The ancient New Zealanders understood incantations by which they could
draw up or discover. They found a land where the sky and the earth were
united. They prayed over their stone axe and cut the sky and land apart.
"Hau-hau-tu" was the name of the great stone axe by which the sinews of
the great heaven above were severed, and Langi (sky) was separated from
Papa (earth).
The New Zealand Maoris were accustomed to say that at first the sky
rested close upon the earth and therefore there was utter darkness for
ages. Then the six sons of heaven and earth, born during this period of
darkness, felt the need of light and discussed the necessity of
separating their parents--the sky from the earth--and decided to attempt
the work.
Rongo (Hawaiian god Lono) the "father of food plants," attempted to lift
the sky, but could not tear it from the earth. Then Tangaroa (Kanaloa),
the "father of fish and reptiles," failed. Haumia Tiki-tiki (Maui
Kiikii), the "father of wild food plants," could not raise the clouds.
Then Tu (Hawaiian Ku), the "father of fierce men," struggled in vain.
But Tane (Hawaiian Kane), the "father of giant forests," pushed and
lifted until he thrust the sky far up above him. Then they discovered
their descendants--the multitude of human beings who had been living on
the earth concealed and crushed by the clouds. Afterwards the last son,
Tawhiri (father of storms), was angry and waged war against his
brothers. He hid in the sheltered hollows of the great skies. There he
begot his vast brood of winds and storms with which he finally drove all
his brothers and their descendants into hiding places on land and sea.
The New Zealanders mention the names of the canoes in which their
ancestors fled from the old home Hawaiki.
Tu (father of fierce men) and his descendants, however, conquered wind
and storm and have ever since held supremacy.
The New Zealand legends also say that heaven and earth have never lost
their love for each other. "The warm sighs of earth ever ascend from the
wooded mountains and valleys, and men call them mists. The sky also lets
fall frequent tears which men term dew drops."
The Manihiki islanders say that Maui desired to separate the sky from
the earth. His father, Ru, was the supporter of the heavens. Maui
persuaded him to assist in lifting the burden. Maui went to the north
and crept into a place, where, lying prostrate under the sky, he could
brace himself against it and push with great power. In the same way Ru
went to the south and braced himself against the southern skies. Then
they made the signal, and both pressed "with their backs against the
solid blue mass." It gave way before the great strength of the father
and son. Then they lifted again, bracing themselves with hands and knees
against the earth. They crowded it and bent it upward. They were able to
stand with the sky resting on their shoulders. They heaved against the
bending mass, and it receded rapidly. They quickly put the palms of
their hands under it; then the tips of their fingers, and it retreated
farther and farther. At last, "drawing themselves out to gigantic
proportions, they pushed the entire heavens up to the very lofty
position which they have ever since occupied."
But Maui and Ru had not worked perfectly together; therefore the sky was
twisted and its surface was very irregular. They determined to smooth
the sky before they finished their task, so they took large stone adzes
and chipped off the rough protuberances and ridges, until by and by the
great arch was cut out and smoothed off. They then took finer tools and
chipped and polished until the sky became the beautifully finished blue
dome which now bends around the earth.
The Hervey Island myth, as related by W. W. Gill, states that Ru, the
father of Maui, came from Avaiki (Hawa-iki), the underworld or abode of
the spirits of the dead. He found men crowded down by the sky, which was
a mass of solid blue stone. He was very sorry when he saw the condition
of the inhabitants of the earth, and planned to raise the sky a little.
So he planted stakes of different kinds of trees. These were strong
enough to hold the sky so far above the earth "that men could stand
erect and walk about without inconvenience." This was celebrated in one
of the Hervey Island songs:
"Force up the heavens,
O, Ru!
And let the space be clear."
For this helpful deed Ru received the name "The supporter of the
heavens." He was rather proud of his achievement and was gratified
because of the praise received. So he came sometimes and looked at the
stakes and the beautiful blue sky resting on them. Maui, the son, came
along and ridiculed his father for thinking so much of his work. Maui is
not represented, in the legends, as possessing a great deal of love and
reverence for his relatives provided his affection interfered with his
mischief; so it was not at all strange that he laughed at his father. Ru
became angry and said to Maui: "Who told youngsters to talk? Take care
of yourself, or I will hurl you out of existence."
