boasted of and described the beauties and merits of his island. While
they were conversing, Maui called for his friends the birds. They
gathered around the house and fluttered among the leaves of the
surrounding trees. Soon their sweet voices filled the air on all sides.
All the people wondered and worshiped, thinking they heard the fairy or
menehune people. It was said that Maui had painted the bodies of his
invisible songsters and for a long time had kept the delight of their
flashing colors to himself. But when the visitor had rejoiced in the
mysterious harmonies, Maui decided to take away whatever veil shut out
the sight of these things beautiful, that his bird friends might be
known and honored ever after. So he made the birds reveal themselves
perched in the trees or flying in the air. The clear eyes of the god
first recognized the new revelation, then all the people became dumb
before the sweet singers adorned in all their brilliant tropical
plumage.
The beautiful red birds, iiwi and akakani, and the birds of glorious
yellow feathers, the oo and the mamo, were a joy to both eye and ear and
found high places in Hawaiian legend and story, and all gave their most
beautiful feathers for the cloaks and helmets of the chiefs.
The Maoris of New Zealand say that Maui could at will change himself
into a bird and with his feathered friends find a home in leafy
shelters. In bird form he visited the gods of the under-world. His
capricious soul was sensitive to the touch of all that mysterious life
of nature.
With the birds as companions and the winds as his servants Maui must
soon have turned his inventive mind to kite making.
The Hawaiian myths are perhaps the only ones of the Pacific Ocean which
give to any of the gods the pleasure and excitement of kite flying.
Maui, after repeated experiments, made a large kite for himself. It was
much larger than any house of his time or generation. He twisted a long
line from the strong fibers of the native plant known as the olona. He
endowed both kite and string with marvelous powers and launched the
kite up toward the clouds. It rose very slowly. The winds were not
lifting it into the sky.
[Illustration: The Home of the Winds, Hilo Coast.]
Maui remembered that an old priest lived in Waipio valley, the largest
and finest valley of the large island, Hawaii, on which he made his
home.
This priest had a covered calabash in which he compelled the winds to
hide when he did not wish them to play on land and sea. The priest's
name was Kaleiioku, and his calabash was known as ipu-makani-a ka
maumau, "the calabash of the perpetual winds." Maui called for the
priest who had charge of the winds to open his calabash and let them
come up to Hilo and blow along the Wailuku river. The natives say that
the place where Maui stood was marked by the pressure of his feet in the
lava rocks of the river bank as he braced himself to hold the kite
against the increasing force of the winds which pushed it towards the
sky. Then the enthusiasm of kite flying filled his youthful soul and he
cried aloud, screaming his challenge along the coast of the sea toward
Waipio--
"O winds, winds of Waipio,
In the calabash of Kaleiioku.
Come from the ipu-makani,
O wind, the wind of Hilo,
Come quickly, come with power."
Then the priest lifted the cover of the calabash of the winds and let
the strong winds of Hilo escape. Along the sea coast they rushed until
as they entered Hilo Bay they heard the voice of Maui calling--
"O winds, winds of Hilo,
Hasten and come to me."
With a tumultuous rush the strong winds turned toward the mountains.
They forced their way along the gorges and palisades of the Wailuku
river. They leaped into the heavens, making a fierce attack upon the
monster which Maui had sent into the sky. The kite struggled as it was
pushed upward by the hands of the fierce winds, but Maui rejoiced. His
heart was uplifted by the joy of the conflict in which his strength to
hold was pitted against the power of the winds to tear away. And again
he shouted toward the sea--
"O winds, the winds of Hilo,
Come to the mountains, come."
The winds which had been stirring up storms on the face of the waters
came inland. They dashed against Maui. They climbed the heights of the
skies until they fell with full violence against their mighty foe
hanging in the heavens.
The kite had been made of the strongest kapa (paper cloth) which Maui's
mother could prepare. It was not torn, although it was bent backward to
its utmost limit. Then the strain came on the strong cord of olona
fibre. The line was stretched and strained as the kite was pushed back.
Then Maui called again and again for stronger winds to come. The cord
was drawn out until the kite was far above the mountains. At last it
broke and the kite was tossed over the craters of the volcanoes to the
land of the district of Ka-u on the other side of the island.
Then Maui was angry and hastily leaped over the mountains, which are
nearly fourteen thousand feet in altitude. In a half dozen strides he
had crossed the fifty or sixty miles from his home to the place where
the kite lay. He could pass over many miles with a single step. His name
was Maui-Mama, "Maui the Swift." When Maui returned with his kite he was
more careful in calling the winds to aid him in his sport.
