ancestress, he began to tremble so that he could not speak--ah, friend,
Mahuika was beautiful to look upon in her dark cave surrounded by her
children, who shone forth out of the darkness. At last Maui overcame his
fear and he spoke: “Oh, old woman, Mahuika, will you give me some of your
fire?”
[Illustration: MAUI’S FIGHT WITH THE SUN]
Mahuika, surrounded by fire, was terrible to behold--ah, my listener,
terrible. She cried: “Au-eh, who is there in the light of my
children?”--and Maui answered: “It is Maui, your grandson.” Mahuika now
asked him the four sacred questions, and he answered them as he had
answered Taranga, when Mahuika knew that her grandchild was standing
before her in the light of her fire, and she spoke: “Yes, my son, I will
that you receive the fire you have asked for”--and she took one of her
fingers and gave it to Maui.
With the fire he now wandered back, but, when he had travelled part of
his way, his old cunning overmastered him, and he resolved to take all
the fire of Mahuika. Ha, ha!
He killed the finger Mahuika had given him in a great water, and went
back to his ancestress to ask for another finger, telling her that he had
lost the first one.
And Mahuika gave him another finger--ha, ha.
He killed the second finger, too, in the great water, and came back to
ask for more; and his ancestress gave him another finger--ha, ha--ah!
Maui came again and again, and Mahuika gave him all her fingers till she
had only one left--ha, ha! Maui killed them all in the great water; but,
when he again came back and asked for the last finger, then Mahuika knew
that he wished to deceive her and kill her, and a frightful anger took
hold upon her! Ha, she took her last child, her last finger, and threw it
upon the world, and the world filled with fire--ha!
Ah, then Maui began to run!
The flames grew larger and larger, and followed him; he ran into the
forests, and the forests caught fire--ah, Maui, my ancestor--ah, he ran
into the river, but the river began to boil--ah! He took the form of an
eagle, but the flames pursued him high into the air. Ha!--he sang great
incantations to Tawhiri-matea and the gods, and they sent clouds of rain.
The clouds wandered forth from the end of heaven and burst into rain, and
long rain fell upon the fire, and heavy rain, and lasting rain. Through
the rain flew Maui, and threw himself into the sea, to save himself from
the terrible wrath of his ancestress Mahuika--ah!
Ah, my listener, Maui had almost perished through the terrible fire that
filled the world, but Mahuika, ah, Mahuika, she had to perish in the
endless floods which fell down upon the world. She knew that she had
to die, and she filled the world with terrible cries. With her great
swiftness--for is she not the mother of the fire?--she ran and ran to
save her child, the flame; and she ran and ran but the flood of the rain
always followed her. At last, knowing that she must die, she took her
last child, her last finger, and hid it in the Kai-Komaki tree--and then,
my listener, the rain has slain the mother of the fire--ah!
But the Kai-Komaki tree has sheltered up to this day the child of the
fire, so that men take its dry wood and rub it together till the flame
which once lived in the finger of Mahuika bursts forth to new life again.
You have heard how Maui cheated his ancestress Mahuika, and nearly
perished in the flames. Listen now to the song of his great strength and
braveness, that you may know how he once fought and conquered Te Ra, the
Sun, himself.
These are my words:
They were the days when our ancestors were still living at Tawhiti-nui,
the Great Distance.
The days were short, and Te Ra, the Sun, wandered through the heavens and
through the Lower World; but the days became shorter and shorter, and
faster and faster wandered the Sun through the heavens.
Ah, the nights grew longer and longer, and in the long nights grew the
longing for longer days in the heart of Maui, and out of the longing was
born his great cunning plan to fight the Sun and to compel him to create
longer days.
Ah, listen how he persuades his brothers in Tawhiti-nui to aid him in his
work! Frightened were his brothers at first, but, when he showed them his
art of making sacred ropes out of the long hair of women, and of forming
the ropes into nooses, then the hearts of the brothers lost their fear,
and they began to burn with eagerness for the fight.
Yes, Maui taught his brothers the art of making ropes, and from him
descended his wisdom to my people.
At last, my listener, all ropes and nooses were ready, and the brothers
burdened themselves with them, and they together started on their distant
journey.
Maui took his sacred fish-hook, Muri-Rangi-whenua, the End of Heaven and
Land, and showed his brothers the way. They wandered by night, and, as
soon as the sacred red broke forth at Mahiku-rangi, they hid themselves
under the rocks, that Te Ra might not see them. And again they wandered
forth by night till they had wandered many, many nights; and they at
last reached the cliffs of the caves out of which Te Ra ascended in the
mornings.
Ha, here they looked for shelter, and Maui warned his brothers not to
expose themselves to the arrows of the Sun, that they might not be killed
in the battle.