Maui dared him to try it. Ru quickly seized him and "threw him to a
great height." But Maui changed himself to a bird and sank back to earth
unharmed.
Then he changed himself back into the form of a man, and, making himself
very large, ran and thrust his head between the old man's legs. He pried
and lifted until Ru and the sky around him began to give. Another lift
and he hurled them both to such a height that the sky could not come
back.
Ru himself was entangled among the stars. His head and shoulders stuck
fast, and he could not free himself. How he struggled, until the skies
shook, while Maui went away. Maui was proud of his achievement in having
moved the sky so far away. In this self-rejoicing he quickly forgot his
father.
Ru died after a time. "His body rotted away and his bones, of vast
proportions, came tumbling down from time to time, and were shivered on
the earth into countless fragments. These shattered bones of Ru are
scattered over every hill and valley of one of the islands, to the very
edge of the sea."
Thus the natives of the Hervey Islands account for the many pieces of
porous lava and the small pieces of pumice stone found occasionally in
their islands. The "bones" were very light and greatly resembled
fragments of real bone. If the fragments were large enough they were
sometimes taken and worshiped as gods. One of these pieces, of
extraordinary size, was given to Mr. Gill when the natives were
bringing in a large collection of idols. "This one was known as 'The
Light Stone,' and was worshiped as the god of the wind and the waves.
Upon occasions of a hurricane, incantations and offerings of food would
be made to it."
Thus, according to different Polynesian legends, Maui raised the sky and
made the earth inhabitable for his fellow-men.
IV.
MAUI SNARING THE SUN.
"Maui became restless and fought the sun
With a noose that he laid.
And winter won the sun,
And summer was won by Maui."
--Queen Liliuokalani's family chant.
A very unique legend is found among the widely-scattered Polynesians.
The story of Maui's "Snaring the Sun" was told among the Maoris of New
Zealand, the Kanakas of the Hervey and Society Islands, and the ancient
natives of Hawaii. The Samoans tell the same story without mentioning
the name of Maui. They say that the snare was cast by a child of the sun
itself.
The Polynesian stories of the origin of the sun are worthy of note
before the legend of the change from short to long days is given.
The Tongan Islanders, according to W. W. Gill, tell the story of the
origin of the sun and moon. They say that Vatea (Wakea) and their
ancestor Tongaiti quarreled concerning a child--each claiming it as his
own. In the struggle the child was cut in two. Vatea squeezed and rolled
the part he secured into a ball and threw it away, far up into the
heavens, where it became the sun. It shone brightly as it rolled along
the heavens, and sank down to Avaiki (Hawaii), the nether world. But the
ball came back again and once more rolled across the sky. Tongaiti had
let his half of the child fall on the ground and lie there, until made
envious by the beautiful ball Vatea made.
At last he took the flesh which lay on the ground and made it into a
ball. As the sun sank he threw his ball up into the darkness, and it
rolled along the heavens, but the blood had drained out of the flesh
while it lay upon the ground, therefore it could not become so red and
burning as the sun, and had not life to move so swiftly. It was as white
as a dead body, because its blood was all gone; and it could not make
the darkness flee away as the sun had done. Thus day and night and the
sun and moon always remain with the earth.
The legends of the Society Islands say that a demon in the west became
angry with the sun and in his rage ate it up, causing night. In the same
way a demon from the east would devour the moon, but for some reason
these angry ones could not destroy their captives and were compelled to
open their mouths and let the bright balls come forth once more. In
some places a sacrifice of some one of distinction was needed to placate
the wrath of the devourers and free the balls of light in times of
eclipse.
The moon, pale and dead in appearance, moved slowly; while the sun, full
of life and strength, moved quickly. Thus days were very short and
nights were very long. Mankind suffered from the fierceness of the heat
of the sun and also from its prolonged absence. Day and night were alike
a burden to men. The darkness was so great and lasted so long that
fruits would not ripen.