The people watched their wise neighbor and soon learned that the kite
could be a great blessing to them. When it was soaring in the sky there
was always dry and pleasant weather. It was a day for great rejoicing.
They could spread out their kapa cloth to dry as long as the kite was in
the sky. They could carry out their necessary work without fear of the
rain. Therefore when any one saw the kite beginning to float along the
mountain side he would call out joyfully, "E! Maui's kite is in the
heavens." Maui would send his kite into the blue sky and then tie the
line to the great black stones in the bed of the Wailuku river.
Maui soon learned the power of his kite when blown upon by a fierce
wind. With his accustomed skill he planned to make use of his strong
servant, and therefore took the kite with him on his journeys to the
other islands, using it to aid in making swift voyages. With the wind in
the right direction, the kite could pull his double canoe very easily
and quickly to its destination.
Time passed, and even the demi-god died. The fish hook with which he
drew the Hawaiian Islands up from the depths of the sea was allowed to
lie on the lava by the Wailuku river until it became a part of the
stone. The double canoe was carried far inland and then permitted to
petrify by the river side. The two stones which represent the double
canoe now bear the name "Waa-Kauhi," and the kite has fallen from the
sky far up on the mountain side, where it still rests, a flat plot of
rich land between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.
X.
THE OAHU LEGENDS OF MAUI.
Several Maui legends have been located on the island of Oahu. They were
given by Mr. Kaaia to Mr. T. G. Thrum, the publisher of what is well
known in the Hawaiian Islands as "Thrum's Annual." He has kindly
furnished them for added interest to the present volume. The legends
have a distinctly local flavor confined entirely to Oahu. It has seemed
best to reserve them for a chapter by themselves although they are
chiefly variations of stories already told.
MAUI AND THE TWO GODS.
This history of Maui and his grandmother Hina begins with their arrival
from foreign lands. They dwelt in Kane-ana (Kane's cave), Waianae, Oahu.
This is an "ana," or cave, at Puu-o-hulu. Hina had wonderful skill in
making all kinds of tapa according to the custom of the women of ancient
Hawaii.
Maui went to the Koolau side and rested at Kaha-luu, a diving place in
Koolaupoko. In that place there is a noted hill called Ma-eli-eli. This
is the story of that hill. Maui threw up a pile of dirt and concealed
rubbish under it. The two gods, Kane and Kanaloa, came along and asked
Maui what he was doing. He said, "What you see. You two dig on that side
to the foot of the pali, (precipice) and I will go down at Kaha-luu. If
you two dig through first, you may kill me. If I get through first I
will kill you." They agreed, and began to dig and throw up the dirt.
Then Maui dug three times and tossed up some of the hills of that place.
Kane and Kanaloa saw that Maui was digging very fast, so they put forth
very great strength and threw the dirt into a hill. Meanwhile Maui ran
away to the other side of the island. Thus by the aid of the gods the
hill Ma-eli-eli was thrown up and received its name "eli," meaning
"dig." "Ma-eli-eli" meant "the place of digging."
HOW THEY FOUND FIRE.
It was said that Maui and Hina had no fire. They were often cold and had
no cooked food. Maui saw flames rising in a distant place and ran to see
how they were made. When he came to that place the fire was out and some
birds flew away. One of them was Ka-Alae-huapi, "the stingy Alae"--a
small duck, the Hawaiian mud hen. Maui watched again and saw fire.
When he went up the birds saw him coming and scattered the fire,
carrying the ashes into the water; but he leaped and caught the little
Alae. "Ah!" he said, "I will kill you, because you do not let me have
fire." The bird replied, "If you kill me you cannot find fire." Maui
said, "Where is fire?" The Alae said, "Go up on the high land where
beautiful plants with large leaves are standing; rub their branches."
Maui set the bird free and went inland from Halawa and found dry land
taro. He began to rub the stalks, but only juice came out like water. He
had no red fire. He was very angry and said, "If that lying Alae is
caught again by me I will be its death."
[Illustration: Bay of Waipio Valley.]
After a while he saw the fire burning and ran swiftly. The birds saw him
and cried, "The cooking is over. Here comes the swift grandchild of
Hina." They scattered the fire, threw the ashes away and flew into the
water. But again Maui caught the Alae and began to kill it, saying: "You
gave me a plant full of water from which to get fire." The bird said,
"If I die you can never find fire. I will give you the secret of fire.