[Illustration]
Ah, Maui, the hero, he spoke to his brothers till all fear had left their
hearts, and the desire filled them to fall upon their enemy; and then
Maui showed them how they could catch Te Ra in their ropes; and he showed
them how to hold the ropes--tight, tight, and tight, so that the Sun
would be powerless and he could kill him with his sacred weapon.
Ha, let the eyes of your mind perceive how Te Ra ascends out of the
Lower World--see how he slowly appears in the precipice; see, oh see,
how he entangles himself in the strong ropes--how the brothers throw the
nooses--Look, ah, the Sun is caught!
Ha, the brothers hold; they hold tight. Oh, see Maui!--Maui springs
forward with his sacred weapon--Te Ra cries!--Ah, Maui beats him; look,
he bleeds!--ha, again he beats the Sun; again--again--Te Ra cries
wildly!--ah, ah--Maui has broken his wing--O Maui, the hero!--Ha, that
is a terrible battle! Oh, see the eyes on Maui’s fish-hook flashing
light--see the carvings; ha, see the adornment of sacred dog’s-hair--Ah,
his weapon is superbly beautiful! Ha, did you see the arrows of the Sun?
Do you see the flashing of his arrows?--Ha, Maui, the brave!--Now, the
Sun cries!--friend, she trembles!--she tears--she pulls!--Her blood is
covering the whole East of the heaven!--Ha, Maui--Maui----my ancestor!
Ha, oh--ha, Te Ra has torn himself free! Ha, beaten by his enemies,
bleeding from terrible wounds, with broken wings, with cries of pain he
goes his way--slowly--slowly----Oh, Maui!--
Can you hear Te Ra wailing? Ah, he cries!--What is he crying? Ah, he
cries: “Ah, why has man wounded me so terribly?--ah man, do you know that
you have wounded Tama-nui-ki-te-Ra? Why would you kill Tama-nui-ki-te-Ra?”
Ah, my listener--
That was the first time that the great name of the Sun was made known in
Hawaiki--Tama-nui-ki-te Ra!--
When Maui heard that great name, his heart glowed in pride, for he knew
then that he had fought the greatest battle a hero can fight, that he had
conquered the Great Son of the Heaven.
From that time the Sun went slowly over the heavens, so that the days
became long again and full of happiness for the people at Hawaiki.
Go, my friend, and remember the words of the old man who is your friend!”
XI
[Illustration]
THE DEATH OF MAUI
Many descendants had Maui; and many of them were living at Hawaiki, and
many were living in this land, in Aotea-roa. When he had created this
land; when through his great deed he had compelled Tama-nui-ki-te-ra to
prolong the days that the hearts of his descendants may be gladdened; and
when at last he had cheated Mahuika out of her flames which were living
now in the Kamaki-tree to give fire and warmth to his children, then the
life at Hawaiki became finer and finer; and finer and finer became the
life at Aotea-roa. That was the time when the great wish grew in the
heart of Maui, the wish to conquer his powerful enemy Hine-nui-te-po,
that Night might die and man may live for ever: ake, ake, ake!--yes, it
was his great wish.
At length he wandered to the tree at Hawaiki, and here he found his
parents, and told them of his great desire. But his parents were still
angry with him about the evil trick he had played on Mahuika, the trick
which had nearly cost him his life; but he laughed, and spoke boastingly:
“Ho, old people, have I not done greater deeds than this one? Who caught
the big fish, Te ika-a-Maui? Who?--Maui! Who captured Tama-nui-ki-te-Ra?
Who?--Maui! Truly, old people, Maui will continue on his way for ever and
ever! Ha, he will go and kill Hine-nui-te-po! Hine-nui-te-po!--so that
the life of man may be for ever and ever: ake, ake, ake! Who is stronger
than Maui?”
And his father answered: “Hine-nui-te-po, whom you may behold yonder
flashing on the horizon, is stronger than Maui!”
Thereupon laughed Maui, and spoke: “When Hine-nui-te-po can take my life,
then you can tell me how her looks are, ha, ha!” But his father spoke
warningly: “Ah, my son, her eyes, which you see flashing yonder, are dark
as greenstone; her teeth are sharp as obsidian; her mouth is like the
mouth of the Baracuta, and the hair of her head is the sea-weed; her body
alone has human form!”
But Maui only laughed, and asked: “Is Hine-nui-te-po as strong as
Tama-nui-ki-te-Ra? Is her strength as the strength of the sea, which I
have conquered and filled with land? Is her power as great as the power
of the fire--Ha, ha?” And his father had to answer: “It is well, my
youngest son; go brave there where you find your ancestress flashing with
fire on the horizon, and conquer her. Go, son of mine!”--
[Illustration: HINE-NUI-TE-PO KILLING MAUI]
Maui now took the shape of a beautiful coloured bird, and flew high up
in the sacred tree at Hawaiki, and sang and twittered till all the birds
of the forest collected around him: the Tui and the Huia and the Kaka,
the little Fantail and the Robin--all the birds followed the sweet call
of Maui, and great singing and life and happiness were in the tree at
Hawaiki.
When night came Maui and all the birds flew toward the west where
Hine-nui-te-po lived, and there they descended and found the old goddess
asleep.
Maui now took the form of man again, and prayed the birds to be very
careful, and very quiet, and not to laugh, for he was going to undertake
his greatest deed: to enter into Hine-nui-te-po and to steal her heart,
so that she must die and man might live for ever and ever--ake--ake--ake!
When the little birds heard Maui speaking thus, they fluttered about and
chirruped and were full of fear, and they twittered: “Maui, do not do it,
do not do it, Maui; no, Maui; no, no; Maui, do not do it!”
But Maui only laughed, and threw off his mat, so that all birds could see
his beautiful tattoo, the work of the god of the Rainbow, and, taking
his enchanted weapon, he entered the old goddess Hine-nui-te-po. All the
while the little birds were flying and fluttering hither and thither and
were full of fear for Maui. They fluttered noiselessly through the bushes
and higher then up the trees and, looking out of curiously glittering
eyes upon Maui, they were happy, beholding the wonderful spectacle of
Maui entering Hine-nui-te-po.
Ah, then was it that the little bird Tiwakawaka could not longer be
silent, but burst out into a heartfelt twittering laughter. Ah, the sweet
noise awoke the old goddess, and opening her greenstone eyes, she saw
Maui and his doings. Wrath overcame her, and quickly she snapped her jaws
together, biting through Maui and killing him with her sharp teeth of
obsidian. Then she took him down into the everlasting darkness.
That was the death of Maui!
XII
TE AROHA O THE LOVE OF HINEMOA
[Illustration: TE AROHA O
THE LOVE OF HINEMOA
Tutanekai]
High above the sandhills Rangi the mighty spreads his Garment of Day. It
is adorned with a border of snow-white clouds, which is resting on the
distant hills of Papa, Papa, the happy.
Ah, she is sending white cloud-messengers of her love up to Rangi, to
Rangi, the smiling, the beloved of Papa.
His golden Eye of Day caresses Papa, and looks down upon her with
tenderness, and her blood mounts blushing into her cheeks of
snow-white cliffs, and higher into the crimson glory of the flowering
Pohutukawa-trees which crown the cliffs. The crimson flowers flutter down
on the beach, of which Tangaroa, the unresting, takes possession again
with long-rolling lines of froth borne on transparent waves and thrown
ashore with majestic laughter and thundering songs to Papa, the beautiful
mother.
“See, how Rangi’s Eye of Day looks down, my good friend, filling the
heart with longing. Ah, longing for happiness enters the heart of man,
and Hine-nui-te-po is forgotten.”
“Tell me, Ngawai, my good friend, what you have heard of the people who
have wandered before us on the path to the Mother of Rest. Tell me what
you have heard listening by the fires of the whare.”
“Listen then, while we wander along the border of the sea to the love
that has been, the love of both, the two, of Hinemoa and Tutanekai.”
“The clear waters of the Waitemata never gave back such a beautiful
image, nor did the flowing water of the Waikato nor the bottomless
depth of Taupo-moana, as did the lake Rotorua on the evenings when the
world was calm and Hinemoa looked down into the depths and was full of
gladness.”
Ngawai commences her narrative while the sun paints a blue halo in the
black hair around her head. The light plays in the sunburnt face, the
lips quiver, and the large eyes, full of light, see in the distance what
the lips utter.
“Oh, Hinemoa was full of gladness and was smiling at her image for joy,
for over the sea sweetly sounds the music of the flute and the horn
played by Tutanekai and his friend Tiki, far off in the middle of the
lake on the island of Mokoia, Tutanekai’s home.”
[Illustration: HINEMOA]
And she sat and listened murmuring to the water: “Oh, Tutanekai, how
sweet is thy music to my heart! On many a calm night has Hinemoa
listened, and her joy grew always greater, and her heart happier within
her. Sometimes there were great gatherings of the people on the mainland,
in the pa (village) of Amukaria, Hinemoa’s father, and Tutanekai came
over, but he felt sorrowful amidst the feasting and frolic. He stole
quick glances at the beautiful maiden, but his hand was trembling
and he was ashamed; and he glanced over where Hinemoa was sitting
like a beautiful white heron among a flock of Kiwi, and his heart was
frightened. He was frightened and ill, and was full of wrath over it, as
over a lizard that ate away his heart. Therefore he longed for powerful
enemies, to fight away his trembling, and thus to forget his fear.
So he collected his war-friends and went away like a dark cloud to the
tribe of his enemies, challenging them to battle; and great was the
fighting, and many were slain, but Tutanekai was victorious, so that he
took many slaves and made great offerings to the God of War.
The great battle and the many offerings to the War God gladdened his
heart again, and he was frightened no more.