After Maui had succeeded in throwing the heavens into their place, and
fastening them so that they could not fall, he learned that he had
opened a way for the sun-god to come up from the lower world and rapidly
run across the blue vault. This made two troubles for men--the heat of
the sun was very great and the journey too quickly over. Maui planned to
capture the sun and punish him for thinking so little about the welfare
of mankind.
[Illustration: Iao Mountain From the Sea.]
As Rev. A. O. Forbes, a missionary among the Hawaiians, relates, Maui's
mother was troubled very much by the heedless haste of the sun. She had
many kapa-cloths to make, for this was the only kind of clothing known
in Hawaii, except sometimes a woven mat or a long grass fringe worn as a
skirt. This native cloth was made by pounding the fine bark of
certain trees with wooden mallets until the fibres were beaten and
ground into a wood pulp. Then she pounded the pulp into thin sheets from
which the best sleeping mats and clothes could be fashioned. These kapa
cloths had to be thoroughly dried, but the days were so short that by
the time she had spread out the kapa the sun had heedlessly rushed
across the sky and gone down into the under-world, and all the cloth had
to be gathered up again and cared for until another day should come.
There were other troubles. "The food could not be prepared and cooked in
one day. Even an incantation to the gods could not be chanted through
ere they were overtaken by darkness."
This was very discouraging and caused great suffering, as well as much
unnecessary trouble and labor. Many complaints were made against the
thoughtless sun.
Maui pitied his mother and determined to make the sun go slower that the
days might be long enough to satisfy the needs of men. Therefore, he
went over to the northwest of the island on which he lived. This was Mt.
Iao, an extinct volcano, in which lies one of the most beautiful and
picturesque valleys of the Hawaiian Islands. He climbed the ridges until
he could see the course of the sun as it passed over the island. He saw
that the sun came up the eastern side of Mt. Haleakala. He crossed over
the plain between the two mountains and climbed to the top of Mt.
Haleakala. There he watched the burning sun as it came up from Koolau
and passed directly over the top of the mountain. The summit of
Haleakala is a great extinct crater twenty miles in circumference, and
nearly twenty-five hundred feet in depth. There are two tremendous gaps
or chasms in the side of the crater wall, through which in days gone by
the massive bowl poured forth its flowing lava. One of these was the
Koolau, or eastern gap, in which Maui probably planned to catch the sun.
Mt. Hale-a-ka-la of the Hawaiian Islands means House-of-the-sun. "La,"
or "Ra," is the name of the sun throughout parts of Polynesia. Ra was
the sun-god of ancient Egypt. Thus the antiquities of Polynesia and
Egypt touch each other, and today no man knows the full reason thereof.
The Hawaiian legend says Maui was taunted by a man who ridiculed the
idea that he could snare the sun, saying, "You will never catch the sun.
You are only an idle nobody."
Maui replied, "When I conquer my enemy and my desire is attained, I will
be your death."
After studying the path of the sun, Maui returned to his mother and told
her that he would go and cut off the legs of the sun so that he could
not run so fast.
His mother said: "Are you strong enough for this work?" He said, "Yes."
Then she gave him fifteen strands of well-twisted fiber and told him to
go to his grandmother, who lived in the great crater of Haleakala, for
the rest of the things in his conflict with the sun. She said: "You must
climb the mountain to the place where a large wiliwili tree is standing.
There you will find the place where the sun stops to eat cooked bananas
prepared by your grandmother. Stay there until a rooster crows three
times; then watch your grandmother go out to make a fire and put on
food. You had better take her bananas. She will look for them and find
you and ask who you are. Tell her you belong to Hina."
When she had taught him all these things, he went up the mountain to
Kaupo to the place Hina had directed. There was a large wiliwili tree.
Here he waited for the rooster to crow. The name of that rooster was
Kalauhele-moa. When the rooster had crowed three times, the grandmother
came out with a bunch of bananas to cook for the sun. She took off the
upper part of the bunch and laid it down. Maui immediately snatched it
away. In a moment she turned to pick it up, but could not find it. She
was angry and cried out: "Where are the bananas of the sun?" Then she
took off another part of the bunch, and Maui stole that. Thus he did
until all the bunch had been taken away. She was almost blind and could
not detect him by sight, so she sniffed all around her until she
detected the smell of a man. She asked: "Who are you? To whom do you
belong?" Maui replied: "I belong to Hina." "Why have you come?" Maui
told her, "I have come to kill the sun. He goes so fast that he never
dries the tapa Hina has beaten out."