Take a branch of that dry tree and rub." Maui held the bird fast in one
hand while he rubbed with the other until smoke and fire came out. Then
he took the fire stick and rubbed the head of the bird, making a place
where red and white feathers have grown ever since.
He returned to Hina and taught her how to make fire, using the two fire
sticks and how to twist coconut fibre to catch the fire when it had been
kindled in wood. But the Alae was not forgotten. It was called huapi,
"stingy," because it selfishly kept the knowledge of fire making to
itself.
MAUI CATCHING THE SUN.
Maui watched Hina making tapa. The wet tapa was spread on a long tapa
board, and Hina began at one end to pound it into shape; pounding from
one end to another. He noticed that sunset came by the time she had
pounded to the middle of the board. The sun hurried so fast that she
could only begin her work before the day was past.
He went to the hill Hele-a-ka-la, which means "journey of the sun." He
thought he would catch the sun and make it move slowly. He went up the
hill and waited. When the sun began to rise, Maui made himself long,
stretching up toward the sky. Soon the shining legs of the sun came up
the hillside. He saw Maui and began to run swiftly, but Maui reached out
and caught one of the legs, saying: "O sun, I will kill you. You are a
mischief maker. You make trouble for Hina by going so fast." Then he
broke the shining leg of the sun. The sufferer said, "I will change my
way and go slowly--six months slow and six months faster." Thus arose
the saying, "Long shall be the daily journey of the sun and he shall
give light for all the people's toil." Hina learned that she could pound
until she was tired while the farmers could plant and take care of their
fields. Thus also this hill received its name Hele-a-ka-la. This is one
of the hills of Waianae near the precipice of the hill Puu-o-hulu.
UNITING THE ISLANDS.
Maui suggested to Hina that he had better try to draw the islands
together, uniting them in one land. Hina told Maui to go and see
Alae-nui-a-Hina, who would tell him what to do. The Alae told him they
must go to Ponaha-ke-one (a fishing place outside of Pearl Harbor) and
find Ka-uniho-kahi, "the one toothed," who held the land under the sea.
Maui went back to Hina. She told him to ask his brothers to go fishing
with him. They consented and pushed out into the sea. Soon Maui saw a
bailing dish floating by the canoe and picked it up. It was named
Hina-a-ke-ka, "Hina who fell off." They paddled to Ponaha-ke-one. When
they stopped they saw a beautiful young woman in the boat. Then they
anchored and again looked in the boat, but the young woman was gone.
They saw the bailing dish and threw it into the sea.
Maui-mua threw his hook and caught a large fish, which was seen to be a
shark as they drew it to the surface. At once they cut the line. So also
Maui-hope and Maui-waena. At last Maui threw his hook Manai-i-ka-lani
into the sea. It went down, down into the depths. Maui cried,
"Hina-a-ke-ka has my hook in her hand. By her it will be made fast."
Hina went down with the hook until she met Ka-uniho-kahi. She asked him
to open his mouth, then threw the hook far inside and made it fast. Then
she pulled the line so that Maui should know that the fish was caught.
Maui fastened the line to the outrigger of the canoe and asked his
brothers to paddle with all diligence, and not look back. Long, long,
they paddled and were very tired. Then Maui took a paddle and dipped
deep in the sea. The boat moved more swiftly through the sea. The
brothers looked back and cried, "There is plenty of land behind us." The
charm was broken. The hook came out of "the one toothed," and the raised
islands sank back into their place. The native say, "The islands are now
united to America. Perhaps Maui has been at work."
MAUI AND PEA-PEA THE EIGHT-EYED.
Maui had been fishing and had caught a great fish upon which he was
feasting. He looked inland and saw his wife, Kumu-lama, seized and
carried away by Pea-pea-maka-walu, "Pea-pea the eight-eyed." This
is a legend derived from the myths of many islands in which Lupe or Rupe
(pigeon) changed himself into a bird and flew after his sister Hina who
had been carried on the back of a shark to distant islands. Sometimes as
a man and sometimes as a bird he prosecuted his search until Hina was
found.
[Illustration: The Ie-ie Vine.]
