Beautiful Hawaiian Fountains: Hawaiian Gods

Of all the heroes and mythological figures of Polynesia, Maui is the best known. His strifes are like the great Greek epics, and they make excellent tales of daring that elders loved to relate to youngsters around the evening campfire. Maui was abandoned by his mother Hina of Fire, when he was an infant. She wrapped him in her hair and cast him upon the sea, where she expected him to die, but he lived and returned home to become her favorite. She knew then that he was a born hero and had strength far beyond that of mortal men. His first exploit was to lift the sky. In those days the sky hung so low that men had to crawl around on all fours. A seductive young woman approached Maui and asked him to use his great strength to lift the sky. In fine heroic fashion this big boy agreed if the beautiful woman would give him a drink from her gourd. He then obliged her by lifting the sky.

The territory of Man was small at that time, and Maui then decided that more land was needed and he conspired to "fish up islands." He descended into the land of the dead and petitioned an ancestress to fashion him a hook out of her jawbone. She obliged, and created the mythical hook Manai ikalanai. Maui then secured a sacred bird, the alae, that he intended to use for bait. He bid his brothers to paddle him far out to sea, and when he arrived at the deepest spot, he lowered Manai ikalani baited with the sacred bird. His sister, Hina of the Sea, placed it into the mouth of "Old One Tooth" who held land fast to the bottom of the waters. Maui them exhorted his brothers to row, but warned them not to look back. They strained at the oars, and slowly a great land mass rose. One brother, overcome by curiosity, looked back, and when he did so, the land shattered into all of the islands of Polynesia.

Maui desired to serve mankind further. People were without fire and the secret was held by the sacred alae, who had learned it from Maui's beneficent ancestress. She had given Maui her burning fingernails, but he oafishly kept dropping them into streams until all had fizzled out, and he had totally irritated this generous relative. She pursued Maui, trying to burn him to a cinder. Maui desperately chanted for rain to put out her scorching fires. When she saw her fires being quenched she hid her fire in the barks of special trees and informed common mud hens where they could be found, but first made them promise never to tell men. Maui learned of this, captured a mud hen, and threatened to wring its neck unless it gave up the secret. The bird tried trickery and told Maui to rub together the stems of sugar cane, then banana and even taro. None worked, and Maui's determined rubbing is why these plants have hollow roots today. Finally, with Maui's hands tightening around the mud hen's neck, the bird confessed that fire could be found in the hau tree and also the sandalwood, which Maui named ili aha (fire bark). Maui then rubbed all the feathers of the mud hen's head for being so deceitful, and that's why their crown is featherless today.

Maui's greatest deed, however, was snaring the sun and exacting a promise that it would go slower across the heavens. The people had complained that there were not enough daylight hours to fish or farm. Maui's mother could not dry her tapa cloth because the sun rose and set so quickly. When she asked her son to help, Maui went to his blind grandmother for assistance. She lived on the slopes of Haleakala and was responsible for cooking the sun's bananas that he ate in passing every day. Maui kept stealing his granny's bananas until she agreed to help. She told him to personally weave 16 strong ropes and to make nooses out of his sister's hair. Maui positioned himself, and as each of the 16 rays of the sun came across Haleakala, he snared them until the sun was defenseless and had to bargain for his life. Maui agreed to free him if he promised to go more slowly. The sun agreed, and Haleakala ("The House of the Sun") became his home.

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