The old woman gave a magic stone for a battle axe and one more rope. She
taught him how to catch the sun, saying: "Make a place to hide here by
this large wiliwili tree. When the first leg of the sun comes up, catch
it with your first rope, and so on until you have used all your ropes.
Fasten them to the tree, then take the stone axe to strike the body of
the sun."
Maui dug a hole among the roots of the tree and concealed himself. Soon
the first ray of light--the first leg of the sun--came up along the
mountain side. Maui threw his rope and caught it. One by one the legs of
the sun came over the edge of the crater's rim and were caught. Only one
long leg was still hanging down the side of the mountain. It was hard
for the sun to move that leg. It shook and trembled and tried hard to
come up. At last it crept over the edge and was caught by Maui with the
rope given by his grandmother.
When the sun saw that his sixteen long legs were held fast in the ropes,
he began to go back down the mountain side into the sea. Then Maui tied
the ropes fast to the tree and pulled until the body of the sun came up
again. Brave Maui caught his magic stone club or axe, and began to
strike and wound the sun, until he cried: "Give me my life." Maui said:
"If you live, you may be a traitor. Perhaps I had better kill you." But
the sun begged for life. After they had conversed a while, they agreed
that there should be a regular motion in the journey of the sun. There
should be longer days, and yet half the time he might go quickly as in
the winter time, but the other half he must move slowly as in summer.
Thus men dwelling on the earth should be blessed.
Another legend says that he made a lasso and climbed to the summit of
Mt. Haleakala. He made ready his lasso, so that when the sun came up the
mountain side and rose above him he could cast the noose and catch the
sun, but he only snared one of the sun's larger rays and broke it off.
Again and again he threw the lasso until he had broken off all the
strong rays of the sun.
Then he shouted exultantly, "Thou art my captive; I will kill thee for
going so swiftly."
Then the sun said, "Let me live and thou shalt see me go more slowly
hereafter. Behold, hast thou not broken off all my strong legs and left
me only the weak ones?"
So the agreement was made, and Maui permitted the sun to pursue his
course, and from that day he went more slowly.
Maui returned from his conflict with the sun and sought for Moemoe, the
man who had ridiculed him. Maui chased this man around the island from
one side to the other until they had passed through Lahaina (one of the
first mission stations in 1828). There on the seashore near the large
black rock of the legend of Maui lifting the sky he found Moemoe. Then
they left the seashore and the contest raged up hill and down until Maui
slew the man and "changed the body into a long rock, which is there to
this day, by the side of the road going past Black Rock."
Before the battle with the sun occurred Maui went down into the
underworld, according to the New Zealand tradition, and remained a long
time with his relatives. In some way he learned that there was an
enchanted jawbone in the possession of some one of his ancestors, so he
waited and waited, hoping that at last he might discover it.
After a time he noticed that presents of food were being sent away to
some person whom he had not met.
One day he asked the messengers, "Who is it you are taking that present
of food to?"
The people answered, "It is for Muri, your ancestress."
Then he asked for the food, saying, "I will carry it to her myself."
But he took the food away and hid it. "And this he did for many days,"
and the presents failed to reach the old woman.
By and by she suspected mischief, for it did not seem as if her friends
would neglect her so long a time, so she thought she would catch the
tricky one and eat him. She depended upon her sense of smell to detect
the one who had troubled her. As Sir George Grey tells the story: "When
Maui came along the path carrying the present of food, the old chiefess
sniffed and sniffed until she was sure that she smelt some one coming.
She was very much exasperated, and her stomach began to distend itself
that she might be ready to devour this one when he came near.
Then she turned toward the south and sniffed and not a scent of anything
reached her. Then she turned to the north, and to the east, but could
not detect the odor of a human being. She made one more trial and turned
toward the west. Ah! then came the scent of a man to her plainly and she
called out, 'I know, from the smell wafted to me by the breeze, that
somebody is close to me.'"
Maui made known his presence and the old woman knew that he was a
descendant of hers, and her stomach began immediately to shrink and
contract itself again.