Maui pursued Pea-pea, but could not catch him. He carried Maui's wife
over the sea to a far away island. Maui was greatly troubled but his
grandmother sent him inland to find an old man who would tell him what
to do. Maui went inland and looking down toward Waipahu saw this man
Ku-olo-kele. He was hump-backed. Maui threw a large stone and hit the
"hill on the back" knocked it off and made the back straight. The old
man lifted up the stone and threw it to Waipahu, where it lies to this
day. Then he and Maui talked together. He told Maui to go and catch
birds and gather ti leaves and fibers of the ie-ie vine, and fill his
house. These things Maui secured and brought to him. He told Maui to go
home and return after three days.
Ku-olo-kele took the ti leaves and the ie-ie threads and made the body
of a great bird which he covered with bird feathers. He fastened all
together with the ie-ie. This was done in the first day. The second day
he placed food inside and tried his bird and it flew all right.
"Thus," as the Hawaiians say, "the first flying ship was made in the
time of Maui." This is a modern version of Rupe changing himself into a
bird.
On the third day Maui came and saw the wonderful bird body thoroughly
prepared for his journey. Maui went inside. Ku-olo-kele said, "When you
reach that land, look for a village. If the people are not there look to
the beach. If there are many people, your wife and Pea-pea the
eight-eyed will be there. Do not go near, but fly out over the sea. The
people will say, 'O, the strange bird;' but Pea-pea will say, 'This is
my bird. It is tabu.' You can then come to the people."
Maui pulled the ie-ie ropes fastened to the wings and made them move.
Thus he flew away into the sky. Two days was his journey before he came
to that strange island, Moana-liha-i-ka-wao-kele. It was a beautiful
land. He flew inland to a village, but there were no people; according
to the ancient chant:
"The houses of Lima-loa stand,
But there are no people;
They are at Mana."
The people were by the sea. Maui flew over them. He saw his wife, but he
passed on flying out over the sea, skimming like a sea bird down to the
water and rising gracefully up to the sky. Pea-pea called out, "This
is my bird. It is tabu." Maui heard and came to the beach. He was caught
and placed in a tabu box. The servants carried him up to the village and
put him in the chief's sleeping house, when Pea-pea and his people
returned to their homes.
In the night Pea-pea and Maui's wife lay down to sleep. Maui watched
Pea-pea, hoping that he would soon sleep. Then he would kill him. Maui
waited. One eye was closed, seven eyes were opened. Then four eyes
closed, leaving three. The night was almost past and dawn was near. Then
Maui called to Hina with his spirit voice, "O Hina, keep it dark." Hina
made the gray dawn dark in the three eyes and two closed in sleep. The
last eye was weary, and it also slept. Then Maui went out of the bird
body and cut off the head of Pea-pea and put it inside the bird. He
broke the roof of the house until a large opening was made. He took his
wife, Kumu-lama, and flew away to the island of Oahu. The winds blew
hard against the flying bird. Rain fell in torrents around it, but those
inside had no trouble.
"Thus Maui returned with his wife to his home in Oahu. The story is pau
(finished)."
XI.
MAUI SEEKING IMMORTALITY.
Climb up, climb up,
To the highest surface of heaven,
To all the sides of heaven.
Climb then to thy ancestor,
The sacred bird in the sky,
To thy ancestor Rehua
In the heavens.
--New Zealand kite incantation.
The story of Maui seeking immortality for the human race is one of the
finest myths in the world. For pure imagination and pathos it is
difficult to find any tale from Grecian or Latin literature to compare
with it. In Greek and Roman fables gods suffered for other gods, and yet
none were surrounded with such absolutely mythical experiences as those
through which the demi-god Maui of the Pacific Ocean passed when he
entered the gates of death with the hope of winning immortality for
mankind. The really remarkable group of legends which cluster around
Maui is well concluded by the story of his unselfish and heroic battle
with death.
The different islands of the Pacific have their Hades, or abode of dead.
It is, with very few exceptions, down in the interior of the earth.
Sometimes the tunnels left by currents of melted lava are the passages
into the home of departed spirits. In Samoa there are two circular holes
among the rocks at the west end of the island Savaii. These are the
entrances to the under-world for chiefs and people. The spirits of those
who die on the other islands leap into the sea and swim around the land
from island to island until they reach Savaii. Then they plunge down
into their heaven or their hades.
The Tongans had a spirit island for the home of the dead. They said that
some natives once sailed far away in a canoe and found this island. It
was covered with all manner of beautiful fruits, among which rare birds
sported. They landed, but the trees were shadows. They grasped but could
not hold them. The fruits and the birds were shadows. The men ate, but
swallowed nothing substantial. It was shadow-land. They walked through
all the delights their eyes looked upon, but found no substance. They
returned home, but ever seemed to listen to spirits calling them back to
the island. In a short time all the voyagers were dead.
There is no escape from death. The natives of New Zealand say: "Man
may have descendants, but the daughters of the night strangle his
offspring"; and again: "Men make heroes, but death carries them away."
There are very few legends among the Polynesians concerning the death of
Maui. And these are usually fragmentary, except among the Maoris of New
Zealand.
The Hawaiian legend of the death of Maui is to the effect that he
offended some of the greater gods living in Waipio valley on the Island
of Hawaii. Kanaloa, one of the four greatest gods of Hawaii, seized him
and dashed him against the rocks. His blood burst from the body and
colored the earth red in the upper part of the valley. The Hawaiians in
another legend say that Maui was chasing a boy and girl in Honolii
gulch, Hawaii. The girl climbed a breadfruit tree. Maui changed himself
into an eel and stretched himself along the side of the trunk of the
tree. The tree stretched itself upward and Maui failed to reach the
girl. A priest came along and struck the eel and killed it, and so Maui
died. This is evidently a changed form of the legend of Maui and the
long eel. Another Hawaiian fragment approaches very near to the
beautiful New Zealand myth. The Hawaiians said that Maui attempted to
tear a mountain apart. He wrenched a great hole in the side. Then the
elepaio bird sang and the charm was broken. The cleft in the mountain
could not be enlarged. If the story could be completed it would not be
strange if the death of Maui came with this failure to open the path
through the mountain.
The Hervey Islands say that after Maui fished up the islands his hook
was thrown into the heavens and became the curved tail of the
constellation of stars which we know as "The Scorpion." Then the people
became angry with Maui and threw him up into the sky and his body is
still thought to be hanging among the stars of the scorpion.
The Samoans, according to Turner, say that Maui went fishing and tried
to catch the land under the seas and pull it to the surface. Finally an
island appeared, but the people living on it were angry with Maui and
drove him away into the heavens.
As he leaped from the island it separated into two parts. Thus the
Samoans account for the origin of two of their islands and also for the
passing away of Maui from the earth.
The natives of New Zealand have many myths concerning the death of Maui.
Each tribe tells the story with such variations as would be expected
when the fact is noted that these tribes have preserved their
individuality through many generations. The substance of the myth,
however, is the same.
In Maui's last days he longed for the victory over death. His innate
love of life led him to face the possibility of escaping and
overcoming the relentless enemy of mankind and thus bestow the boon of
deathlessness upon his fellow-men. He had been successful over and over
again in his contests with both gods and men. When man was created, he
stood erect, but, according to an Hawaiian myth, had jointless arms and
limbs. A web of skin connected and fastened tightly the arms to the body
and the legs to each other. "Maui was angry at this motionless statue
and took him and broke his legs at ankle, knee and hip and then, tearing
them and the arms from the body, destroyed the web. Then he broke the
arms at the elbow and shoulder. Then man could move from place to place,
but he had neither fingers or toes." Here comes the most ancient
Polynesian statement of the theory of evolution: "Hunger impelled man to
seek his food in the mountains, where his toes were cut out by the
brambles in climbing, and his fingers were also formed by the sharp
splinters of the bamboo while searching with his arms for food in the
ground."
It was not strange that Maui should feel self-confident when considering
the struggle for immortality as a gift to be bestowed upon mankind. And
yet his father warned him that his time of failure would surely come.
White, who has collected many of the myths and legends of New Zealand,
states that after Maui had ill-treated Mahu-ika, his grandmother, the
goddess and guardian of fire in the under-world, his father and mother
tried to teach him to do differently. But he refused to listen. Then the
father said:
"You heard our instructions, but please yourself and persist for life or
death."
Maui replied: "What do I care? Do you think I shall cease? Rather I will
persist forever and ever."
Then his father said: "There is one so powerful that no tricks can be of
any avail."
Maui asked: "By what shall I be overcome?" The answer was that one of
his ancestors, Hine-nui-te-po (Great Hine of the night), the guardian of
life, would overcome him.
When Maui fished islands out of the deep seas, it was said that Hine
made her home on the outer edge of one of the outermost islands. There
the glow of the setting sun lighted the thatch of her house and covered
it with glorious colors. There Great Hine herself stood flashing and
sparkling on the edge of the horizon.
Maui, in these last days of his life, looked toward the west and said:
"Let us investigate this matter and learn whether life or death shall
follow."