Thus starts the story of Maui, beloved demi-god of all Polynesia in the
never-never land of long ago. Not wanted as a babe, for he was scrawny
and deformed, his mother, Hina, wrapped him in a lock of her hair and
cast him into the sea. But jellyfish rescued and mothered him, and the
god, Kanaloa, gave him protection. For all that, the growing youngster
yearned for his own, so that one day he crept back and stealthily
mingled with his four brothers. He was accepted in the family circle
only after much pleading by the eldest boy.
Maui-of-a-thousand-tricks is the favorite nickname given this
delightful, oft thoroughly human scamp. Throughout his escapades he was
ever faithful to man, so frequently fickle and unworthy. Maui made the
birds visible, for at first they could only be heard as they sang and
fluttered through the air. Maui invented spears and barbed fishhooks.
His greatest catch, so runs his fish story, was with a huge hook of
powerful magic made from the lifeless jawbone of his grandmother, who
was remarkable, for only one side of her body was alive. He tricked his
brothers into the task of manning the paddles while he, equipped with
his potent tackle, fished up the Hawaiian Islands from the depths of the
ocean. Maui first had strictly admonished the brothers not to watch him,
but only to look straight ahead. When curiosity overcame the belabored
paddlers, they disobeyed. The line parted as they looked back, leaving
the land only partly emerged, a chain of islands instead of a continuous
whole.
The story of the island of Maui thus begins and--so runs one
version--Maui lived in plain fashion on simple fare in a humble grass
hut at Kauiki, the famous foothill of Haleakala in the district of Hana.
Hawaii at the time was covered by darkness and fog, so Maui pushed the
heavens to their present position far above the highest mountains,
Haleakala, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai. Before this feat, man had
to stoop and crawl, pressed closely to the ground, for the skies were
low, and were held up by the plants whose leaves became flattened by
their burden, even as they remain today. Yet even now, when Maui is
asleep, the heavens rush back as somber clouds and darken the country
with storms. From Kauiki, Maui made his important journey to the crater
to capture the sun and force it to move slowly through the heavens that
tapa may be dried and fruits can mature. Also there are more daylight
hours for fishing and ceremonial preparations in the _heiau_. This
legend, the most pertinent to this guide, is sketched in the
Introduction to Part I.
Most Hawaiian legends place Maui's home in the black lava bank of the
Wailuku River above Hilo, while his mother chose the dark cave behind
Rainbow Falls. His exploits, so often capricious, more frequently
reflect a benefactor's concern for mankind. Maui disclosed the art of
making fire by rubbing sticks together. Previously, man was dependent on
Pele's volcanic furnace or on embers carefully nurtured to kindle his
fires. Maui wrung the secret from Alae, the reluctant mud-hen, who alone
knew it and guarded it with greatest care. Exasperated by repeated
frustration and deception, Maui, once he had gained her secret, punished
the stubborn bird by rubbing her head with a stick so roughly that all
the feathers came off and raw flesh appeared, which is how it remains
today.
Maui in his noblest moment gave his all for man, whose frailty brought
about the downfall of both. For Maui, too, was doomed to die some day,
since his father, like Achilles' nurse Cynosura, had neglected a part of
the proper ceremony to make him immortal. Maui abhorred the fact that
man must die, for he regarded death as degrading and an insult to the
dignity of man. The secret of life was hidden within the heart of
Hina-nui-kepo, the dread ogress of death. To win immortality one had to
steal through her jaws, which had sharp basalt teeth, enter into the
inky blackness of the stomach, and tear out the heart. This could only
be done while Hina slept. First, Maui turned man into a little bird, and
advised him to keep very quiet, lest he awaken the fearful goddess from
her slumber. Then he went stealthily about his fearsome task, speedily
and alone. All went well until the return journey; alas! poor, weak man
could not restrain himself, but burst into uncontrollable laughter as he
watched the plight of the demigod within the ugly, gaping fish-mouth of
Hina. The great jaws closed with a snap that crushed Maui and left Death
ever after the victor. Greater love hath no man!
It would seem that the crater so high in the sky, so remote in location,
so difficult in access, so desolate in appearance, so dread in origin,
should have been shunned by the early native. Quite the contrary, many
marks of frequent and varied use may be discovered in the crater. A
trail through it connected the busy sites on West Maui and the isthmus
with Kaupo and Hana near the eastern shore. This direct route avoided
the wet heavily forested northern slopes of the mountain as well as the
precipitous, arid, rough terrain on the southwest. It was easily
traversed, in spite of the climb involved.