Then she asked, "Art thou Maui?"
He answered, "Even so," and told her that he wanted "the jaw-bone by
which great enchantments could be wrought."
Then Muri, the old chiefess, gave him the magic bone and he returned to
his brothers, who were still living on the earth.
Then Maui said: "Let us now catch the sun in a noose that we may compel
him to move more slowly in order that mankind may have long days to
labor in and procure subsistence for themselves."
They replied, "No man can approach it on account of the fierceness of
the heat."
According to the Society Island legend, his mother advised him to have
nothing to do with the sun, who was a divine living creature, "in form
like a man, possessed of fearful energy," shaking his golden locks both
morning and evening in the eyes of men. Many persons had tried to
regulate the movements of the sun, but had failed completely.
But Maui encouraged his mother and his brothers by asking them to
remember his power to protect himself by the use of enchantments.
The Hawaiian legend says that Maui himself gathered cocoanut fibre in
great quantity and manufactured it into strong ropes. But the legends of
other islands say that he had the aid of his brothers, and while working
learned many useful lessons. While winding and twisting they discovered
how to make square ropes and flat ropes as well as the ordinary round
rope. In the Society Islands, it is said, Maui and his brothers made six
strong ropes of great length. These he called aeiariki (royal nooses).
The New Zealand legend says that when Maui and his brothers had finished
making all the ropes required they took provisions and other things
needed and journeyed toward the east to find the place where the sun
should rise. Maui carried with him the magic jaw-bone which he had
secured from Muri, his ancestress, in the under-world.
They traveled all night and concealed themselves by day so that the sun
should not see them and become too suspicious and watchful. In this way
they journeyed, until "at length they had gone very far to the eastward
and had come to the very edge of the place out of which the sun rises.
There they set to work and built on each side a long, high wall of clay,
with huts of boughs of trees at each end to hide themselves in."
Here they laid a large noose made from their ropes and Maui concealed
himself on one side of this place along which the sun must come, while
his brothers hid on the other side.
Maui seized his magic enchanted jaw-bone as the weapon with which to
fight the sun, and ordered his brothers to pull hard on the noose and
not to be frightened or moved to set the sun free.
"At last the sun came rising up out of his place like a fire spreading
far and wide over the mountains and forests.
He rises up.
His head passes through the noose.
The ropes are pulled tight.
Then the monster began to struggle and roll himself about, while the
snare jerked backwards and forwards as he struggled. Ah! was not he held
fast in the ropes of his enemies.
Then forth rushed that bold hero Maui with his enchanted weapon. The sun
screamed aloud and roared. Maui struck him fiercely with many blows.
They held him for a long time. At last they let him go, and then weak
from wounds the sun crept very slowly and feebly along his course."
In this way the days were made longer so that men could perform their
daily tasks and fruits and food plants could have time to grow.
The legend of the Hervey group of islands says that Maui made six snares
and placed them at intervals along the path over which the sun must
pass. The sun in the form of a man climbed up from Avaiki (Hawaiki).
Maui pulled the first noose, but it slipped down the rising sun until it
caught and was pulled tight around his feet.
[Illustration: Hale-a-ka-la Crater. Where the Sun Was Caught.]
Maui ran quickly to pull the ropes of the second snare, but that also
slipped down, down, until it was tightened around the knees. Then Maui
hastened to the third snare, while the sun was trying to rush along
on his journey. The third snare caught around the hips. The fourth snare
fastened itself around the waist. The fifth slipped under the arms, and
yet the sun sped along as if but little inconvenienced by Maui's
efforts.
Then Maui caught the last noose and threw it around the neck of the sun,
and fastened the rope to a spur of rock. The sun struggled until nearly
strangled to death and then gave up, promising Maui that he would go as
slowly as was desired. Maui left the snares fastened to the sun to keep
him in constant fear.
"These ropes may still be seen hanging from the sun at dawn and
stretching into the skies when he descends into the ocean at night. By
the assistance of these ropes he is gently let down into Ava-iki in the
evening, and also raised up out of shadow-land in the morning."
Another legend from the Society Islands is related by Mr. Gill: